Conal Vs. Akil (chapter four: The Black Demon)

"Akil is becoming more and more of an ass. Why do we half to follow his orders anyway?" Asked Reaper, one of Akil's warriors. He was two years old, and all black wolf with a red undercoat to him. He watched Sargent Brooks sitting a few feet away. Sargent Brooks was next in line for alpha in Akil's pack, and was in charge of keeping Reaper and the others in order and make sure they follow what Akil orders them to do.
"We follow his orders because its the right thing to do, and I have known him my whole life, so dont you dare go and talk about him like that when you have only known him a few years!" Sargent Brooks snarled at Reaper.
"Well, he does not seem to keep to his promises that he made to us all who serve him now did he! He is just growing more insane then he has seemed to ever be before!" Argued Reaper.
"Akil might be growing more... crazy in the head, but he is still our alpha and you will show him the respect an alpha should get! If you do not you will not be here to see another day!" Sargent Brooks snarled, raising his nose and tail high as he turned and walked away annoyed.
"Stupid wanna be alpha." Reaper muttered under his breath and he took off running into the forest on his own away from them all.
Reaper looked up at the stars and sighed deeply to himself as he felt like howling. He on the other hand knew he could not do so. If he was to howl right then and there he would only cause death upon the land around him, anything that was to hear him howl would die slowly and painfully while listening to it. Reaper never was one to howl even though he knew of what his powers could do. Yes, he was evil and worked for Akil, but he had parts where he knew he was going to far and so he would keep himself from doing something.
Reaper froze and turned around real fast as he heard a crackling noise coming from a near bush. He snarled showing he had noticed they were there. There was no respond to his growling and his mind started to wonder as he thought possible that he was just imagining things and he slowly lowered his guard and sat down just watching. He tilted his head and then turned to walk away, but found himself slammed into hard knocking him down hard into the ground. He growled and kicked the wolf who had slammed into him back and snarled at him.
The wolf that had knocked Reaper back had been Cranenii. Cranenii just stood there snarling and staring tensely at Reaper as he started to pace back and forth keeping his eyes on him. Cranenii felt so cold and hungry, his blood boiled inside him calling him out to hunt. He jumped at Reaper and Reaper just jumped back at him and they slammed into each other and mid air knocking each other backwards and onto the ground. Cranenii immidietly jumped up once he had landed and grabbed hold of Reaper throwing him into a tree.
"Who the hell are you and what do you want from me?" Reaper snarled as he slowly got up.
"Heh, you have no worry as to who I am. But I know who you are, you work for Akil, it just makes it more entertaining for me knowing I am going to have a snack that's got some fight in him." Cranenii responded as a ringing filled the air in his ears that was followed by faint whispering, though there was no one around to whisper to him. Cranenii jumped at Reaper going to bite down on his neck to kill him, but Reaper growled and just jumped back at Cranenii and knocked him backwards into the ground and he towered above him growling as he held him down best he could.
"So your one of the Black Demons?" Reaper asked holding him down. The Black Demons were wolves that served in the war under the guidance of Phantom up until they had went completely mad and became savage hunters that had only one thirst which was for the flesh of those that are their own kind. Once they had started doing so their body had become infected with a virus which caused them to slowly go completely insane until they had no control over themself at all.
"It runs in my blood, I do not expect a fool like you to under stand. I expect that you know a little about the Black Demons though seeing as who all is in your pack." Cranenii said with a chuckle as he closed his eyes for a moment and then looked at Reaper and knocked him backwards and held him down. Reaper tried to struggle to push him off, but Cranenii had him pinned down good and tight with an evil smirk. "Do not think that you can run and hide from what is going on with your pack, you can avoid being like the ones who its happening too. But they will hunt you down and force you to become one of them, or they will make you die a slow and painful death while you watch them gorge themselves over a fresh kill probably some one you know that's close to you would be what the meal is.... I will let you go this once, but if I catch you again, you best believe it your going to die."
Cranenii growled as he backed off of Reaper slowly with a smirk on his face and then he turned and took off running fast as he could. With but only a few seconds while Reaper gathered the strength to get up Cranenii was completely out of his sight. Reaper looked around trying to see him, but there was no sign at all of where Cranenii had vanished off too, then there was a faint scream and howl of sorrow. Reaper knew exactly what the scream was about and sighed deeply to himself as he took off running to check it out.
