Believe - Chapter 1: The Moon

„The moon is the god. He shows us the way. He makes bright the night. He marks our prey.

The moon is the god. We howl to him at night. We sing our prayer. We will unite.

The moon is the god. The alpha his voice. The law of the pack. The leader by choice."

Imya looked bored and she said the rule of the pack with a monotone voice. Her father looked at her with a stern gaze and growled.

"Imya, put more love into saying it. This is important."

It was not the first time she got scolded by him. She knew that the laws of the pack were dictated by him, the alpha male, and that he believed in the moon as the god of them all. Some of the stories were interesting and made sense but after all the moon was just standing there at the top of the night sky and did not move at all. Well, it moved a bit but very slow. How should the moon guide her through live? It changed direction every night.

"But dad?" her voice showed her annoyance about the lecture. "I know the moon is nice and howling is fun, at least for you, but how should it ever guide me?" her father growled loud and stepped directly in front of her. His black fur was the total opposite of the white fur of Imya. He was black as the night, with red eyes, and now that he was so close to her and growled she got scared. He had never lost control this much in the past. She shivered but in this moment, her mother stepped in. She was white as the moonlight and had blue eyes, just like Imya. It was clear on first sight who the one was who gave her the looks.

"That's enough Polar. You are scaring her." She stepped over Imya and protected her while her warm body brushed over her head.

"None of my other pups ever had made so much trouble." The Alpha growled. "Song, I know you love our daughter but look at her. She is weak and lazy and she does not even listen to the laws of the pack. She doubts the moon and is betraying our way of life every night." He calmed a bit down and the growl turned into a sigh.

"I just don't know what to do with her anymore darling." Song stretched her nose towards her alpha and licked his muzzle. "It will be okay Polar. I know she is a little nightdreamer and not as big as your other pups but she has a pure soul. She will understand one day and she will find her way."

Imya looked up to the heads of her parents snuggling against each other. Her mother had protected her but she felt ashamed. She knew that her mother loved her and maybe even her father. But even when her mother told her that she was fine the way she was, Imya felt that both her parents were not pleased with her. She was much smaller than the other pups that were born at the same time as she. She also was not doing the exercises they told her but got distracted by other stuff fast and started to dream in the middle of the lesson. The only time she listened were when one of the older wolfs told them stories about times that were long gone. She liked the stories of the old wolfs that did live in the wild. She imagined that they had been very free. No rules to bind them. If it would just be the moon that she had to pray on but there were other rules. And all of them were spoiling the fun. She was not supposed to go far away and never to go near the man village. The village lay down the hill where the fog filled the valley between the mountain. The pack of Imya lived in a mountain forest far in the north. The man village interested Imya but mostly because she was forbidden to go there. I sounded like an adventure. Just like in the stories of the old wolfs that were free to go wherever they wanted. Imya wished she were free to go and explore the world.

Imya snuck away and left her parents with their game of cuddling. She moved downhill towards the borders of the pack. A grey head lifted on a stone near the borders and yellow eyes pierced into hers. She turned away and lowered her head. Bane was her half-brother but they never got along well. In addition to that he was on border duty and she knew that the moment she stepped over the border he would happily grab her by her neck and pull her back to her father. And he never was very gentle with her. Imya moved to a rock near the den and lay down at the entrance. She looked up to the sky. The moon was covered by the clouds. "It is not that I hate you. I think you are beautiful." She whispered and as if the moon wanted to answer her he peaked down behind the edge of the cloud. Her eyes gazed up into the light of the full moon until another cloud covered him and it got dark again. The wind got colder and she began to freeze. She moved into the den where she lay down in a corner where the wind was not reaching her. She closed her eyes and soon was fast asleep.