The Glare of the Sun

 It was hot and the wind blowing through her fur felt so dry. 

 It was not what she was used to. 

 The albino girl new this much, even before she'd properly awoken. Her dual-toned eyes opened to the glare of the sun. It was painful and she could already feel the sensitive skin of her nose burning. Where was she? Where had she come from? 

 The wolf sat up, her eyes falling to the skull lying in the sand next to her and the pelt that was partially draped across her. These, she knew these. As important as life itself. She reached out a paw to pull the painted skull closer. Her eyes she narrowed against the harsh glare as memories falteringly filtered their way back in. 

 She knew she was royalty, important, revered. 

 Exalted. 

 But she couldn't remember from whence she came, however. Only those snippets of information. 

 She was important. 

 And yet, she was lost.

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 Further east she went, away from that damned racist pack and towards... what, exactly? Towards where she had awoken, perhaps. No, she didn't want to go there. Didn't want to bother with the men of white who looked upon her with disgust. So instead of going north into the plains, she continued west as the lands dried and she found herself panting.

 Had she still the ears of her youth, perhaps they would have been burning. Nevertheless, her tattered nubs caught sound. Her crimson gaze scanned the land and fell upon a bright reflection of herself in her younger years. Was this yet another white wolf to pass in the blistering weather?

 Except...

 This was more than just a regular white wolf. She stared down the girl, covered in a robe of colours. Blinking out of her stupor, she strode forward. This wolf was barely more than a child and her face looked like kin. Bacchus? The pink tints caused Andraste to blink and huff. “You will burn if you lie there in the sun.” Thankfully, they were far enough south that the sands of desert did not overtake the world.

 There were still faint trees here, rocks jutting from the earth. “Come with me to the shade.” It was more of an order than a suggestion, aimed at the dumbfounded girl staring at a ... wolf skull? The skull was painted as the bear coat and she blinked back to the pearly eyes of the girl before turning and beginning to walk towards a nearby rock formation that would give them the shade they both honestly desperately needed.

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 For how much longer was she to remain this way? Would she perish in the hot sun? These were not the environs that she was used to. Her pale gaze searched around her but it was so difficult to see. 

 Even so, she noticed the equally pale shape making its way towards her. 

 Her ears perked, eyes narrowing as she tried to shield them vainly from the sun so that she may see better. It wasn't until they came closer that she was able to make out their form entirely. In her presence was a large wolf, white mostly with bloodred eyes. Exalted might have mistaked her for her own mother if not for the fact that she knew none of her parents were alive. That fact was ingrained into her. However, this one was made in such a way that her features reflected her own. That nose which she knew was beautiful, those teeth which would strike down their enemies, the fur which showed true royalty. 

 The only thing that marred her appearance was the plethora of scars that most would call ugly.

 But she knew that this was a battle-hardened warrior that knew well enough how to defend their claims. 

 Exalted felt immediate kinship for this wolf was like herself, worthy of her presence and made of royal features. At least, that was what played in her mind. 

 Ears tilted forward, listening to her words. A wry huff escaped her dry mouth. Obviously, the heat was too much for her white coat and pink-tinted skin. 

 Come with her? The voice rang with authority and had she been anyone lesser, the white wolf might have snarked back but she knew that was not the best course of action here. Besides, she was ready to accept help. She shrugged the bear pelt across her shoulders and picked up the skull in her jaws. Wordlessly, the girl followed the older warrior right on her heels. They were so similar; she could almost scent the familial relations. 

 As they drew closer, she could see the blessed shade. Her salvation. Panting, the girl collapsed in the shade. The bear pelt falling fully to the ground while the skull she tucked closely to her chest. "Where are we?" She spoke at last. "What is this accursed place?" For surely this must be hell with such burning heat and scorching sands.

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 The white yearling followed, wrapping herself up in her coat and carrying the skull meekly as she followed Andraste to the promised shade. The witch lay, panting, on the cool sand beneath the shadow, eyes following the younger wolf. Was she not hot, covered in that cloak? Her question was answered as the bear coat was dropped and the wolf laid bare - and the witch knew the girl was indeed one of her kind.

 Kin.

 Like the man in the mountains who was so confused by the idea. Snowy-furred man, that.

