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[Elric]

So it's about time I start posting the chapters to my short story. Some of you may have read the preview I posted about a year ago. Since I am very close to finishing part one, I will start posting a chapter each week. Of course, only if I get enough support from you guys, since I worked ridiculously hard on this thing. So, here you go. Feedback is welcome.

Prologue:


It seemed there was a voice calling to me in the beginning;


Find me...


The voice called to me and I had an urge to answer it. I took the bait immediately. For every quest there is an end. Mine, although I haven’t found what I was looking for, has ended. Here I am, the fox that was so determined to find what he was looking for in a cage hopelessly laying on the ground. A prisoner of humans. I am Elric, and this is my story.
---
Chapter 1
I was the last one to open my eyes. All of my brothers and sisters saw the world for the first time before I did. Eventually they all left to start their lives, as for me, my eyes were still sealed closed. Mother was worried for me, but she still took care of me. She fed me her milk for food and although I never got the chance to ever see her, I distinctly remember her voice. I remember her voice, a voice so soothing and peaceful it could lull me to sleep at times. She would sing to me. She would say my name and when she spoke I felt so safe, like a guardian angel was carefully watching over me. Before I would fall asleep I would hear her voice whisper my name.

“Elric.”

She said my name so smoothly and I always remember her comforting warmth. It all changed though. One day my mother went out. I felt her warmth leave me and felt the chill of wind for the first time. I waited for her patiently almost positive she would come back to see me and I would hear her comforting voice one last time. She never returned. My eyes cracked and for the first time all I saw was light. At first it was startling to see for the first time. I was completely comfortable with the darkness I had seen for the first few weeks of my life. The light was so bright to my eyes. Before I knew it the light turned into a blur and that blur turned into shades, and the shades became more and more distinct until they were colors and objects. This was the world. Strange, mysterious and frightening. I knew that I was a fox. I knew how to walk, and see. I didn't know much. For the first time I looked around to see where I lived for the first days of my short sheltered life. A little tunnel under the ground. Warm, secure and dark, but as I looked at the blinding light ahead of me I couldn’t shake the feeling of lurking danger. I used my strength that I didn't even know I had. I must have developed this strength all this time I was laying down against my mother, when my eyes were still sealed shut. Before I knew it I was standing. Steadily I put one paw in front of the other as I made my way towards the light which was blinding me. Step by steady step I inched towards it. Soon I started to move a little faster, and before I knew it I started to walk and was out of the old shelter in which I called home. Giant trees loomed above me, and the yellow and orange leaves seemed to have completely covered the ground.

It took me awhile to get used to this world I was so suddenly thrown into. So strange and full of wonders, it was hard getting out and on my feet. I was confused, a little bit scared, but I managed to survive. I learned how to get my own food, hunting came natural to me and to be quite frank it was a thrill to chase down your food to eat. Not only a thrill, but also rewarding as well. I learned the ways of the forest, the seasons and the weather patterns and dug my shelters before rainy nights and blizzards. Time passed and I began to forget about my mother and that old dark shelter. I became independent and I soon knew a part of the forest like the back of my paw. I survived, and well... thats it. I didn't have any motive in my life except to simply survive. One night I had a dream. In it I was in pure darkness. It surrounded me. Then suddenly, out of the darkness came a light, and with the light I heard a voice repeating:

Find me...

I awoke in my den startled and panting. It was then I realized it was merely a dream. Then I realized what I had to do. I remembered my mother’s soothing voice. It was the same voice in the dream. I suddenly knew what I had to do. I was going to find my mother.

[aaron]

Loved it on both forums,

[Blake]

Hmmm... I'm anxious to read the next chapter. You definitely have my interest.

Looking forward to when you post the next bit!

[Fiery]

Looks like nobody liked The adventures of Rich100 and kirbylover.

