The man lumbered through the grass. He panted as he urged onward, his coal pelt blending into the darkness. He was one of the night. Treading silently, he lifted his muzzle to the sky. There was eerie silence in the night. Stars twinkling down on him, ancestors watching. Stopping to rest at the edge of a hill, his cyan orbs gazed into the universe. Vast the galaxies were, why, he felt so small in his world. He counted the stars, but one particular star caught his eye. It was brighter than the rest, emitting a beautiful golden glow. If his ancestors represented themselves as stars, a brighter star meant a family member had no recently left to join the afterlife. There could only be one wolf who had such a pelt of golden hues.
Mother...?
Just his one thought of his mother unleashed his locked-away memories of his early pup-hood. His sister bullied by her friends, Dusk training with his father, his father rising to dominance and threatening to murder his mother unless Dusk and his sister would battle to the death for his pleasure...all the horror Dusk tried to forget was coming back. The blood, the scars, the death and the darkness, all laid hidden until now. He tried to push those thoughts away as he bolted into a run, trying to chase his nightmares away. His memories were so vivid and graphic, not one bit was missed. The day grandfather Sorik had promised Dusk of great power as a pup. He remembered the exact words that were spoken that night. They echoed in his mind. The day Dusk was excited to go hunting for his first time with father, what an adventure that had been. The evening Dusk stood up for his sister, battling the stupid pups that brought his sister to emptiness. The night Dusk had escaped with his sister by his side...cowardly running from his fears. He had let himself down, his sister, his great potential and mother. He could barely listen to his own thoughts. He ran as fast as he could, ignoring the whispers of his mind that called to him. He shut his eyes in anguish as he pelted into the shadows. He didn't care about the voice that yelled him to stop, how tired he was, he would run. Run from his hidden pasts. The very coward he was.
How long had it taken him to conceal those memories once more? Yet now he was out in the open, sitting quite contently and gazing into the black. A dreamer, he was, perhaps a stargazer. His head was bowed in sorrow, staring down at his paws. Where would he start? Where would he start apologizing for all his idiotic mistakes in his life? He opened his mouth to speak to his fellow guardians, and listening they always are. Yet he felt the presence of someone else. Who?
"Speech" Think
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