FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Iz... Izzy..." A hushed whisper echoed through the endless void. "Izzy... Come on... Please wake up... Please..."

A snow white she wolf cracked open her sapphire blue eyes from the bottom of a wide cave. Stalactites on the ceiling looked like black fangs from the sunlight shining through the den's mouth behind them. Izzy lifted her heavy head off of her front paws and looked at a wolf whose appearance was more unnatural than her own. His coat was dark grey and got slightly lighter as it went down to his paws. But his coat color wasn't what made him unnatural. The brown eyed wolf had his entire rear right leg made of metal as well as his front right paw and right ear. They had all lost their polished appearance and now were dented, scratched, and rusted from heavy use. Multicolored wiring connected his metal leg, paw, and ear to a black vest tightly wrapped around his chest. Several small rectangular figures could be seen from under his vest and ran down the center of his back.

"Feral..." Izzy whispered back at the wolf that was now wagging his tail.

"You're up," he said in a less hushed tone. The scruffy wolf leaned his scarred up muzzle down and gave her snout a tender lick. "I was getting a bit worried about you. I've never seen you sleep for so long."

A toothy grin crossed the she wolf's muzzle. "What did I say about watching me while I sleep?" A slight smile formed on the concerned wolf's face as Izzy stood up. After a stretch, she continued. "So what's the special occasion for us being back at my birthing den?"

"The war is over." Feral simply answered as he led her outside. A sizable dirt clearing out front of the den was surrounded by dense vegetation. It provided decent cover for the cave and plenty of privacy for them.

"Which side ended it?"

"All sides. It took some intense and careful negotiations to come to a compromise." He went on to explain as they sat side by side in the center of the clearing. "The East and West Rebels laid down their arms in return for protection, resources, and infrastructure. Small groups of radicals still fight with the Core Nation's Army, but with both sides working together with the CN, they won't last very long. It's going to be peaceful for a while... I hope."

"Me too," Izzy said with a nod. "What are Tech, Shadow, and Reeve going to do now that the war is over?"

"They're going to have to find a new way to get supplies for starters." Feral answered. Hitting convoys from both rebel groups and the CN was the primary way for the small group to get what they needed to keep the bunker running. Izzy even helped out in a few ambushes for supplies. But with the war over, convoys would be a lot less frequent. Hitting them wouldn't be wise either. That could put unwanted stress on the peace between the three factions. "But there still going to keep in touch with us in case we or they need any help using the comms link."

Feral gave his metal ear a few flicks. That was where Tech installed his communications output speaker. His input microphone was installed in the collar of his vest around his neck. Izzy's comms were all installed in her metal mask, but she didn't see it anywhere when she woke up. It was probably back at home or at the bunker with the guys.

"Sooooo..." The scruffy wolf started as he nervously glanced around the clearing. "What do you say to us staying here? I-it would be a great place to raise our pups."

"Are you ready to leave the past behind you and settle down?" Izzy asked the nervous wolf. All that he has been through, made Feral very un-trusting and he moved around a lot because of that. But he was never very far from the bunker. Tech was the only one who could keep the wolf moving, so she was hoping that this wasn't more running on his part.

"It... It will be hard..." Feral admitted. With a sigh, he turned his gaze back on her with a warm smile. "But I'll have you here with me and that's more than enough to keep me in one place."

His bushy grey tail swept up dust clouds behind them. But Izzy's remained still. She turned her head back forward and began looking around the clearing. "I think this is more than enough Grandma." The she wolf said into the open air, but she was just met with silence and a confused looking Feral. Or what was supposed to be Feral. "I'm smart enough to know that none of this is real."

"Not going to fall for the perfect life?" A soft voice asked from behind her. She kept her head facing forward until a large she wolf padded up and sat down in front of her. It was almost like Izzy was looking at her reflection in a clear pond. The other wolf had a pure white coat like hers and they had matching eyes, but Grandma had a marking under her left eye. Two black dots and a line. The mark of a Guardian.

