So Take This Night,
Wrap It Around Me Like A Sheet

Ashiel strode along the wall that stretched above massive drifts of snow. He'd travelled far to the north and felt that he was finally making progress. As he traveled along the way he eyed the forest near him that gleamed with the scent of a mortal pack. So there was one all the way up here? Ashiel let the borders be and instead continued to work his way along the way. It was the work of humans, of that he was certain. He'd heard the stories from his mother and knew that the unnaturally crafting of this stone was a mark of their mischief. He was glad they were gone, whatever they were.

Snow fell in small, gently drifting flakes. They landed on his muzzle and he quickly lapped them up. Hmm… he hadn't seen snow in what felt like ages, at least not that he could remember. Ashiel glanced quickly around then tipped back his mouth wide open to try catching a few flakes on his tongue. Hardly god-like behavior but this once he felt the child in him twisting incessantly in his heart.

"Ouch! You're gonna tear my fur out!" His angry words earned him a thump upside the head. "Quit your whinging and climb!" If he hadn't been so busy clinging to the wall he'd have retaliated. The boy had, at the insistence of his companion, climbed a tree that had fallen on the wall. The top of its splintered trunk was flush against the wall but a few feet short of the top. While it greatly reduced the amount of climbing he had to do, he was still a little too short to reach the top of the wall without assistance and that was where Amadeus came in. The little monkey had wads of Jupiter's scruff balled up in his fists and was trying his hardest to help drag the much heavier critter up onto the wall as the boy climbed. Finally, after a few more whines and insults were exchanged, Jupiter was up on the wall. Immediately his frustrations were forgotten was he gazed around him. They were so high up! This is what it must have felt like to be a monkey. It was a cool feeling; being able to look down at the ground and pity all the ground dwellers who were stuck below. Maybe this was why Amadeus was such a butthead. Giddily Jupiter took off running along the wall in search of animals to tower over. Behind him, still untangling strands of blue fur from his fingers, Amadeus was caught off guard by his charge's sudden bolt. "Jupiter," he cautioned, "Wait for me! And stop running! If you fall and crack your head open I'll leave you here!" To this Jupiter scoffed. That was a lie and they both knew it. Ah ha! There was a wolf up ahead. The big brown guy was standing there with his head thrown back and his mouth wide open like he was laughing at the sky. "Hey, you!" He slowed to a more leisurely pace as he drew closer. Once he was within comfortable speaking distance he dropped his chin to his front paws so he wasn't looking so far down his nose at the grownup, and asked, "Whatcha doing?" "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"

So Take This Night,
Wrap It Around Me Like A Sheet

Ashiel couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as he caught a snowflake on his tongue and savored at the cool chill of it. He wanted to hold onto some of this a little longer. Once he became a King there would be no place at all for childish behavior. It wasn't something he could risk without raising questions of his maturity and capability of leading. He jerked his head down as he heard scratching and immediately his eyes went to the trees. Was it a pair of unusually large squirrels going at it? A voice yelled at him from above and he gazed up to see the strangest looking pup he'd ever seen. The little creature was a stunning swirl of blues and seemed to glow. Near him was a monkey-like beast. Was this a spirit? He'd never heard of them being in a child's form before.

The nosy little spirit asked him what he was doing and he looked to the side. Deciding it was best not to lie to a spirit he spoke truthfully."Oh, just catching snowflakes on my tongue like I used to when I was your age. Now, I think the more interesting question is what are you doing up upon that wall? I would not expect a spirit to be guarding it."

More important question? Jupiter eyed the big man up and down. That wasn't an important question, that was a silly question! Wasn't it obvious? He was on the wall so he'd be taller than everybody else! And boy, did it feel good to be tall. It was weird to look down on a grownup. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen the top of one's head before. He cocked his head in thought. Perhaps that wasn't true. He'd probably seen the top of his mother's head whenever she was sleeping. But still, he'd never seen the top of her had when she was standing! That he was sure of. Not that it really mattered. It was just cool to think about. "I just wanted to climb it and be tall. Everybody's taller than me..except Amadeus. I'll always be taller than him." He jerked his head in the direction of his companion, who rolled his eyes and nervously tugged on his beard. Amadeus wasn't keen on the boy talking to strangers. Wait, wait, wait. He'd said something about guarding it. Jupiter cast a sideways glance at the wall. Did it need to be protected? "I'm not guarding it. Does it need guarded?" Hopefully he asked, "From monsters?" "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"

So Take This Night,
Wrap It Around Me Like A Sheet

Ashiel stared straight back as the spirit eyed him up and down. Part of him wondered if this was some sort of elaborate trap and if there was perhaps a larger spirit lurking close by planning to take him down. His nostrils flared as he took a slow, deep breath but he caught no other interesting scents apart from the creature that kept the boy company. Ashiel eyed the black monkey with the large white mustache spreading out from its face. This was a curious pair indeed.

The boy stated he just wanted to be taller than everyone and introduced the creature as Amadeus. He grinned. "Ah, I see. Well, I'm sure you'll grow tall in no time. I'm Ashiel Abraxas, what is your name?" Ashiel let the question fall lightly between them as his thoughts drifted to his own statement. Did spirits age and grow? Were they born? He was finding his lack of knowledge on the subject quite distressing. When he returned to Auster he needed to pin down his mother or Amon for more information on the subject.

