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The thought of killing made Ripple sick inside. Not the physical kind of sick with pains and aches. No, she hated herself. She could do it easy, with no regrets, and it scared her. Since the assassination she had always wanted revenge, and tonight she would have it.

The sand crunched underfoot, signaling each new step. It's grain was pure white; she felt wrong walking on it, someone so flawed on something so flawless. To her right, the Grand Lake stretched to the horizon with glimmers of fading sunlight catching her eye every few steps. Waves lashed out of the surface in every direction, colliding with each other in a fit of water and foam. Ripple clenched her front paws as she walked, her four legs working in a sluggish rhythm. Nothing good ever came when the lake was angry, and she was living proof.

She hastened her pace, her hind paws kicking up a white haze in her wake. Traveling the beach was her best option. The sand kept her footfalls soft and unheard. If she was seen out this late, the entire tribe would know she killed Akita. Her chances of becoming the Alpha would be gone, and so would her life. The tribe would never forgive her. An akkord's life was sacred, and taking it was unheard of. Sure, they killed other creatures; bears, deer, even the occasional wolf. But they weren't sacred like her people.

Ripple glanced back as she ran and checked on her chord, almost a second tail. It wrapped itself around the brown of her tail, a black rope, afraid to let go. She always kept it that way. It gave her a sense of security knowing it would be harder to cut, harder to kill her.

With a shake of her head and a deep breath of the salty air, Ripple focused her attention forward again, towards her goal. Atop a large platform of wood stood the village only a few hundred strides away, constructed purely from the nearby trees. The logs were refined into dusty yellow planks giving off gentle glow from the few and scattered torches. They were far from enough to light the docks, and even further from making her feel safe.

Ripple swallowed hard and lowered her eyes to the ground as she ran. Safe, nobody was safe, and anybody who thought otherwise was a liar. That fantasy disappeared eleven years ago, along with her parents and her childhood. She giggled and closed her eyes a moment. Maybe she was going mad, maybe all the hatred had finally caught up with her. She was a member of the southern tribe, one with the unholy desire to kill: and it felt great.

Out of the shadows, something reached out and closed its paw around Ripples hind leg. Its grip was firm, pinching past her fur and into her skin. The paw jerked back.

Ripple hit the ground with her stomach, her front paws landing outreached in front of her. A haze of sand shot up from the impact and covered her. She snarled and pawed at tear filled eyes. The sand stung and scratched as she tried wipe it away. With a grunt, she placed her paws in the sand and shot back up to a stand. The grip on her leg was gone.

"Sis, is that you?"

One her hind paws, Rippled whipped around and saw him. Just a few fingers taller than her stood a brown furred akkord, he was Western. His orange paws shuffled in the sand, stirring it in small circles. The akkord looked at her with eyes of fire that, despite their strong color, were gentle. He sighed and looked at the sky, now canvas of black with only a few stars to give the moon company.

"Verac?" Ripple shuddered and closed her eyes. She didn't want to be seen like this, not even by her brother. In a few more minutes, she would be a killer. Verac wouldn't turn her in, no, they were too close. After eleven years of caring for her, feeding her, and even training her, Verac wouldn't give it all up. He knew just as well as her something had to be done. Akita had to die.

Verac looked back to her and took a step closer. "Listen, sis, I know what you're going to do." His ears flattened against his head. They were smooth, his whole body was, as if he slicked all his fur down with lakewater.

The breeze flowing in from the lake was warm, but Ripple still shivered. She didn't know what to say; maybe there wasn't anything she could say. Nothing could justify murder, not even revenge. But she had nowhere else to turn, and this was the only way to spare the tribe of war. He had to understand.

"Stay out of sight," Verac started, coming close and wrapping his paws around her. "I'll be behind you the whole way." He let go and pat Ripple on the head. An uneasy smile formed in the corners of his muzzle.

Ripple stared at him for a few seconds, trying to find the right words. "Bro, you don't have to do that. I don't want you there when I.."

Before she could finish, Verac placed a paw over her muzzle. "This is my job sis. Now, go before someone sees us." With a forced smile, and a wave of his paw, Verac walked off into the shadows behind.

