Mythos

It begins one dewy spring morning, the sky still pale and pink from dawn. Mythos finds himself at the mouth of the den he sleeps in with his mother and siblings, passively watching the pack wake up, when the leader approaches him. At first he's sure Aspen is coming to see his mother, Hallow--she is a Council wolf, after all. Yet Aspen stops next to him and follows his gaze.

"Watching?" he asks.

Mythos nods. "I like to see them go about their routines," he says in his soft voice. "Everyone has different things to do."

Aspen hums, then nudges Mythos with a paw. "Come. Take a walk with me, Mythos."

Curious, the young pup stands to obediently follow his leader. Aspen walks slowly, perhaps due to age, and is easy to keep up with; they exit the copse of trees the dens are under, venturing deeper into the forest where the older wolves like to take the pups for training.

The air is clear and crisp and the birds are all waking up, singing high in the trees. Mythos watches the world around him with bright eyes, eager to take everything in as Aspen leads him to the bank of a slow-moving river.

"Mythos," he says softly, as if testing the name on his tongue. "Your mother is very special. Do you know that?"

"She was born of the night," Mythos says, repeating something his mother has told him. He's familiar with the ichor that drips from her eyes, the way she seems to walk soundlessly in shadow.

"Yes. She's very powerful." Aspen sits down, then brings himself to lay along the bank, stretching out. "She has been a crucial member of the pack. And as I hear it, your father is a Dreamlands envoy."

"So mother says," Mythos replies.

"This makes you a very, very powerful wolf," Aspen continues, looking Mythos in the eyes. "Do you understand? You're leagues ahead of your littermates. There is much in store for you, for your fate." He pauses, searching Mythos's face. "But who are you?"

"Sir?"

"You have a long, eventful life ahead of you," says Aspen. "But that doesn't tell me who you are, as an individual. Are you kind? Dishonest? Do you idealize the world? Do you hate it?"

Mythos looks down at his paws, claws sinking into the mud of the riverbank. "I don't hate it," he murmurs. "I want to be kind. I like helping."

Aspen nods, then sets his head down on his paws, sighing. "That's good... That's good. I'll be training you personally for a little while, alright?"

"Alright." Mythos sits next to Aspen's head, watching the river as his leader falls into a light sleep.

-----

Months pass. Mythos grows, lean and swift, quickly outpacing Aspen at every turn. He never asks about the special training; he does, however, come to realize on his own what its purpose is. His mother begins to train him to scout the land when he is six months of age, and he knows it is because he will need to know it for himself if he is to be a competent leader.

The night of the sigil held for Zephyr and Satsuki is freezing, but unlike the other adolescents around him, Mythos does not shiver or curl in on himself. He braces his body against the cold, eyes forward, attentive to the ritual with which they send off the departed. This, too, he will need to know.

Aspen meets him outside of his den, when he goes to return to it.

"You are the only thing left," the old wolf murmurs. "The last thing I must attend to. When you are ready, Pine Grove will be yours."

Mythos is ten months old, still sleeping in the same den as the other adolescents. He will inherit Aspen's den, he thinks, and that is a terrifying thought. "What if I'm never ready?"

Aspen smiles. "You will be. Have faith in yourself, Mythos." When the young wolf seems unsure, Aspen nuzzles into his neck fur and says, "I know who you are, now. I know the wolf you will be. You will be ready."

He pulls back to gesture to the newcomer adolescents, Boone and Manny, who have been following Mythos around for some months now, the two of them talking furtively a few dens away. "Let them into the Council. They will be invaluable in cementing your place in leadership. They believe in you, as your mother believes in you, as I believe in you. Trust them."

Mythos nods slowly. "Okay... I.... I trust you, Aspen. I hope I make you proud."

Aspen chuckles, and there's a tiredness to it, age and grief, his breath fogging in the chill air.

"My boy, you already have."

-----

Aspen takes Mythos to the Dreamlands when the pup is almost fully grown, knowing it will be his own last trip, but not knowing quite how right he is about that.