[Elric]

Spoiler

Chapter 2
The luminous moon lurked over my face as I wondered the forest. The trees glowed with the brightness of the moon above. I usually kept exploring during the night for food. Small rodents typically only came out at nights, at least the ones that I personally liked to eat. Plus I didn't have to compete with the other animals that also particularly liked the animal. Suddenly I heard a blood curdling scream that raised the back ends of my fur straight up. Then a haunting howl. I turned my head to my left. In the distance, in a field between two shady trees was a pack of wolves. In between their feet was a rabbit. The middle of it was torn apart with the insides jutting out of it. The eyes were now fogged up and the mouth was opened. The look of sheer terror on the rabbits face was still there as if it was still alive. The wolf in the front raised his head, the dark crimson blood of the rabbit was along the edges of the wolfs mouth and drops of it poured onto the ground. Fear crept into my body, and I was frozen stiff. Their glowing dark red eyes were gazing straight at me. Of course, rabbits aren’t enough for a whole pack. They needed something much bigger to satisfy their carnivorous appetite. The only thing I could think to do was run. I looked back and I saw them raise their heads to howl again and then start to run after me.

I did what my instincts told me to do and ran as fast as I could. I saw behind me the wolves abandoning what was left of the rabbit and starting to now chase me. I knew I couldn’t confront them because they were much bigger than me and I would be snapped like a twig if I faced off against them. I had to outsmart them. Suddenly I ran into a bunch of tall thick grass. I couldn’t see the wolves, but I could hear the hard tappings of their feet and the anxious panting not too far behind me. They were gaining on me fast, and my energy was limited and draining. I had to think of something. The only thing I could see was the tall thick grass in front of me. If I didn't find something soon they would gain up on me and I would be done for. I started to run even faster, in hopes of seeing something that would save me from the beasts trying to consume me. My energy was slowly starting to run out and I could hear the cackles of amusement from the wolves in the background slowly getting closer to me.

This was it for me. My life that had barely started was going to come to a bitter end if I couldn’t find someplace to hide. I frantically looked around while running, and the feeling of hopelessness started to escalate as I saw nothing but tall grass and various plants on the ground. I started to pant even harder and knew in the back of my head that I was soon going to be too exhausted to even move. I could only go so much more before I would eventually collapse onto the hard surface and gasp for air out of exhaustion.

Suddenly while running something caught my eye. It was a dark spot on the ground. I knew immediately what that black spot on the ground was; safety. I started to frantically run to it panting heavily. I dived into the hole and backed myself into it. Now all I had to do was wait and hope that they wouldn’t find me. I knew they probably lost my scent by now, because I got ahead of them luckily but knew they could pick it back up and find me right away. I could hear the nearby tapping of a wolf. I couldn’t tell how close it was to the hole but I could hear sniffing and slow pats on the ground. It had picked up my scent. I scooted backwards more. I heard the slow steps toward where I was, and I was convinced that he had picked up my scent and it was slowly leading him to the hole in which I had taken cover.

Another piercing howl from the distance. One of the wolves probably found a bigger animal to hunt down and consume. Wolves seemed only to go for the biggest to take down. I had been replaced. I heard the steps coming towards me stop for a moment and then heard the pidder patter of steps go into the distance. I laid in the tunnel still trying to catch my breath silently in relief.

Unexpectedly I heard a whisper right beside my ear...

“You should know not to wander on nights like these when the moon shines so bright.”

Edited by Elric, 24 February 2013 - 05:20 PM.

[Fiery]

You should probably put spoilers.

Edited by Reggie Fils-Aime, 24 February 2013 - 06:04 PM.

[Chaos]

This is wonderful!

[Elric]

Chapter 3

 

 

Spoiler

The cold air of the whisper circulated in my ear and it sent shivers shooting across my back. Fear crept into me once again. My unease subsided as I slowly turned my head backward to see who was speaking to me and what inhabited the burrow in which I was intruding. It was a black fox with glimmering green eyes that almost seemed to shine among the darkness surrounding us. The edge of his tail was a pure shade of white. He was only slightly bigger than myself, and from that I made the assumption that he was only a bit older than me. 

