Lost?
My paws wander yet again through the cold of the snow-covered hills without any
idea where to go. Since days, I am already following the north wind in some kind of
hope. Will he bring me home, wherever that is? Will he guide me into my own hell out
of frosty storms and clawing winds? Or does he just want to confuse me and let me
wander an endless circle of confusion and desperation like a horse along the road?
After a while I let my paws disappear, my white fur disintegrates and just leaves
behind the skin of a human which no one would think not to be one. My paws shift
into hands as I reculantly stand up. With shaky balance, I finally get myself into the
strange stance of a human, but after the few first the snow wrapped itself around my
face as this stupid gravity pulled me back onto the ground.
“God damn it!”, I cursed out with a voice so husky like the caw of the ravens in the
distance. A growl escapes me shortly after and the fangs fight themselves out of my
jaws as my patience was fighting to not just let loose. With a loud grumble and a
powerful push, I fight myself back up. My teeth burn like hell as the fangs of the fox
dig themselves back into my jaws. My green gaze shifts itself back onto the unknown
settlement which I tried to enter in human form for a long time. I couldn’t just give up
again and give into the fox's instincts. I had to keep going, I had to know for once
what it was like to not be a monster.
Because of shaky steps I took a stick from a bush as support to show the illusion of a
leg injury and stay away from unwanted problems. Despite the walking support, fear
was still swelling inside my heart. Was it worth it? What if these humans were as
cruel at heart as the hunters that plague me since years? But it was too late to turn
around now as the trace of my boots in the snow became established in the
settlement. The glances of curiosity, distrust and other emotions which I couldn’t
quite make out fell all towards me like the hit to the full hour. My heart was racing, my
thoughts disappeared in a storm of confusion and fear. The fox grumbled and stirred
before he only roared one thing into my soul „Run!“.
But I stayed, I allowed myself to disobey the fox and continued walking. Each shaky
step made my knees burn but I kept going until I could not go any further. Gravity
grabbed me again and pulled me back into the snow. I suppressed a cold grumble
inside my throat as I tried to get myself back up, but my legs refused. Every push
back up was stopped by gravity. The roaring of the fox grew louder inside my head,
the fangs pushed themselves again out of my jaw and I was so close to let go of
every kind of self-control.
But suddenly I held myself back as a careful touch on my back pulled me back to
reality. My gaze struggled to get a view of the stranger's face. It was a girl, maybe my
age or even a bit younger, I didn’t know but what I knew was that the fox suddenly
was silent. No growling, no barking not even a whimper, he was just quiet. The girl
helped me to stand back up but than something else caught my eye.
Her gaze was blank without a hint of color. No spark of light she could notice, no
color shined at her, she was blind. With this realization I let out a breath of relief as
my fangs buried themselves back into my gums and I was standing again. She
helped me towards the well in the middle of the settlement where I let myself settle
down. My breathing calmed down again as my green gaze shifted back towards the
face of the girl. Her expression confused me as I looked closer. Was it compassion?
Empathy? Or dare I say even…. concern?
Before I could word my question, she stood up and hurried towards some sort of tent
in the southern part of the settlement. „What is going…? “, I stuttered out but cut
myself off to sort my thoughts first. My eyes wandered around for a moment and took
everything in. The snowed-in huts, the people who just gave me a few curious
glances and the strange tent in which the girl disappeared in. I was in awe of the
architecture of the people and their ability to live in such a hostile environment. But
then my nose caught on to something, a smell I am all too familiar with, the swell of
something inhuman. Part animalistic, part human smelling but still very strong yet I
could not pinpoint where it came from.
Shortly after I turned my gaze back towards the direction of the tent as my ears
twitched faintly from the soft noise of footsteps in the snow. She sat down next to me
and put a hand on my shoulder as I took a moment to study and memorize her. Her
white-black hair was so messy like mine maybe even worse, her orange gaze was
unmoving but still warm and somewhat different. She smiled at me like it was the
most normal thing for her which it most likely was but not for me. „I bring you to out
healer. He can give a better stick to walk than that one and then I can show you how
to walk with it correctly. “, she said shortly after, her tone was guided from joy and
care or even excitement. She slowly helped me up as I limped towards the tent of the
healer with her.