It happens quickly. One moment, they are trotting through the lunar underbrush and talking, and the next, a massive Lunar Grizzly is upon them. The beast is as ethereal and strange as the rest of the land, but also extremely aggressive, and with one swipe of her paw she sends Aspen crashing into a nearby tree.

Mythos knows Aspen won't be able to outrun the beast, especially not injured, as he doesn't seem to be standing back up. So he does what he feels a leader would do: he fights.

It's a brutal battle, and in the midst of it, the grizzly takes a swipe at Mythos's face that cuts straight through his eye. Snarling in pain and rage, he uses every ounce of his strength to do an exponential amount of damage in return. When the grizzly finally falls, Mythos takes no note of his wounds, instead rushing to Aspen's side and hurriedly waking them both from the Dreamlands.

Aspen is in rough shape, and Mythos struggles to get him back to the Grove. The pack is quick to come to their aid when Mythos arrives, herbalist Tag doing everything he can for their leader.

Mythos sits off to the side, watching, when it finally dawns on him that he can still see.

His mother approaches him as he reaches up to paw at what is very clearly a wound on his face. When he pulls his paw back, there's lunar dust on his pads.

"Mother?" he inquires as Hallow smiles at him.

"You've been marked, it seems," she says, chuckling softly. "I wasn't aware that could happen... how special it must be, to enter the Dreamlands at will."

"I was attacked," Mythos says, feeling at the wound again. "I don't understand... what did it do?"

"Unleashed some of your latent lunar being, I suppose," Hallow says. "Were you not the son of an envoy, I doubt it would have worked quite like this. You've been blessed." She turns her head, black eyes casting across the clearing. "...Just in time, I think."

Dread pooling in his belly, Mythos stands and walks back to the gathered wolves, carefully pushing through them to see Aspen. He's in a bad way; the grizzly wounded him, and the impact with the tree seems to have done its own damage. He's alive, but only just.

"I'm so sorry," Mythos whispers, crouching by the elder wolf.

Aspen slowly peels his eyes open, and a smile graces his muzzle. "No... don't be," he wheezes. "It's alright... you've proven yourself..."

Mythos shakes his head. "No, I... I don't think I'm ready, please, I can't--"

"You are ready," Aspen assures. "You are... they will follow you. Lead them well, Mythos..."

Mythos watches as Aspen's eyes close again, his breath coming once, twice, and then no more. The leader of Pine Grove is gone. For a terrifying moment, Mythos wonders how he's meant to convey to the pack that Aspen wanted him to be his successor. As he stands, looking out to the crowd that gathers around them both, he realizes all eyes are on him.

They are waiting for orders, he realizes.

"Let's... let's prepare his body for the ritual," Mythos says, casting his voice across the clearing. "Tonight, we will see him off... He was... truly an incredible leader." He feels unsure of himself, rocked by everything that's happened this night.

Manny and Boone break away from the pack, following Tag as the herbalist begins preparing Aspen. Mythos watches, then looks off and away, towards the den he knows to belong to Aspen. It is his, now. No wolf had lived in it before; it was dug out under a tree's roots when Pine Grove first came to be, when it was just Aspen, Zephyr, and Satsuki. Now, all of them are gone.

Hallow approaches her son, nudging his shoulder with her nose. "You're going to do an amazing job," she assures him. "They already respect you. They love you. And now, they see you marked, and stronger for it."

In the inky blackness of her eyes, Mythos sees his reflection, and the wisp of Lunar essence drifting away from his left eye. He feels connected to the Dreamlands now in a way he's never experienced before. Perhaps he really is ready for this.

-----

The second leader to ever guide Pine Grove, Mythos is a strong, independent, and intelligent wolf who always puts the needs of others first. With a unique parentage and a special connection to the Dreamlands, Mythos is suited to leadership more than he thinks he is. Despite his misgivings, he is a beloved and well-respected leader, always on his toes and prepared to do what it takes to keep his pack safe and healthy.