A Light in the Dark [Open]

[Cascade]

The height of summer was dreadful. The sweltering heat made even the shadiest trees unwelcoming, and the rivers and streams that ran along the valley felt like crowded public pools with all the wolves who relied on them to keep cool. Bantha hated it. Ironically enough, he wasn't a big fan of the heat, and he quite looked forward to the day when he was immune to the sun's most violent rays. Unfortunately, that would be quite far off. He had only just managed to learn how to conjure something stronger than sparks, and he was still unable to control the flames that got away from him. 'Flame...' he thought, setting a tiny light upon the tip of his claw, 'More like flicker.'

Bantha had slunk away to the caves to escape the summer heat, delving deep into the damp caverns until he reached a spot that the sun couldn't touch. Some meters away, he could see a spot of sun from the cave entrance, but otherwise the only light came from his tiny flame. Pressing his back against the cool cave wall, Bantha set a flame upon the cave floor. There was no fuel for it to burn on the cave floor, but he could keep it going with concentration. Were he sitting in a bed of dry leaves, the fire would catch quickly and he would be powerless to stop it. But this phantom fire, this "seed" of flame and this alone he could put out. Furrowing his brow, he struggled to increase the power of the fire, only managing to increase its size to that of a candle flame. Maintaining fire without fuel was tricky business.

[6dewdrops]

Melody

[Deleted]

Apollo wandered aimlessly as mumbled words fell out of his mouth. His orange and red eyes were wide and shifted to and fro in a crazed manner. He had seen something and it had been wonderful. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, a wolf made of fire coming down to him from the Sun. It was a surreal moment and one that played over and over in his mind. He just could not let it go to forget it and allow the memory go into the more obscure reaches of his mind.

"Sol's Flame is the answer to life, the only answer, the one answer." Apollo mumbled "We must give ourselves to the flame, only then will we reach our true forms... he promised he promised he promised he promised, give in to the flame..." Apollo murmured and lifted his head to howl. Except instead of a howl it was a cackle. As far as Apollo was concerned he had found his purpose in life and was absolutely ecstatic.

However it was hot, he was hot... too hot! Oh woe was he, unable to withstand the blessings of Sol's power. Apollo continued on, searching for a form of shelter or shading to help him cool down. It was hard having a pelt that was nearly totally black. Thankfully, there was a caver nearby and it was considerably cooler than outside. Apollo was only going to stay near the mouth of the cave... however something caught his eye. It was enough to draw him deeper into the cave.

"SOL!!!" Apollo cried out, rushing inside. "Oh how your beautiful flame flickers in even the darkest of places!" Apollo smiled. Until he bumped into a she-wolf. He hadn't seen her at first as the cave was rather dark and hard to see black pelts in it.

"Oh, excuse me, miss!" Apollo laughed maniacally. "Have you come seeking Sol's Flame as well?" He laughed, looking over at the fire and.... that wasn't Sol.

"... You are not Sol..." Apollo frowned slightly. "BUT!!! Sol has graced you with his Flame! You are so blessed to be able to ascend from your mortal form..." the red touched wolf laughed, his teeth glinting from the phantom flame's light as he smiled.

[Cascade]

A shadow engulfed the dot of light at the mouth of the cave for a moment, and the flame faltered briefly as Bantha was distracted from maintaining it. At a glance, though, he could tell it was another wolf. Apparently she couldn't tell he was there though, because she was practically on top of him by the time his eyes met hers. It seemed as though she wasn't expecting company either, as she stared stupidly between him and the flame that stubbornly persisted on the cave floor. What a distraction.

"There are a number of other caves to escape the sun, girl," he huffed, the flame rising slightly on each enunciated syllable until it had doubled in size—still small, but a pleasing development. He was improving much faster now that he had broken the barrier of what he called "the basics." Less pleasing was the unwelcome presence of a stranger, after he had gone to such lengths to isolate himself.

Before he could say anything else, another wolf came barging in. This one, a male, was ranting and raving like a lunatic, and Bantha scrambled to his feet in case he decided to make any sudden movements. Lunatics were unpredictable, after all. The flame snuffed out in the commotion, enveloping them all in darkness, but Bantha would not leave himself in such a vulnerable position. He breathed out suddenly, and a flame shot from his mouth to the opposite wall, igniting some moss that clung to the cave rocks. It was very damp, too much so to burn naturally, but Bantha kept the seed of the flame going until the heat evaporated all the moisture, and from there the moss caught easily and illuminated the cave well enough for them to see each other.

"I do not know this Sol," he said warningly, "But I can guarantee you that he is not here, and I would advise you to go looking for him elsewhere."

