◦◦◦ II ◦◦◦

When I was still only a cub, my pack came into conflict with the Fire Seers, known for their vicious nature and immense strength. On the dawn of their battle, their numbers were great, and so my own kind retreated into the mountains. Father did not return from the battle; my mother became widowed at that time, and my uncle stepped up to become the alpha male of the Spirit Seers.
Tension grew within my pack from that day. My mother refused to step down from her alpha position, and my uncle grew irate, having been under the impression that his own mate would rise through the ranks of the pack once he became the alpha male.
And so he decided to scare my mother from her position. Uncle had always been interested in the darker side of the Spirit Seers' powers; how we could control physical beings if we chose, and how we could turn emotion into a weapon to mentally scar our enemies. Such power had not been unlocked for a great many centuries - in fact, last time it had been unlocked, it had been the force that had created the four elements, also known as the "Chaos Theory".
Mother was terrified of this. She would watch every day as Uncle slunk away into the deepest part of the mountains, into the mines that were long abandoned. Seeing his plan, she began to groom me for my future leadership role, though her love never blossomed. Instead, I was almost like her pupil, and every day we spent hunting and listening to the earth's speech together, a cold distance grew between us. One eye was always on me, the other forever following Uncle.

◦◦◦ III ◦◦◦

I was nearing my young adult stage. Several times had males of the Seers glanced my way, beginning to notice the markings that appeared on my pure white pelt as I grew, signifying that I would soon be old enough to break from my mother. Little did they know that we had broken away long ago, and that I now spent an increasingly long time alone, wandering the woods, hearing from the trees of the wars of the other Seer packs that were yet to reach mine, tucked away in the mountains.
Our war was between ourselves. The pack began to divide, many agreeing with my Uncle's grasp for power, spurred into their decision by the fact that his mate now bore cubs. These cubs, it was said, would shape the future of our the Spirit Seers, and carry on the darker powers they would inherit from their father.
Mother grew older and harsher as the days went by. We had begun to hear rumours of other pack members feeling pain when they slept, and claiming that they saw specters wandering out of the mines when the night was deep. One evening, Mother took me into the woods, and I noticed that her pelt was changing from white to grey, signifying that her powers were wearing thin. When they were gone all together, she would sleep and never awaken.
Arazae, she began that night. I fear that the end of the spring will mark my end, too. Once I am gone, your Uncle will be able to launch his new powers and take control, as my own will no longer be able to hold him back. When that time comes, you must take control of the Spirit Seers.
The wind had then sprung up around us, howling in the trees, and I had whimpered meekly.
Your uncle is so very close, Mother said to me. But never forget: your father is closer. He will be the one to lead you to victory, my daughter.

◦◦◦ IV ◦◦◦

As the spring came to a close, and the autumn could be smelt in the gusts of winds blowing through the mountains, Mother grew weaker. She no longer hunted with the pack, and stayed asleep beneath the pines for most of the day. Her fur had now began to fall out, sometimes in large clumps, and she claimed with a dry voice that the land had stopped singing to her. I realised, even at such a young age, that she was all too willing to go on to the other side - there, my father waited, and she had pined for him every day since his death.
And so, on a moonless night, Mother fell into her Last Sleep, as we called it. She was in a horrid, near furless state - not the beautiful lupess that I had always known. After the pack sent her off with a chorus of howls, she was laid to rest in the den where she had bore me and my brother, which was sealed and granted the gift of an oak sapling. The same had been done for my brother and father, and now two small saplings grew either side of Mother's grave. White flowers had, for some reason, always grown on my family's graves and never wilted, even when the heaviest of winter snows fell.
It was on that same night - that sad, moonless night - that my mother's prediction came true. He came to me in my dreams, out of the darkness that encapsulated my senses, the faint auras of lupine specters flanking him on both sides. Catching me unawares, he leapt at me, and in my dreams I was powerless. Uncle attacked again and again, until scarlet blossoms covered my once pure white pelt and I was sure that I would join my family.
But then came a light from somewhere in my dream, one that frightened my Uncle's specters into the darkness once more. It was then I realised that, in our dreams, life and death crossed, for my father's spirit collided with Uncle's then, and I was able to awaken.
I was unscathed, unharmed: the point of my uncle's darker powers was to scare others to death in their sleep, without the need to resort to physical violence. Still, his powers frightened me, and I fled, the wind and the trees ushering me along, leading me into the darkest part of the woods, where the moonlight - had it been shining - couldn't possibly reach.
But I was not alone. In fact, Uncle was already waiting for me.

