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          A/N: Now that this is posted, I will get to work on ToS. Expect to see an update in the next couple of days. Also, the first paragraph will make sense a little bit later. I like having the character like that but I don't want to write the entire thing that way, so he got magicked for your convenience. To avoid possible confusion, the werewolf is the speaker.            One last thing, if you can think of any tags that should be here but aren't, please add them. Thanks :)***************************************           Alright, alright, I'll

tell...What did you do to m-m-me? Why can't I talk like I normally do? You put a

spell on me so that I sound like you? Fine, whatever, guess it will make it

easier for this lord to understand me.

Anyways, I will tell you

my story. This story began long before my time, it began several generations

ago with the appearance of the Wise Old Woman.

Many generations ago,

nine I think it is now, the Wise Old Woman entered the cave my pack was living

in. She is said to have had white hair that fell to her knees and she hunched

over, never standing straight. She had a stick in one hand and the other behind

her back. Her eyes were black and danced with their own fire.

Wore? No, no one today

knows what she wore, such things are not important to werewolves.

All eyes fell upon her as

she hobbled into the cave. "Gifted Ones," she said-

My pack is made of Gifted

Ones. Other packs have Cursed Ones, this make sense? No? OK, I will explain

Gifted Ones. Gifted Ones are werewolves who were given the choice to either

accept the gift of the Wolf or to continue with their lives. A Gifted One can

not pressure a human to accept the gift. Once the gift is offered, the wolf

says nothing until the human decides. If the human accepts the gift, he becomes

much stronger than before, much faster, has better senses, and is in control of

himself. He does not lose his mind. Gifted Ones form tight packs and tend to

keep to themselves except to gather new members.

Cursed Ones are the

werewolves your stories are made of. They do not ask if the gift is wanted,

they force it on someone. Anyone who is given the gift but does not want it,

becomes a Cursed One. They are stronger than Gifted Ones, faster and have a

thirst for blood. A Cursed One does not know who it is or remember old friends.

It hunts and kills without thought and can only be stopped by death. Their

packs are large but they almost never work in teams larger than three. If the

entire pack decides to attack, their numbers will seem endless.

The final difference

between Gifted and Cursed Ones is their wolf form. A Cursed One's wolf form is

a man-wolf hybrid. A man with fur, claws, fangs, paws. A Cursed One is forced

to change during the full moon, though that is not the only time they can

change. A Gifted One's wolf form is that of an actual wolf, only much bigger.

Flesh is not created or destroyed during the change, so a Gifted One's wolf

form has just as much muscle as his human form, and is just as tall on his hind

legs as he is as a human. Also, Gifted Ones are never forced to change, they

only change when they want to.

Now that you know the

difference, I can tell the story. The Wise Old Woman hobbled into the cave and

said "Gifted Ones, you are the last of your kind. The Cursed Ones have spread

further than you know. If you do not change, you will not last another year.

You must cease your visits to human villages. If you do not, a human will

betray your trust and lead an army to this very cave."

The Alpha then spoke and

said, "How does this save us? The pack can not live without new members and

werewolves are incapable of breeding. If it is a choice between dying in battle

and dying off through old age and lack of hope, we choose battle!"

The Alpha howled even

though he was in human form and the entire pack followed suit. Numerous human

howls mixed with wolf ones for a time. Finally they quieted down and the Wise

Old Woman spoke again, "I know you can not breed, that is why I am here. To the

South, over the mountains and across the plains, you will find the World

Forest. Do not enter the World Forest or you will never find what you are

looking for. Instead, you should live at the foot of the hills where the woods

begin. In the woods near the hills, you will find these."

She held up a blue acorn

and continued "Inside of this acorn is very powerful life magic. If you use it

as a component in a spell that I will teach you, it will allow one wolf to be

able to breed for one night. You will need two for every mated pair. Its magic

will keep the female from shifting forms while pregnant as that would harm the

pup. With this, your pack can live a life completely separate from humans and

never fear them. Do you accept my offer?"

The Alpha thought for a

moment before barking out "Yes, we accept. Even if the magic is a lie, it is at

least a hope. Teach us the spell." And so, for generations, my pack has lived

without humans. We caused no trouble to anyone and had no news of the world.

Which is how we liked it. The only downside to breeding is the fact that for

whatever reason, each generation's connection to the wolf inside grows weaker.

It used to be that a Gifted One could change whenever they wanted. Today, we

can only change once a day. As such, we actually spend very little time in one

form or the other. It is up to personal preference which an individual will use

most often.

Unfortunately, our peace

would not last forever. It was just about two months ago when it happened.

Humans, an army of humans invaded our village. Our hunters were our only line

of defense, and they fell left and right. Things looked bad, but my Alpha came

up with a plan. "Arishi!" he roared at me, "You need to take as many pack

members with you as you can and run into the World Forest. The humans will not

follow you, now go!"