"You specifically told me that sacrifices get moments like these to bring them some peace before they were hurled into darkness." Izzy reminded the ancient wolf.

"You listened well pup. This place is meant to bring you peace, but..." Grandma glanced back at the tree line. The younger wolf's ears perked up when thunderous steps sounded on the other end of the vegetation. Every twig snap sounded like timber crushing to the ground. "This place also makes you face your demons."

'Don't look don't look don't look.' She repeatedly whined in her head as she shut her eyes and tilted her muzzle down. There was only one monster that could make those earth shattering sounds. It was something she dreaded to hear, let alone witness again.

"Pup..." Grandma said in a hushed whisper over the stomping. She kept her eyes shut and head down. "You're never going to be at peace if you don't face your demons." There were only those heavy echoing steps before a snarl blared over them. "Stand up to them!"

Izzy had always listened to the phantom. It was how she made it this far and met Feral. So the she wolf slowly lifted up her head and forced her eyes open. Standing passed Grandma at the edge of the den's gathering place, was a towering figure made of chrome. It was a human, but thanks to the heavy exoskeletons suit around him, he appeared to be nearly a foot and a half taller than the average man. Metal spikes pointed up from the front of his knees, out from his elbows, and they pointed back from his shoulders. On his upper chest was a dented set of spikes that she presumed were there to deflect shrapnel from hitting his skull-shaped helmet. Two small blue orbs sat in the eye sockets of the skull and twisted and turned as they glanced around the clearing. A chrome handle to a massive sword poked over his back and in his metal hands was a jet black automatic rifle with a white skull painted on its magazine. These were what the CN called _'Sentinels.'_They were really just monsters with better armor.

"We've arrived at the AO." Skull Head said out loud as he raised his black rifle. Rustling in the tree line got louder as two more humans in Sentinel suits stepped out. Their armor was lighter in build, had no spikes like Skull Head's, and were matted navy blue with black and white barcodes on their left shoulders. Beside one of the smaller Sentinels, was a canine in an exoskeleton suit that was navy blue and smooth like its handler. Its bushy brown tail stuck out of its rear armor plates and a large black gun was mounted over its back. This is what the CN called a _'Fenris'_unit. Something Shadow and Feral were quite familiar with.

"Engaging," Skull Head said as the rest of the Sentinels raised their arms and stepped towards Izzy.

"No no no no no no no." She rapidly whined with her head tilted back down and eyes shut again. There was silence when the loud footsteps passed her, but then and earth shattering crack rain out, followed by a barrage of pops and bangs. She could almost count the shots as her body jerked and twitched from every one of them. When the gunfire ceased, her eyes began to burn as the rest of her body started trembling.

"I tried to help them..." She whimpered to the ground. Tears escaped her tightly shut eyes when she continued. "But they wouldn't listen... They didn't believe me... There was only one way to get the key..."

Izzy lifted her heavy head and opened her sore eyes. With a few blinks to clear her blurry vision, she looked over to a far corner of the gathering place. There was a mound of white, grey, and brown fur with splashes of red all over them. Skull Head had her mother held up by her hind paws before releasing her lifeless body onto the pile.

"Going to do one more sweep for the relic in the cave before checking the outside area for it." He said out loud as he stomped back over to the den. The pile of her dead siblings, parents, grandparents, aunt and uncles, started to shift around slightly. A white and red wolf crawled out of the pile of her relatives. Seeing herself do this again felt like a pair of razor-sharp jaws clamping down on her heart. Living through it once was absolutely horrible, but seeing it from an outside perspective somehow felt worse. She just wanted to run over and help herself somehow. But what's in the past stays there. She could only wish that somebody could have taken on this burden. This pain.

Izzy's slightly younger self limped a few steps away from her dead family and spat out a large black shard with a chain attached to it, onto the cold ground. Then she looked back at the only things that mattered in her life. "I'm so sorry..." She whined to her family before grabbing the key and limping away.

"Grandma..." Izzy whispered as she looked back over at the phantom. "I think I'm ready to be alone now..."