[Deleted]

The split colored wolf could have laughed at the miserable long coats that desperately gathered at the water's edge to escape the heat. His short coat was quite perfect for this hot weather, and he felt more than just a little bit energized from the sun's rays. He was capering across the ground as he made his way rather gleefully up the mountainside, not knowing exactly where he was going, or what he was looking for.

He stopped and looked curious when his long ears heard a rather chilling cackle, a wide grin breaking his face in half as he went to follow the sound, hauling himself up on his front legs every now and then as he practically danced along, graceful yet erratic, purposeful yet chaotic. He was a performer, and was almost always moving, standing still felt unnatural and wrong to the eccentric wolf.

He looked curious as he saw the muttering madwolf investigating a cave, grinning a wide grin as he scrambled right up the rock face, his deft paws easily scaling the stone. When he stopped his climb he found himself on top of the cave, peeking over the entrance with curiosity, too much in fact, as he suddenly lost his footing and slipped, either hitting one of the wolves near the entrance, or the cave floor, either would be most unpleasant.

[6dewdrops]

Melody

Melody narrowed her eyes and inspected the wolf in the cave. He seemed to be a natural colored wolf with a stocky build. His attentiveness to the flame implied that he was the one controlling it. That made more sense as Mel realized that the flame was attached to nothing. It simply hovered over the floor. She glared at the flame, wondering how much power he had over it. If he had enough mastery, he could easily harm her. Mel let the thought sink in and looked at the wolf more. She didn't want to get on his bad side, but he didn't seem one to anger easily.

The male spoke and Mel gave him a glare. A snap erupted from her mouth and she stepped past him into the back of the cave. "I don't recall passing a border of any kind." If he really wanted to be alone, he should have found a place more inaccessible. Even a lunatic was able to find this place. Literally.

Mel sat in the back and glared as the strange wolf approached. He was mumbling nonsense about "Sol." From what she could tell, he didn't have any foam coming from his mouth, so he didn't have rabies. Mel chuckled. So he's just crazy. Her head shook in disbelief. It was difficult to find people so lost in themselves nowadays. In a way, she was, herself, someone who lived within herself, but luckily, she had yet to become lost. Hopefully she never did. At least not to the extent that this wolf had. Mel looked at him and then turned back to the wolf that controlled the flame. How would he react?

The wolf spoke harshly and Mel smiled. Well that answered her question. She waited to see how the lunatic would take the insulting of his "Sol."

[Deleted]

Apollo laughed, shaking his head at the light colored male. He didn't know. He did NOT know! Inconceivable! The poor lad must be informed of the great and powerful Sol at ONCE!!! Of course, not many people knew about Sol... which was unfortunate because he was the Lord of all life and destruction. Perhaps Sol realized this and made Apollo his prophet? Oh how joyous he'd be if that was the reason why Sol spoke to him. Apollo would have to ask the next time he spoke with Sol.

"Silly, silly, silly, silly little pup." Apollo giggled, "So very silly, how cute." He gave his crazed smile and moved closer to the fire blessed male, tilting his head as he did.

"Sol is INSIDE you!" Apollo whispered like it was a secret. It was a very loud whisper, however. "Sol is fire, the flame power, life AND death, the reason for the season!!!!!" Apollo exclaimed. "He is a wolf who lives in the sky and came down to give us his light so that we may be like him and join him in the sky!!!" Apollo gasped ecstatically, but soon he dropped into an aggressive stance. Apollo growled, backing off from the two wolves.

"But that SHE-DEMON!!!" Apollo howled angrily, "She STOLE HIS POWER AND REFUSES TO GIVE FIRE TO US!!!!"Apollo snarled, pressing his forehead against the cave wall and continued to growl.

His growl gradually shifted into a maniacal laughter once again, turning to look at the she-wolf and light male.

"But shhhheeeee gave fire to yooooooouuu...." Apollo giggled. "Sol is you, you are Sol there is only one possibility.... and that means you are so much closer to Sol." Apollo cooed. "You are a demi-goOOOD—!!!" the crazed wolf yelped as something fell on top of him. It scared him more than it hurt him, however. Apollo turned to look at their new guest and smiled.

"Hello, have you come to learn about Sol, our Lord and saviour?" Apollo smiled at the split colored male whom sat upon him.

[Deleted]

(Cascade , you around, Cascade , now 6dewdrops , and now@dandyandy)
Wing had been padding away from Havoni when she caught the smell. She stalked forwards, her pure white pelt glinting in the summer sun. She had a twisted leg, but who cared? It was just a stupid leg. Her splayed paw was also nothing that bothered her. She slinked into the entrance, the sun making her fur glitter. It would be nice to get out of the sun as well, white wasn't the best choice for the summer as well as black.

