His parents were dead.
Just like that. He'd only left for a few hours, stealing away in the midst of the night to bask in the cool spring air. The southern continent was still largely new to him, with so much to explore, and he found himself enthralled with the vastness of the land, enjoying how desolate it seemed to be compared to the lands where he'd been born.
He couldn't have been gone for more than a few hours at most. And when he returned, he instantly noticed something was wrong. Warily, with fear pumping in his chest as he leaned into the darkness of the den he shared with his parents, he leaned forward to nudge his father.
It was with startling realization that he noted the den was completely silent. There was no sound of his parent's quiet breathing, and there was no sign of movement from either of them. Though their bodies were still warm, neither of them so much as budged as he began to switch between the two of them, feeling panic instantly grip his chest. "Dad," came his small voice, the normally stoic boy feeling suddenly anxious and afraid of the very event that he'd been preparing himself for since he'd begun to understand just how old his parents were compared to most wolves. "Mom?" There was no response -- there was nothing at all, even as he felt tears beginning to well in his eyes.
Though he'd expected this to happen eventually, he hadn't expected it to happen tonight. And he hadn't expected them to go together. How was such a thing even possible? Why had they done this to him? The pain was nearly unbearable for the boy and he felt a sudden rage flaring in his chest as the reality of their death hit him. It was the most pain he'd ever felt, worse than any small injury and he felt a fury that he didn't know he was capable of.
What the hell was he supposed to do now?
He didn't want to leave them here, but he also didn't know what he would do with them yet. His limbs quivered as he slowly pulled away from them, retracting from the den, feeling despair and anger and everything in between wash over him like the waves of the ocean. His parents were fucking dead. He'd never really gotten the concept of death until now and the finality of it all was terrifying. They'd never talked to him about dying, about the fact that he might someday be alone, that they'd never come back.
All he wanted to do was cry. Unstable paws carried him through the darkness, away from the pain as he let the shadows wash over him. Slowly the trees that had formerly provided him cover grew more sparse, until there was nothing between him and the sky. Overhead the stars gleamed, bright and strong, as though taunting him. A low growl left the boy's lips as he found himself trailing through the thick grass of the plains, his steps aimless and random, no particular destination in mind. He just needed to move.
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