Deep Shadows


The world was spinning around me. It felt like a thousand rocks were slowly crumbling over, making me smaller and smaller. They were closing in. But what exactly were they?

"Kate?" A calm, light voice once again snapped the Alpha out of her fixed trance.
"What?" The Alpha asked, turning her head and blinking several times. She hadn't realized how long she was sitting out on that boulder until she realized that the sun was lower in the sky than it was when she first left the den.
"I just wanted to check on you, see how toi were doing." An Omega loup with gray and black fourrure approached Kate slowly and he sat down on his hind legs. "Is everything alright?"
"I...y-yeah...everything's alright. It's just...well, today is the jour of the black sun, and dad is putting us all out on watch." The Alpha responded.
"Makes sense. I mean, I've heard all those tales of loups going cuckoo." He said, taking his paws and pulling his cheeks aside to stick his tongue out. He rolled his blue eyes back slightly. "Blarghhh!"
The Alpha seemed to flinch as she stepped back slightly.
"Humphrey." She scolded, her tone indicating that she was in no mood to play ou make silly faces with the Omega. "This is serious."
The Omega lowered his ears and nodded, a sigh escaping his mouth.
"I know Kate. But every serious situation has a funny side. And toi just seemed so tense that I..." Humphrey's words trailed off as his eyes met Kate's golden ones that seemed to be glaring slightly. "...wanted to make toi feel better." He swallowed slowly.
"Humphrey, I appreciate your gesture. But I'm just...not feeling like myself right now and I need to tend to other matters." Kate said, sighing softly. She stood up, her hind legs feeling like pins and needles since she was sitting for so long.
"Right, right, of course. I understand." The Omega said, waving his paw dismissively. The Alpha nodded at him and gave a soft smile.
"Good. Thank you." She responded and nuzzled him lightly. "But I do need a favor from you."
"What is it?" Humphrey's ears perked back up.
"I need toi to gather the pack, keep them all close. Take them to Howling Rock, and have them all just stay there, for safety reasons. At least if they're all at Howling Rock then they can be accounted for." The Alpha explained, and the Omega nodded.
"Sure, I can do that." Humphrey responded and put his paw above his forehead as if saluting her. Kate rolled her eyes gently and laughed a little.
"If it's anyone who can make me laugh, it's you. Thanks Humphrey. Now go." Kate said, gesturing her head towards Howling Rock. Humphrey turned and quickly trotted down from Kate's family tanière, den and to all the loups below, spreading the word. Kate watched him as he went and she smiled softly to herself.

"Perhaps there's nothing wrong with me and it's all in my head." She thought to herself and she turned to face her den.

That thought was immediately diminished as she saw a large shadow slowly crawl along the floor. It began to cover her golden body and she turned around, looking up to the sun. Slowly, the sun's light was being blocked out as the moon began to déplacer in front of it. Her ears lowered, and the darkness began to fall over Jasper Park.
"Dad! Dad!" She shouted, quickly running into their den. "Dad, the black sun is coming! Darkness is starting to fall! I told Humphrey to herd all the loups at Howling Rock, toi guys need to go there too!" Winston quickly trotted over to her.
"I'll have your mother and sister head up there to keep things in order. toi and I and a few other Alphas are going down to the gorge to check for anybody who didn't receive the message." Winston's husky voice spoke quickly and Kate nodded in response. The Alpha quickly nuzzled all of them before running out of the tanière, den and down the slopes. Her head turned from side to side, seeing loups grab their pups and running up the slopes towards Howling Rock.
"Good, they know where they should be." Kate a dit softly to herself before being halted to a stop as one Omega loup came in front of her.
"Oh please Kate, my little grandson pup wandered down into the gorge. Please, get him!" The elderly female loup cried to Kate and Kate looked to the sun that was slowly getting covered. She returned her attention back to the elderly female and nodded.
"Of course. But I need toi to begin making your way up to the Howling Rock where you'll be safe. I will get your grandson and have another Alpha bring him to you." She explained, and the elder nodded, sniffling.
"Thank you." She a dit then began making her way up the rocky hill.
"Hutch!" Kate called out, and the darker Alpha ran over. "Stay here, I'm going to the gorge to get a pup. I'll toss him up and toi bring him to his grandmother at Howling Rock. I'll go on checking the rest of it for any Lost pups." She explained and Hutch nodded, staying put where he was.

The Alpha darted down the rocks, watching as the shadows on the ground crept closer. She didn't want the shadows to cover her. She saw things in the dark. She knew she did. She ran faster and found a pup sitting on a log, whining.
"It's alright, I've got toi now, I'm taking toi to your grandma, just trust me!" Kate told the pup before picking him up par the scruff of his neck. She turned around and began to run back the way she came, taking a slightly different path to avoid the shadows. She hopped on a branch that jutted out from the stone. "Hutch!" She shouted, muffled.
Hutch ran over and took the pup's scruff in his mouth. He gave Kate one look of support before running back up the slopes. Kate turned her head and saw the shadows beginning to fill the gorge. She lowered her ears and began running back down through the gorge. She turned her head left and right, checking for any loups left alone. She didn't see any but the darkness was slowly falling.

Her paws kicked up dirt as she ran, her cœur, coeur pounding against her chest as she raced the shadows. Her mind was becoming fuzzy, dark thoughts beginning to fill her mind. She shook her head to snap her out of it.
"Come on Kate, don't do this!" She yelled to herself as she came to the end of the gorge. She looked behind her, seeing the darkness creeping up her way. She turned her head back to the stone wall, looking for a way to climb up.
"I need leverage..." She a dit then saw footing in the stone. She quickly hopped onto it and found another, hopping onto that. The darkness began to creep up the bottom of the wall. She jumped up onto another jutted out branch, higher and higher she went. She was so close to the top. All she had to do was make one final jump.
Kate steadied herself on the branch and took a leap. Her forearms managed to hold herself just on the edge of the gorge. Her claws came out as she clung to the dirt, trying to pull herself up. Her hind legs had no support, nothing to stand on.
"Dad! Hutch! Someone help!" She shouted, but she knew no one would come to her aid.
"PLEASE! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING! HELP ME!" She screamed out and she felt something grab her leg and pull her down slightly. She gasped as she slipped a bit, her claws trying to keep her stable.
"No! Not you! I don't need help from you, don't touch me!" Kate shouted, reaching down to swipe at whatever was there. But there was nothing. Yet she felt another tug and she began to slip, her claws coming to the edge.
"STOP IT!" She shouted, the darkness now covering her tail and upwards. She turned her head and looked down into the dark gorge, watching the shadows begin to cover her body whole. plus like consume her, it felt like. Another tug came and she yelped, losing grip with one of her paws. Now she only hung on with one.
"Please don't do this! You're not real!" Kate shouted as she sobbed, her golden brown eyes changing fully to that dark shade of red. Still, she tried to fight it off.
"Let me go!" She yelled, again taking a swipe with her free paw, but that made her lose traction with her other paw. Her claws retracted and she slipped from the edge of the gorge, falling down into it, the shadows consuming her.