Even as he vanished, Ripple didn't feel alone. The shivering stopped and she was smiling too. Just knowing he was there, like he always was, that was enough. She took a proud step forward and dug into the white sands, her tail raised high. In seconds, she was sprinting across the shoreline. She was done running away from her past.

Overhead, storm clouds, another bad omen, floated into view. They clung to the sky like giant parasites, but Ripple payed them no mind. The rains come slow and spotty at first, but soon transitioned into a downpour. It made her fur sag, and her body heavy. She giggled in between breaths and ran harder. All the rain actually felt nice. Clumps of sand shot from her in every direction before fading behind her eyesight.

She reached the docks and slowed her pace. Her deep green eyes shot side to side, cautious of anyone out after curfew. The village almost seemed abandoned at first glance. Triangular huts branched out in the distance in no particular pattern, as if they had been toys spilled by a pup and never cleaned. The rains had drowned out every torch, every spec of light. All that remained was a bleak gray that colored the paths, huts, and even the once yellow planks.

Ripple made her way down the village's main path then took a left down a smaller trail. All she had to do was remember the way. She closed her eyes wrinkled her snout, and it came to her. Her eyes sprung back open and her body followed memory. Just ahead she saw the hut, as plain and gray as the others, only much larger. It was made of a smooth, but thin layer of white stone, lakerock. A raw wood trim decorated the walls in blocky patterns: a sign of wealth. All together, the hut was made of three stories and went on for a dozen strides in either direction. It's roof was made of bundles leaves and boughs that had been scavenged from Western forest.

Ripple let out a sigh and walked up to the hut, lifting her chin and eyeing up the siding. The structure was soaked, and climbing it would be a lost cause. Damn, there had to be another way in. She looked the hut up and down, but no solution came to mind. Her attention turned to the door, a square chunk of wood standing only twice her size. There was one trick she knew, her brother had showed her years ago. A small whimper passed through her muzzle as she approached the door. She lined herself up with the latch and placed a single claw on it. With a deep breath in, she raised one paw in the air and swung it down on the other.

Her nail broke off with faint click and the door drifted open. Ripple bit down on her tongue to keep from squealing. The blood ran warm against her paw, and the pelting rain burned the wound. She shook her head and crept inside, closing the door carefully behind.

The hut was even darker on the inside then it was outside. Ripple stood still and gave her eyes time to adjust. If she bumped into anything Akita would wake, and her plan would fall apart. She took a quick note of the room before taking another step.

For an upper class place, the hut was a mess. Bones and food scraps scattered the table and the surrounding floor just a few strides shy of the door. Books and stones with odd markings were piled a few fingers off the ground. A narrow path was cleared, leading to a bed with a raw wood frame. The bed's sand was pressed in slightly where someone had been laying.

Where was she?

Ripple neared the bed, put her muzzle to it, and sniffed. The stench of rusted metal filled her nostrils: blood. She cringed and took a frantic step back, landing in something wet. Her stomach churned as she looked down at her paw. The green fur turned a patchy brown, almost black in the darkness.

Something rustled in the far corner of the room, hidden by the shadows. The sound of claws scraping against stone sounded through the room, making Ripple's ears twitch. The murky silhouette of an akkord took a step towards her. Two bloodshot red eyes stared her down, full of tears. The figure took a another step. It was her. The heir to Alpha. Another step and Akita, or what was left of her, emerged from the shadows. Those strange symbols scattered her black body, cut into her fur with some still bleeding. Her red furred ears laid flat against her head as she opened her muzzle to speak. "I know why you're here. The books, they told me you were coming."

Ripple clenched her jaw and stared back. She couldn't show any weakness, especially not to her. "I don't care about your books, Akita. You know why I'm here."

"You, you think you can kill me." Akita twitched and scratched the ground with her claws again, making that awful noise. "But you can't, I died long ago."

A lump formed in Ripple's throat. She knew how it felt, to be dead inside. And this was all her fault.

Akita trembled and came a step closer, just out of reach. A sickening grin tore across her muzzle, showing her rotted yellow fangs. "What if, I kill you?"