"Very well pup." The ancient wolf said. A loud whistle filled the silent world and something crashed through several tree branches on its way to the ground in front of Izzy. Dirt and other debris shot into her face from the heavy impact and when the dust cleared, she saw a long cylinder tube -that was wider than her head- stuck in the ground. Grandma stood up wide eyed and took a step back. She was shocked by the battered rocket's dramatic appearance. Izzy has never seen her spooked before.

A shiny plate to the rocket fell off on impact and revealed the inner workings of the missile. Among the mess of wires and circuitry, was two tubes. One filled with a red fluid and the other filled with a blue fluid. Another tube joined both of the color filled ones and quickly filled with them. When blue and red touched, Izzy shut her eyes tightly. Then there was an ear shattering bang followed by a heavy blast of air. Then silence.

When the she wolf reopened her eyes, there was only the detonated cleansing bomb in front of her. No Feral, no Grandma, no family, no den, nothing but darkness. Off in the distance was a large chrome tower emitting a deep red glow and pillars of smoke. It was an eerie feeling being in a place like this alone. But a small part of herself couldn't help but feel relieved when the darkness started closing in on her. All of the tiring running she did after her family was killed and all of the chaos from trying to keep the key out of others reach, was no longer her burden. She could just breathe and let it all go.

Izzy took a glance around her at the darkness that was filled with twin red orbs dancing everywhere. They kept their distance, but for how long, she couldn't guess. When she returned her eyes back to the tower, there was a faint speck of light slowly approaching her. But when it got close enough, she saw that it was only Grandma.

"I said I wanted to be alone." She growled at the phantom when it got close enough.

"You do not get to be alone!" It snapped back at her. That wasn't Grandma, but he looked just like her. Same blue eyes, marking, and white coat. Strapped to an old leather harness he was wearing, was a sheath holding a black as night dagger. The familiar yet unfamiliar wolf sat down beside the detonated cleansing bomb. "And you don't get to give up hope."

"What hope is there in a place like this?" Izzy growled back at him. There was no hope here.

"You are," he said to her calmly. She could almost scoff at him, but she didn't feel like being an angry pup right now. "And if you lose hope, everyone will perish. Things are set in motion and if you died, Feral will lose to the darkness and if he can't fight back, no one can."

Thoughts of leaving Feral behind made her chest tighten and ache. She would want nothing more than to be back with him. To be embraced by his warmth even though he did have a strong odor of gunpowder in his fur. But stories passed down by her family told her one thing about this place.

"There is no way out of here though. All sacrifices come here to perish in the darkness." Izzy summed up for the mysterious wolf.

"There is a way out. You just need to find it." He said as he stood up and paced back and forth in front of the detonated missile. "Ylva wants you to die here. Somehow she believes somewhere down the line that she made a mistake. Darkness is all she sees now and she thinks that means it is the end. It will be if we lose you."

"Grandma wants me dead?" Izzy asked the mysterious wolf. He sat down in front of the cleansing bomb with a nod. She almost couldn't believe him. Ylva is the one who saved her from the attack and guided her everywhere until she meet Feral. If it wasn't for her, the young wolf would be in the pile with her family. "But why? What mistake?"

"Me. I'm the mistake." He answered. "I escaped this place once before when I wasn't supposed to, then continued our bloodline, and lived on. Every time she tried to set things straight, everyone she manipulated and tried to control didn't happen how she predicted from that day forward."

"You escaped? Here?" She asked him. A slight nod was all she got out of him. "A-are you..." Izzy peered deeply into the mysterious wolf as she got up and stepped into his radiant light. All of those tales she was told -that were passed down for hundreds of years- started coming back to her. "Zinare?"

"I am pup." The ancient wolf said with a faint smile. Izzy's eyes widened as she took another step and inhaled. The smell of old leather was mixed in with Zinare's scent. Many times, she thought she caught Grandma watching her as she grew up, but every time she investigated the phantom's last known position, someone else's odor was there. It was him. He was watching her.

"If there's a way out, how will I find it?" She asked him. A glimmer of light sparked up in the she wolf. There is a way out, a way back to Feral.

