Rhadon- the shining city

Royal palace

In one of the many floors on the upper levels of the palace which were flooded with a dim orange light from the lamps trying to illuminate the carpets on the floors and beautiful paintings on the walls as if to say: "come, you can still spectate the beauty of the palace even at night time.", a nearly untracable shadow was hiding from the view of the lights pressed to a wall. He did not make a single sound or move in the slightest way like he had done so many times already that he had stopped caring at some point for his bodys yearning for movement. His name was forgotten over the years, only called "the herold" by those who knew him and he felt proud of the name since it showed the trust and position he received from his mistress. He devoted his entire being and energy to the "grains of dust" as the organisation he was a subleader in was called and feared by those who knew what they did and specialized in. He had never failed at a mission and he had sworn to himself to keep it at that for his sense of honor demanded it of him.

As he was standing there and waiting, his target appeared in his vision slowly walking down the lightly dim corridor with his long grey beard, face filled with wrinkles, wrapped in his red robes and a slight smile on his face like he always had when he was around all the bootlickers inside the royal palace to not let anyone sneak a glimps at his thoughts and intentions.

As Eredur was passing through the shady corridor, still happy about his successful mission to convince the king to support the agenda of the order he heard a soft whisper from a nearby position interrupting his train of thought of his highly deserving reward that he was yearning for in his head. "Ohh, my dear bathtub, how I want to drown myself in your soft and warm embrace to fill my old bones with life again..."

"Success or failure?", the voice whispered in a nearly inaudible voice, startling him as he turned in the direction the voice was coming from only to discover that he couldn't dicern the speakers outlines in the darkness.

"Who do you serve?" He asked with the code to identify a member of the grains or uncover a fraud in which case he would instantly turn the person to ashes.

"The crowns puppeteer" came the answer and Eredur heaved a sigh of relief to not having to resort to violence at this hour in the night.

"Success" he answered and turning around to leave not waiting for and answer knowing that the grain had already vanished to report to his mistress.

"Now I can finally relax a little." With this thought he went of home to his beloved buthtub.

In a dimly lit office somewhere in the palace which only a handful of people were aware of even existed "the herold" was standing before a desk where the dakest secrets and biggest schemes were coming to life. Behind the desk sat a woman, clad in a black dress with green stribes at the back, black hair and dark brown nearly black eyes like an incanation of darkness. She was the puppeteer, the leader and founder of the grains of dust, member of the order of savants and to top it off the queen of the calm lands. Not many people were aware of her secret machinations and how dangerous she really was. Many thought of her as nothing more than the kings wife and mother to the prince only following her obligations given to her by her husband. But all of them were ubelievably mistaken. But they couldn't really be blamed for their lack of knowledge since everyone that wasn't allowed to know of her identity was swiftly dispatched of to never see the lights of day again.

An eery quiet was dominating the queens office only to be disturbed from time to time by the rustling of papers whenever she opened a new report or compared two manuscripts for their similarity accompanied but the flickering candles which decorated her office and drowned it in a warm yet eery light supporting the permeating silence.

The herold was standing before her desk waiting for his mistress to finish her work and ask him about the mission he had accomplished not to long ago but he wasn't impatient since he would never dare to interrupt his mistress or be disrespectful in her presence.

The time passed and after it felt like hours had gone by the rustling of papers finally stopped as the queen looked up and asked the herold with an inquisitive look in her eyes: "So?"

"Reporting to the mistress, the mission was a success." the herold said while slightly bowing in her direction.

Instead of nodding as a sign of understanding she diverted her gaze back to her papers not bothering to look at the herold again knowing that he would leave in due time.

As the herold left he couldn't hide the happy thoughts from rising in his mind knowing from his mistresses demeanor that she was jumping in joy on the inside. For an outsider is was as good as impossible to read his mistresses feeling from her actions but he had, over the years picked up on some tiny details and movements that indicated her feelings. Thus he was sure alot of future accomplishments to fuel his pride for being a member of the grains of dust were soon to follow.

