Ibis and his mother struggled against the harsh, unforgiving winters. Many days were left with starving bellies and weary sighs as they traversed through the empty fields of frost and snow. There was something in him that longed to be part of the pack again, with his pack, even if the leader was a tyrant. Though he desperately wished for the company of his sisters, he knew that these were terrifying conditions he wouldn’t wish on anyone.

His mother insisted they would find hope, that they would find something- but how many moon cycles will pass until that happens? How many moons will they rely on sickly, elderly hares on their last breaths? Ibis was tired of it.

No, he was seething.

How could the murderer have gotten away with his murder? How did his father escape the consequences of being a sick and twisted monster, while he was stuck rotting in the snow with his mother? Was he really deserving of such an awful fate?

His train of thought was interrupted by something he would remember forever from this day forward.

Suddenly, his mother’s legs buckled over her weight, leaving her helpless in the snow. She could do nothing but weep and croak in agony, her heavy eyelids flickering.

“Mother?! Mother, are you okay?” Ibis yelped, racing towards her. His brilliant blue eyes widened in shock as he quivered at her. He attempted to try and wake her up, pawing at her while whimpering. Alas, it did nothing. This was when he started to worry.

Instinctually, he set off to find help, his paws beating against the crisp snow. Fear spiked inside of him, leaving every hair on his pelt bristling like a porcupine’s spikes. Tears pricked at his eyes, streaming down his ivory-white fur.

“Help! Help, please! My mom- she’s cold! Please!-” His voice echoed on into the unknown, bouncing through the eerie catacombs of birch trees. Only silence followed after, their stares leaving him more and more frenzied.

“Someone! Get me help!-” Ibis yowled into the hollow woods, his words tumbling back like rustling leaves, left on the ground to rot. Just then, he heard a spine-chilling screech which sharply shifted to silence. He tried his best to follow through the woods, desperately attempting to find his mother once more. He felt his heart drop when he came back to find her bloodied corpse knocked into the snow, lying by the paws of his father.

“…YOU.” A growl escaped his maws, echoing out into the hollow woods. His paws trembled with rage and fury, about to tear him apart with scarlet-red claws. Cobalt only gave a cold stare in reply, his eyes lacking any warmth or care. To his father, this was just another job to be done for the perfect pack. It sickened him.

“I see you’re still in these barren woods with your useless scrap of a mother. How is it? Struggling with prey?.. Oh, poor you.” He mused, his eyes glinting with mockery as he sneered.

“I can’t believe I thought you would actually make a decent alpha. Your brother…Snow, was it? While he is weak- surely he’ll make a much better leader than you could ever hope to be. I can train him to be stronger- you, though? You’re just a waste.”

Despite the overgrowing frost around him, he felt a fire burn in his heart, just as it did when he witnessed the truth about Everest. Icicle-like teeth stuck out his bared snout, waiting for a chance to sink into him.

“I hate you!” He yowled, tears streaming from his eyes. “I hate you so much! You- you’re a monster! You kill everyone around you for yourself, you don’t even care!” He cantered over to Cobalt, taking the chance to attack him, “You’ll pay for what you’ve done!”

Before he could even land a mark though, he was kicked to the ground, all of the wind in his lungs knocked out at once. It left him wheezing, but not dead. Shakingly, he got up with all the strength he had. While Cobalt was already turning back, Ibis clamped his jaws onto his hind leg, refusing to let go.

Cobalt growled and buckled over his wound, and yet Ibis still held on- all of his determination driven into hurting him. He saw red. His father howled out, leaving the ground quivering. Blood rapidly gushed into Ibis’s mouth, but he didn’t care- he still kept holding on. He couldn’t let go. Ever. Suddenly, sharp fangs pierced his skin, sending him flying off in the other direction. The tyrant towered over him, his sapphire eyes piercing Ibis’.

“I have had enough of you, runt. You don’t get to decide what I do when you can barely even hunt. I don’t have time to kill you right now, but I’ll get someone to if you stay in here for longer than a second,” he snarled.

“I don’t care! I’ll stay here for a million years if I have to! I’ll get everyone to know about you!” Tears pricked at his eyes, teeth bared at his enemy.

His villainous growls were interrupted by husky cackling, mocking Ibis in his place. “Everyone? Good luck with that. Not even a full moon cycle has gone by, and the pack is already teeming with rumours. Have you heard of the one where you ate Everest when he was just a newborn?-” Ibis’s eyes widened. Did they really believe that? No, it couldn’t be! They wouldn’t turn on him that quickly! Would they? “-It’s ridiculous, I don’t even know how they come up with this,” he snickered, “anyways, the main consensus is that you are a good-for-nothing sack of cowardly impulses, ready to come crying back to your mother at the drop of a fledgling’s fluff. Oh, wait- you can’t anymore, now that she’s not here anymore.”