Meanwhile I also noticed something else. She limped too! It was faint but still
noticeable. „How did that happen? “, I mumbled out suddenly before I could even
stop myself. We came to a short stop, and she looked at me with faint confusion
before she tilted her head and answered: „Oh, that was…an accident while riding. “
Immediately I knew that was a lie because as much as I had seen were there no
horses or riders anywhere at this settlement, but I just nodded as that was none of
my business.
In the tent it all went down fast, the healer gave a more stable stick to walk with and
studied me for a moment as if knowing that there was something off about me. That
swelled some panic up which luckily quickly disappeared again as the healer did not
say a word and just let us go. The girl had not lied at the end; she not just helped me
how to walk correctly but also helped me to even have fun while doing it. I began to
have fun on being human. For the first time in my life, I did not have to fight back
against the stirring fox. I didn’t have to scream at him und beg him to be quiet, to
leave me alone. He was calm like asleep and even at least I believed so started to
also have some fun.
With panting laughter, I limped after the girl while she danced through the snow
easily and we both learned more about each other. Her real name was unknown to
her which is why she is just called Yuki. She was similar to me, no home, no family
and no idea where to go. She only had herself until many moons ago she found
herself here and her heart declared this as her home, her family. While she explained
all of these things about herself, I held myself back, only telling what was important. I
was wandering alone through the snow since years, never found a place to call home
and had since my childhood problems with walking. Fortunately, she did not ask
further questions which still confused me but also gave me some hope. Maybe this
was the place the north wind guided me to. Maybe this was now my home.
The night came over us a bit later and Yuki allowed me to sleep by her. Her hut was
not big, only a hay bed, an old carpet and a table. I decided to sleep on the carpet to
Yukis confusion or astonishment. „A habit, I guess. “, I just gave as a reply as I rolled
myself together on the carpet. A feeling of familiarity filled me, the familiarity of this
position of every single night of sleep in my fox form. The last thing I saw was Yuki,
how she smiled at me but somehow her smile seemed a bit different like it was
brighter but maybe I just imagined that.
But just a while later a deep grumble woke me up. I stirred hastily as I raised myself
onto all fours. The fox also began to stir and to snarl, not out of fear but out of
wariness. The smell of danger filled the room as I slowly walked out on all fours and
forgot every concern about getting discovered. Another grumble echoed through the
room; the fangs and claws fought their way through my flesh and the fox as well as I
were sure about one thing, whatever made these grumbles, we had to hunt it away.
With a growl I sneaked anxiously out of the hut and followed the smell with silent step
and surrounded by the shadows. My lingering fear of rejection mixed itself with my
now present concern and made my heart race. What made these grumbles? It sure
sounded big, but how big? My thoughts circled again like a raging storm while my
claws hastily hushed through the snow. Screams of panic and fear began to fill the air
around me as I reached the well of the settlement and fully shifted back into my fox
form.
I did not see much besides a pair of massive tusks and the blank, white gaze from an
unknown brute. It just rammed and stomped around in rage through the settlement
without empathy for the damage of injuries it causes. But as I got closer something
was strange, the smell from before, the smell of inhuman was even stronger now. My
paws quickly brought me to the two creatures who held that smell.
The smell of danger came from sometime of boar of unnatural size whose coal-black
fur twitched and sweat like raging flames and in its gaze was only the mindless rage
of a restless soul. But the other creature surprised me as I finally got a full view of
her. It was a white wolf who not only had the inhuman smell on her but also the smell
of someone else, Yuki.
With agile paws she sprang over and over again onto the back of the beast and
rammed her fangs deep into its flesh before she was thrown off and fell back into the
cold snow. My nose quickly approved me right that it was really Yuki and my instincts
immediately focused just on one thing, protecting.