After the herold had left and the mistress was finally alone again with her thoughts she couldn't help herself but curl the corners of her mouth into an evil smile rarely seen on her face looking forward to crush the damned Elfs beneath her feet while helping her beloved son gathering honor and glory to build a steady future for himself as the king of the whole of Astara at his bidding.

The Old Lands

Far away in the east of Rhadon spanning from the south of the continent to the north parting the lands into two was the realm of the forests- The Old Lands, origin of every living race in Astara and home to the Silverfangs, Kiksuyapi Lycas wolf tribe.

The Old Lands spanned for thousands of miles and made up over half of the whole continents surface. It was the realm of the none humanoid races like wolfs, bears, eagle and so on being governed by the Spriggans, a form of manifestation of the land, for example a river, a mountain or a very old tree. The hand of humanity hadn't reached so far yet and if it did it would in most cases be bitten of by some animal or simply disappear in the huge forests that covered the earth.

No, the Old Lands were unsullied ground, a holy land if you will where nature still reigned supreme.

Tree after tree, varying in the hundreds of different kinds, sometimes crossed by a river sparkling like liquified crystals or a mountain range straightening themselfs into the sky like a child yearning and stretching themselfs for their mothers embrace. Plants were still growing over and under each other not bound to some law to tell them how to grow and animals roaming free and unfettered alongside them to hide their presence when they were hunting for a meal or hiding from chasing predator.

This was a land which mankind only entered hesitantly which truly proofed to be problematic since the Elfs, humans sworn enemy lived in the far east behind the curtain of the forest realm hiding in their cities build in the wooden embrace and plotting against the humans to make their lifes as hard and unpleasant as possible while protecting the peacefullness of the forests.

Inside the Old Lands in a norther region of the forests lay the hunting grounds of the Silverfangs. They were a tribe, or rather called a pack of big wolfs with fur colors varying from white as the moonlight to grey as ashes. Lead by the mother wolf Kiksuyapi Lyca, overshadowing all her peers in height through her anhanced growth the magic provided her, the pack prospered and grew in population and prosperity. The pack numbered a startling 50 wolfs by now and the the wolfs hunted in teams of ten to provide the pack with enough food.

Amongst their midst sat a little boy of the human race. He was three and a half years old by now and had short black hair and had developped grey colored eyes over the years. He started walking at the age of two, much to the amusement of his packmembers as he stumble through their midst trying to look impressive. He learned talking relatively fast for a human but was still at an age, with his tender three years where he sometimes faced the problem of not being able to communicate the way he wanted to which lead to some crying attacks when the other party, the most times Lyca, started teasing him by twisting his words in his mouth until he didn't know where was down and above anymore.

Today was another day where the groups of hunters would gather and set out to hunt for food. Chogan, the human child had always looked at the hunters with yearning eyes wanting to join them in their noble yet exciting cause and become a strong hunter of the wolf tribe himself. That's why today was the day he decided to gather his courage and speak up for himself when facing his mother.

He sat there in the middle of the gathering hunters waiting for his mother Lyca to finally appear. As she did he promptly stood up on his still a little unsteady legs and faced his mother with a grimm determined face. "Mama Lyca, I decided that from today onwards I will be the leader of the Silverfangs hunters!"

He puffed his chest to give his tiny figure a more impressive attire while waiting for his mothers answer.

"The leader hmm? Are you sure you have what it takes to fullfill the role you chose? You will have to face a lot of tasks and responsibilities as the leader." Lyca reminded him with an imperious voice seeming to take his request as extremely important which caused a majority of the wolfs in the surroundings to turn around to hide the tears of supressed laughter from echoing out in a wolfs howling which would ring through the whole valley and cause a lot of prey to be warned of their prescence.

As Chogan heard his mothers words said in such an imperious voice his legs started to get soft again while seeming to reordering his thoughts. "Ahem, maybe not leader but still one of the leading wolfs in the hunting party." he said with an expression saying that he definately deserved that position.

