『 THEY SAY DRAGONS HATCH FROM EGGS 』

This one was born from fire.

Born under the name of Leigh (i), on the eve of the new year, the pack engulfed with fire as the young pup stole her first breath. Winter snow quickly arrived to melt across the remaining ashes, hurriedly squashing the flames. But instead of turning to run from it's opposition, the inferno chose to conceal itself within the newborn's eyes.

Her childhood was not easy by any means. As soon as the girl reached the age of six months she was deemed healthy and strong enough to begin training. Fighting for a war that may never come. Despite possessing a certain ruthlessness that the others lacked, Leigh was pathetically uncoordinated and was quickly outshined by her perfectionist sister. So as her younger littermate took the time to flaunt her skill, the agouti wolf turned to her mother, caring for the sickly and saddened woman, whom was left in sorrow the moment Leigh's father never returned home.

With time she blossomed into a young woman, slowly improving her precision and patience. It was only until her pack launched a raid on another family nearby did she realize the horrors her home had nurtured. Deciding that leaving would be the best decision in the end, she fled beneath the cover of the ensuing chaos.

Now a loner with no food, family, or protection, she silently preyed on a nearby pack, stealing small kills while hidden within the shadows of night. As Leigh had once again successfully stolen a rabbit, the woman turned to leave only to halt upon meeting a particular blue gaze. "The beautiful wolf with blue eyes" (i), she called him, and after a swift apology to the wolves she had stolen from, she was accepted into a new home with welcome and kind smiles.

The following spring, she sprouted a family of her own, a fresh start and hopeful future. However as the woman gave life to her daughter and realized no further pups would arrive, her child was swept away and placed in the care of another nursing mother. The pack deemed it too risky to allow a pup to be raised alone, for the lack of playmates would bring difficulty with socialization and proper behavior. Although Leigh was allowed to visit and received full naming rights, the first face Summer awoken to was not her real mother. The woman would forever hold this against the pack, a grudge that wouldn't subside. Nonetheless, this incident didn't diminish the bond between mother and daughter, and the family would play in the flower fields that early autumn.

— ANicB (DA)

While patrolling and keeping an eye out for any easy prey, Leigh instead caught an unfamiliar scent, one that did not belong to an ordinary meal. It seemed that some wolves had settled in nearby or had traveled across the land not long before.

Keeping the information to herself, she decided to hide such details from the others in the hopes that if an attack or war were to occur, those she blamed for the separation of her child would be killed during battle. But this instead proved to be a mistake. While out hunting, the sudden urge to return home came crashing down like a wave. Feeling that something was terribly wrong, the mother abandoned the rabbit and began her sprint back towards camp.

She could hear the cries before seeing the fleeing forms, and the moment she stepped foot into the madness she became tangled in the panicked crowd, being carried away, trampled by the bodies desperate to leave. The Old Saints (i) had been the ones scanning the nearby land, and without warning decided to raid her home just as her birth pack had raided that family all that time ago. Orange eyes strained as they flickered back and forth between those running and the bodies lying motionless on the bloodied floor. But as she caught the sight of two familiar pelts scattered across the battlefield, limbs torn and bones shattered, Leigh allowed herself to be swept away by the ocean of wolves.

Her pack was resourceful and they soon found new territory to claim, though life simply wasn't the same. Leigh tried to rebuild with the others, but unable to bear such grief, she found herself leaving home for the second time.

She traveled for months without a good rest, this nagging at her heart to continue on. Her mate had told her stories of this "red string of fate", and she felt as if it was tugging her forwards to the promise of a better life. Climbing the jagged rocks and up the hills of mountains, she finally found what she had been searching for. The journey was over, she had landed in a new world.

It was then that the dragon's fiery eyes were consumed by the sight of brindle, a strange looking wolf with a dumb curly tail standing before her. Asked to join him on his journey home, the tugging on her heart finally disintegrated and a certain peace took over. Deciding to accompany the stranger, the woman had unknowingly agreed to travel alongside the Prince of the Old Saints; son of the man who launched an attack on her home and new king of the canyons (i).