Lingering
in the Shadows

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EVANESCENCE - BEFORE THE DAWN

Meet me after dark again and I'll hold you
I want nothing more than to see you there
And maybe tonight, we'll fly so far away,
We'll be lost before the dawn...

If only night could hold you where I can see you, my love
Then let me never ever wake again
And maybe tonight, we'll fly so far away
We'll be lost before the dawn...

Somehow I know that we can't wake again from this dream
It's not real, but it's ours

Maybe tonight, we'll fly so far away
We'll be lost before the dawn...

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The beginning

["Just one,"] she said, her aqua gaze glistening as she looked towards her spouse, ["after all of this time, the prophecy, there's just one."]

["But he's ours, Shine, ours... and the Kingdom awaits to meet him."]

The Treshin race of lupines did not live in a conventional pack. instead of a pack, it was a kingdom; and instead of an Alpha Male and Alpha Female, there was a King and a Queen.

Treshin, in elvish, translates to sun worshipers. I know what you're thinking, how could someone who makes such valiant efforts to avoid sunlight, be a sun worshiper? I will get to that. Anyways, in ancient Treshin prophecies it was said that two pups would be born into the Treshin kingdom with birthmarks and gifts from the sun. They would be part of the Ones called Promised.

When I was born without any siblings, the King and Queen, otherwise known as my parents, believed the prophecy had failed to fully come true. I was born with the birthmark that was prophesied, and with the birthmark came the ability to empathize; to literally feel what others were feeling. The ability was fueled by the sun's rays, and with the will of my mind I could feel what others were feeling when I chose to do so.

["Striider,"] the large green male spoke while looking down at the miniature version of himself, ["one day it will be your responsibility to manage the Kingdom."]

The King's gaze shifted towards that of the swollen belly of the Queen, ["very soon you will have to show such responsibility in your new role as a big brother."]

I was seven years old the day Devil destroyed my could-have-been peaceful life. I will never forget the day I met him. He's a beast, a six-feet-tall on all fours monster, carrying nothing but destruction in his blood-scented path. He was hunting "Promised Ones" -- any creatures with the birth mark that I had. The beast believed that any creature born with the Promised symbol was predestined before birth to use our powers to destroy him.

["Go Shineitah, and take Striider with you. We will hold the beast back as long as we can."] desperation filled the tones of the King.

["No, Sunder! I won't leave you!"]

["Our children are meant for so much more than we could have imagined, Shine, now please... just go!"]

My stubbornness has both been a savior and a fault in my life. I sneaked away from my mother, who ran with every ounce of power her expectant-mother body would allow. I went back to our home cave, in some naive attempt to help my father hold back the beast.

Instead I just bore witness to a gruesome scene. Lifeless and still, the soulless carcass of my father lay upon the cold stone of the cave floor that once was home to our happy family. Pools of red stained the room. I didn't even get a chance to mourn before everything went black.

["Where's your runt sister?!"] the deafening tones of the beast felt like sharp knives stabbing in the deepest of his gut.

["I don't have a sister.."] his voice so frail, so small compared to the monstrous boom of the beast.

["You speak the truth, yet know the lies. Death would be too easy a punishment for such naive wit."]

["Even the power you hold is one of weakness. Empathy is useless to me, but you'll see. With it you shall lead me to what you fight so dear to protect."] a broad, malicious smile spread across the black lips of the beast, ["Come sunrise, your gift will be your plague."]

There was no pain, that is until I woke up to deafening cries of anguish, and very physical feelings of agony. Feelings that were so obviously not mine. Jolting with the pain, I pulled into the darkness of the cave -- and the pain stopped. Sunlight had seeped in through the mouth of the cave, and the rays had tickled my paw. But once I had pulled out of the light, the pain had ceased.

I tested my limits. The beast was gone, yet I was trapped. The sun, like bars to my prison. The more of my body that touched the UV rays, the more pain and anguish I would experience. I could no longer control or focus my empathy, instead it controlled me.

Devil had cursed me, turning my gift into my punishment. If Devil, the beast, was gone -- he surely had gone after my mother. I wish I could say that I ran out into the sunlight the moment I had realized that fact, but I didn't. I was afraid of the pain that the light would bring. Afraid that it would be too much pain for me to handle and that I would crumble beneath it.

["Hey there, little guy.."], the kind young voice didn't seem to match the scarred body of the nineteen year old skunk lupe as he approached the sobbing pup in the bloody cave, ["... this isn't a very happy place to be is it?"]

["If the beast sent you to get information out of me, he - he's not getting a word!"] such bravery coming from a small frame shocked the skunk lupe.

["I would never ally myself with Devil. It seems we share a common enemy little guy,"] the skunk male moved into the cave, the afternoon sun-rays slipping off of his back as he, too, became submerged in darkness. ["My name is Sacrafiice... let's get you out of here, okay?"]

