The dark days to come...

X lay on a tree stump, humming to herslef happily. She's in a grassy valley, the sun drowning her fur in warmth. She stares at the clounds, the sun, the beauty of nature.
Wishing it was always like this. The happiness, the peace, the warmth of magic and power building up in and around her.

But she knows that's impossible. The torture of the outside world will alway come back to haunt her. The threat of man taunting her every move. The evil that hides throughout the planet, preparing itself, watching, waiting for the moment to strike.

Yet she has no idea how she got here. She doesn't remember the bleak change of the planet. How life came to be so simple. So she lies there, listening, breathing slowly.
She thinks things over in her head, trying to recall what happend. Glimpses of slawter, madness, the world colpasing around her. Her friends and family screaming. She digs deeper, intent on finding the sorce of this bloodlust...



Then she remembers.



Life never changed. It worsened. It seemed to get better, but then slowly sloaped downhill. The clutches of darkness, evil, and hell. We'd thought we could rid of such a thing, but it always comes back. Weather you want it to or not. You think you know someting when you don't. It gets the better of you, takes control, kills you. That's how life in this pack always seemed. You kill something, and it comes back .... Your relived for mounths, then the bloodshead comes back to take you. Draw you in. Destroy you. If life has taught me anything, it's taught me this;
There are no happy endings.

The walls of the valley began to warp. The grass turned an awful black and crumpeled away to ash. The trees withered and died. The clowds turn red, then burn out. The sun flickers. Once. Twice. Then dies out, plunging X into total blackness.
She backs up, afraid. But hits a wall. It's sticky, unnatural, blood? Can't be sure. The air seems to lessen, get thinner, making it impossible to breath. The walls of the rocky valley seem to close in on her, trap her. The walls ooze blood. It gushes from within their core, filling the tight space. X gasps for air, trying to clamp onto the walls. Her claws scrach along the rockey sides, i a desprite attempt to push up.
She tries to scream but can't build up the stregnth. She draws upon her magic and forces it out. Nothing.
No air. No magic. No life. It's hopeless. There's no point in trying. Her legs and arms go limp.

Just then the water drains and the walls of the earth retreat. Scuffeling noises. Left. Right. Above. Below. In front of her. Something reaches out. She screams.

Light flickers. Stops. Flickers. Stops. Then shines. X looks up, confused. Not as bright as the sun. An empty socket where the sun should be. The sky's red. Sticky with blood.
Russleing again. Coming from all directions now. Can't make out what it is. Alive? Dead? Unsure. The movement shifts around places, then settles with one. It's like a scratch. One. Two. Three. Four. Five....
The fifth tick. It stops. Then again.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five...
Stops. Again...
It repeats itself sevral times, then stops. The air goes thin again. Trying to breath. Able to get few, quick gasps of breath. Her quick beatng heart. The only sound. Then.....
"X......" A deep, gurgle of a voice seems to come from around her.
Trying to work up the effort to scream. Move. Do something rather than just stand. Frozen. Frozen from fear.
"X..." The voice comes again.
"What?" Comes a shakey whisper. Heart beating rapidly, thankful that she could force something out. "What do you want?"
"X.." More urgent this time.
Silence.
"X....!" It comes again, angered and desprite. As if a plea for help. For hunger.
"What!?" She screaches, terrified. "What the hell do you want!?" She says, her breath caught in her throat.
A small chuckle, as if it's satisfied it got the best of her. Then; "I neeeeeed..... ...you..." It wails in angony and pain. "Coooome... to mee..." It's a wine. Of sorrow. Of lonlyness. It wants someting, ..me?
"Heeelp meee... I neeeed you....."
"I'll never help you!" She howls, out of fear and anger. "You..you.. ..." She trails off, unsure of what the creature is.
A deep laugh. "Ah ......Foolish girl."
Light flashes and a dark shadow emerges from the depths of what used to be a stream, but is now a large crack in the earth. It streches up, 10, 20, 30 feet. Doesn't stop. Keeps going. It gugrles, twists, and ....breaths. It's a mass of sticky goop. Cracks and cuts all over. The gashes gurgle and spit, all poping constently. The cracks in it's flesh are oozing. Below, parts of it are bubbling with pus and blood. Long, black tenticles come from the spots. They are hot and they steam as they develop, getting larger. The ends of the tenticles extend into three claw like figures, hissing and bubbling. Eyes form all over the body. A large spot near the top gurgles with pus and blood, then explodes and begins to glow, like the 'arms'. It streches out, almost like a muzzle, but it has no teeth. Just a long row of sharp, oozing spots of blood and goop. A large, circular eye apears and stares down at X.
A deep laugh errupts from around X, What is it...?
"My dear.." IT chuckles. "The question is not mearly 'what' is it, but who, and where?"
"What do you mean? You have to be some kind of demon..!" She sputters.
"Demon!" The beast spits with discust, "A far lesser creature! Do not speak of such a vile being in my presence!"
"What kind of presence!? I won't know weather to listen intently or run and scream if i don't know what the hell you are!?" She screamed.
"Tsk, Tsk. Such a temper." X glared at the creature angrly. "But you speak the truth. Very well. You wish to know what i am? Who's relm you are in? Where i keep my place in the world?"X nodds her head in dead fear, but couriosity.
"I'm the one thing that no being can escape. I'm everywhere, all at once, yet can only present myslef in one peice. I am the monster that haunts every beings nightmare." It pauses and smiles, a goopy, bloodlust smile.