 She smiled somberly at the question. “It is hell.” As if reading the girl's mind but of course not. “I am a devil here, tasked by Death itself.” and her eyes fell upon the girl's webbed toes, her fangs oh so familiar with that familiar nose. “And you are kin of some sort. Bacchus.” Perhaps the girl would recognize the name, perhaps not. Perhaps indeed she was of an entirely different family, so far away from wherever she must have appeared from.

 It did not matter.

 She was kin, in Andraste's mind.

 “Did you crawl from the sand or did you awake above it?” A paw lifted to smear sweat across the stone and then she lapped the faint moisture back up. She sighed, looking out across the sand before turning her gaze back to the girl, explaining, “At night, it will be cold. We can travel then.” To the forest, where the girl would be able to survive on her own. Where the sun would not kill her so very quickly. And who knew, perhaps the girl would wish to stick by her side.

 After all, they were family.

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 A mind-reader, this one was. Her head would shift so that she could put the other white wolf in her line of sight. The girl eyed the stranger with equal doses of irritation and awe. Her ears would shift, one tilting forward towards the other with interest and the other falling back with trepidation. A devil? Living in Hell sent by Death? It seemed like rubbish, poppycock. Yet... the woman certainly fit the part and where else could this be? Why had she woken up with nothing but her cloak and skull? In one of the worst climates. "What task is it that you hold?" The she-wolf would ask, curious at what the answer would be. Things to further drive the point home that the other was royalty of some sort of hellish landscape? Or foolish prattle that she could dismiss? 

 Truly she was ready to believe almost anything at this point. 

 "Kin..." She echoed, bi-colored eyes once again roving that scarred figure accented with the beautiful features pensively. "I could sense this. Echoes of forgotten memory has led me to similar conclusions." But the name. "Bacchus." Was new to her. "I was royalty before." Before what? In a past life? Wherever it was, it was not here. "The name is unfamiliar but it matters not... Are you royalty now?" There could be no other answer but "yes". She would accept no other answer but yes. One with such highly sought-after features could not serve below the worms. If she were not a leader now then Exalted would make sure that she would instill such ambitions... if the other would not have it, then she would claim the title herself. 

 It did not matter if she was in hell itself. She would make a name for herself. 

 Her panting became less and she lifted her head. "Above. Perhaps this is truly hell if it places wolves below these damned sands?" Was that just a figure of speech? It did she truly mean that she had to awaken by digging out of the ground? 

 How very interesting if it was the latter. 

 Exalted would nod her head, gaze travelling out to the heat-drenched lands. At night then. "Have you a kingdom we shall travel to?" Kingdom or not, she would not simply leave this woman. Their similarities were too great and her personality and mannerisms too striking for her to simply abandon. Birds of a feather and all that.

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 The stranger asked of her purpose and her eyes lit up. “To ensure the damned serve their penance. See who among them are worthy of atonement - and consume the rest.” She meant so literally and figuratively. Her fire eyes returned to the woman before her, subdued pinks and blues sharing a multitude of emotions that the witch considered passively. Whether the woman believed her or not, it would not matter - though they might be kin, that was her fullest saving grace.

 Royalty. She gave a slight nod, as if believing this. The woman seemed regal in nature though Andraste had encountered few who claimed such titles. She spoke of fragments of memory making the connection and the witch studied her, determining that she had indeed never seen her but it was more than possible they had been distant relations - after all, Bacchus had fallen and Her children scattered long before she had learned of its existence.

 Was she royalty? A bitter laugh nearly bubbled up but was contained. “A royal without followers, without allies, is not much of a royal, is it?” She had no kingdom, none following her every breath. Few friends, though she considered the man she had met once long ago... he was lost, longing for a god who did not desire him. “Death could not hold me beneath the soil of the plains... North of here, I suppose.” She looked towards the direction she supposed was north. “I crawled up from the depths into a land unfamiliar - impossible had it been the life of before.”

 Too true was it that this world was different. Even the giants here were tiny to her, from what she remembered of the men who roamed her birth land.

 A kingdom... no. Not yet. Though, the temptation was great - for why not have a home, a base of operations? “Not yet. It has not been long enough since I found myself here. The west...” she looked towards it with eyes that could kill a man. “It is full of unrepentant sinners. Wolves who believe our kind damned - for the white of our coats. Irredeemable, according to the so called "High Elk" they worship.” She gave a haughty sniff, both as reaction to the idiocy of the words and as if pretending to be them. “Wolves who claimed to hold power beyond their borders.” This was both of the forest wolves and the man of the mist.