I managed to round up a

few of my pack mates and turned and started for the World Forest when I heard

someone scream my name. I looked back and saw my mate being ran down by the

humans. I was enraged and scared, and I almost forsook the pack I had following

me to save her. I was dragged kicking and screaming into the World Forest with

the other survivors and I cried when I lost sight of our home.

I knew that anyone who

enters the World Forest will eventually find themselves in a forest somewhere

else completely. Maybe even across the ocean. I cried as I followed my pack

mates in a daze, unaware of what was going on because the image of my mate's

death haunted me.

After what seemed like

weeks traveling in the same forest, we finally came out onto one of the other

sides. The first thing we did, after setting up camp, was look for the acorns

that granted us our independence from humans. Though we did not expect to find

any, it was still a blow to come up empty handed.

For three weeks we dared

not venture far beyond our new home. We built small huts in a circular clearing

to protect ourselves from the elements. In the center of the circle was the pit

for the bonfire that would be lit on special occasions such as coming of age,

giving birth, and dying. The bonfire was lit the first night and unless we have

been attacked, it has not been allowed to go out yet. The flame is to live one

day for each pack member who died. It will be nearly a year before it will be

turned to a different purpose.

We were fortunate to find

a stream about an hour East of our village. The stream, however, was the only easily

noticeable landmark we could find early on. The area is flat but we grew up living

at the base of a hill with different kinds of marks. We would eventually find

others, but that is not important.

What is important is what

the new Alpha said a week ago. He gathered us around the bonfire one night and

said in his deep booming voice, "Brothers and sisters, we have been forced from

the land given to us by the Wise Old Woman. As you are all aware, this means

that we no longer have the capability to breed to keep the pack alive. We must

once again find humans willing to accept the gift or face extinction. I have

selected five of our number to go out into the human world and recruit new

members for the pack."

His eyes lingered on me

for a moment as he said "It will be dangerous, especially as we have not

interacted with humans before, but I have faith in you. Arishi, Garina, Moenna,

Salis and Yres see me here tomorrow at sunrise. I have a gift for each of you

before you leave."

I only had to wake up a

few minutes early to make it on time. Unlike you humans here in the city, we

werewolves wake with the sun. Nonetheless, I was nearly late. The sun had only

just peeked out from beyond the horizon right as I bowed to my Alpha and said "Arishi

is here, and he is not late."

He grunted and nodded at

me before he spoke. "The five of you will be venturing into unknown territory

to recruit new pack members. Remember, though, this will be dangerous as the

humans fear us and they will kill you if they find out what you are. I do not

expect you to return any time soon as you must gain a human's trust before

offering him the gift. Do not offer it in the presence of other humans and do

not offer it if you are not sure how the human will react to it."

He took a deep breath and

closed his eyes before continuing "If any human asks you where you come from

simply say that you came through the World Forest seeking to escape an

aggressive neighboring tribe. Tell them that in the Forest you lost the rest of

your tribe and found yourself in the woods around here. Oh, and make sure not

to use the term "pack" as that will probably get you killed."

Here he paused once again

and gestured behind himself as he said "Behind me you will each find a pack of

supplies. I do not know how close the nearest human town is so I advise you to

hunt for yourselves for the first couple of days. I also have a very, very

powerful object for each of you, but you must not tell anyone, not even other

pack members, understand?"

We all nodded our heads

as he began to walk into the woods surrounding our village. In a low voice he

said "You are all aware that the ritualists of the pack can use more magic than

just the breeding magic, correct?"

There was no pause for us

to respond either way as he just kept talking. "Well what most pack members do

not know is that each ritualist creates for themselves an amulet. This amulet

allows them to change into their wolf form without having to remove their bags

or clothes. I was never told where the clothes and other items go when you

change, but when you change back to human form, they will be exactly where you

left them. This gives them the ability to leave the village surreptitiously and

to have all of their medicines on hand all day. The five of you will each be

given one of these amulets to borrow. You will return them when you get back."

With a menacing glare he

handed each of us a leather cord with an amulet attached. The amulet was in the

shape of a wolf's paw. Mine was made of birch wood and had what my mother had

told me was red moss agate stones for the pads. It was about the size of a

normal wolf's paw print.

By now the sun had fully

risen and the rest of the pack was beginning their morning activities. The

Alpha said "Whatever happens, return safely."

The others had already

changed into their wolf forms and barked a "yes." I was still looking at the

amulet and snapped to attention and said "Arishi will return, he promises. He

still has to perform the ceremonies for his mate, he will return." A tear slid

down my cheek as I said this, but with everything that needed doing, I made

sure to grieve on my own time.

I slipped the amulet over

my neck and headed south, changing shape once I was out of sight of the

village. Once the five of us had disappeared, the Alpha howled and we responded

in kind before running off to begin our journeys.