"No creature can run from me, for I am death."

X lifts her head, gasping for breath. She blinks in the darkness, realizing she's in her den, the pups sleeping a few meters away. Her heart skips sevral beats, then beats rapidly again. She sits up, breathing harshly. She's drenched in sweat, head to toe in it. The moss of her bed soaked to the tip. Blood lies on the floor around her, mostly in her bedding. She doesn't remember cutting herself, so the blood must be real.
Fear. She's never felt this much fear in her life, not even when she was speaking with the dreaded Siphara. Nothing this deadly.
She sucks in a quick, shallow breath, then trys to clam herslef down. Once calmer, the padds out of her den, intent on cooling off the sweat that has been stuck to her for hours.

As she pads along, staring at the ground, something deep inside her stirrs. And she knows that the dream, was just a glimpse of the dark days to come....

He padded through the woods as he leave his stare far off in the distance. He sighed getting bored and climbed a tree and rested on a branch.

He followed behind Xiax as if they seemed like brothers,for knowing him for so long. He climbed up into the tree as well and rested crossing his legs and stretching them out on the length of the branch. His head rested on his hands which were behind his head touching the bark. "So Xiax,what journey do we have today?" He asked feeling stress and depression coming off of Xiax.

The night was thinning when Xorn got back from hunting. Instead of going to the pack she went to a ledge. It was around 200ft deep, and she jumped landing lightly on all fours. She ran to the human dens, walking right through the village withoutca shout or cry. This is really strange. she had no idea what was going on. Everything was how it's supposed to be except the humans.

He sighed looking at Xiax feeling he'd need to be alone. He jumped down from the tree and walked off towards the human grounds his hands in his hoodie pockets. He transformed into a human,his hands still in his pockets,spiked hair in the front and little spikes in the back and flattened a bit. He had a small triangle like beard on his chin,and aviator sunglasses. His pants being skinny jeans with studded black and white squared belt with chains. His wrists had a black and white checkered wristband on his right wrist and his left had a white stud wristband,his shoes black converse. His hoodie also said "Green Day" on the front in black with black patterns and blotches being that his hoodie was both white and black. He walked through the city watching and studying humans.

