"Fire!"
"Red auroras!"
"Scram!"
"Retreat for your lives!"
Neko froze silently at the sight of a natural disaster destroying her home; the place of so many memories, so much love, where she had been born in and raised in along with her pack. She had a frightened feeling swelling up in her frozen face, as if it were scared there for life
All of the others were pacing back and forth, panicking, looking for a place to go, while Neko kept her paws on the ground, breathing heavily. She had a terrified look in her eyes; a look that told of true fear, staring blankly into the fire. All of the other wolves were running around in pointless circles, caring for themselves, as if Neko wasn't there at all; as if she was a ghost."Neko, move you dog!"
For a heartbeat she hadn't heard the voice motivating her. "Look here you clump of fur!'"She opened her eyes and searched for the origin of the voice. What she found was the friendly face of a pack-mate as she shook off the dreadful feelings from her nightmare.
"You have orders to go on a juveniles' checking patrol through the river in the forest from Alpha Coldfaith." The wolf updated her on the news that went on while Neko was sleeping.
Neko hesitated to tell the wolf, or any wolf, about her dream. "Do I have to, Beta Goldenrage? I wanted to get enough shut-eye before I did anything for the pack." she begged.
"Orders are orders, I'm afraid," Goldenrage insisted, "Plus, the pack needs your sense of nature for the look-out." Neko replied that she understood, and managed to give him a small smile before she lost herself in his dreamy eyes.
The two wolves walked out of the dark, red cave, pebbles crunching underneath their soft pads. In the somewhat early time of day, the sun's weak light began to strengthen, lighting the clearing around them. Surrounding the clearing were tall, red canyons. The harsh rock was spotted with the few green vine weeds that were sparkling with dew. This Is where the RiverCanyon pack lived.
Neko padded over to a tall, slim wolf with a green-colored pelt.
"Hey, Herbin," she greeted him. "You must be going on the territory juvenile patrol party as well."
Herbin turned to look at her at the sound of her voice with his sparkling eyes and brief grin. " You bet; after all, your parents needed to send out a juvenile assessment soon or I was going to challenge them!" Neko could tell he was joking about assaulting the Alphas; he was a loyal and sweet pup at heart.
As they started toward the edge of the clearing, Neko glared down as the thought of the fire in her dream returned. However, she didn't notice that Herbin was still by her side.
"Neko, you okay?" he interrupted.
She looked back up at him in surprise and realized that he was still there, and was wondering why she seemed to be glaring at nothing. "Yeah." she lied.
"Well, while you were sleeping, the pack made a large catch." Herbin informed her, "I could barely resist, but I waited for you. Come on; let's go to the food pile."
"Thanks Herbin!" she replied with a smile.
They made their way to the fresh-kill stash, which had been hidden in a large crevice inside a mossy rock. Neko tore a section of deer meat away from the corpse, as did Herbin. They hurried to the young wolves den with their prizes in their mouths. As Herbin was leaping toward the same cave as the cave Neko had rested in earlier, she slowed down a bit. Herbin lied down, forepaws and meat in front of him. He glanced over at Neko, who was still standing on all fours.
"Hey, Neko, you sure nothing's wrong?" asked Herbin, curious.
"Hm? Oh, no, I'm fine, thanks for asking though." she lied.
Though Herbin could tell she was obviously lying, he didn't want to make her feel any more uncomfortable than she already was. "Ok then, if you say so. Well, let's eat!"
After Herbin and Neko ate, the two friends rested for the amount of time to bark, when they heard a disgraceful howl. It was from Goldenrage, reminding them about the juvenile assessment.
"Abroco Herbin! Regus Neko! You're late for the assessment! What are you thinking?! Hurry it up!"
"Oh great, he always uses our full name like that when he's mad!" complained Herbin.
"Yeah? Well, I think he's dreamy when he's mad. He looks so serious!" argued Neko with a lopsided smile on her face, eyes seemingly lost in Solatus Goldenrage's call.
"You make me sick," Herbin joked, " Alright, Neko. We'd better go. The ordinionis is probably getting worse and worse, by the minute, waiting for us. And you know what? Earlier I was getting uneasy waiting for it. Come on." And with that, they both left, siding with Goldenrage on their way towards the forest.