"I don't know. It had to be built for some reason. To keep something out… monsters is a good guess. Surely though, whatever ancient creatures humans built this to defend against are gone. Well… maybe." He shot the boy a mischievous glance.

Unbeknownst to Jupiter, Amadeus was starting to get a little anxious. He'd only had his wolf pup for a short amount of time and honestly, it was shaping up to be one of the most interesting decisions he'd ever made. The boy was a magnet for trouble. Amadeus was convinced Jupiter would be dead by now if not for his constant intervention. It was at once both an exhausting and rewarding endeavor. One of the things the boy did constantly was seek out and pester bigger wolves. This brown youngster, for instance, compared to both him and the boy, was huge. If things went south there was nothing he could do about it, so as the two wolves talked he simply sat behind Jupiter and fiddled with his mustache. "I hope so. Being small sucks rocks." He laid down carefully, taking great pains to position himself in a way that kept that sharp edges of the rocks from poking him in the belly. "My name's Jupiter." His ears perked as Ashiel spoke about the wall. "I hope they aren't. I wanna fight them when I'm bigger." The other boy had used a word he'd never heard before. Humans. It sounded like the name of a monster, which of course piqued his interest. "What's humans? I've never heard of them before." "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"

So Take This Night,
Wrap It Around Me Like A Sheet

"It's a pleasure to meet you Jupiter." He was glad to finally gain the pup's name. As the boy settled down on the wall Ashiel sat gingerly in the snow, his tail wrapping around his feet. He had no desire to join Jupiter on the wall. In his opinion he was just to big and it would be like courting disaster. Ashiel chuckled at the boys concern about the wall keeping out monsters. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. This wall has outlived its use. I'm sure all sorts of monster can waltz in and out as they please. Ice monster, fire monster, dragons and deep ladies." Ashiel's mother had told him all sorts of stories about the creatures of the far north as well as those in the lands she'd traveled. They'd always fascinated him as a child. "Humans? Hm." Ashiel wasn't quite sure how to go about explaining humans.

"Well, humans are ancient creatures that are all dead now. Legends say they're like great birds without feathers or beaks and they're twice as tall as wolves. They possessed an old form of magic that turned the land into strange things. Take this wall for example. It would have been regular earth with regular rocks but the humans used their magic to make it uniform and tall and well… a wall."

Wait, wait, wait. Had Ashiel said deep ladies? What on earth were those? That name was about as interesting as 'humans' but for completely different reasons. "They all sound like they'd be fun to fight. " The yearling went on to explain humans to him. They sounded really cool and really scary. He would have liked to fight one so it was a shame they were all dead. Jupiter glanced down at the wall. He was impressed. The humans possessed impressive magic. That had him wondering how exactly they'd all died. Had wolves gotten stronger and killed them? If that was the case, where had the wolves' magic gone? He certainly didn't have the ability to make a wall like the one he was laying on, and he didn't think he knew anyone else who did either. So what could have killed the humans off? Ashiel's fallen god, maybe? "They sound very impressive. I would have liked to see them use their magic to build this wall. How do you think they died?" "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"

Aerndís had been in a foul mood the past few weeks. She was finally old enough to go exploring but she'd come down with a respiratory infection and been confined to the den. It was awful! All the while she got to watch her brothers go out on adventures and Jupiter always had so many cool stories and it just wasn't fair. She'd finally been feeling better that morning when she'd seen Jupiter take off. She let him go and then she waited. And waited. And waaaiiiiittted until she felt her head was going to burst but it was all part of the plan. She was going to be a mighty hunter some day and she needed to know how to track. The first task? Tracking her brother. Not that it was terribly hard with snow making for easy tracks but she still felt proud of herself as she wandered from the den. That pride only grew when she spotted her brothers bright blue pelt sitting upon a weird, long, stringy rock. At first she almost didn't notice the man he was speaking to. He was huge! With a pelt that seemed to melt into the winter landscape and the barren trees. Aerndis quickly scampered onto the wall, not wanting to be on ground level with the giant. Scampering along the wall she bounded toward her brother. "Found you Jupiter! Who is this? Is he some sort of giant?" "Talk" "You" Think

So Take This Night,
Wrap It Around Me Like A Sheet

In some ways Ashiel wished he knew more about humans but then again he wasn't sure he wanted to. They'd always seemed so… strange. The legends made them seem extremely disturbing to him. He let out a chuckle as Jupiter said they'd be fun to fight. Oddly enough the thought had never occurred to him. A human versus a wolf. "I'd like to see that fight." He wasn't sure how humans fought. Perhaps they had beaks and talons like other long-legged birds or, what was more likely, they used their magic. The very thought made his fur stand on end. Especially in this mortal body he wasn't sure how he could counteract a human's magic.

Ashiel shrugged as Jupiter asked how they died. "I'm not sure but I think… I think they slaughtered each other in a massive war. Disease may have killed them off to. It's hard to say." He was about to continue when a little red-violet streak caught his attention and he turned to see another little spirit scamper up the wall. It was immediately apparent that this girl was Jupiter's sister. Ashiel grinned. "Oh, hello there. You must be Jupiter's sister. I'm Ashiel Abraxas and no, I am not a giant but I am a god bound in mortal form."