"You have to fight your way back to yourself." He answered in almost a riddle, but Izzy knew what he meant. In here, she will be away from where her body is at in reality, but her way out will be in the same spot where her body is. It was most likely in the catacombs under the CN's Alpha Center. A fortress of a base with a massive tower in the center of it. "And not just for yourself, but for Feral, for your family." Zinare got up and gave the side of her belly a poke with his nose before stepping back in front of her. "For your unborn pups. You must survive."

Izzy glanced back where he poked her with his snout. She was due in about a month and this would have been-

No

The she wolf looked forward with her ears pinned back. This 'WILL' be her first litter. Zinare got a big smile when he saw the new fire in her spirit. It was determination. It was hope.

"It's your turn pup," he said as he pointed down at the chrome plate from the cleansing bomb. His radiating light made it visible enough for her to see a new feature on her once all white face in the shiny metal. Under her left eye, much like Zinare's' and Ylva's was their exact marking. "You get to choose what happens to our bloodline now."

A smile crossed her muzzle as she looked back up at her ancestor. She will let it live on. Starting with her and Feral. She will get out of this place, find Feral, and start a new life with him away from this war, this destruction, this-

Izzy's thoughts of a better future were cut short when a loud buzzing flew overhead. She looked up, but could only make out to the shape of a large helicopter. A pop erupted from the tower in the distance and a projectile followed by a trail of smoke, shot at the aerial vehicle. Many bright balls of heat dropped from the chopper as it banked away from the missile. But a loud beeping sounded as the projectile ignored the flares and went straight for the chopper.

"That's a laser guided SAM!" The speakers blared over the loud beeping. "Everyone hold on!"

The guided missile looked like it was going to fly past, but it detonated right beside the helicopter. The blast blew off a lot of metal that showered to the dark earth below and send the aerial vehicle into a spin. After several head spinning rotations, something in black and chrome armor slipped out and fell with the rest of the debris.

"Feral!" The helicopter speakers blared as it continued its rapid descent. Izzy wasn't sure if this was something that had happened, was happening, or just a hallucination of this place. It was too hard for her to tell.

"I'll set him on the path to you." Zinare said as the helicopter landed hard in the distance. "But you need to be there when he arrives."

With that said, the ancient wolf got up with a growl. Something behind Izzy sounded like thunder and shook the ground. She spun around to see several strikes of crimson lightning hit the barely visible ground as a tall armored monster stepped out of the void. The human like monster was solid black with a dull red glow illuminating from in between its armor plates that thick spikes covered nearly every inch of. Its sapphire blue eyes were locked on the she wolf as it approached with a jet black sword in hand. This thing was darkness itself. A blight. A monster. It was the Dark One.

"You need to go now pup!" Zinare barked as he ran out in front of her. He looked back at her over his side that his blade was on. "Stay in the light Izzy. It's safest in the light."

Her ancestor bit down onto his blade's handle and withdrew it before charging at the monster. Izzy spun back around and ran full speed towards the distant tower. Spots of illumination that weren't there before now formed a path of light with breaks of darkness between each source all the way to the Alpha Center. The first set of lights she came to reminded her of Tech's junkyard. Old, beaten up, and rusty cars with flickering headlights, littered the area. She weaved through them and went under some broken ceiling fans hanging in a bare tree at her next light source. But all around her trail were pairs of red orbs that kept a fast pace with her.

Izzy slid to a stop under the glow of some bent street poles when a pair of those red eyes blocked her path. The black figure was canine, but it appeared to be covered in a dark fluid that dripped to the ground. Silver fangs shown through its tar coated muzzle before it leapt for the she wolf. She braced herself to strike back, but when the monster hit the light, it yelped and evaporated to dust midflight.