◦◦◦ V ◦◦◦

It was a battle of the elements. Uncle merely sat there, surrounding by the rest of the Spirit Seers, whilst he sent cutting rain down to earth to drown me. Mother had taught me well however, and I pushed the rain aside like a curtain with a blast of wind; Uncle felled a tree and flames sprouted upon it, leaping from branch to branch, swallowing up the fallen leaves that littered the wood. Many lupes chose to flee, choking in the smoke, yet I stood my ground, again calling up the wind to push the flames back at my Uncle.
My heart had the begun to sting: this was his new power, wherein he turned a lupe's emotions against them and used it as a weapon, almost like a heart attack. It was deep within and I cried out, unable to will even my ears to move. But before I pondered on how to save myself, my legs were moving for me - darting between the flaming trees, the fires sending the whole mountain aglow. My uncle was controlling me, willing me to the edge of a chasm, and the panic in my heart projected itself into a stabbing pain.
I tried with all my might to pull away. Every fiber of my being struggled, and yet it was not enough to stop me - unless I could use my uncle's powers for myself, I was helpless.
But then, as I reached the edge of the chasm, the stars in the sky began to blink out - then, one by one, they descended on the earth, in burning blue streaks that lit up the entire sky as though night had suddenly turned to day. My uncle and his mate, who had been following me all this time, came to a stop, when they were suddenly struck by the falling stars as if they were arrows embedding themselves in their chests. Uncle's powers were shattered; his mate instantly lost her cubs.
As for me, the mental control Uncle exercised over my body vanished.
Just as I myself vanished over the edge of the chasm.

◦◦◦ VI ~ Epilogue ◦◦◦

It was an amazing sight. As I fell, the blackness racing up around me, the stars fell faster and faster, until dozens were about me and I was bathed in light. It was so warm, and sleep overcame me, lifting me out into nothingness; a field of silver grass and white flowers came to me, and in it, I saw my father's face - my mother's too, her paws cradling my younger brother to her chest. I wondered if I had died after striking the river at the bottom of the ravine, and ran forth to meet my parents...
But then it was gone, the bright world collapsing back into dark, and I awoke. Everything was silent, still - the stars were back in their place in the sky. Dawn was approaching, a smoky blue on the horizon, and when I rose to my feet I was very weak. Somehow, I made my way out of the mountains, until I came to the tundra below where the Earth Seers dwelt. I did not know if I would be welcome amongst them - all I knew was that I needed something to eat and a place to lay my head.
But when the Earth Seers did find me, they were not hostile - in fact, they were sad. Their alpha brought me to his pack's circle, where he told me that last night, the stars had fallen from the sky: a sign that chaos ruled once more. And when they returned, they had taken with them the powers of the four Seers packs: that was why my uncle had been robbed of his powers, and that was why his mate lost her cubs. It seemed that, all of a sudden, the Seers no longer existed - the earth no longer entrusted us with its essence, and had taken it back up into the heavens. We could no longer hear the voice of the wind; we could no longer see the future in the flames of the hearth. Now, we were just five packs, divided by a single pack's greed. Our guardianship of the elements was back in the hands of the spirits, as it had been aeons ago.
And so I left the tundra, and for many moons later I heard of the Seers packs dividing, wandering further and further into the vast land. My own pack rebelled against my uncle and sought me out, but by then I was too far away to hear their howls; a lonely lupess on a lonely plain.
And yet, for some reason, I can still hear the call of the wind, and speech of the running rivers. Or maybe I simply remember what it was like to hear.