Chronicles of the Packs | A Dark Stones One-shot Compilation

Void

All was black. No sensations at all, only the sheer darkness surrounding her.

What am I? Where am I? The she-wolf had trouble remembering...everything. Her name. Who she was. How she got here. What had happened? Was there something before or after?

She opened her eyes–at least, she thought she did. Nothing. Equally as black as if they were closed. Am I...blind? She wondered how this could be. Though she had no memories, vaguely she recalled being able to see until recently. What exactly she had seen, however, was a mystery in her mind.

She tried to move anything other than her eyes, but it was difficult. She felt like she wasn't really in her body, but slowly she was starting to get signals that she did indeed still inhabit one, lying down. Slow feelings in the tips of her toes, followed by the pads and eventually more of the paw. With it, suddenly, came a burst of pain.

She winced and repressed a whimper. She forced herself to gain control of her body. More and more sensation started to seep back into it, followed by more pain. By the time she'd gotten the feeling back in her chest she felt a sudden sharp twinge that made her cry out in agony. It echoed, sounding endless.

She forced herself to keep her eyes open and to keep looking for signs of, well, anything. She willed herself to stand, slowly. What was strange was that there weren't even any scents around her. Has my nose given in as well as my eyes? But I can still hear, that's for sure.

By the time she was finally on her paws, she realized that she could see them. The surface of the ground around them rippled, as if it were water, and it felt cold to the touch. Her paws themselves were a shade of gray, but seemed to be somewhat translucent, as if her body wasn't entirely there. Still, she could definitely feel the pain of this body, corporal or not.

She looked at the rest of herself, which was indeed all semi-translucent like her paws. What worried her more, though, was the injury on her left front paw and especially her chest, where a deep round hole was located. Both injuries were oozing blood, though because of the monochrome circumstances of her surroundings it appeared white instead of the crimson she vaguely remembered being used to.

The she-wolf didn't know what was going on, but it was clearly bad. Am I a ghost? She knew of Spirits, but ghosts were different. And whatever her state currently was, she most certainly was not a Spirit in the Realm of Souls.

Then where am I? And what happened to me? She looked around helplessly. Was there someone who could help her?

"Hello?" she said, uncertainly, before proceeding to call out. "Hello? Hello? Anyone there?" Each of her calls seemed to echo forever, but no reply came.

The she-wolf looked around, and another pang of pain came from the wound from her chest. "Help me!" she cried out. Still nothing.

After several moments, she decided to move. Maybe she could find help for herself, if nobody would come to her. As she started to walk, limping slightly because of her injured paw, she once again noticed the weird surface she was standing on. It felt cold and flat, but also wet and each step she took came with the sound of water sloshing. How odd. She tried to put more pressure on her good right front paw, seeing if it would break the watery floor's surface, but it wouldn't budge. Guess I can walk on water, wherever I am.

As she made her way forward, she kept thinking back to what could've possibly happened. Everything before she had woken up was a blur that seemed to have been blocked from her mind.

She walked for what could've been an eternity, but also could've been a few mere moments. The surroundings didn't change. Pitch black with the unusual surface she was standing on not changing, either. After a while the she-wolf started to get the anxious feeling that maybe she wasn't even moving forward at all, that instead she had just been marching in place all the time.

She started crying out for help again, this time far more desperate than before. Each cry echoed and eventually vanished. No answer came.

Trying to ignore her aching body as she did so, she forced herself to lie down on the unpleasantly cool surface below her. She whined and cried. Still no reply.

After an indiscernible amount of time, she gave in and rested her head on her front paws. Her bleeding hadn't stopped, either, with the eerie white blood still flowing out of her wounds.

I want this to end. The desperate she-wolf lay there for however long it might've been. Slowly, however, she started to get flashes of images in her head, vaguely familiar images. Are these...memories? She didn't know what else they could be. 

The first images were of a lush green forest, followed by a large fluffy white she-wolf with blue eyes. The images vanished for a bit, only to return in droves, so many that she couldn't make them out and it caused a headache. She and another white she-wolf undergoing training and growing up. Their mother, the Leader, growing older and dying. A brown wolf getting the Second position. Many more flashes of the familiar forest in different seasons. The arrival of two strange, emaciated wolves on their territory. One of them, a gray-and-white one, kept returning in her mind's eye. The brown Second being killed by a moose's hoof. She herself becoming Second. A fight between her and the other wolf she grew up with. Her choosing the gray-and-white wolf as her mate. The faces around her growing older. Hunting in the winter with her mate. Her mate vanishing for a moment. Then there was an image of a shiny metal contraption in the snow, and it was accompanied by another jolt of pain in her left front paw. With a final pang her name returned to her. Stone.

Stone let out another wail of pain and opened her eyes. She suddenly remembered everything.

Longleg hunter... she thought helplessly. She relieved her final moments once more. Her mate Dreven had found her with her injured leg clasped between the metal jaws Stone had been terrified, unable to free herself. Dreven had gone to fetch help. Stone had waited for him to return. She had then caught a scent in her nose that she feared above all others. The Longleg hunter had come with his Thunderstick. She didn't remember what came next before waking up, but she could guess.

He killed me. The Longleg shot me and took my body. That's why I'm here. I'm in the Void. Most wolves after death were purposefully cremated, so they would end up in the desired afterlife: the Realm of Souls, where they would live forever as Spirits. But her body having been taken by the hunter had meant that nobody could do anything for hers.

Panic seized Stone. I cannot stay here for the rest of eternity, alone and bleeding out! "Help!" she called, louder than ever before. "Dreven! Please! Snow! Brighten! Mom! Pool! Anyone! Please help me!" She followed her calls with a drawn-out howl, hoping that somehow somebody would hear her. All was in vain.

Stone let out a whimper and a sob as she realized what this meant. I'm stuck here forever, she realized. Nobody can do anything to help me now. It's over.