Mj'irai Chapter One

Chapter One

Mj'irai awoke from her slumber and stretched her dormant

limbs. She could barely see the sun through the small hole at the top
of her cave. It must be about midday, she thought. She had turned in
earlier than the rest of her kin the previous night, claiming that The
Hunt had exhausted her. As always, they were still asleep as she
crept out of the cave.
It was surprisingly quiet but she was used to that. The thick
earthen walls muffled any sounds the pack would make while
sleeping. She wondered why none of her siblings had ever inquired
as to why she always slept apart from them; they certainly thought it
odd.
As she passed through The Great Room, she looked in on them.
The pack lay huddled together towards a far wall so that they would
wake if any intruders were to enter. It was impossible to tell how
many wolves slept there, and Mj'irai had learned to pass through the
room without waking them.
The Great Room was the largest room in the cave, and it was
the pack’s meeting area. Most of their time was spent here and it
only had two entrances. Going forwards from her chamber Mj'irai
found herself in a smaller room with three more exits. She took the
leftmost one.
This led her into a long tunnel-like hallway with a slight incline.
Here her parents had a room off this tunnel for the times they
wanted more privacy. Her brother Karn had once told her that they
also kept artifacts there, but she had never seen any. She passed by
the room and entered another tunnel, which ended at the den’s exit.
Her father startled her as she reached the mouth of the cave.
He shouldn't have been awake. Even her mother, the earliest to rise,
didn't wake until after dusk. But he knew why she slept separately
from the rest of the pack; he had even arranged it. Perhaps he had
told them some lie to keep their curiosity at bay?
"Hello father, you're awake early." She said as they briefly

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touched muzzles, a ritual greeting.

"As are you, my dear. I was worried when you turned in early
last night, but now I find I need not be."
Mj'irai felt herself blush. She should have known that he would
suspect something. Even though she was not the best at The Hunt
and had never caught an animal herself, she had always enjoyed it
and never complained of exhaustion -- although she often was
exhausted.
Tesaji studied her questioningly and she was glad when he
spoke. "Wait here, my child, I have something for you." He retreated
into one of the off-limits sections of the cave and returned carrying
some type of loop. He laid it at her feet and she took it.
She turned the thing around and around in her hands, looking
at it. It was some type of circle with the middle missing. Connected
to this circle was a pyramid, with some type of writing on one side of
it. On the second side was a picture of a pointy-eared two-legged
creature, and the third bore a sword with a spiked hilt. A crescent
moon filled the fourth side. The bottom was blank.
"What is it, father?"
"The two-legged creatures often call them necklaces or
medallions. When I first found you in the wood, this was about your
neck. Once I got you home, I removed it for fear that you might hang
and choke. I kept it safe so that I could return it to you when you
were older. I believe now is that time."
Mj'irai slipped the thing around her neck and studied it again
before answering. "Why must I be different, father? Why have I had
to hide my true self from the rest of the pack?"
"They fear what they cannot understand. Imagine you were in
their position. If you learned that Karn was only a wolf by night,
would you not be afraid?"
"I suppose I would. But why am I different?"
"The only answer I have for you is the same as before. You are
the chosen one amongst our people. Now, my daughter, I leave you
to whatever expedition you'll encounter this moon. I must have
some rest before tonight's Hunt."
She had a feeling that he was not telling her the whole truth.
She immediately felt a wave of guilt - she was not supposed to

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question an Alpha Male, the leader of the pack. It was part of the
given hierarchy. The Alpha Male gave you life and instruction
therefore you should not question his motives.
Mj'irai watched her father leave once again before continuing
on her way. She tried to put these thoughts out of her mind. It was
more difficult than she thought it would be but she succeed for the
moment.
The den was a safe distance from the edge of the wood, and
the forest felt completely different during the day than it did at
night. Strange animals made different sounds, and the light filtering
through the trees was much brighter than Mj'irai was used to. The
plants were even a green color instead of the dark gray she knew.
She had inspected this very thoroughly the first few days she had
participated in daily outings and had reached the conclusion that the
plants did not change color. Indeed, it was the sky and the air itself
that had changed.
Instead of the pale moon there was a bright glowing sphere in
the sky. If Mj'irai looked at it for too long her eyes would begin to
burn and water. She hadn’t known of this object’s existence until she
had reached the edge of the forest one night. That in itself was a
mystery to her. As far as Mj'irai knew, the forest itself stretched on
forever. She had never encountered a place where trees didn’t grow,
and at first she was afraid. Her fear was soon outweighed by her
curiosity and she returned to the edge often. Only recently had she
begun exploring it in the daytime, and Mj'irai was completely
engrossed by what she saw.
At the edge of the wood stretched a great strip of barren
ground. It resembled a river or stream, except that it was made of
dirt. Many two-legs drifted to and fro on the currents of this stream,
like a twig or leaf succumbing to the greater force of nature.
She had been observing the great dirt stream of two-legged
creatures for several moons and their actions were so entertaining.
Each two-leg was covered in oddly colored fur. Most of the women
had fur in many colors, some of which Mj'irai had never seen before.
Some men had one color on his legs and another on his upper half,
while other men had the same color all over.
Mj'irai's attention was pulled to a man with ragged fur. He was