 

“Well, are you going to keep staring at me or are you going to introduce yourself?” 

 

I looked down not realizing that I was staring at him for so long. I had never met another one of my kind before, and so I wasn’t quite sure how to act. “Elric.” I responded quietly still looking down. 

 

The fox grinned. “Elric... Ok. Follow me Elric. We shouldn’t stay so close to the surface on a night like this.” 

 

He was right, the wolves could always come back if they didn't catch the bigger victim that they abandoned me for. He started to walk down the narrow hole and I started to follow right behind him. The place in which he lived in varied drastically from the place where I was brought into existence. The place where I spent a great deal of time in was not as deep and narrow. It was wide and you could see the sky if you looked up. We crawled further into the tunnel and soon we were in a wider space. 

 

“We should probably stay here until daylight," the other fox said to me. "The name’s Creon, if you were wondering. I am very familiar with most of the area. Including the good places to find food and shelter. This area’s not the best to live in though. What is a young one like you wondering about here? This is wolves territory.” He asked as he looked at me inquisitively. 

 

“Well, I could ask you the same question. Why are you here?” I asked out of pure curiosity. After all, he didn't look much older than me. 

 

When I asked the questioned Creon the same thing he simply gave me a small grin, saying; “Well I guess I just have a lust for adventure and have become addicted to danger.” 

 

I looked at him with sort of confused expression on my face. I thought his response to my question was absolutely bizarre. Who would live in a area just for the sake of being in danger and to have a sense of adventure? At the time I thought it was actually a bit ridiculous reason. I realized hadn’t answered his question once again. I took a deep breath and started to give a brief explanation of why I was just wondering around on a night like this: 

 

“I’m searching for my mother.” 

 

Creon’s eyes widened and looked up at me with a bewildered expression of surprise. He looked down again and a hint of strange emotion filled his eyes. It was almost as if they were clouded with thought. 

 

“Ah.” He said almost at a whisper, still looking down as if he were in a trance. “We should probably go to sleep now. We need plenty of energy for tomorrow.” 

 

With that Creon curled with his back towards me and closed his eyes. I was exhausted. My legs were weak, and I had a few cuts on my paws from running. I curled up and started to close my eyes when I heard the voice of Creon one last time before we dived into deep slumber:

 

“I want to help you find your mother.”

Chapter 4 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

A faint beam of light hit my eyes lightly and they began to slowly crack open to a blur, until after a few moments I got used to the brightness emitting from the entrance of the hole I was curled in. Something about the cave felt safe. It was filled with comforting warmth that emitted throughout the place. The warmth of the cave made me want to stay forever, and never worry about the worries of the world and all of the dangers it held. It had a different feel from the burrow I was born in. It was a feeling of safety. I was fully awake and I turned my body to look to Creon, however all I saw was the empty mound of dirt and dead grass in which he had laid down on. Panic filled me as I looked around frantically looking for any sign of him. I spotted a trail of paw prints leading from the mound in the floor to the cave entrance. I wondered what Creon was doing out there. I was concerned that something had happened to him. Maybe he had changed his mind about helping me, thinking that I was too much of a pain to look after thus making him abandon me while I was asleep. The thought of it made me terrified. I didn't want to be alone. 

 

 

I stretched my legs and then started to frantically scurry up the tunnel towards the bright day light. As I got through the opening of the burrow, I quickly scanned the area in hopes of seeing Creon around. He was out of sight. 

 

“Creon!” I howled. There was no answer. I howled his name once again at a louder volume in hopes that I would get a response this time. Nothing but a few birds flew out of the towering grass that surrounded the area of the burrow. I look to the ground desperately and sniff for his scent. I catch a faint sign of his trail, and decided to follow it into the grass. I hated going through the grass. The experience of being chased down by the wolves made me permanently frightened of it. I was afraid of what I might encounter. Creon’s scent started to get stronger and my legs automatically started moving faster and faster. The scent continued getting stronger and stronger until eventually there was a clearing in the thicket. In front of me was a river. The water was full of life; it gurgled and splashed and roared with intensity. While the river was alive, life seemed to be cradled around it. Tall plants thrived on the fertile soil next to the banks, and various small creatures croaked and scurried inside of the leaves and stalks. Life even thrived inside of the water. Groups of large silver fish moved quickly through the rapids. 