He shifted her paws to her lifeless body, her blood slowly drying over the empty canvas that was the snow-covered ground.

“Oops.”

Ibis was shaking with hatred, every vein in his body shooting out hot streams of blood as he felt his breath quicken at the sight of her. Before he could do anything though, he heard rustling nearby- it had to be his pack. The scent of their silver-lined pelts was impossible to ignore.

“Better run before my lackeys catch you, don’t want to end up in a tight spot, do you?” Cobalt cooed, narrowing his eyes in such a patronising way, that it made his blood boil. Stars, he wished he could tore this monster a new one.

Suddenly, the air was filled with yowling and huffing of his packmates, rushing to protect their “leader,” if he could even give him the grace of that title. It seemed there was Rouge, Sticks and…Aspen?

“Alpha Cobalt? What is the matter? We could hear your howl all the way from the mountain trail. .” Sticks’ hazel-brown eyes glinted under the light of the moon, scouring anything that looked out of place in the striped woods of the forest. “Stars, if we have to go on another outsider patrol…I don’t know what I’ll do anymore,” they muttered, lowering their gaze.

The large wolf only grunted in response, growling under his breath. “Found an outsider near Silver Forest. The thing had the audacity to bite me! Make sure you kill him- he’s starting to become a nuisance.”

They wouldn’t really kill me, would they?- Agh! I never knew it would come to the day where I can’t even trust them- not even my own sister. He merely cowered until a snow-capped bush, cautiously prevailing until their disappearance. I can’t run off yet. I’ll avenge everyone later.

“Kill him? Alpha Cobalt, sir- don’t you think it’s a little harsh? Might only be a pup- the outsiders have been…up to their business more anyway, so it would make sense if a few more pups are running around. Maybe we can just…give him a warning and set him off?” Aspen suggested.

At least I can trust my sister, he thought. She would never betray me. I miss her.

A shadow loomed over her as Cobalt glared at her, looking ready to murder her. “Aspen, my daughter, my kin- my love. Do you think we’re weak enough to let a tumble-brained pup wriggle through our paws? That pup could start a family of their own- that family might start two more and soon we could have a whole invasion on our shoulders! Do you want that, Aspen?”

Rouge shifted her paws uncomfortably, feeling the tense air between the two.

“N-no, sir. I don’t,” she stammered, averting her gaze from his piercing silvery-blue eyes.

Cobalt only huffed in response, “Good. If anything, it’d be teaching them a lesson- take better care of their pups. Maybe they’ll even get out of our territory- it’s nothing but benefits for us,” he murmured, his gaze scouring the area for Ibis.

The crunch of their paws sinking into the snow felt so close, so dangerous, like mighty jaws opening up, ready to swallow him whole. Luckily, he was not spotted underneath the web of branches and leaves that was the bush.

Rouge sighed, lowering her eyelids in disappointment. “Alright, we haven’t found him yet- can we go back now?..” It seemed as if she was exhausted, about to collapse under her weight. Is he working them harder than before? Ibis pondered. Oh no, the pack is already doomed, I can’t even do anything about it.

“Fine. We can leave, if you really want to be so lazy about it,” Cobalt growled maliciously, glaring at Rouge in disapproval. The grey wolf backed up in response, about to defend herself. “No, no. I understand, your little feeties are so tired! It would be a shame if you just searched for a little pup for a minute longer- you would collapse! Go back to the pack and whine to anyone who cares.”

Soon after they passed the border, Ibis was relieved- especially since they were so close. Still, he was in a difficult and terrifying situation, what would he do, especially when his mother wasn’t even alive anymore? What could he do? It all seemed to petrifying hopeless. He was just a lone pup- he shouldn’t have to deal with this.

…but he still did. Somehow, he had to find a way to survive this. Not only that, he also had to figure out how to stop his monster of a father from corrupting the pack completely- even if everyone there hated him. He couldn‘t let that happen to his family!

So he prevailed. He shakily pulled himself up from the cold, unfeeling snow and trudged on, his eyelids threatening to close permanently. As he continued on, he discovered a large tree- suspectedly a great pine from the way the spiky branches all aligned to a single point at the top, covered in thick mounds of snow and frost.

Within the large, wrinkled dark brown mass of the tree‘s trunk, there was a hole cut out- fitted perfectly for him. With nowhere else to shelter in for the night, he climbed in, curling up. Slowly, he could feel his exhaustion overtake him, his eyelids fluttering over as his vision darkened quickly.

Maybe I can rest here for the night.