Cranenii was standing in front of a den that had a mother wolf and her pups in it. He slowly walked toward the den growling as drool dripped from his mouth. He looked over and saw Reaper standing by a tree watching him and he growled as he ran at the mother and went to snap at her, but the mother moved and then slammed into his chest knocking him back and he fell down on the ground and jumped back up and growled at her again. The mother wolf howled up to call for help and Cranenii's eyes widened and he took off running to get out of there hearing a response to her call.
He was gone within seconds, and was glad to have gotten out of there in time. Not paying attention to where he was going he found himself slam into Shynii knocking Shynii down, while he kept his balance and stayed standing. He pinned his ears back and tilted his head as he looked at her. Shynii just lay there on the ground on her back looking up at him and she tilted her head to the side also and then a smile came across her face as she jumped up and tackled him to the ground.
"Cranenii!" Shynii shouted with joy as she held him down nuzzling and licking his face.
"Why are you not with Conal?" Cranenii asked confused not seeing Conal around anywhere. "I thought you were traveling with him."
"I was, but we found the pack and him and some warriors stayed behind to try and fight the spirits and Akil's pack off while the rest of us tried to make a run for it. No one has heard news from what went on..." Shynii lowered her head and sighed for a moment and then looked at Cranenii and smiled at him as she wagged her tail happy to see him again.
"Well, I think I should be going." Cranenii said as he was still hungry and really did not want to find himself harming Shynii. He turned his head and heard no one coming and then he pushed Shynii off of him and he started to walk off on his own. Shynii watched him for a moment unsure of what to say or do. She felt like she could break down crying again. She sat down. Tears filled her eyes as she stared at the ground sadly as she let out a low whimper again.
"So that's it then, eh?" She whimpered. "You are just going to leave again?"
Cranenii looked back at her as he sat down. "I do not belong here Shynii. Can you not see that? I am not like you, I do not belong with a pack or belong where there are any other wolves, all I can bring you is more troubles then you, Conal, and the rest of them already have."
"Can you not see that I do not care if you were to bring that to me? I just want you to stay!"
"That does not matter-"
"I am not going to let you leave!" Shynii shouted as she ran up next to him and then sat back down and stared him in the eyes.
"I would like nothing more then to stay with you and the others Shynii, but I am a loner and I belong on my own. You do not understand and I do not expect you to." He replied to her.
"Well tell me! Let me understand! Let me understand why you keep running away from me and the others, why you continue to do all this even though I can see the truth in your eyes that you would like nothing more then to stay here with me- with us!" Shynii shouted at him as she pinned her ears back.
"It is not that simple Shynii."
"You do not trust me?"
"No, I just do not think you could handle knowing... Or even what you could possibly think of me if you knew..."
"Cranenii... please... What are you trying to hide?"
Cranenii sighed deeply as he looked her in the eyes and then lowered them fearing to see the look on her face when he was to tell her. "I- I am a Black Demon..."
"B-Black Demon?" She questioned with a shiver in her voice.
"Yes, a Black Demon! One who lives with a deadly virus and they can only live by feeding off of others! Of course these days most people just believe the virus is a myth and that we are just savage cannibals..." He growled faintly as he turned around.
"I do not fear you Cranenii... Virus or no virus... All I see is a kind hearted person with a bad chance at luck really." She moved closer to him and placed her front left paw on his back as she leaned on him a little.
"Why do you like me Shynii?" Cranenii looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Because I do, Cranenii. I can not explain it..." She sighed as she then went to back up but tripped and fell down on her back and she stared up blankly. She could hear Cranenii chuckling at her without even looking at him. She sighed again and then went to get up and she started to whimper.
"What is it? You OK?" Cranenii asked her as he turned and looked at her.
"I-I b-broke a nail..." She whimpered as she licked her right paw with a tear falling from her face.
"Heh, you broke a nail?" Cranenii chuckled still as he shook his head. He walked past her and started to go off on his own. "You will live."
"Now where do you think you are going?" Shynii pinned her ears back
"You said Conal was at war right?"