Sacrafiice came into my life, with full knowledge of the beast. Apparently he had made it his life mission to travel from land to land, following closely behind the beast, with full intent on helping creature's whose lives were impacted by Devil. He comforted me until sundown, when I was finally able to leave the presence of my father's corpse and my desolated home-land; furthermore, Sacrafiice made my mission his own -- to find my mother before it was too late.

All night we searched, and when sunrise came we found shelter for me from the rays near a pond in a forest. I had been looking so frantically for my mother, and focusing outwards so much, that I hadn't even taken a moment to look down at my paws. If I had, I would have noticed that they were no longer the green ones I had been born with. They were brown tipped, with brown leopard spots over shadow-grey fur. At the pond side, I noticed the difference in my appearance while taking a drink of water.

Devil had changed me, more than I had known.

Family

We searched for another full night for my mother, and still we could not find her. I was so determined, and we were searching so much, that we didn't realize that the sun was rising the morning that I got caught in the sun's rays.

The moment the sun's rays hit my fur, a mass of pain washed over me. It crumbled me with pain, and made me completely immobile.

["Striider! Striider are you alright?"] worry filled the tones of Sacrafiice as he dropped the large pup from his mouth and onto the shaded forest ground.

["He got to her, Sacrafiice, he got to her.."] Striider's head pounded with the after quakes of his empathic ordeal, ["I felt her die."]

Sacrafiice had carried me out of the sunlight, but the whole time that I was immersed in the light I could feel any and all the negative emotions that had ever been felt within a two mile radius. The pain was so much that I thought it would kill me, for every feeling I was feeling felt like it was my own.

And in the midst of all the pain, my mind was focused on that of one. My mother. I felt her, she was scared. Prematurely she had birthed my sister, and as if all the pain that that encompassed wasn't enough... I also felt her death. Devil had killed her, in one simple moment, and he had taken away her life. Then the pain ended.

The search was no longer about finding my mother and my unborn sibling and saving them. It was about finding two bodies.

In three days, I had gone from having everything, to losing all my family. I honestly don't know how I would have been able to keep up the search if Sacrafiice wasn't with me. By the time the sun had set again, we had scoured most of the southern half of the forest.

I heard the cries before I smelt the blood.

["I promise you, Striider, that Devil will one day pay for all he's done to you-- and everyone else..."]

The skunk and shadow lupines stood amongst a pool of lifeless red fluid from the stiff body on the cold forest floor.

He could not even muster himself to cry again, ["There's only one body..."] Did the beast take her? Was Devil, right now, torturing the small pup?

Amongst the horror that once was my cheerful mother, I heard a ruffle in the foliage on the forest floor. Moving closer, I then heard a growl.

***IMAGE OF SHADOW PROTECTING SUNIITAH***

There, in the smallest shelter of leaves and branches, was a small black gruslen, and behind the small gruslen, was an even smaller ball of pink fur. My sister. Alive.

Sacrafiice and I took the pup, my sister - whom I named after my parents Suniitah, and raised her near a waterfall south of where the Treshin Kingdom once was. Sacrafiice became like a big brother to Suniitah and I, and out of the tragedy of the loss of my original family, I gained a new family in them.

Devil

The beast still lives on to this day. I wish I could say that the only encounter I had with Devil was the day that he destroyed the Kingdom, but I can't. Devil has come into my life, on countless occasions, to try to kill Suniitah. Suniitah was born with the prophesied Promised Ones birthmark; furthermore, she has the ability of healing herself.

Suniitah cannot control this ability, it kind of just comes out of her when she's in great danger. It is because of this ability that Suniitah has never died -- even though Devil has tried many times. If he ever succeeds in killing her, he will receive her power. This is why he wants to kill her. He is a power thirsty monster.

Just as my father once told me, it is my responsibility to be a good big brother. With every ounce of my being, I protect Suniitah. Every time Devil has come into contact with her he has dwindled down her sanity and perception of what is safe and what is not safe.

I may have to keep her on a short leash, but I will never let Devil succeed in completely taking her away. Never.

Relations
Family, Friends, & Foe

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Memoires
Of Encounters

Places
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Credit
Where it's Due

Everything on this website, unless otherwise stated, was created by Jessika {Jepawsbo, tr0pz, trompz, tropzi2, siikka}.
I spent a lot of time on the art and layout on this page, so please don't steal any of my HTML/CSS, design, or my art. If you would like help in making art or layouts I would much rather you ASK than steal.

Theft is mean... D:

Any art seen on this page, that was made by me, can be found on my DA account {Jepawsbo} where I (usually) have information about how I made the art/what brushes I used/etc.
The character, and design, of Striider belong to me-- stealing or copying any of my ideas is rude and down right evil.

Feel free to neomail me with any questions you have. I do not find curiosity an insult. Thievery is an insult, not a compliment.

Lingering
in the Shadows

Summary
of Traits