That was enough. Ripple dug her hind paws into the ground and darted forward. Right before impact, she lowered her head and thrust her shoulder into Akita. She wasn't strong, her body was built too nimble. So she would win with speed, just like Verac taught her.

Akita gasped and tumbled backwards, falling into a stack of books and landing on her side. Her body still shook as she rose back to all fours, almost as tall as Verac. Crimson blood drooled from her muzzle and down her chin. It dripped slowly from her chin and stained the rock below in splatters.

Ripple stuck to her training and took this moment as an opportunity. With her back paw she opened the door and slipped through. And just as she thought, Akita scrambled to her feet and followed.

Outside the storm raged even stronger than before. The winds had picked up, bringing the sand with it. Rain still pelted down, only now it did so on an angle.The grains smacked into her like invisible daggers, tiny but painful just the same. Streaks of light broke across the sky and boomed as they struck the ground. It was just like that night so long ago.

Ripple backed down the path and made sure there was plenty of space around her. She had to be smart about this, one slip up and she could be the victim, she could die. There was no way she could match Akita's strength. Unlike her, Ripple wasn't military. She was too small.

In the distance, Akita came sprinting full force. Blood seeped from her cuts and mixed with the rain before being washed away. Her mouth was open, ready to bite. In seconds, she neared Ripple and lunged.

Ripple tried to hop to the side, to avoid the attack, but her grip failed her. The rain caused her paws to slip and she went down. She held her paws in front of her face in both defense and fear. Getting hit by the sand was nothing in comparison to this. Akita hit her like a forty foot wave, and tore into her left arm with jagged teeth. The world flipped on its axis and threw Ripple to the ground with that monster on top of her.

Akita snickered, and looked down. The blood from Ripple's arm dribbled out of her muzzle and onto Ripple's face. "You taste just like them, like your parents. And now you can join..."

Akita didn't have time to finish before an orange paw smacked into her face, crunching as it hit her nose. She wobbled a few steps back and held her face before snarling. "You. You aren't supposed to be here."

From behind, Verac walked out and stood in front of Ripple. His body looked even sleeker in the rain. His tail and chord swished gently against her head, as if reassuring her everything was alright. "You're not touching her, not anymore." He jumped forward and tackled Akita, digging his claws deep into her sides. The two tumbled and splashed on the docks.

Now was her chance. Ripple struggled to stand, but her leg seared with pain even under the slightest pressure. The storm of sand sweeping by stung the wound like pure alcohol. She fell back to the ground, wet and defeated. She struggled to look ahead as the rains hit her eyes. The drops streamed down her face as she sniffled to herself. Whether she was crying or not, she couldn't tell.

Akita slashed her claws across Verac's face, but he only got angrier. With a growl, he thrust his head at her and pierced into her gut with his horns, letting the blood spewed onto his head. Akita gasped and flailed her hind legs. With a bit of unwelcome luck, her paw connected with his chin and knocked him back. He hit the ground in silence; the only real sound anymore was rain and wind.

Get up. She had to get up. Ripple forced her paw against the ground and winced. There was no other way, she had to ignore the pain. She didn't want to die. And she didn't want Verac to die. All she wanted was to end this.

Akita staggered over to Verac on three paws, the other was busy clutching the wound on her gut. "You will join your parents in the depths." She reared back, ready to kill.

With one eye closed in pain, Ripple dashed forward. Every nerve in her body stung in protest. The rain soaked her fur and tried to slow her down. The sand filled winds howled and blew against her. The world wanted her to fail. She ran up beside Akita and clothes-lined her with speed and claws, right in that monster's neck. Ripple followed through and shoved Akita to the ground, not letting up in the slightest.

In desperation, Akita grabbed at her arm. She gagged and squirmed, trying anything to break free. Ripple watched coldly as her movements slowed, as the blood pooled around her head, as the life left her eyes. And just like that, Akita froze. The rains eased to a drizzle, and the wind died to a breeze.

Ripple forced her body over to Verac and looked into his eyes. He smiled back weakly, but alive. And alive was all that mattered to her.