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standing beside a wagon stacked almost a tree-high whose wheel

was stuck in mud, and he cried frustratingly at passers-by for help.
Most of the two-legs ignored him, but a few shouted back at him.
Another man, colorfully dressed, stopped beside the screamer and
the two began conversing.
She had been fascinated when she learned that the two-legs
could communicate even though she could not understand them.
Mj'irai had assumed that the odd grunts hisses and whispers they
emitted were similar to the noises a rabbit makes; sounds that have
no meaning. She supposed that they had their own language that
differed from both wolfish and forest-speak. And yet, somehow she
knew that the object was called a wagon and it had a wheel stuck in
the mud.
It's strange, Mj'irai thought. I recognize bits and pieces of their
language, as if I'd heard it before. She tried to think of where she'd
heard it, but as far as her memories went she had been with her wolf
parents all her life. How then, can I understand it? Didn't father
himself say he'd found me defenseless and alone in the woods?
Where was I before that? Why did father bring me home when the
others thought him crazy? I've never heard of an Alpha Male of any
other pack doing anything remotely similar! And father always says
such ridiculous things... -Mj'irai is the chosen one - the one who will
save us - she will bridge the gap - unite us - create understanding -
strengthen bonds - stop misunderstandings - find a new ally - make
the world as one.
Her head began to spin, and as she looked around she chided
herself. Dusk was beginning to fall and the pack would wake soon.
Luckily her transformation hadn't begun yet. She ran through the
forest at top speed and made it back to the cave just as the others
were waking.
Her mother, Waya, was already up and about doing whatever it
was she did before everyone else woke. A couple of her brothers
were also milling around. Luckily, she had another entrance to her
room. Circling around the rear of the cave, she climbed up a small
hill and looked down into a hole. It was dark, but she could see no
movement. Still, she thought it best to wait for the shifting rather
than risk the pack seeing her in her two-legged form.

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She didn't have to wait long. In the next few moments she felt
the pang of her muscles changing and braced herself for the pain to
come. Curled up in a defensive ball, Mj'irai waited out the change.
A burning, stretching sensation took over her torso as it
elongated and a tail sprouted from her rear. If she had not been used
to the transformation, utter confusion would have taken over when
her ears shifted position from the sides of her head to the top. She
lay on her side clenching her teeth together as her snout and arms
grew and her legs shrank. Her entire body suddenly sprouted fur,
and her hands and feet melded together into paws before her eyes.
The only similarity she shared with her previous self was her green
eyes.
Mj'irai lie still for a few more moments, letting her muscles
settle into themselves. When she was younger she would
automatically jump up and play, but she realized later that a lot of
the pain that persisted throughout the night was related to not
giving her muscles a rest.
Carefully, she rolled herself over to look into her room again.
She could see more and in much sharper detail than she could have
in her two-legged form. There was a series of small ledges leading
from the hole to the cave floor. She hung her head over the edge
and twitched an ear, listening. No one was approaching her room.
The wolf stood, stretching every muscle in her body before
walking. She didn't walk far, just back and forth in a line and then in
a circle. Experimentally she jumped into the air and landed softly on
her paws. She was ready to enter the cave.
Mj'irai leapt softly from one ledge to another. Her paws met
each ledge expertly. As she reached the floor, she laid down and
curled up into a ball, as if she'd been sleeping. A few moments later,
her brother Karn entered and began gently tugging on her ears to
wake her. She yelped and snapped at him, snarling. He jumped back.
"Whoa, Mij, I was just playing!"
“It still hurt!”
She backed him into a corner before tackling him, the two
tumbling and rolling about the cave. They finally stopped near the
entrance where she pinned him and touched her muzzle to his, a
little harder than the usual greeting. He squirmed, but she held

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strong, grinning down at him.