X rolls onto her back and wines. What the hell was that thing? Death? Couldn't be... But she recalled the beast's stregth, it's power. And it wanted her. But why? What does a wolf such as her mean to a demon as powerful as it? Maybe it needs one of the wolves to extend it's power to their world? No. The dream was too real... The blood was real. It was there. I saw it.... Felt it. Scensed it. But even if the beast needs power to this universe, why not choose Xiax or Xorn? Assassin? FAr more powerful than her. Even Xiax seemed closer to..'death' than she ever would be. But maybe it couldn't get to them, so it targeted her. Or maybe she has an eaiser link to she dream world? No answers...
She got up and padded out into the cold night air. The moon shawn brightly. She looked up and spotted it's, round, full figure glaring at her from beyond the stars. She smiled and jumped up into a tree, lying back and looking up at the sky. She turned into a human and reached up with her hands, minipulating the clouds and stars with her fingers.
She tried to get rid of the unsettleing feeling of the beast she witnessed, but it would not seem to leave.

She Peered into one of the Windows and she gasped. Inside the whole house was a mess and there was blood and bodies everywhere. The worst thing she saw was writen on the wall. She peered into every house in the village seeing the same scene, and the same writing. On every wall writen in blood was the same statement over and over again was: GIVE ME X Xorn could only stare. Obviosly who ever did this wanted someone to find this. But her paws wouldn't budge. Someone wanted X, and they were willing to murder to get to her.

X wined and turned back into her wolf form. She rolled over and stare at all the dens, and couldn't help but wonder;
Did the others have a dream too?

He looked around the areas that were near by the tree. He jumped off the branch with a small thud and padded along towards camp.

X spotted Xiax on his way toward the camp. She looked down at him from the tree branch she was in. "Hey.." She smiled at him. "Couldn't sleep? Wouldn't be the only one if you said yes." She thought back to her nightmare.

"Hm...yeah I figured I'd just go out for a little walk checking out the area. You know making sure everything's fine." He smiled at her as they walked along X in the trees and Xiax walking on the ground heading back to camp.

X smiled back, tail wagging, forgetting her fear for the time being. She stopped in a tree branch for a few seconds, then continued, as if pausing to think something over. "Are you going to sleep, or are you staying up?"

"Yeah,I'll most likely stay up,I can always rest tomorrow." He chuckled a bit. "Unless the pups bother me." Before they made it to camp Xiax climbed a tree and laid down on a branch.

X jumped across from the tree she was standing on and landed on the branch he was in. She smiled at his comment, "They won't bother you, i'll make sure of that." A blue light flashed in her eyes a a barrier formed around the den, "It'll give then a chance to practice their powers..."
She lay down beside Xiax and out her head on her paws, thoughts running back to her dream.

"Hm...yeah." He laid his head down on his paws his ears perked and alert if anything should come around camp.

X wines as she recalls the form of the beast in her dream. She runs a claw along the tree branch they were in, then slumps down onto her back, staring up at the night sky. "There's something i've been meaning to talk to you about..." She narrows her eyes and clenches her teeth in a snarl.

"Yeah? What is it?" He sat up transformed anthro and looked at her and smiled. He laid back against the tree trunk and his body stretched across the branch he laid in.

"I had..." She paused, thinking about it once more. "A dream." She finished. "I'm not sure what was happening, but..." She cocked her head, "A creature ...of someshort. Called it'self Death. .... Now i'm not even sure if one thing can be given a soul. If it can live even. But.. It was so... ..." Her words trailled off, not being able to think of a word to discribe the beast she saw.
"Said it wanted me. ... But.. It can't possible want me, because.. well, i'm not really that.... .... ....Powerful." She looked at him. "I don't think it just wanted me though. I think it wanted one of us. A wolf." She shuddered a breath, "I remember hearing stories when i was younger. About a wolf. A sacrifice or a central creature that can do horrible things if placed in the wrong hands. Tales that say that wolves and humans were once united, a wolf was the central functinon of all creatures and could bring back an entire race. Stories that state that if human kind once died out, a wolf could save them. But ... If a wolf wasn't used to save a human race, it could bring back another species insted.. What if..."
X looked at the stars;

"What if the creature i saw was the last of it's kind? What if it needed a wolf to bring back it's power, it's kind?"