 She looked back at the white lady before her. Despite it going deeper into the desert, perhaps going east, even north east towards her waking-place, would be more beneficial, even if it was just for now. “Will you join me in founding the kingdom we deserve?”

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I want to pick up that one Eye of Osiris thread tbh, timed after this one, if you're down and nobody snags it first?

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 Such a noble cause the scarred warrior held. Did she mean consume... literally? It was of no consequence to her. Why not consume the lesser? To make them stronger so that those beneath them would serve a truer purpose. In any case, the young wolfess nodded her head once in understanding. Was this where she found herself? Where her kin were tasked with such a worthy purpose? 

 When the white wolf questioned her about her royal bloodline, the woman laughed. Exalted frowned for a moment, not seeing the humor in the situation... until it was expounded upon. Her ears twitched back as understanding dawned on her, her gaze averted as she glared at the ground. "Then we must make them. For it is an affront for those of our blood to have nothing." Building from the bottom to the top, she knew that they would accomplish it. 

 Hell this must truly be, then. Her gaze found the blood-red tones of the other's eyes. "Was I placed here as well, for a similar purpose as yourself? Plucked from my realm to serve a higher power here?" Would the other wolf know? Surely, she would if she was cast in with Death himself. Exalted refused to believe she was here by happenstance, that this strange place in the belly of the world would not have her here for no reason at all. She was special and those like her were special. She would always believe as such because her ego would allow no less. 

 She fell silent, ears perking as she listened to the older she-wolf before her. Although when she was told of those that dared imply that the white of their coats was anything but pure she scoffed. Her lips pulled back to expose the impressive length of her eye teeth as her eyes narrowed and a low growl emitted from her throat. "How dare they? This 'High Elk' sounds like the talk of the blasphemous. Those with the purest of white coats should be called holy at best and royalty at minimum." She remembered this clearly like a lesson ingrained into her mind. Her pack didn't discriminate against those of darker coats but those with white were clearly favored. "They should be struck down for such talk." The girl sniffed disdainfully. 

 Oh yes, she could see a clear purpose here indeed...

 "Gladly." The white wolf answered with a dip of her head. "We are kin. We must stick together and rise to the tasks bestowed by this land." She would do nothing less for she felt it in her bones that she was made for a superior purpose.

 Why else would she have awoken here away from everything she had ever known?

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 There were no true plans behind her request, no such ideas of what sort of kingdom she would rule. What it would be called, what sorts of things a kingdom needed to survive.

 All she knew was this:

 One: This was hell.
 Two: Death had some purpose for her here.
 Three: That purpose was to devour.
 Four: Those deer wolves really pissed her off.

 The albino asked of her own purpose and Andraste regarded her thoughtfully. “I believe so.” Her eyes traced the thorny jaws that marked their kin. “It cannot be coincidence that you awoke before my paws.” Like a gift from Death itself. A pallid corpse, white as snow, just as she was. Pure. How ironic. “It is plain as day that elk cannot rule over wolves, especially not those as pure as we.” She huffed.

 Then her smile grew, savage glints within her eyes. “While it would be a delight to feast upon them... they should be punished more severely for such blasphemy.” Oh, she could see it now. Stringing up their precious deer, spreading them about. Sacrilege, the wolves of the deer would cry. She licked her lips, looking upon her first sworn ally, her first follower here on this plain. “Excellent.”

 Yet... they were not ready. Two wolves could not a kingdom make. They would need to be stealthy, would need to plan... She looked towards the sky. “We wait until nightfall and then move, once the sun does not burn. Then, we find water.” There was none behind her, so they must move onwards, deeper into the desert.

 They would be as their ancestors: Nocturnal.

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 The girl shivered, not because she was cold in this hellscape but because she felt the power of a kindred purpose. "There is no coincidence. There is purpose for everything." Even the tiniest of worms had a reason for wriggling its way through the dirt. Now, its purpose was lesser than her and her kin's own but there was still a reason for everything. 

 Elk ruling over wolves. The woman snorted derisively. How amusing. 

 "Perhaps eating their precious elk right before them." And then eating them. One side of her mouth twisted upwards into a savage smirk. Cannibalism was not a foreign concept to her. Some wolves purpose was simply to provide sustenance to others. 

 Or provide an example. 