 

 

Across the rapids I saw Creon. He was perched on a log staring into the clear water. I called out to him and his ears pointed up and his head turned towards me. He gave me a small grin and then pointed his attention once again to the water. What was he doing? Why was he so fascinated with the water? Suddenly Creon launched himself downward, all four legs fully extended as he dived into the rapids. I watched with wonder at what he was doing. Moments later Creon popped up from the water far away from where he was originally perched with a medium silver colored fish wiggling in his mouth. I looked in awe as he came out of the water towards me and plopped the fish onto the ground. 

 

 

“Good morning,” he said with a grin. I stood there dumbfounded for a second with my mouth open searching for words to say to him. “What? Have you never fished before?” He asked me noticing that I looked confused. 

 

 

“N-no,” I said looking down at the fish. Creon bent down and ripped open the fish and started to eat. It was only a matter of time before the fish was nothing but a pile of bones. 

 

 

“Come on. I’ll teach you how.” Creon said as he walked over to the log he previously leaped over to catch the fish. I followed and steadily got onto the log. 

 

 

“Basically you just have to wait until a fish comes directly beneath you and wait until it is in front of you. Then you just dive in and get it. The fish with try to squirm away, so make sure you have a firm grip on it when you got it in your mouth.” 

 

 

I looked down and waited. A fish swam directly below the part of the log I was perched on, and then I used my back legs to push off of the log and into the water. I hit the water with a fierce splash and frantically tried to bite the fish. It was too fast and swam away before I could even get my jaws close to it. My head popped up above the water. My ears went down in dejection that I didn't have a fish in my mouth. I was disappointed, but I wasn’t going to give up yet. Creon gave me more detailed instruction. He told me I let the fish swim too far ahead of me and I hesitated to jump. 

 

 

“Let your instinct be your guide. Don’t think too much, and just do when you feel like it is the best time to jump.” He instructed me. 

 

 

I let his words into my mind: 

 

 

Let instinct be my guide.

 

 

I tried a second time as a fairly large bright silver fish swam in front of me. I waited, and then plunged again into the rapids. Nothing. 

 

“You were thinking too much!” He said to me as I once again crawled onto the log disappointed. 

 

 

This time I took a deeper breath through my nose and tried to clear my mind. The only thing I did was stare at the clear water running across below me and the dozens of silver fish madly swimming down the river. Then, I don’t remember much but the freezing cold water rushing through my fur and the bright crimson red color that began to fill the water around me. My head burst from the water. In my mouth was a fish violently convulsing between my teeth. Creon came over to congratulate me. I celebrated by eating my first catch.

 

 

For the rest of the day Creon showed me the different parts of the forest. He showed me the parts with the tallest trees, where the flowers bloomed, and where the most mice burrowed. There was one last place that he thought was the most special though. He guided me through the winding road of trees and soon we came to the edge of the treeline. I will never forget the first time Creon showed me the place outside of the forest. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. The opening was a lush green valley full of small hills and short green grass. There were no trees in sight, just endless green grass between the hills. The sun was setting in on the horizon, and it was the most beautiful sight I had ever witnessed. We spent the rest of the afternoon there sitting upon cool grass. He spoke to me about the valley. He said that every time he went there he had this feeling when he sat on the hill at sunset. He couldn’t explain it, but it was a warm feeling beside him. He called it the presence of the valley. I still don’t really understand what he was talking about today. 

 

That would be the last time we would lay eyes on that beautiful sight. 

