SilentCreekPack {Origins}

Chapter 2

Back with The Silver Legion, Kai lied curled safely under Bali's thick fur. The breeze hummed outside the mouth of the cave where they awaited Epsilon's return. Bali Rose his head as he heard pawsteps. Being blind in one eye, he assumed it was Tsuma or one of the Legion's scouts. The brindled male outside the cave wasn't a Legionaire-- but the lead soldier of the Fallen Stars. Once he had caught the scent of Epsilon's kin, he charged into the darkness of the cave. However he wasn't prepared for the suprise that awaited him inside. He spotted Kai and rushed toward him, causing the pup to yelp and flail even further into the darkness until a thundering huff was heard inside the cave. When the male turned around, his tail quickly flew between his legs. The intruder whimpered as the black bear rose up to his rear legs from behind Kai, and towered ten feet over him with a thunderous roar. Screaming in horror, the male fled with Kai chasing close behind him with little barks of tiny fury, his confidence now fully restored.

"That's my boy." A feminine voice uttered lovingly from behind him. In the blink of an eye, Kai turned and spotted Tsuma and his father Epsilon. "Thank you, Bali." Tsuma said with a smile, as she dropped a young deer fawn at the bear's feet. Bali did not speak, only exhaling calmly against Tsuma's face before he grasped the fawn and vanished into is den once more.

Now as you could have imagined, being the kin of an alpha, or any high ranking wolf for that matter, comes with Benefits. Kai was smothered and coddled not only by his Parents, but by all wolves of The Silver Legion. He was given first choice in prey, adorned in valuable beads, feathers, and crystals, and compaired to the pack's other pups he got away with murder. Many pack members referred to him as "The Young Prince" or adressed him as "Young Master". About five years passed, and Kai grew. He was wise for his age, an "Old Soul" as many would call it, and even the elder wolves had a notable amount of respect for him.

One morning, some time after midnight, a ten year old Kai rests in his den. As a young shapeshifter, by wolf standards he was about biologically around 4 months old, give or take. Epsilon pawed into his son's den that morning, carrying a scorpion. Approaching him in total silence, he dropped it into Kai's fur. Screaming, Kai leaped about until he eventually tripped over his tail and fell. "What was that for?" He snarled, his hackles raised as he swatted the creature away peevishly. "Time for training. Let's go." Epsilon huffed pawing back out of the den, without another word. Irritated and tired Kai simply turned and made his way into the back of the den and plopped down once more to sleep. Soon after, around smooth stone sailed into the den, clonking him upside the head. He turned back sharply, seeing his father standing in the opening of the den as a human and deftly tossing another stone up and down in his hand, this one visibly heavier than the last. "I said, Let's go." Epsilon repeated with narrowed eyes. Ears flattened to his head, Kai obediently followed as Epsilon returned to his wolf form.

Once they had left the den they walking for seemingly hours, now far out into the forest. "Dad... Please..." Kai droned crankily. "The sun isn't even up yet." He said with a rather annoyed yawn.

"Kai, I won't be here forever." Epsilon began. "When you become of age, you'll need to be ready to take my place as alpha male of The Silver Legion. Until then, you need to be trained." He rasped as he came to a stop and tasted the air. "Do you smell that?" Kai gave a rather disinterested sniff, and suddenly became just a little excited. "Hey, that's Bali's scent, isn't it?" He asked as his tail swayed back and forth slowly. Epsilon looked at his son and smiled.

"That is that scent of a black bear, but this one isn't Bali. Let's keep looking." He said taking another step. Epsilon and his son trekked the forest for hours, with Kai watching intently as Epsilon pointed out hunting grounds, pools of water around their territory, and where their boundaries ended. After stopping, for a moment, Epsilon continued to walk. Kai proceeded to follow his father, but was distracted by something in the grass. "What is it?" Epsilon mumbled, as he noticed that his son had taken a rather obviously pouncing stance, his tail and hindquarters high, and visible to any and every possible prey animal in the area as he waved his tail about like a flag.

Epsilon crouched, settling his gaze on the field mouse that had attracted Kai's attention. It sat near a shrub, crunching on an acorn. Just before Kai made a clumsy attempt to leap on it, Epsilon gripped him and pulled him back from the mouse's field of vision. Putting him back on the floor, and a more sensible hunting stance, Epsilon murmured, "Stay as low as possible." As he softly placed a paw on his son's flank, indicating how low his body should be, in comparison to the surrounding grass. "Now, step forward slowy." Kai lifted a paw to do just that.. However, he stepped onto a twig with a back paw, which cracked under his weight. Upon hearing the snap, the mouse dropped the acorn and fled. Kai the sat down, and dropped both ears in defeat. "Don't worry, we'll catch him next time." Epsilon huffed looking at the Sun. "It's getting late anyways. Your mother must be missing us by now." He said with a smile.

Kai's left eye twitched involuntarily, in a mixture of exhaustion, and passive, yet clearly notable irritation. "You mean to tell me.... That we have to walk... ALL the way back to our headquarters? How are we even going to get back there, we're practically lost." He said collapsing onto his side. "We've been following a beaten path, Kai. Wolves of The Silver Legion have used this same path to patrol this territory over and over, day after day, for generations. All we need to do, is go back the same way we came. And, who said anything about walking?" Epsilon smirked, gripping Kai by the scruff, and darted back toward the Legionaires' headquarters at top speed. Kai screamed, as his father bolt through the forest. He couldn't even run this fast. Epsilon coasted to a stop, and entered the headquarters,still carrying Kai like a newborn pup, being greeted by multitudes of wolves, the first of which, was of course, Tsuma. "Awww, look at the little baby puppy." Taunted young female, a friend of Kai's. "Shut up Asante." Kai hissed, swiping a paw at her as Epsilon put him down. "Asante, be nice." The pup's mother sternly called from a little ways behind her. "At ease, Firelight. Kai knows that she's only joking." He huffed to the Red, black and silver female, watching as Asante ran to her mother.