 Exalted would glance towards the sky and nod. "Agreed." The sun would be the death of them both if they decided to travel in the heat of the day. She was content to rest here. Her gaze would find the scarred maiden again and she would say, "My name is Exalted. What is it that I should call you?"

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 The marred witch grinned savagely, accepting this. “Indeed, we are burdened with glorious purpose.” It was their burden to bear and oh how sweet a burden it was. There was nothing quite as sweet as the blood of a wolf damned, though she suspected a certain wolf-who-smelled-of-a-thousand-corpses-in-the-summer would not taste so sweet. She considered her mirror image, back in the temperate...

 Yes, she'd make a visit to him again. Especially sensing that her heat was to come soon, perhaps a fortnight.

 In fact, now that she thought about it, he had told her of this Elkshire pack - though somehow she had forgotten when she had met the deer. In truth, she had thought that perhaps it was a tale. For truly, what wolves would worship a thing of prey?

 She laughed suddenly, both in thought and at the idea of eating their precious elk. “Perhaps we should redecorate their borders with their elk?” Oh, that was an idea. “I feel that a much more satisfying desecration. Fill them with dread - do it in the fog, so they cannot easily track us to hunt us down. Their range is large so they likely have a large population, so stealth is key.” If they were caught, they would undoubtedly be gutted just as they would do to the elk.

 Could a devil die?

 The damned could, she had seen time and time again as she had hunted. Weaklings, especially those perverted cowards that vied to approach her, thinking her standards would be lowered and she would be by their side both as a broodmare and a bodyguard. She scoffed at the idea. If she were to breed, it would be her own decision.

 Her eyes rested on the albino's face, amusement tinted with affection upon her red eyes. “A fitting name! My current name is Andraste, though I have had other names: Saint Faustina, Fen, Advocate, the Gentle.” She raised a brow and smirked, eyes back on Exalted - for there was nothing Gentle about the beast now.

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 The albino girl let out a thoughtful hum, a smirk decorating that fanged muzzle. "With their elk. And their elk's entrails." She licked her lips, enjoying the other woman's penchant for the dramatic. Oh, how she wished she'd thought of that first. It was much more satisfying. The long, slow burn over a one and done deal. "We can bathe in mud and mulch or cover ourselves with the pelts of their precious elk, as well." Any combination of things would help to hide those scents. Besides, if they stole those precious pelts off the backs of their elks and wore them, how much more would that add insult to injury? "Imagine the looks on their faces to see the 'accursed' wearing the pelts of their precious rulers." It filled her with devilish delight. 

 It only annoyed her that they were so few and their enemies so many. 

 "Perhaps one day we shall be so numerous that stealth will no longer be a priority. Though psychological warfare is in some ways more effective than brutish measures." Fear. Terror. It played into unnerving enemies and making them easier to pick off. It was part of something that she remembered. Words and faded echoes deep within her psyche. 

 A fitting name. Her mouth curled upwards into a full smile, clearly pleased by the woman's words and her expression. Yes. Yes it was. For everything about her was exalted. From her soul to the very pelt around her. 

 Although the one before her... hmm. "Were your previous names more fitting in a past life? Although you could certainly be the advocate for our cause now." An advocate for the devil himself. "Does your war-torn appearance hide the gentleness of your soul?" The words were spoken in jest with a dry execution. It was clear that there was nothing gentle about her.

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 The idea of psychological warfare, of taunting the vile wolves with their own putrid gods... oh, it excited the white witch greatly. Her eyes lit up and she growled in approval. “We will mark their borders with the entrails of their gods.” Oh, she could not wait. To hide themselves and their scents would be essential otherwise their victims would know how to follow them, would send their allies after them. “We can roll in rot - there is already a man living near there who stinks of 'a thousand rotting corpses in the summer sun,' as a delightful man I met said.” Perhaps they would be mistaken and think that it was he who caused the issue.

 Though... she wasn't too certain about dragging him into it.

 After all, she doubted he would let her breathe another day if they met again.

 Their numbers were still too small for that. “We will grow, if it requires us to inflate our numbers ourselves.” The long game, yes, but it would be worth it. Would Exalted be willing to grant space in her womb? Andraste had no qualms in it, had plenty of litters in the past. She only had a few more heats left, she figured, before her heats would grow further apart and would thin. “And in the meantime, gather others to assist in our growth.” Men, women, all the same - they could use every set of jaws they could get.