 

 

Soon before the sun set completely we made our way back to the burrow. My legs were weak and still ached from fishing and all of that walking around the forest. I was exhausted. 

 

Before we laid down to go to sleep Creon looked to me. 

 

“Tomorrow we are going to start looking.”

Chapter 5

Spoiler

Chapter 5

From the moment we departed on the search the following day we never thought once about any lingering danger; even though we could feel it radiating around us. It was almost like there was a dark sinister aura that surrounded the section of the forest we never dared to explore until now. Behind the front lining of trees we could only see darkness. Not a single beam of light dared to peek through the sea of pitch black. We didn't know what lied inside of it. Dead and wavered bushes with jagged crimson colored thorns covered most of the entrance to the foreboding part of the forest in which we were about to departure into. The clouds were a shade of dark grey  above us, as if they were planning something devious. These were not normal trees. These were trees that I had never seen before; trees that were the color of a charred black. I asked Creon why the trees were like that, but he never answered me directly. 

 

“Why are we going here again? You really think my mother could be in here?” I asked as I looked at the sea of dark twisted branches before us.

“I don’t. There is only one way to the other side of the forest though. We have to go through here first,” He said as he walked in front of me with a voice of determination.  

 

 

The thick clouds lingering above us were darkly clumped together and gave off a menacing presence. 

 

Before we knew it we stood at the entrance. It was a tunnel shaped entrance with thorns surrounding all sides. From examining the dark  and narrow path in front of us, we could see that some of the branches had fallen down onto the ground. Creon decided to lead the way and go in first, crawling in carefully to not to get snagged by the sharp thorns.  I followed close behind him as he had instructed, mimicking the steps that he took. As we traveled deeper into the tunnel we came across a large branch that had broken off of the bushes above us. It twisted across the path and we could see it’s large jagged thorns jutting from all angles. Creon cautiously outstretched one leg over the branch. When it was safely on the other side of the branch, the other three legs soon came over as well. Creon looked back with a confident smile as he was untouched by the thorns and signaled me to now maneuver over it. 

 

Following the exact same procedure as Creon had, I lifted my paw over and touched the ground on the other side of the branch, the other paw following it. Now that both of my front paws were on the ground, I continued and lifted my right back leg. Suddenly, just as I was getting my right back leg over the thorns, a jarring sound boomed above us. I jolted, and because I was frightened by the sound at the moment my other leg quickly moved over with the rest of my body, scrapping against the branch filling my skin with small, but thick thorns. I yelped and clumsily bumped into Creon who, from the impact, tumbled over into the side of the bush. 

 

It took me a moment to realize what I had done, because my mind was racing from wondering what the sound was from above. The questions floating around my head soon disappeared as I saw Creon on the ground. It took me a few moments to realize what I had done because I was focused on my own pain, which was pulsing through my leg. Creon was laying on ground panting heavily, probably overwhelmed by all of the thorns that now covered his body. 

 

“A-....are you ok?” I asked in a panic of worry. “I’m fine... let’s keep going. I’m ready to get out of this place,” he said as he struggled to get up and keep walking. I knew he was lying about being okay. I could see the cuts from the thorns and that the crimson red  was now dripping from his side. We could see the faint glimmer of light that was our exit out of the treacherous hole. My mind soon wondered again what was happening above us, and what that large cacophony above was. The dim light soon got brighter and brighter. Creon was not doing so well. It seemed like he was dragging his body with all his strength, trying to ignore the immense stinging sensation on the right side of his body. 

 

When we finally got out from the hole I immediately looked up. The sky was darker than  I had ever seen, and water leaked from above in mass amounts. It didn't take long at all for both of us to be soaked in water. I looked down at the puddles and began to see that it was slowly turning red. I turned to Creon to see him not looking well. His eyes looked tired and he was panting. “Let’s find some shelter,” I told him. He nodded in agreement. Just as we began to walk, we heard it. It was such a distinct sound, one that I remember hearing clearly before. 

 

It was the howling of wolves. 

