Post by Gypsy on Dec 6, 2010 19:34:54 GMT -6
The Plot!
As the ages since the Inferno wore on, and the time since Pandora’s gift grew longer, and the packs formed and arranged themselves, two emerged as dominant – Aurora Splendens and Caelum Tenebris. The two packs were rivals for land, prey, and members, and smaller packs were soon absorbed into their ranks. None could stand against the two mighty empires, each under the direction of intelligent alphas, focused on the wellbeing of their packs. There were only snatches of free land, and the borders of both packs were forever shifting, swallowing places once safe for loners and leaving places that used to be firmly in pack control free. Non-pack wolves barely survived – all were thin, underfed, sickly. The two packs consumed almost all the food, all the well-sheltered places…
In obscurity lived a band a loner, a wolf intent on staying liberated from the packs. He wanted the freedom to pursue their own destinies, not the will of the warring groups. The loner spoke to other loners, and pack wolves unhappy with their lot. Slowly, he gained a following – his cause began to be heard. The goal was to create a third pack, neutral in the struggles of the other two packs, which would be home to a council. The council would accept to delegates from Aurora Splendens and two from Caelum Tenebris. It would be headed by a neutral leader from the new pack, Validus Anima. It would help diffuse tensions between the rival packs, allow plenty of land for loners to live free if they so chose, and serve as a system of justice for the land. The loner with the idea, Axial, claimed not to want to be on the Council, and instead vowed to appoint the best leader he could find.
The Aurora and Caelum leaders both saw this as an opportunity to completely destroy the other, and both sent loyal but obscure members into the wilderness to live as loners. Their hope was that if their members were chosen as the council head and alpha of Validus Anima. If this happened, they could easily rule the whole of Shatterglass. After a long wait for their ‘loners’ to join the cause, and prove false loyalty to the Council plan, the alphas agreed the rearrange their borders, granting Validus Anima a packland in the west and freeing the northern half of Shatterglass for the loners. They then waited for the announcement of Validus Anima’s leader.
A summons was issued for all the packs to gather around Pandora’s Stone, on the border of Validus Anima’s pack, at midnight. Every wolf in Shatterglass turned up, and Axial stepped forward to speak.
“I must admit, that the idea of the Council of Five was not my own.” He announced. There was a murmur of anger, especially among his followers. “But I assure you, wolves of Shatterglass, that you will accept her choice more readily than mine.” He told them, and stepped back.
The veins of quartz on Pandora’s Stone began to glow, and then pulse with light. There was a sound of bells and the scent of blue roses, and the vague image of a beautiful gray wolf appeared, her vivid eyes bright in the darkness. Pandora’s ghost stood before them, smiling.
“Wolves of Shatterglass, how I despair. Beyond the Veil, we see your actions, your anger and plotting, and we are disappointed. Do you not see what marvelous gifts you have been given? Understand that they are not a right, but a privilege. While I would have you revel in them for eternity, those the rule on the Other Side believe that perhaps it is best to relieve you of your abilities.” Pandora said gravely. “They see that you have too much power, and that the powers make you hungry for more. So I came to good Axial here, for his heart was pure, and told him of a plan that might save your remarkable skills. I could not work alone, and so I let him spread our plan amongst you all.
“And finally this came to fruition, and you all have gathered to hear who shall lead Validus Anima, the pack of the Council.” She continued happily. The throngs of waiting wolves were silent throughout, waiting for her to announce the Council’s leader. “And I must say that my brother – my good brother Aquila – has passed on his noble blood most consistently. And so I choose my nephew, Accipiter, to lead Validus Anima.”
There was silence. It stretched forever into the night as a loner, unaligned with any cause, forced his way through the throng. He was the only living member of Aquila’s line, and was weatherworn and beaten by time. But there was still a trace of that ancient pride and noble bearing in him, and it was such that no one questioned him as he made his way to the stone.
As he emerged, the ghost of Pandora flickered forward and led him to the front, and then stood to his right.
“Accipter, do you vow to keep neutrality and peace in the land of Shatterglass?” She asked.
“Yes.” He replied.
“Do you vow to maintain neutrality and diplomacy in your alliance with the other packs?”
“Yes.”
“Do you vow to protect the Validus Anima pack, the Council of Five, and all they stand for?”
“Yes.”
“Then I declare you Alpha of Validus Anima and head of the Council of Five. May you live long and in peace.” She said, and faded.
Pandora’s warning was enough to convince Aurora Splendens and Caelum Tenebris to go along with the Council plan. Both sent two of their own to live in Validus Anima, and the Council of Five maintained peace throughout the years. For 100 years, actually. It ran uninterrupted, with Aquila’s direct line leading Validus Anima, and the Council overseeing Shatterglass. Descrades, a noble and wise wolf, led Validus Anima. Like all in Aquila’s line, his mate had died in childbirth, and he had only one son to carry on the line. Unlike the others in his family, he was on excellent terms with Pandora, who visited him often, and had a daughter as well. She did die early, but the fact that she was conceived seemed a miracle.
He found his son Adili a foster mother, a lavender wolfess named Missera. She was sweet, quiet, supportive, and gently passionate. She raised his son well, and Descrandes found himself falling in love with her – an unheard of thing. Members of Aquila’s line took one mate, lost her, and mourned her the rest of their lives. But things were changing. He’d had a daughter, he was good friends with the only host regularly seen in Shatterglass… The only constant link to the Other Side. Maybe he was slowly repealing their curse and their legacy.
But something happened – something changed. Descrandes was killed, the first Council member ever murdered. A wolf who could mimic voice used Missera’s voice to lure him away, and he was killed. Missera herself was killed as well, leaving young Adili to lead the pack and the Council… A task he was and is totally unprepared for. But other Council members are receiving threats on their lives… Who is taking out the Council of Five? And why?