Izzy remained still until the creature's ash drifted away before running on. But nearly in the safety of an APC's headlights, she was blindsided and knocked onto her back. The monster stood directly over the vulnerable wolf with its fangs exposed. Black fluid dripped from its open muzzle onto her neck. Izzy quickly got her rear paws onto the things chest and kicked it away from her with all of her might. The push was enough to send it into the headlight beams and reduced it to dust. The she wolf then leapt to her paws just in time to avoid another set of jaws coming her way. A loud 'pop' filled her ear as it missed her head by inches. With a snarl, Izzy snapped down on the canine's neck and began pushing for the light. The monster struggled back as it continued furiously snapping at the air. The oily texture on its fur made it difficult to keep a solid grip on the thing, but after several strong steps, the struggle was over and ash filled her muzzle.

Safely in the light coming from the APC, the she wolf spat out the dust from her mouth and finally caught her breath after the blow she took. She looked back at the edge of darkness where she was once standing, but Zinare's light wasn't there. Part of her wanted to go back and make sure he was okay, but she had to uphold her part of the bargain. To get away from this place while he sets Feral on her trail. With one more deep breath, she spun back around and was about to bolt for the next light source, but two pairs of red eyes blocked her path again. A rumbling growl escaped their black figures as they presented their fangs to her, but didn't move. Not like the first one she encountered that leapt blindly into the light. Izzy exposed her fangs right back at them and took a step forward as her fur bristled up along her spine.

"Hey!" Someone barked over the growling. Both monsters and the she wolf all looked over at another canine standing at the edge of the darkness. It was a large male wolf with dark grey fur and wearing a harness and black dagger exactly like Zinare's. A rusty mask protected the top half of his head and muzzle and his blue eyes shown through the slots in the metal cover. One of the red eyed monsters abandoned Izzy and rushed for the new wolf. He in turn, ran forward as he reached over to his blade. When the monster lunged, the male wolf sidestepped and ran his knife across the monster's neck as he drew his blade in one fluid motion. The black canines staggered for a second as thick, black tar oozed out of its wound before it collapsed to the ground.

The other monster watching Izzy left her now and charged for the grey wolf. This time when he was lunged at, he let the dark canine bite down on the muzzle part of his mask. With a savage snarl and shake, it yanked the rusty metal off of his head. The male wolf slid the knife handle around in his muzzle to make its blade point straight out. With the monster still chomping away at his mask, he thrusted his dagger into its neck. The weathered face shield fell to the ground when the dark canine leapt back. It dripped tar onto the ground and tried to pull air in, but its sliced open throat made it impossible and just like the last one, it too slumped to the dark earth.

Izzy stepped out from the light and approach the grey wolf as he was sheathing his blade. Up close and without his mask, she could see some black markings on his dark grey face. They were the same markings that Zinare, Ylva, and what she had. Only it was under his right eye. She knew better than anybody else that that meant he was a guardian of the key. Or was one in the past.

"How are you holding up pup?" The grey wolf asked her. He sounded like an elder that has been up for one too many moons, but he looked like he was in the prime of his life. She inhaled a deep snout full of his scent when she got close enough. It was unknown, wild, and old, but something was familiar about it. Under all of the distracting scents was Zinare.

"I've been better." Izzy answered as she pulled her nose back. But now she had a question. "Who are you?"

The male wolf looked around and growled to himself before turning his gaze back to her with a sigh. "A monster... a killer, a disease that causes insanity with all that I come into contact with." With another sigh he added. "But when those weren't being said, everyone called me Shade."

"Why help me Shade?" She asked the old guard. Watching the key was all he had to do and now that he was relieved of that duty, he should be resting in peace. Not fighting monsters.

"Zinare asked me to." Shade simply answered as he looked out into the darkness. Red eyes danced all around, but they kept their distance. "It was the least I could do after everything I put him through."

"You knew him in the real world?"

"Us monsters have a lot in common."

"What did you put him through?" She asked him. The red eyes all around seem to slow their movement when Shade's gaze lay upon them.

"It necessarily isn't what I 'did' do, but what I 'didn't'..." He whispered. "I watched him endure loss, fight when he wasn't ready to, and lose almost everything... And all I could do was watch..."