"Oh? Are you sure? Still alot of responsibilities awaiting you." she said yet again with that imperious voice while staring down at the fledgling.

"Ahem, maybe..." as he started rearranging his offer again the pack couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into a concert of howling and laughing while tears streamed down their faces ringing for breath to not fall over.

Lyca was laughing as well while grabing Chogan with her paws and pulled him towards her while patting his little frustrated looking head having discovered that he was subjected to teasing again.

As Lyca still held him in her mighty embrace she said: "We may not make you a hunter yet but how about we bestore you the title of junior mascot of the Silverfangs. You would be the first of your kind so it is a great honor to receive such a title." she said with a giggle suppressing another laughing flash that was trying to climb his way up her throat.

Having heard her words Chogan started to immidiately switch from a gloomy face to one with filled with delight and pride. "Than from today onwards you all shall know me as the junior mascot of the Silverfangs and tremble before my wrath!!" Chogan said while looking as if he was the king of the world and becoming dumbfounded when he discovered all the wolfs surrounding him lying on the ground laughing while holding their bellies with their paws which attracted quite a few looks from their far away families who were wondering what kind of strange ritual they were performing not having heard the conversation.

"Alright, now that you have become an official member of the hunters of the Silverfangs as their junior mascot I will take you with us to see us hunting if you want." Lyca said while wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes..." Chogan began to eagerly proclaim since that had been his dream for such a long time already.

Having heard his answer Lyca lay her massive body down to allow him to climb up on her back so she could carry him atop of her back. Chogan grab on her silver fur and started to climb his way up only to end up panting at the end of the exhausting procedure but marveling at the amazing few you had from up there.

"Alright, then let us move out!" Lyca said and the group of hunters split into their respective parties and began running into the thicket.

As the wolfs were running over branches, stones and jumping over fallen down trees and their stumps Chogan marvelled at the beauty of the forest he had never seen before outside of their living grounds and felt the soothing wind brushing against his face and playing with his hair and clothes. He was wearing a dark brown kilt made of sturdy leather and a cloak made of black feathers was drapped around his shoulders to protect his tiny body from wind and weather.

Chogan had always loved the wind and how it could go everywhere unfettered and without boundaries rustling through the leafs playing with everything and everyone. Lyca, who had observed, taught and protected him since he was an infant had discovered this trait of his and with or without a reason behind it had given him the name Chogan- the black bird. Later he would come to understand that there is more to his name than first met the eye but in his childishness he didn't really care to begin with so he accepted the name without protest.

Soon some of the wolfs seemed to have taken up a trail on a herd of deer and Chogan greedily took in every action of them as they started to split up into two groups. The first group consisted of six wolfs of a rather smaller size. The second group consisted of three wolfs easily being labeled as huge in figure. The first group would walk around the horde of deer and wait there in ambush for them to come rushing in their direction while the second groups job was to spread chaos amongst the deers and urge them in the first groups direction. As the first group disappered into the thicket Chogan and Lyca stayed with the second group to spectate from the distance.

"What's gonna happen next mama?" Chogan asked. "It is important that we stay quiet now so no more questions. I'll tell you the plan after we return to the pack."

Chogan shut his mouth to not let his fellow hunters down and watched with rapt attention visible on his face.

As they approached a grass plain while still being hidden behind the trees they spotted a herd of deer feasting upon the fresh green grass littering the ground. One of the deer raised its head seemingly having felt something but after confirming no smell in the wind it returned to eating.

As they had waited for some time to make sure the other party was in position Lyca gave the signal to begin. One of the wolfs gave a sparp and highpitched howl which was answered by a far away howl from the other group as a signal that they were ready as well. The dear having heard the howling looked up with tension all over them not knowing where the howling came from. Yet another howl was sent from the big wolf near Lyca as a signal that they would begin the asault. The three wolfs jumped out of the thicket with exposed fangs and started rushing towards the herd which fell into chaos.