"Are you both ready?"
They turned to see Tesaji in the doorway, a slight sparkle in his
eyes. Both of his cubs were well over the age to be playing about in
such a manner and they knew it. Mj'irai was more amused than Karn.
Her brother seemed embarrassed and she wasn't sure why.
"Yes father." He said in a low voice and they entered The Great
Room.
The rest of the pack was already up and about, and her mother
had just finished feeding the youngest cubs. The three of them had
been born last spring. Most of them would leave the pack this year
or the next, as they found a mate and settled down. In fact, she and
Karn were the only two cubs left from other litters.
She watched as first the cubs and then Waya greeted Tesaji.
Naturally her parents always lingered together a little longer than
any of the other wolves, but Mj'irai thought the touch was more than
just love. It was wishing her husband well because she would have to
look after and instruct the younger cubs. It was telling Tesaji that
even though she and Karn were grown to look out for them both. It
was also telling him to take care of himself.
When her mother wasn’t instructing the new cubs, she was the
best hunter. It wasn’t very often that Mj'irai, Karn, or Tesaji watched
the youngsters during The Hunt. Waya was stubborn and wanted to
do everything herself. She also knew when to push the cubs out of
the pack.
Perhaps father raised Karn. The thought made complete sense
to Mj'irai. Her father raised the only cubs she’d known who had
stayed longer than the first two years. So why was it that father
didn’t raise cubs more often? They would be one of the larger packs
in the area and could easily gain and control more land.
“Mij?” She pulled herself out of her thoughts and realized the
pack had already left. Karn returned when she didn’t follow.
“I worry about you sometimes, kid.” Karn said as Mj'irai grinned
at him and ran out of the cave, smacking him with her tail as she
passed. It didn't take her long to find her pack mates.
By all definitions, The Hunt was merely the nightly search for
food. However, the wolves had turned it into a ritual. Whoever

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caught the first prey of the night received commendations from the
rest of the pack, and the wolves rarely killed more than they could
consume.
Mj'irai usually had trouble keeping up with the others, but
tonight she led the pack. She had caught the scent early in the night
and was hot on the trail. She wasn't sure what the animal was -- she
was never as good as her brothers at finding that out -- but whatever
it was, it was close.
It seemed like she'd been chasing whatever it was for billions of
prints. The rest of the pack followed her, spread widely enough so
they might find any trails of the prey trying to escape.
Mj'irai slowed and began to smell the area around a nearby
tree thoroughly. The trail definitely didn't go past the tree, so her
prey must've gone up it. It's probably nothing big, if it can make it
up there. She thought, a little discouraged.
But even though she was discouraged, she still wanted to catch
her prey. Mj'irai circled the tree looking for a way to climb it. There
was a low branch she just might be able to land on. Backing away
from her target, the wolf studied it. She ran as fast as she could,
leaped at the proper moment...and sailed right over the branch. At
least I know I can jump that high. The thought brought
encouragement and she tried a second time, reaching the same
result. Finally, on the third try, she made it.
Laughter made her turn her head. Karn had just arrived and
she supposed if she'd found him standing in a tree she would have
laughed too. But right now she was fixated on her prey.
Mj'irai scanned the tree for the animal she was chasing. The
branches were inter-twined, creating a type of path or road high
above ground, and the limbs grew at regular intervals. Finally, she
caught sight of her prey. Three branches up sat a plump gray rabbit,
silently watching her.
Wait a minute...rabbits can't climb trees. Mj'irai stared back at
the long-eared ball of fur in consideration before coming to a
conclusion. Well, neither can wolves. Supposedly. The thought
brought a smirk to her face as she leaped onto the next branch. The
rabbit was taking no chances -- it darted off down an interwoven
branch-way. Mj'irai followed, her tail standing straight out as the