"Yea."
"Well, I might just be able to help him out. It can not change the things I have done in my past, but I like to try and have people not think of me from what I have done, but what I prefer to do, which is being a good friend. If Conal is at war, I think it would be best that I go and help him out. I try to think of him as a friend and he could use a helping had in a time like this."
"Uh... I am coming with you!"
"No, you are not going with me!"
"Yes, I am!" Shynii argued.
"You can not come... You are a-a female..." Cranenii stated as he looked her over for a minute. "Females are not allowed to be in any kind of battle, why would I let you come?"
"What?" Shynii asked at her eyes widened big and she glared at him with an angry look upon her face. "I am a female I know! But I can come to battle if I want! We females are no different then you males!" She growled at him as she took off in the direction Conal and the others were before without looking back at Cranenii.
"What?" Cranenii asked silently to himself as he took off running after her.
Shynii and Cranenii both ran in silence as they tried their best to get where Conal was and when they made it to where Conal and the warriors had all been left behind, Shynii froze and stood still with wide eyes. She looked at Cranenii as he walked up beside her and they both studdied the land. The trees were all dead and falling over while the ground looked like it had been burnt. They both started to walk around looking for Conal, but all they found was a dead body here and their that was eather a warrior from Akil's pack or was one of them that had stayed behind from Conal's pack. There was though not one sign of Conal anywhere.
Shynii jumped back in surprise as she saw Crune up ahead lieing on the ground struggling to stand, but he left back leg had completely been torn off and was laying on the ground close by him. Blood was pouring from his wounds faster then he could manage to clean them trying to stop the bleeding. Shynii took off running to him and Crune growled as his eyes flashed red and he stared up at Shynii. Cranenii jumped in front of Shynii stoping her from getting any closer and he growled at Crune. Crune could hardly recognise Shynii and was more consintrating on the pain from his wounds then on trying to find out if Shynii and Cranenii were friends or foes. His eyes flashed from red to normal color and back to red repeatedly.
"Crune! Where is Conal?" Shynii questioned him as she tried to get around Cranenii but he would not let her move closer. "I know what I am doing, Cranenii" She said to him as she pushed him aside and slowly moved closer to Crune. Crune just whimpered and growled in pain as he watched her and tried to clean his wounds still. "Crune please, tell me where Conal is. Is he ok? What happened?"
"S-Sir Conal? Th-They t-took him... There was too many of them... We tried to fight, but w-we failed..." Crune whimpered as the light in his eyes was fading fast and he struggled to stay breathing as he did not want to die yet. He looked up at Shynii and Cranenii and he started laughing as tears poured from his eyes. He was a warrior yes, but at the time he feared nothing not even the fear of crying in front of them both. "The war has only just began... No one can save us now..."
"What do you mean?" Shynii looked at him and then at Cranenii.
Crune started to cough up blood and he lied his head down on the blood soaked grass.
"Crune!" She shouted as she barked at him to get up, but he closed his eyes and slowly drifted off too a sleep that he could never awake from. Shynii whimpered as she closed her eyes and held her own head close to her chest and Cranenii rubed up against her trying to comfurt her best he could.
"It will be ok, Shynii." Cranenii said softly.
Shynii noded.
"We must find Conal before its too late, but we will need help." Cranenii looked her in the eyes. "You understand?"
Shynii noded again for a moment and then looked at Crune and sighed pethetically as she looked back at Cranenii. "We half to call upon the Gods and Goddesses, as well as all the humans for help, and gather the packs together..."
"Yes, we not just out at war here. We are in battle for all of life here." Cranenii said as he turned and took off running. Shynii took off running too following Cranenii. Conal thinks that I do not know what is going on here, I know what secretes he hides. He is one that hides behind the trueth like I have done with the fact I am a Black Demon. How can Conal continue to make up lies, saying his father died to save the pack? And why the battle went on? He is mixing trueth with so many lies! I have lied for over a houndred years myself, though I do not mind that others know or do not know. I was there when the war happened. Conal is not who is trys to have others think he is... I am not so sure how long I can keep up with the lies he tells them all. Cranenii smiled at Shynii as he was lost in thoughts about everything and Shynii smiled back at him.