In the darkness, Izzy could swear that she saw two specks that reflected the light on both sides of them, fall to the earth from Shade's unmasked face. But then he looked back at her with a slight smile.

"You know what he did when he made it to this place and saw me?" Izzy shook her head. "For the first time ever... he wagged his tail." That smile across his muzzle got a bit bigger as he continued. "I couldn't help him survive this place in reality, so I done something no one thought I would ever do."

He waited for Izzy to tilt her head before leaning in and adding. "I jumped... But Ylva didn't say to." Then Shade leaned in a bit closer. "That old wolf has no idea what who she's dealing with. You, Zinare, and your bloodline will put an end to this, but you have to get out of here first."

They both looked up at the tower that seemed so far away earlier. Now it was almost like it crept closer while he was talking.

"It's not much further now." Shade pointed out as he looked back down to her. "Everyone is waiting for you. I'll stay back and keep the 'lost ones' off of your tail."

The she wolf leaned in and gave him a tender poke with her nose. "Stay safe."

"No guarantees," the old guard said with a big wag of his tail. "Now go."

Izzy gave him a nod and ran for the trail of light once more. Her heart raced faster than her legs could carry her through each spot of safety. But with just a few lights to go before she reached Alpha Center, the she wolf had to slide to a stop under an old streetlight. The next few spots of illumination were now blanketed by darkness. In front of the swirling void was a tall black and red figure walking towards her. She slowly backed up as the Dark One stepped into the streetlight, completely unfazed by it.

"Did you really think you could get away from me pup?" He asked her as he lifted the black blade up and pointed it at her. Instead of thrusting it into her, he swung the massive sword into the light post and severed it from the ground. Her safety quickly evaporated around her as glass and metal crash to the ground. The Dark One pointed his blade back at her with a deep chuckle.

"You will not have me." Izzy growled as she took a step towards him. Now she was just mere inches away from that wicked edge. There was no fear in the she wolf. Only anger. "You will not have me!" She pinned her ears back and exposed her fangs to the unimpressed monster. "This place, your demons, or you will not stand in my way of getting out of here."

He studied her hard for a second before easing back with his blade a bit. "And what makes you think that white one?"

An illuminating glow surrounded Izzy, but when she glanced around for Zinare, he was nowhere to be seen. This glow was coming from her. A slight smile replaced her fangs as she brought her focus back to the Dark One.

"Because, I'm a monster just like you." Izzy said to him. She leaned forward and poked the sharp tip of his blade with her nose. Where his sword tip was once black was now glowing silver with hints of sapphire blue along its edge. The Dark One pulled his blade back and examined it closely. A wider grin formed on the she wolf's muzzle when she added. "Only better."

Another deep chuckle echoed from his armor when the Dark One thrusted his sword into the ground. He squatted down in front of her and pointed a metal claw at the ground. "Here or out there," he said before bringing his armored finger up to her. "You're mine."

"What do you mean 'out there'?" Izzy asked him as he stood back up. The monster didn't laugh or say anything back. He just wandered back into the swirling darkness. Once he was gone, the clouds lifted and the lights it was covering appeared. "I need to get out of here..."

Before the she wolf continued for the tower, she gave the evil blade one more poke. Slowly, silver and blue over took the wicked sword that was once shrouded in darkness. Now it glowed as brightly as her. A beacon of light in such a dark place.

Izzy rapidly passed through the last few sets of lights and made her way to the monolith's front gate. The massive mirrored tower made the she wolf feel so tiny. The spiraling clouds overhead made her want to crawl into a hole to escape them. Just inside of the compounds chrome walls, were many smaller buildings covered in black and red growth. Beyond the destroyed front gate in the center of an open area surrounded by concrete barriers, was a large eight wheeled APC covered in a similar growth. Lying around the motionless armored vehicle, were three dark canines. Their red eyes were fixed on the wolf, but they didn't move. Izzy doubted her new glow would destroy them and without a concentrated source of light or weapon to fight them, she couldn't progress.

