For Love! For Justice!
Ganta had taken Roza to the west first, spending an evening there to make sure her facial wound was treated before they started towards the south. The young man had decided that there was no more time to delay… Roza had been hurt because Dragoste had not yet been formed. Because those protective borders were not in place to detour his siblings away from attacking her. She’d been innocent, and both of them naive enough to think that talking with the rest of the Hellstrom brood might prove fruitful. Ganta shook his head as he padded on; it hadn’t even been Enigma that maimed her… and that was what worried Ganta the most.
So far he knew Enigma, Forsaken, and Draven {now called Rikeros} were all back in Boreas. They were a threat not just to him, but to his beloved and the children she carried in her belly. The thought of those little ones getting hurt… It was enough to make Ganta feel sick. His ears flicked back at the thought of Roza having run into one of them again. He’d already sworn to go after Forsaken for what he’d done… but… what was he going to do long term? Suppose one of his family members tried to rebuild a Hellstrom-esc pack? Each of his brothers were surely motivated enough to do such a thing…
Ganta’s nostrils flared, quiet and deep in his own thoughts. Roza was close by, and every so often Ganta checked over his shoulder to make sure she was still close by. He could feel a sick churning in his stomach… what if one of his siblings showed up to the claiming howl? What if he had to fight them, then and there, to make sure Roza was safe?
What if… he failed?
What if he got maimed in that fight too, and his sibling, or siblings, were the one that left victorious? Would anyone even want to follow him them? His claws bit a bit deeper into the soil as the young man continued to press on. He couldn’t afford to think like this. He just couldn’t. He had to be strong for Roza, for Dragoste… and for himself. Today was the day he official shed the name of Hellstrom, of his father, and took on a name that meant light in his eyes. For his mother had been the only one pure in that family save for, perhaps, Shiro at this point. But Shiro was so damaged… what was going to become of his littermate now? What had happened to Obscoro? Ganta came to a stop, lowering his gaze to the ground for a long moment.
They were in the heart of the lands he wanted to claim… but still something didn’t feel right. It was the worry gnawing at him, the worry that everything could go so horribly wrong but… Ganta took a deep breath. At the very least he had to try. He had to fight for what he believed, what he loved. With that the young man through his head back and let loose the loudest howl he’d ever given in his life, singing the song of his claim to the heavens. Those who wished for a home were welcome to join him.
Today Dragoste was going to be born! |
I'm here without you...