Edited by Elric, 06 March 2013 - 03:17 PM.

[Alianjaro]

100/10 would read endlessly again.

[Elric]

Chapter 6 was kind of hard to write. I hope you enjoy it though. 

 

Spoiler

 

Chapter 6

 

 

We looked over and could see the glimmer of their eyes as they glared at us. They stood at a hunch, probably evaluating on how to catch and kill us. We stood petrified with fear, looking at each other with panic. Creon couldn’t move that well. How were we supposed to get away alive?  There wasn’t any place to hide this time. The cold water coming from above began to pour harder.  A shiver ran through my back, but it wasn’t because of the water. I began to think that this was the end for both of us. There was no way we could fight off a pack of wolves. They were larger, stronger, and could catch us easier because of their numbers. 

 

The wolf in front of the pack once again began to raise his head to howl, but was interrupted. Another large boom echoed in the sky, making the pack slightly startled and panicked. The water  stopped falling as intensely from the sky. The wind began to furiously blow. Another boom.  Shortly after, a flash of light cracked on top of a tree. Upon the dry tree was red glow that seemed to be consuming the tree. We looked back at the wolves to see them now running the other direction of us. The red light acted as our savior only for a brief moment. 

 

The ravenous red light quickly consumed the dead and dry tree, and moved onto the ground. The light began get bigger and creeped towards us. 

 

“We have to get out of here,” I said looking at Creon. 

 

For the very first time, Creon gave me a worried and slightly hopeless expression. 

 

“I know it hurts, but you have to try,” I tell him. 

 

Creon was reluctant, but nodded at me and began to limp as fast as he could. I could only imagine the pain he was in. Thorns had gotten not only into his side, but into his paws. Each step probably drove them deeper into his skin. The red light was growing bigger and spreading faster by the second. It began to produce an overwhelming heat that made us both pant. It consumed anything in its path, leaving a dead and black corpse. If we got too close to it, we would also be consumed. It also produced a gray cloud. Whenever it came close it was hard to breath. Even the clouds it produced were dangerous. We had to move faster. I started to run faster, and Creon began to ignore the pain and run behind me as well. The heat the now immense red light was emitting was getting more intense. 

 

We just kept running. We didn't look back. We could feel the heat as the carnivorous light crept behind us. Creon started to run at a slower pace. I could tell that he was slowly losing all of his energy. I was also starting to lose all of my energy, as I was running at a slower pace than I was previously. From a distance, I could see an opening in the trees. I knew then that it was where we had to go.

Suddenly Creon, panting, stopped running completely. I looked back to ask him what he was doing and he immediately answered me. The glimmer of hopelessness was more evident this time.

“Elric..I can’t.... go...any further. Go... without me..” 

 

I looked at him with an expression of surprise. From the first time I had met Creon, he had always had a look of determination and confidence in his eyes. Looking at him then, I couldn’t see even a glimmer of hope.

“You can’t give up! We have gone too far for you to just give up. C’mon Creon, we don’t have that far to go.”

 

Creon took a deep breath and looked at me. A little glimmer was in his eyes. He shook his head and started to run again. The fire had crept up dangerously close to us. We had started running just at the time. I could see the opening getting closer as we ran. While Creon was struggling, his motivation had seemed to come back. I was getting more tired, but as I got more tired, my determination began rise. I had to find my mother. That vicious light wouldn’t stop me. As we got to the opening in the forest, we both saw something that we had never seen before. It was a gap between two forests. The gap was barren and the surface seemed to be different. We looked at each other with a hint of confusion. 

We didn't have time to stop. Creon bolted out in front of me and I followed. The only thing I remember from that point on was stopping mid-way in the gap to stare at two pairs of bright light. The lights zoomed towards both of us. We looked at it with a combination of horror and awe. The light came closer and closer at an unbelievable speed. I remember looking at Creon for a brief moment before my vision blurred into blackness.

While I didn't know it at the time, that was the last time I ever saw Creon.