Night of the Wolf - Prologue
Through time immortal, they roamed the lands as conscious beings savoring the offerings of the wind and sun. For of these elements they were born, the radiation of a newborn universe, coupled with the zephyrs and gales that pushed the newly born outwards.
They frolicked in the darkness, dancing with the joy of life. As the galaxies were born, they played amongst the stars, weaving the barren dusts into solid balls and brought forth new worlds to play on. Over time as they grew older they settled down onto the worlds that they formed, taking pleasure in introducing life and then letting it take the form it so chose.
Each world developed differently, shaped to stimulate the pleasures of its creator. No two were alike, and many were left barren of life, so that a comparison could be made. For what is light without darkness, or for that matter, life without death?
On one such world, alone amongst its barren sisters, a diamond in a bed of coal, life began with death. For it’s creator was lonesome for her fellow brethren and thus in an act of will, she ceased to be. But what followed in her place was a fragmentation of her very being. Several entities in place of one, each with their own area to care for; some the wind, the rain and even the pale sun and others yet nurtured the various plants and the small animals that were only yet beginning to open their eyes. She, who was the Mother of All, lived in each and every one of them and though she Herself ceased to be as She once was, She still maintained prescience through her children.
And so it was for many years, as they nurtured the young life on the planet, shaping the animals and yet letting them grow as they would, teaching them and giving them a will of their own. A few animals transcended above their fellows as they absorbed their teachings and were brought to a higher level and became the teachers of their kind. Sometimes there was only one, sometimes more, depending upon the nature of the animal.
The wolves had a pair, an Alpha Male and Female. He was glorious silver and his mate was a brilliant white. He offered strength and protection, She offered life and death.
The wolves prospered and flourished under their watchful care. Though fair, oft times they could be harsh, pushing the packs hard so that they would strengthen. In time, the wolves evolved to fit their various terrains, and though the most fearsome may have been the dire wolf at one point, the favored species became the gray wolf. Intelligent and swift, they outdid the stronger, but yet slower dire wolf and prospered when the world turned cold.
Many other species of wolves developed but the gray wolf inspired the legends that grew throughout the lands, and become feared as well as revered by humans when they came upon the scene.
In time man and wolf learned to live with each other, coming to depend on the other for protection, food, warmth and even love of a sort. However, though they played a part in the breeding of the common dog, they stayed aloof more often than not, bestowing their companionship on their own terms than on mans.
Aloof or not, it was in their very nature to watch over mankind, though oft times weaker, they had a tenacity that carried them through many a hard time that would have killed of another species. It was this tenacity that even led many a daring young child to integrate itself in with the pack. And it was from these that a new line of mankind developed, for though many were pulled from their surrogate families, ignorant of the ways of mankind and thought dumb. And even though many wolves were killed in the process of protecting the one that they felt as a true pack member, there were still others that listened long and hard to the callings of the Gods and forged a new relationship, one of man and beast. Brought up in the ways of man and wolf, these were a people apart, for they understood not only the Way of Man, but also the Way of the Wolf.