 The conversation moved on to names and she laughed. “Once, long ago, perhaps the names fit.” Or at least, she had made them fit. She had been small, passive, uncertain of herself. No longer. She laughed at the final dry joke - an answer.

 No, she was no longer that gentle little saint. The world had torn her.

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 "Yessss." The yearling hissed in fiendish delight, practically salivating with joy at the idea of such desecration. It was so pleasing to find one of a similar minset to her own. The girl didn't know where she'd come from but she knew that such acts were not to be shied away from. Anything must be done by any means necessary. Rolling in rot and filth would be a means to an end, one to see their enemies twisting in agony beneath their claws. 

 It gave her such a lovely warmth inside. 

 "Perhaps it will cause strife between this pack of sinners and the man of rot." But, such things were for the future. They could not start off so boldly now, she assumed. Lest their adventure be over before it started. 

 Hmm... "My first heat has yet to come." Or at least, it hadn't as far as she knew. "When it does I can help bolster our pack." Another means to an end. She was no summer flower, she knew the ways of the world and as soon as she was ready would help their little group in any way that she could. So long as her doner was a proper male, one that she would not be ashamed to have siring her pups. 

 Exalted would take nothing but the best. 

 She nodded her head, glad that they were so clearly on the same page.

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 Andraste felt her chest filling up with pride at her kinsman's delight, her own teeth clicking together in anticipation of what it was they would do. Timing, though, she wondered... They would need to grow, to expand. She did not want to let the wolves of the deer fester, however, for they too would grow and increase if they were left to it. With a queen so focused on brown and so many brown wolves about, it was inevitable that she would be putting them together to increase her little inbred group.

 Her eyes lit up at the idea of creating strife between two packs that were so-called allies.

 Her mind did travel back to the man she had met, so alike herself but tied to the Nightwalkers. She exhaled in thought, listening keenly as her new ally spoke of first heats. She considered the younger woman for a moment, scanning the shape of her face and considering her age. “Only if you are still of sound health at the time of heat,” she decided in a rare moment of kindness. “I appreciate it.”

 They could afford to be picky, though.

 She gave a smirk as she thought of the man. “There was a powerful man I met in the forests, white as you or I but tall and lean. General Caligula of the Nightwalkers - I plan to seek him out once my heat comes, he may be a viable option for you to as well, especially if I do not conceive by him.” She didn't especially want to risk inbreeding in the future generations of their pack, so she figured it would be good to keep track of potential fathers. “It would be delightful if we were to bear mostly white young, an unholy brood to spite the sinners - but as long as the fathers provide strength and speed, I will be satisfied.”

 In other words, they could find and mate with the brownest of brown wolves and that was fine. At least the two of them would likely bear children that had a heavy presence of white upon their coats, if her own past children were any indication.

 “Now... we should rest. We will be moving through the night.” Her tongue flashed out and she licked her lips, peering out of the shade before shifting to curl up under the hook of the rock. There, she made sure her paws were open to the air for what little breeze they could catch.

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 Only if she were in good health? Ha! Why wouldn't she be? She was royalty and knew she'd come from good stock. Her health and any she mothered would be of top quality. "You needn't worry. Nothing shall cause me ill health, least not for long." Although she appreciated the concern and noted it. Despite their words of sin and treachery, she felt warmed knowing that there was kin here. Someone who was so like-minded and someone she could depend on. A wolf was nothing without proper allies and family, it was what everything was built upon. 

 Her ears perked at the talk of this "Caligula". Pure white of coat? Yes, she was quite interested as those males with mostly white were the most beautiful. Despite being inexperienced in that manner of life, she was still... drawn to them. The only thing she did not like was his leanness but that could be overlooked as any of their brood would likely inherit at least some of her own bulk. Hopefully they would also inherit her beautiful face and fangs. The same face and fangs that were mirrored by the warrioress. 

 She grinned. "Yes, unlike them we shall use any pups birthed despite their colors. It will only enhance our strength to have loyal kinsmen. Strong kinsmen." Although, she would certainly favor any of the white pups for they would be most beautiful and the most... exalted but the others, it would be foolish to turn them away. Strength was strength. "This Caligula sounds promising." Said with a nod as she would only accept the strongest of wolves as a seed bearer. 

 As for resting? Well, Andraste didn't have to tell her twice. The white wolf would nod her head and then lay on her side, stretched out to help keep her a bit cooler underneath the stone. Her eyes would close and within moments she would be asleep as the she-wolf was very exhausted.

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