While the wolfs were chasing the deer rushed in the direction the chasing party directed them to without knowing.

As the deer reached the thicket and prepared to jump into the protection of the woods trying to escape from sight the party laying in ambush revealed themselfs by jumping onto the dear and burrowing their fangs in their bodies, two wolfs tackling one deer to make sure they would get their targets.

The deer nailed to the ground struggled to no avail and as the chasing party reached them they burrowed their fangs in the deers neck to finish them off.

Lyca, with the excited Chogan on her back joined them and checked up on their prey. While they were musing if they could have grabbed more in a different approach their little junior mascot rushed around them while shouting how awesome that was and how cool they looked and that he would join them the next time for sure!

Just as Lyca was about to silence him she discovered that Chogan was already quiet while looking into the west where the vast plains away from the Old Lands where situated. In their hunt they had unintentionally reached the border of the Old Lands and stood upon human ground.

Lyca followed Chogans gaze and it landed on a group of human males who were chopping down trees and burning the stamps to probably increase the size for their future home, or fields or maybe just for grabing some fuel.

Chogan having spotted the humans started to wonder who those men were and as he saw what they were doing creased his brows as a frown appeared on his face and his head started to throb with a headache that pulsed in his head like his heart in his chest when he was out of breath from running. He put his hand on his head while grimacing never having experienced a headache before. As Lyca saw his motion she didn't know what he was doing so she asked: "What's wrong Cho?"

"My head hurts when I look at the broken trees. I never felt so bad before." he said still not sure what was wrong with him.

As Lyca heard his answer she was puzzled not completely sure what to do about it. As she lowered her head again to look at the people in the distance her blood started to pulsate and boil influenced by her rage for the humans and to top it off the magic rushing through her signalling her ancestors prescence and wrath at the humans.

As the humans discovered the wolfs they started to shout and point in their direction signaling and communicating that there were wolfs. As soon as the guards spotted the wolfs they became pale at the sheer sight of the wolfs bodies and drew their weapons in preperation of a huge fight while not letting the wolfs out of their eyes.

Lyca having felt the rage boil in her fellow pack members and her own blood she decided it would be foolish to attack them. Sure they could kill them all but it would probably cause some wounds or even deaths and to top it off they were in company of Chogan, a little child. So she decided to retreat and swiftly gave the signal to the others who grabbed the deer and disappeared back into the thicket followed by Lyca who cast a last look at the humans who seemed to have understood that the wolfs were not there for their lifes and heaved sighs of relief while sheathing their swords.

On the way back to their home Chogan was still deep in thought. As they arrived back home he got off of Lyca and turned around to ask her a question. With a questioning look in his eyes he asked her: "Am I one of them?" Gesturing in the direction they came from.

Lyca looked at him and said with a caring tone: "You are indeed a human but that does not matter to me as you will always be my beloved son and a member of the tribe."

Having heard her he heaved a sigh of relief having thought that he may have to leave the tribe as a human, not realising in his childish mind that he was the only one not being aware of which race he belonged to and knowing it himself would make no difference to his pack.

Now he finally understood why he was taught how to walk and run on two legs instead of all four. He always thought running on two legs would be the basic requirement and one day he would run on all four just as his fellow tribe members and the fur would grow with time as well. But now that he had seen the humans at the border to the Old Lands he knew that he would remain how he was now in his basic bodily structure.

He walked over to the river crossing the valley the pack was living in and splashed some water on his face to cool his still slightly hurting head and spectated his image displayed on the waters surface with new found knowledge. "A human huhh? I think I can live with that." He finished his spectation and turned around to run over to his friends and play with them hunter and prey according to what he had learned and seen today on the hunt eager to tell his friends about it.

As Lyca observed him she contemplated todays events and still couldn't grab her head around a few things that had to do with Chogan. "I guess it's about time to get some answers from Aspect Tirawa what is so special about my son."

She thought turned around and walked into her cave to think on how to approach her thought the best way.