She growled when the male started talking about Sol. He sounded crazy, talking about Demi-gods and whatnot. She flicked her tail and cleared her thought. "Um, am I interrupting something? Also, congrats on your power, who ever you are." she said looking at the older female. Wing was a young adult herself. She started inside the cave, and a faint growl escaped her mouth. Crazy wolves who believe in gods, just as crazy as wolves who think I have power because I'm white. My mom was white, my entire family was white! Like the snow in my mother's stories. she thought. She looked at the third wolf, a younger female, maybe Wing's age.

[Cascade]

Bantha was about to give a sharp retort to the female when the raving lunatic went off on another rant. And then another wolf appeared. And then another. Bantha's head was spinning as the—not massive by any means—cave became more and more crowded. The whole reason he had come up here in the first place was to escape this noisome tomfoolery, and now here he was in the thick of it.

"Get back!" he snarled, flames leaping from his mouth in a wide arc as he stood his ground, hackles raised. "What is the meaning of this? Is this a joke to all of you?" He really wondered if all of these wolves could be in cahoots with each other; it seemed wildly unlikely that after a good hour of restful solitude, a veritable horde could descend upon him by pure coincidence in the span of five minutes.

"You." He said to the the crazy one, the one who had called him a demi-god. The male was pure insanity incarnate, for sure, but Bantha saw potential there for...preferential treatment. "You have seen my power, a small portion of it at least. Would you like to see more? I'm sure, er...Sol meant for you to stumble upon this cave today," Bantha thought quickly on his feet, "I'm sure he meant to send his prophet to me, right?"

[6dewdrops]

Melody

Multiple wolves appeared suddenly and Melody shrank back into the darker portion of the cave. She didn't like talking with one other wolf, it was even worse when there were four. How she had not noticed these other wolves baffled her. Missing one scent on a mountain wasn't a big deal. It was windy. There were the other distracted of her paws. And other reasons she didn't feel like listing off. However, missing the scents of four other wolves in such a close vicinity was just embarrassing.

Melody growled to herself, but stopped midway as she saw a burst of flame. She cowered back slightly and narrowed her eyes at the crazy wolf. Was he trying to kill her? A scoff escaped and Melody lay down on the cold stone floor. It seemed that the situation was getting interesting. Although she may not like creating drama, or any relations for that matter, with other wolves, Melody could not deny the fact that she enjoyed a good dramatic moment. A standoff between a pyromaniac and a lunatic? Who wouldn't want to watch?

She placed her body into a comfortable position with a good view of the action. As she waited for the next move to be made, Melody brought her paw to her muzzle and began to lick the caked blood from her pawpads. Despite the commotion, she would still rejuvenate in the relaxing shade. She would make sure that nothing would get in the way of that.

[Deleted]

Apollo's ears perked as excitement shined in his eyes. The demi-god was talking to him!!! AND HE KNEW HE WAS SOL'S PROPHET OH THAT JUST PROVES IT!!! The red touched canine squeezed out from under the split colored wolf that had fallen on top of him before prancing up to the demi-god.

"OhyesohyesohyesohyesohyesohYEEESSS!!!!" Apollo cried out before falling into a play-bow, his tail wagging so rapidly he might as well fly off into oblivion. His happiness was overflowing so much that his tongue had rolled out and was now hanging off the side of his tongue as he panted. This was the happiest day in his entire life.

"Sol does many things that mere mortals like myself do not understand, but of course a demi-god like yourself knows who I am!!! HAHAHA!!!" Apollo laughed and rolled around before hopping back onto his feet. Yet he bowed his head once again after. He didn't want to disrespect a holy being! Even though said holy being was angry for some reason. Well, fire is a passionate element, maybe this lesser god was just being passionate too.

"I would be blessed to be able to see more of your awesome power..." Apollo spoke humbly, "Though you need not exert yourself for my sake, I am happy to see what little that I did..." he added. The crazed wolf lifted his head once more, revealing his puffy, watery eyes. He looked as if he had been crying with joy as he smiled despite the tears falling off his cheeks.

"Please, I wish to teach the world of Sol and his flames, how his light protects and gives clarity and life... You're the first ascended being I have met, what would you like to tell those of us seeking Sol's blessed life? I shall tell your tales to all in my travels, I swear this!!!"

[Deleted]

Wing shook her head. This wolf was crazy, talking about Sol and stuff. She flicked her tail and growled in a low tone. She might be disabled, maybe, but she was strong. She wished she had a power, that could help her with this. She set her gaze at the black male. She looked a little scary with the sun glittering on her pure white fur. Her eyes stood out like fiery sapphires against the snow white backdrop. She made sure everyone would notice her by continuing to growl at Apollo. She looked at the other two wolves. One seemed scared, just like Wing felt. Just Wing was trying to to get scared.