The next day, Ibis stretched out of the thick blanket of snow that cradled him in a grasp of freezing numbness. He could feel the sun rise over him, its golden rays doing little to warm his frigid pelt of white and blue.

He knew he had to hunt fast- he was starving and he would not last any longer. So, he decided to try. Even though he had practically no training whatsoever, he figured it would be best to try.

A hare caught his eye, with its thick downy fur covering its juicy, plump body. It was in the middle of the snow field, right next to his great pine, the perfect chance to strike.

He tried to get ready, gathering all his admittedly subpar knowledge from sneaking out with his brother to watch other wolves.

He missed his brother.

As he set his haunches down near the snow, he crept closer from behind the great pine, his eyes narrowing as he tried to analyse the situation. Then, he crept closer, closer, closer, closer–

He lunged at his prey, his jaws opening wide, ready to sink his teeth into the hare‘s neck in order to catch it. Unfortunately, he miscalculated his aiming, falling miserably face first onto a particularly thin patch of snow.

In that moment, he could only watch as his catch sprinted away, its thin wiry legs thumping against the snow in harmony to bring it faster and further away from him. Great.

In the distance, though, he could view a familiar blurry black and white figure, slowly getting bigger… no, closer.

It took a few moments before he could make out that the creature cantering towards him was the ’husky‘ that he had met earlier!

”Oh! What are you doing here? Don‘t you have a pack to go back to?“ The husky inquired, tilting her head curiously.

Ibis visibly grimaced at the question. Of course, he knew she was well intentioned and did not mean any malice towards him by her tone, but the mention of his pack brought back memories. Bad memories.

“…Okay, I guess that question‘s remaining unanswered. Aren’t you going to starve out here?” The husky inquired, probably unable to decipher his gloomy demeanour.

Ibis huffed, his eyes trailing to his paws as he murmured, “…I don‘t know. I… I’ve been getting food?..”

The husky narrowed her eyes, sniffling at the pristine chilly air before speaking, “…doesn‘t look like it. I could hear your stomach grumble from all the way over there!”

At that remark, Ibis‘ eyes widened. He never knew how desperate he was for food- but now that she mentions it, his body felt like it could collapse under itself as starvation gnawed at his stomach.

“…I’m so hungry…”

“…I have some kibble back home, if you want.”

Confusion filled Ibis‘ head as he listened to her words. Kibble? What in the mountains is kibble?

“…what?”

“What‘s kibble? Is… is it some sort of small rodent? I’m… a little hungrier than that.”

“Oh- no. Kibble.. ki- you haven‘t heard about kibble? You don’t even know what it is?” Her eyes twinkled curiously, but the question made his skin boil below his thick pelt. She‘s asking it like I’m supposed to know this or something! Does- does she think I‘m stupid?

Ibis‘ ocean blue eyes only harboured a blank stare before blinking, leaving a moment of silence for the both of them before breaking it, “…I’m not stupid.”

…As a response, the husky gave him an incredulous look. ”I- I never said you were,“ she stammered out, so obviously confused by his blunt statement.

Ibis‘ eyes widened, his fur feeling flushed with a sudden rush of heat, practically melting him into the snow and the ground below it. It took another awkward moment of silence before he even tried uttering another word, ”I, uh- I didn‘t mean that. Ignore me. What’s kibble?“

”Okay, so kibble is like these little brown clumps of food that are hard and small and sometimes get stuck in your teeth. Sometimes, though, I get to eat wet food… Wet food Wednesdays are the best.“

”Wet food Wednesdays?“ He wasn’t sure why wet food was supposed to be remarkable to her. He also wasn‘t sure what a Wednesday was either.

”Nevermind. Anyways, if you come and follow me, I’m sure you can have some food! They won‘t mind, I don’t think. They‘re some of the nicest people I’ve met! Well, I they’re the only people I‘ve met- but I’m sure they might be the nicest out of all of them!”

As Ibis padded over to the black-furred creature, leaving trails of pawprints against the pristine snow, he can‘t help but feel a knot of anxiety drag his stomach against his body. He knew what humans were capable of, as he could still recall the events of the Star-cursed Lake.

Surely, though, he could not be hurt more than he is already. That had to be true- he desperately needed that to be true for his sake. So, in the end, he decided to follow her over to what seemed to be a strange looking den made of tree bark and stone, emitting a light that gave off no warmth.

He watched as she trodden up the slanted path, scratching at a large and strange wall of wood. Instinctively, his mouth parted to ask her what she had intended on doing when the wall swung back to reveal a spindly, looming creature with no fur except on the top of its head. It stood on two paws, which were hard and black with string coming out of little holes.