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chase began.
She didn't pay much attention to the things around her as she
ran, keeping her eyes on her prey. Soon, the rabbit took a wrong turn
and was at the end of a branch. It sat still, watching her approach.
The wolf could smell fear. As she neared the end of the limb, it began
to buckle under her weight and Mj'irai quickly snatched the rabbit in
her jaws.
As she bit down on the rabbit, the branch underneath her broke
and she went tumbling towards the forest floor. With a loud thump
she landed sorely on her side, her jaws releasing instinctively. The
rabbit staggered loose. She was on her prey in an instant, scooping
it up into her mouth once again. Her father and Karn were staring at
her with disbelieving eyes. She couldn't help but smile, soon
laughing around the rabbit.
"Are you going to eat that thing or play with it all night?" Karn
asked her teasingly. "You know, it is a ritual to eat your first kill."
Mj'irai walked over to her brother and placed the rabbit on the
ground. She held it down with a paw as she gently pushed her
muzzle to his.
"You have done well tonight, my daughter, but you must eat
your prey. He will not feed us all, so we need a bigger target." Her
father used a no-nonsense tone, one that she usually only heard
when The Hunt was taking place.
"Yes father." She said, proceeding to eat the rabbit as the other
two howled to reunite the pack. As soon as she'd finished, she
looked back towards the tree she'd just been running through.
Millions of tiny lights began igniting, lighting up the silver tree until it
soon looked as if it were glowing. Each one began to float slowly
downwards, filling Mj'irai with awe. "Father? What is that?"
Karn was the first to answer. "Pixies!" She wasn't sure if he'd
been watching as she had, or had just noticed them. "Boy, do you
have some luck, Mij."
"We had best be leaving before they try to befriend us. We
would never get rid of them." There was no trace of a chuckle on
Tesaji's face as he said the words, and Mj'irai knew that he was
completely serious. Both her father and Karn bounded off into the
woods, and she looked after them before turning back to the tree.

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At least I won't have to give an excuse for not finishing The

Hunt tonight, she thought as she watched the tiny balls of light
floating around the tree. A peaceful feeling filled her. The tree was so
beautiful. I wonder what they look like close up.
Mj'irai's curiosity got the better of her, and within a minute she
was leaping at the tree branch again. It didn't take as many tries this
time, and after the second leap she was in the tree. This time she
would take it slow; she wanted to analyze her surroundings.
The branches of the tree were not only intertwined, but also
looked as if they had purposefully been guided to grow together.
Leaves still sprouted from the branches, making the pathway
sturdier.
Mj'irai noticed a pixie sitting on a nearby leaf and approached
it. It was wearing fur similar to what the two-legs wore. Oddly, the
fur was flat but it was also wrapped about most of its body. The pixie
wasn't flying, but sitting, and as she got closer she realized that this
pixie emitted a soft, natural glow. Mj'irai watched as its wings
fluttered slowly. Probably subconscious movement, she thought. I
wonder what it's thinking about.
"Hello," she said aloud, and the pixie turned around. Her bright
red hair was in sharp contrast with her pale green skin, but a few
dark freckles kept her from being a completely ghastly sight. Among
pixies she would probably be pretty, but wolves had ideas of their
own.
"Wolf!" The tiny thing shouted. "Away from Tyro!" The small
pixie flew into an open area where the branches didn't reach, all the
while staring, babbling, and gesticulating wildly at Mj'irai. The wolf
herself was fascinated -- she knew there were races that feared
wolves, but she'd never met one. One that could talk, anyway.
Shifting her attention from the pixie, Mj'irai began to walk down the
path. The small being wasn't content and seemed irate at her
intrusion. She fluttered around the wolf, verbally assaulting her until
Mj'irai turned to face the thing.
"Let us get this one thing straight. I came up here out of
curiosity, not of ill intent." She took steps toward the pixie, and as
she spoke the latter retreated to add distance. "I have already eaten
tonight and I am not hungry --" She flashed a grin at the being, "--

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although I might have room for a small snack."