"Izzy..." Someone whispered. The she wolf turned and saw many other wolves sitting by the mirrored wall several wolf lengths away. Her heart raced and legs trembled as she slowly approached the group made up of white wolves like herself and several colored ones mix into the batch.

"Mom... Dad..." Izzy whispered to the large pair in front of the group. Her mother had a white coat and blue eyes like herself, but her father had a light grey coat and amber eyes. Seeing her pack that she grew up with again made her eyes burn and breathing become labored and raspy. "Everyone... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

"It's all right pup." Her father said as her mother and him close the gap to her. Immediately the young wolf buried her face into her dad's scruffy neck. "It's not your fault Izzy..."

"Everything happened for a reason." She heard her mother say over her sniffles. Every inhale of her dad's scent pushed her closer to soaking his fur in her tears. "We would have believed you if Ylva had come to us as well, but she left us out so we would stay for the attack."

"She intentionally only told me so I could get away with the key?" She asked her mother when the younger wolf stepped back. A nod was all it took for Izzy's face to start burning for a whole new reason. She lost her entire family, ran for months, and is now here to lose her life. Just how Ylva planed. Well, plans change. Zinare and Shade were a testament of that and she will be too. So the younger wolf growled and dug her claws into the earth.

"Save it," her mother growled back. Izzy released her grip on the ground and sighed. "Use that anger when you're free of this place."

Izzy nodded as she caught her breath from all of the sniffling and growling she did. Several of the wolves in the small crowd stepped aside when a small white wolf pup padded through them. In its mouth was a jet black dagger that weighed its small head down. The site of her younger brother stepping through their parents and up to her, made her tail wag.

"Hey Faolan..." She whispered down to him. He dropped the blade at her paws and looked up at his older sister with his blue eyes.

"Grandpa said you needed this."

"Thank you..." The she wolf slowly brought her muzzle down to the pup and pressed her nose against the top of his soft head. Memories of his birth, first words, his confident and caring personality, and their nearly endless hours of play, flooded her mind when his scent filled her snout. The surge of memories and the emotions attached to them was too much for her. Tears rolled out of her tightly shut eyes and poured down her muzzle onto Faolan's head. She wanted to be there as he grew up into a proud and strong wolf. Him alone was enough for her to want puppies of her own and hoped that they would turn out just like him. Above all, she wanted her brother back. "I miss you..."

"Everything will be okay Izzy." He said to the sobbing wolf. She withdrew her nose and gave him a weak head nod.

"Daughter" Her dad quietly said as he stepped up with her mother.

"Granddaughter..." An older white wolf with grey at the end of its muzzle whispered when it stepped up with another wolf.

"Niece." Another relative said as the rest of the group padded up to her.

"Sister." Faolan said to her.

"A mother." Her mom said, but continued unlike the others. "You need to live. Leave this place and never come back until it your time to do so."

"Goodbye Izzy..." Her dad whispered before giving her cheek a poke with his nose. One by one, all of her relatives said their goodbyes before padding over to a glowing white wolf with a blade strapped to its side.

"I'll see you again Fao..." Izzy whispered down to her brother when he was the only one left.

"Hopefully not too soon?" He asked her with a grin. She just gave him another weak head nod. "Good."

With that, Faolan spun around and ran to join the rest of their family. Just as she bent down to retrieve the dagger, barking erupted.

"Hey Iz!" She looked up at her younger brother standing in front of all of their relatives. "Don't go out in a whimper." He pinned his ears back and with a snarl, he stomped both of his front paws. "Go out in a howl!"

Faolan tilted his muzzle up and let out a cry of the wolf. All around him, the other wolves pointed their heads up to the swirling clouds above and howled along with him. It was a fitting goodbye, so Izzy filled her lungs with air before throwing her own muzzle up and howling with them. Their cries echoed around her head even when she ended hers and saw that they were all gone. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something new on her back through the nearly mirrored surface of the wall. In the aurora of light and spread out above her were the bright outlines of wings. A smile crossed her face when she saw the new appendages and fierce glare that replaced her once sadden and tear filled eyes. She raised her tail confidently and scooped up her blade. It was time to go home.