Set Me Ablaze

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What had poecessed Cross to want to swim to the island? Well it wasn't like his first paddle across a channel. The swim he'd made to Nephilium Island with Awaken had been much more difficult and he'd been even younger then. Perhaps he just wanted to make sure he still had it. Lately he'd been testing his strengths, pushing his limits.... and it was shocking him to find how few he had. Back in Mt. Volkan with Eria he'd taken down a deer by leaping at it from an angle and ripping out it's throat as he flew past. What kind of wolf does that? Then just the other day he'd had his first outing to the Battlefield and faced on a violet youth named Basilisk and found that with all his training and instinct he was already a capable fighter. Now he'd just made a swim through choppy stormy waters and reached the island with enough strength to go for a job. Maybe Cross should've been proud and elated and celebrating, but he wasn't. He was just trying to figure out what all this meant and what he was supposed to do with it.

He remembered, when he'd been younger - before the incident at the border - he'd over heard his mother and his uncle talking. Crusade had started Glaciem and she'd only passed it on to Gargoyle because she'd had no children of her own. But then she'd become mates with Cifer and Cross's litter was born, of which Cross was the eldest and seemingly most active in pack life. Gargoyle and Crusade had been discussing the possibilty of him becoming the next Alpha. Him, an Hier to the ice realm.

But then everything had fallen apart. Everything. It was annoying. Cross and his family had picked up the shattered peices and most of them had stayed together. But things were changing now and his parents were getting old. They'd be leaving soon - Crusade's last journey, and Cifer and Creed were going with her. Crucible - Cross didn't know where that boy had gone off to. Perhaps he'd decided loner life was better. Cross was a little more alone. But that's alright he told himself. It's something I ought to be used to by now And yet.... now he was begining to wonder.... There was no kingdom left to rule, but perhaps he was still meant to be a king.

Only time would tell. And in the meantime he had to get out of this rain.

He'd been on the island for some time now - choosing to walk along the strange beaches until he could himself out of sight of Alacritis and just staring at the endless water. The overcast sky finally decided to break, though, and the boy rushed into the trees to try to find some sort of shelter that wouldn't come toppling down with the first stray lightning bolt.

What he found was a cave - which he immediately sprinted into. Wet paws slid against the stone, coming to a stop with a click of his claws. But when he raised his head he realized he was not alone. There was a shadow at the edge what light managed to filter through the clouds, and Cross's nose was too waterlogged to tell clearly it was a female wolf. For all he knew it was some kind of rare island best. With hackles beginning to raise - all the more spiked from being wet - he let out a slow, even growl, so low it was barely distinguishable from the storm outside. "Who goes there?"




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