With one leap my fangs already dug into the posterior Achilles tendon of the monster
and hooked themselves in. The brute quickly hoofed back with an echoing growl as it
felt my bite, but I was able to hold on a moment longer and make the wound deeper
before I land hard in a nearby bush.
Yuki took this chance to hunt her claws back into the monstrous beast. The smell of
blood and rage was the only thing I could notice as I got back up and gave full control
to the fox. Like a feral beast moved my body towards the giant boar and began to
mindlessly bite and scratch after it. My jaws pulled and ripped every part of the beast
I could get while my claws only dug deeper wounds into its flesh.
I only can remember a few things that happened as I only saw red and ragged
around like a wild bull. Maybe only seconds, minutes or even hours had passed as
the fox finally calmed back down. I laid in the bushes; my white fur stained with the
red color and the stench of the beast. The memories were fuzzy or not even there, I
didn’t know.
With heavy breathing I got myself back onto all fours and let my fox form crumble into
my human form. Slowly I crawled out from under the leaves and sticks as my
emerald gaze fell onto Yukis wolf form laying in the snow and filled me with some
panic. This girl had helped me so much and was even ready to sacrifice her secret
and humanity for her home.
I quickly rushed to her side und took her into my arms. Luckily, the life had not left
her, she was just unconscious, but she still had to stay in her beast form if she
wanted to ever heal this wound. So, I stayed by her side and let her rest.
The screams slowly quieted down but the smell of smoke and death stayed in the air.
After a while there was just silence, no grumble or snarling, no huffing or stomping,
no whining or whispering. It was dead silent. But I kept my gaze only on Yuki as she
slowly came back into the realm of the waking which brought a relived smile onto my
face.
My smile did not falter even as she suddenly tackled me to the ground and pinned
me down. Her red gaze stared me down and I smiled up at her while I carefully raised
my hand and just rested it on her snout. Slowly her iris turned back orange, and her
lively aura returned. Her nose quickly sniffed over me which made me break out into
laughter from how much it tickled.
After a moment she slowly stepped back and let her human side take back form while
her wolf was brought to rest. She stared at me for a moment with a confused gaze
before she tackled me at the ground again and held me in a tight hug, but I just
laughed. I laughed like I had not done in a long time.
The settlement was in ruins. Rubbles and debris were the only things left. Only a few
people had not bit into the dirt and were happy to still be breathing. Their choir of
sorrow and lost filled the air Yuki and I joined in. No human in the settlement was
alive only monsters in human form. A pack of outsiders which is doomed to exist
between the world of beast and man. Hunted by the wrath of nature and on the
never-ending search for the foretold home in which one day they can stay in, and the
devastation stops hunting them.
Slowly the night grew silent again, only the clapping of hooves, the crawling of
scales, the tapping of paws and the flapping of wings echoed through like the
calming song of a choir of singers. A bunch of animals wandered slowly into the
snowy forest. A bunch of animals with human forms and souls. A group without a
home.
And so, I wandered off from another destroyed home in my fox form. Again, I had lost
a home and had to continue wandering but maybe I had found another home. Was a
traveling pack hunted by the wrath of nature my home? Was I really not alone
anymore
Summary
This legend tells the story of an unknown Fox-Shifter who finds his way into a settelment to get away from the Warth of Nature that hunts him and many other shifters.
Historical Basis
Shifter were often hunted like animals because they were neither accepted by Werebeasts or Humans at the earlier years of these lands. But it unknown if the big hog in the story which is described as the "Wrath of Nature" really exists or even existed at all.
Spread
The story is mosty spread throughout the west and north of the land.
Variations & Mutation
In some versions are the genders of the strange Fox-Shifter and the Wolf-Shifteress Yuki are swapped.
Date of First Recording
3rd of Karoka 1272
Date of Setting
16th of Golrikan 409
Related Species
Related Locations
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