The Orphan of Saint Olette

Prologue

In the beginning, there was Wolf and Man. The two beings were created as equals; two halves of a whole. The Wolves, though quick to anger, could not be deceived. They were faster, stronger, and more cunning. Man, however, was given a different gift. Man was capable of loving, something no Wolf could do. Man taught the Wolves to love, and the Wolves taught Man how to survive in return, just as the Maker had intended.

The Maker soon bored of the Utopia He had created. Wolf and Man got along too well, and the Maker slowly became disturbed by their offspring. The Wolf-Children stood on their hind legs, towering over any man that dared stand before them. They were muscular like their Wolf forefathers, though their skeletons resembled that of Man, the exception being the Wolf-Children had drastically thicker and sturdier bones. They grew long, dexterous fingers, though their palms and the undersides of their fingers were padded. They kept their tails and Wolf faces, but if anything, their features were harsher and more intimidating. They were being to be feared.

It was when one of the Wolf-Children chose to mate with a young daughter of Man that the Maker chose to wreak havoc on His Utopia. He had chosen the girl as His own. Both Man and Wolf knew to steer clear of her for fear of angering their god, but the Wolf-Children had no fear of a being they could not see, and chose to disregard the existence of the Maker altogether. When the Maker learned of the abomination growing in the girl's womb, an anger tore through him capable of levelling mountains with the softest of caresses. The Wolf-Child cared not for the obvious anger of the Maker, choosing instead to fill his night with ale and women.

It was with great sorrow on that night that He killed the girl, framing the Wolf-Child to make it appear that he had murdered her in a rage fuelled by the alcohol coursing through his system. When the mangled body of the girl was found, Man demanded the Wolf-Child be killed as vengeance. Naturally, the Wolves saw the Wolf-Child as one of their own and refused to hand him over. The scene did not deceive the Wolves; they knew it was the work of the Maker, and since Man was made in His image, they began to wonder if Man was capable of such things as well.

The suspicion and grief ripped a chasm in the loyalty and trust shared by the two beings. Needless to say, it wasn't long before the two beings waged war against each other. That wasn't enough for the Maker; He wanted to punish the Wolf-Children for opposing Him. No, He wanted to punish them for even existing. So for two weeks He met with the leaders of each army, disguised, and convinced them to wage war on the Wolf-Children. After all, it was they who had started the whole war. He sat back and admired His creations as both Man and Wolf alike lay siege to the Wolf-Children.

The war lasted many years, until one day, a brave young man threw down his sword on the blood-soaked battlefield. The soil, engorged with blood, had turned to mud that oozed the ruby essence of his brothers, seeping into his boots and staining his feet. Many of his kind regarded him as a wise man, and took what he said to heart. And though he had only been a youth on the verge of adulthood before the outbreak of war, the Wolves respected his advice for he had helped resolve many a fight with naught but his words. He pleaded with his brothers to call an end to the mindless violence, treating all beings as equals as had been intended from the very beginning. They listened to his wise words, calling an end to the fighting, though it was clear to all that the three beings could not live together in harmony.

The Wolves took to the West, claiming the dense forests as their own. As long as they remained in the forests, no Wolf would die at the hands of another being. Man took to the South, claiming the fields and beaches, turning the land into towns and cities, and working for their survival. And the Wolf-Children? They headed North, vanishing on the wind as nothing more than the ghost of a memory.