The pixie was horrified, and she flew away as fast as she could.
Mj'irai watched her go before grinning and giving in to the chase.
Her tail twitched from side to side, periodically crashing into things,
but she didn't seem to notice. She was having far too much fun
chasing the miniature creature. True, it had annoyed her, but that
was no reason to kill it. The rest of the pack probably doesn't think
that way. The thought was enough to make her stop dead in her
tracks. However, as she did her paws slipped. She tumbled down the
branch-way until she met a curve, plummeting over the edge.
That's the second time I've fallen from that tree tonight. She
thought, deciding to call it quits. She glanced at the tree one last
time. With the pixies hovering around it, their tiny phosphorescent
glow reflected on the silver tree, it looked magical. Trying to keep the
sight in her memory, Mj'irai trotted off towards the two-legged
stream once more.
The dirt stream was completely different at night time. There
were very few, if any two-legs about. Most of the activity was
centered around a building, which was now glowing much as the tree
had. She knew that this building did not glow during the day, and
Mj'irai briefly wondered if it was filled to the brim with pixies. She
watched curiously as two-legs walked in and out of the mouth of the
structure. Some held objects in their paws which they would press to
their lips. They would do this several times before letting out a large
belch. Mj'irai watched this behavior and soon realized that the two-
legs were drinking from these items as they would a river or lake.
Her attention turned back to the entrance of the building. She
saw a pair of two-legs grappling at each other, and throwing each
other around the room. One smashed into a round wooden platform
before a third two-leg joined the fray. Soon, the third had separated
the first two and dragged them to the door, throwing them out. The
two men looked upset. They began blaming each other and were
soon fighting once again. The third man returned to the mouth of the
building and shouted something at each of them. The two finished
their brawl, and then ambled down the road in different directions.
For the first time Mj'irai noticed that above the entrance to this
building hung a piece of a tree. It was unlike any part of a tree she

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had ever seen. It was flat and had four sharp angles on the edges.
On it was a picture of the things the two-legs were drinking from,
followed by some symbols she did not recognize. She knew that this
block of wood told the two-legs what kind of building this was, but
how she knew this she did not know. However, she accepted it, just
as she did with many other things that she seemed to know about
the two-legs.
Growing curious, the wolf looked at the beings outside the
building. There was only one two-leg she could see, and he was
sleeping against it, the portable river clenched in hand. Looking up
and down the stream, she surmised that it would be safe for her to
cross. She did so without being seen.
Light streamed out of several "holes" in the building. Yet, unlike
normal holes, these were covered with something that she could see
through. Underneath one of them, some barrels were stacked, and
Mj'irai could not resist. Soon, the wolf was standing on top of the
barrels, peeking through one of the holes.
The inside of the building was not what she had expected.
Where wolves used natural caves, the two-legs built their own. The
floor and walls were lined with more of the flat tree parts, and most
two-legs were sitting at one of several flimsy, round, wooden ledges.
The ledges themselves were odd. A piece of wood was fashioned to
resemble a limbless tree trunk. This supported a larger flat circle of
wood.
Each of the two-legs had one of the portable rivers nearby.
Some were in paws, and some sitting on the flimsy ledges. Most
seemed to be talking to each other, or listening to a two-leg sitting
on a different type of platform.
This second platform was much larger than the others spread
about the room. It took one whole side of the wooden cave. On it the
two-leg held an object Mj'irai had never seen before. It resembled a
moon with a flat tree branch attached. As the two-leg ran his paws
over it, a strange sound filled the room. Soon, he opened his mouth,
and out came the most beautiful voice she had ever heard.
The voice blended perfectly with the strange noise, creating an
alien melody in Mj'irai's ears. The wolf was transfixed -- she had
never before heard anything like this. Mother sometimes did

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something called "singing" for the new cubs, but this was completely
different.
Somehow, she knew the two-leg was telling a story. She didn't
know what it was about, but it had most of the other two-legs in a
good mood. They would laugh, pat each other on the back, or
applaud the singer. A few of the patrons weren't interested. They sat
nursing their portable rivers, as if they were in a world of their own.
As she looked about, she noticed one of the two-legs looking in
her direction. She wondered if the hole coverings allowed him to see
her as she could see him. When they made eye contact she knew
that he could, indeed, see her. Perhaps if she stayed still, he would
only see her as a shadow.
Her eye was captured by a strange glint, enticing her to look
down. The odd light bounced off her lighter gray fur, causing it to
look silver. And her necklace glowed golden. Mj'irai knew that this
two-leg could see her for what she was. As she looked in his
direction once more, she saw him rise from his sitting position. She
had tempted fate far too long; She must leave.
The wolf jumped off the barrels and raced back towards the dirt
river. Running at top speed, she almost didn't see the two-leg until it
would have been too late. He was standing in her path, holding a
long pointy object in one paw. This thing glinted from the lights
looking almost the same color her fur had.
She stopped dead in her tracks, and the two appraised each
other for some time. Mj'irai knew the pointy thing was dangerous,
and it was best to keep her distance. A mistake could cost her life.

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