He sighed looking down. "Death....always a humans imaginative figure. But one who's the worst to wolves.... The reality is for humans they think Death as....someone who takes the humans soul. Wolves it's different for us. Death is in fact a demon god from another world,most likely the underworld. But as I see it,for your dreams it doesn't need anything powerful it just needs a wolf no matter whether they're strong or not. It would only use the power from one wolf,taking the power and using it but as you said they can also take the wolf and use them and not take the power. What I'm confused about is why it wants you....." He looked at her. "Maybe for your different powers then what I have,or like you said to restore its kind." He growled low feeling a strong evil vibe coming from all directions.

X shurgs and shakes her head, "None of it makes scense." She rolls over, about to get up, when a sharp stab of pain hits her hard in the head. She howls painfully and drops, falling from then tree. She lands with a thumb, shaking her head wildly, raoaring in pain.

He jumped down from the tree landing next to X. He stood there looking around cautiously in all directions, then looked down at her. "X...wha-" He fell over from a blow to his face making him fall backwards. He looked around then saw a black figure. The figure came close to Xiax grabbing onto his head and pushing its hand in.

X squirms on the ground, her paws on her head, screaching in pain. Her vision was blurry and foggy with red mist, but she caught a glimse of Xiax. A fairly large creature, not as big as the beast in her dream, had it'self latched to Xiax's head. Pus and blood oozed out from the cracks in it's hand. More liquid seaped out where it was holding Xiax, for he was struggling wildly.
Something howls. A cry of anger and violence. As the mustles in her throat constrict, she realises it's her. Driven by anger and some other force, she charges forward and slams into the demon. It shreaks and throws a blow at X, she backs up and it gurgles with delight. She charges again, tearing at the creature.
Realizing it's defeat, the creature rears and retreats.
X stumbles around, then drops to the ground, wheezing as the pain from before comes back.

Laying in the trees,he'd heard the sound of X and Xiax. He ran through the trees then transformed into an anthro. He equipped his two katanas then powered them to full power. They glowed green aura around them. He ran after the second figure that appeared after, slicing it twice but he knew it wasn't dead it just vanished. He looked behind seeing X and Xiax still on the ground. He walked to X helping her up,then he walked towards Xiax about to help him up but noticed he'd gotten the black mark on his forehead. "The Zardex..." He whispered. "Damn...."

X wined. The red mist in her eyes had cleared and she could see clearly, "What the hell happend?" She was half standing half sitting, rubbing her head. She didn't recall anything that had happend in the last few munites, except for a few images and blood.

"The demon....and it left the mark on Xiax..." He sighed as he stared at the mark on Xiax. "I've seen it before....some insignia or something..." He looked at his arm and noticed the mark. "The organization...." He growled and quickly put his sleeve over the mark. "In my human form,the mark is a tattoo,as a wolf or any other animal it's just a marking,but this marking is very sacred and powerful to my organization...."

"And?" X cocked her head to the side. She plopped dow on the ground, "If that things master is smart enough to know how that marking is used, it's not going to be long before it figures out how to get what ti really wants."

"Hah the problem is,is that I'm the leader of this organization. These demons are not apart of this organization such as the one you saw. They will do anything to get into it even kill." He sighed and paced back and forth. "Most markings are powerful such as the shape-shifter marks for example." He kept pacing back and forth trying to figure out things and thinking. He rolled up his sleeves and his arms showed the shape-shifter marks and the organization insignia on his right arm.

"OK then..." X stared off into a space as if she was thinking something over. "And what exackly does that mean? I thought that demon was scent by the creature from my dream... 'death'" She snorted and wined.