Stavanger Bay the funeral of my innocence

It had been nearly two weeks since Charon had returned home to Stavanger Bay. The wounds in his neck had been infected when he first returned home, but luckily with Thistle Cloud's good care they were healing properly now. The scabs itched at times, but it was a minor inconvenience after everything that Charon had been through. A lot had happened in his absence; Thistle was expecting new puppies, amongst others. Charon lay asleep under a tree near Ragnar and Thistle's den. His dream had started out well; he'd been prancing through a field with a background of pink clouds and rainbows. The story dragon flew alongside him, covered by moss, while he galopped through the fields.

Then the clouds turned darker and thunder started to pour from them. Charon stopped running, and the story dragon flew away from his side and into the distance, quickly vanishing through the thick curtain of clouds. Suddenly, Charon was all alone and felt frightened. Lightning struck near him, and from it sprouted forth the monstrous dog that had attacked him at Dawnlark Plains. Just as he was about to be attacked, Osprey jumped in front of the assailant. She called out to him, "I can't defeat him alone, help me, Charon!" but Charon, just as he was when the stranger had helped get the monster off him, was rooted in place. Tears streamed down his face while he watched the monster tear Osprey to pieces, before it turned its blood-smeared muzzle towards him.

"You are no Knight, little Charon," said the monster, "You are just a pathetic, weak little child. I'll do to you what I did to your friend. She's dead because of you." Charon's legs shook and all he could do was watch as the monster leaped out to him, its ugly, short-haired scarred face wrought into a furious snarl and his teeth outstretched while he tore into Charon's face. All he could do was scream while he felt the sharp teeth rend through—

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Charon's eyes suddenly snapped wide open and his heart pounded in his chest while he screamed his lungs out.

The night was old as stars had been twinkling for hours upon hours. While most would watch the nightly sky in awe, the rebellious yearling muttered out loud. "Stupid stars." She wasn't sure why those twinkling lights were stupid, but at this moment she hated it. She hated them all. She hated everything. It wasn't a single hissy-fit that she felt, instead it was a feeling that she had been feeling for a week now. Spectra had no energy and felt really gloomy.

But even her negative thoughts were completely shattered into oblivion when she heard a scream that felt more like a yell of terror. That's okay, she could play the clumsy hero instead of damsel in distress for once. Like lightning she disappeared into the direction of the scream. "Never fear, for I'm here." Spectra said out loud, a cheesy superhero line she had always wanted to say.

But the second she truly arrived, her eyes fell upon an alarmed Charon. "Oh! Oooooh!" No fire breathing dragons? No bad guys to defeat. There was almost a hint of disappointment. "You okay?" She wondered out loud.

It didn't take long for an alert Spectra to come dashing onto the scene while saying something that sounded most like a superhero-phrase. Charon's wide open, alert eyes stared at his pack mate while he tried to supress the terror and subdue his heartbeat. Spectra seemed confused, and why wouldn't she be? He'd been calling out like someone actually was ripping his face apart, and now she got here and nothing was here. She then asked if he was okay, and Charon's breathing calmed down a little while he tried to push the deep-seeded feelings of fear away.

Think quick. "Uh, yeah, I was just — just practising my yelling, you know. To like, uhm, see how long it takes before someone shows up if something's wrong." Charon looked away and managed to push the fear from his eyes. He hoped she hadn't seen it. "You passed the test."

Her eyes curled around his white figure like a child hugging its broken but loved bear toy, she feasted on his sight and began to notice how much he had grown. His puppy appearance had roughened up and he was now a young lad with an almost (?) adult physique. The youthful aura, however, still clung to him feverishly.

When he was quick to make up an excuse, her golden eyes narrowed momentarily in disbelief. Right! However, she wasn't here to judge him or question his intentions; if there was something on his heart that he didn't want to share because they weren't so familiar she wouldn't push onwards to find out, it was either willingly or not sharing at all. Although she was clueless to his fear, Spectra did notice a subtle change that caused her to say; "Hmm." In a pensive pause.

The best way to deal with it, for now, she figured was distraction. "So I passed the test? Yeah! So what do I get?" Suddenly her golden eyes lit up as she thought; I saved the day and all I got was this silly key chain.

Charon just stared hard at Spectra when she said the 'hmm', daring her to say any more or question his statements. He didn't feel like defending them, and he especially didn't feel like talking about his nightmare about the monstrous dog he'd seen at dawnlark plains. Spectra then went on to ask what she would get as a reward. Since Charon had made up the test on the spot, he hadn't thought of anything.

"I dunno, the knowledge you're a useful addition to your pack 'cause you're there in time to help pack mates?" Charon rolled his shoulders in a shrug as he got up from the floor and shook the dust from his pelt. Turning the subject to Spectra, Charon asked, "How do you like Stavanger Bay so far?"

undefinedSpectra wasn't here to pass on judgement or to say anything in regard to the situation, so she just let it slide. When he said that all she got was a pat on the back, knowing she did the right thing, she sighed softly.  It either meant that she got a good reward as a superhero or that she do what any other good person would do. "Thank you." She said genuinely, though a sparkled doubt in her mind added; I guess.

"It's ..it's good." Spectra said, thoughtful upon the 'good' part. Even more than she was first to admit, she really liked having a home and the thought of family wasn't so bad either. They were all gentle and kind. "Hey Charon, I heard some gossip about a war. Do you know anything about it? Should I start to experiment with my loud roar and wicked-ass fighting skills?"

Any other time, Charon might've given Spectra some sort of imaginary award or cool non-existant prize, but right now his mind was still with the very real monster at Dawnlark Plains. Lately Charon had done some mandatory growing up, and though he retained his thirst for adventures and making up stories, he had realised that not all real life stories had happy endings and that some monsters couldn't be imagined away.

It was good to hear that Spectra liked being in the pack. Charon rarely asked how others were, usually very self-centered like most children, but Spectra was alright, and she'd taught him the beginnings of swimming, so he owed her. "Good," he said, before listening to Spectra ask him about war. Charon's ears folded back as he thought of how he had run to Duskfire Glacier and about the lies Blythe had told him, and he considered what parts of it he would tell to Spectra.

"Well, you probably noticed that I was gone for a few days and that everyone was very worried," Charon said, and he left a brief pause in which he looked at Spectra's face to read whether or not she had noticed his absence -- and the worry in her pack mates. "There was a wolf called Blythe, who's white with a black head and not super big, in case you ever meet her, and she's a mean liar. She told me lies about how Duskfire Glacier had Kevlyn, my lost brother, and I wanted to find him so that Levi would feel better again, 'cause Levi really misses him even though it's been forever since he got lost." As was usual in children, Charon drifted off in his story, adding details and trailing off at times. "So anyway, apparently Duskfire Glacier didn't take Kevlyn, so Blythe was just lying all along! And then Scarlett from Duskfire Glacier told me that someone told Duskfire Glacier about how Stavanger Bay took one of their pups! So I bet it was Blythe all along, who told them that we did stuff that we didn't do. Though I don't think Duskfire Glacier came to the Bay yet, so maybe they knew that Blythe was lying all along! But I dunno, I only spoke to Duskfire wolves who believed the lie."

Charon looked inquisitively at Spectra. "What do you think?"