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    Many moons passed after I abandoned my father in the forest. The pack had still forgotten him. The leader shifted, and the old one moved down to an elder. I was vying for the title, but things were getting in the way; I wanted pups, I wanted to spend time with Realid, I wanted to be able to hunt with the pack, I wanted friends (real friends, friends who aren't trying to get on your good side because you're powerful), but above all, the dreams were getting in the way.

    The dreams were terrible. They showed flashing clips of my father - my father, the man I abandoned, my father, the man I thought I knew - ... dying. These were upsetting me, however I had no idea why. It made no sense: I hated my father. When I left him in the forest, I wanted him to die there. Heck, he wanted to die there. Instead of dwelling on the tough topic of my past, I had abandoned it there, with him. When my father died, my past would, too. I was happy with that. I don't care about my past! It's behind me. I'm moving forward. Or, at least, that's what I thought. But soon, my past would be forced upon me, like pain is forced on a warrior.

    I was standing on high rock, telling the pack of why I should be leader. "We have been at war for far too long! If elected, I will stop the war of the packs and bring back our loved ones," I howled, "and no more shall we starve with the rations that we have been fed since the warriors cannot hunt on the battlefield!" Suddenly, something caught my eye in the bushes. A small rustle, a snap of a twig catching my ears and pulling my eyes towards it. The wolves cheered and howled and barked in agreement, and I grinned half-heartedly, my eyes drifting slowly towards that bush. I dismissed the meeting, jumped down from high rock, and began heading to the bush. 

    As I approached, I saw Realid trotting towards me, smiling lovingly. I bared my teeth in an attempt at a grin, and then jumped in the bush. Almost immediately I heard Realid shrieking at the top of her lungs, "GENGI, NO!" Just then, I was engulfed in something as dark as the night -- perhaps even darker. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move, and for a moment I felt like nothing. For a brief moment I saw the pack crowding over me, screaming and howling and crying, and then the darkness ensued, pulling me away from the world I knew and replacing it all with something that was darker than the night.

    Bright light pierced the undying darkness that encircled me, forcing my eyes open and replacing my confusion with fear. Slowly, I stood up, but it felt like I was not doing this, like everything I was doing was being forced upon me.

    I looked around me, but it was just the pack camp. I was relieved when I saw Realid trotting towards me, and I ran towards her at full speed, aiming to tackle and hug her. But as I jumped atop her, nothing happened. I slipped right through Realid and fell onto the ground below with a solid thump. I lay there, eyes wide open, as she ran to me -- not me, the me in real life. As my paws slipped through grass as I walked towards my own body, I began to realize that I was gone... I had died.

    I howled in desperation, "SPIRIT WOLVES, HEAR MY CRY! I DO NOT WANT TO DIE YET!" 

    No reply trickled into my ears, and I sank to the ground in misery, "I... I do not want to die."

    And yet, as I watched myself fall next to that bush, seeming to die from nothing, I felt a hole open in me. Anger filled my heart, but I could not yell at anyone, for there was nobody to blame. I simply lay there, crying, until I forced myself to look up.

    My tears blurred the sky as I looked up in hope, seeing nothing, and I buried my face in my paws. Just then, I felt someone put their paw on my shoulder, comforting me. I turned around and saw a wolf of light - there were no eyes, no shadows, and no end to this mysterious wolf. Without opening his mouth, a deep, powerful voice emanated from his body. "You... are not dead. You... will be soon. You..." He stopped to take a breath, and coughed for a good 10 seconds. My ears went back in fear as I saw deep black eyes flash on the face of this mysterious figure, then melt away.

    "You... need... to seek your past again..." The wolf suppressed a monumental coughing fit, and took a deep breath, but I interrupted him before he could continue.

    "WHO IN SKY WOLF'S NAME ARE YOU?" I shrieked.

    "Calm... yourself... quiet..." He murmured with the tone of a babbling brook.

    "WHY WOULD I DO THAT? I'M FREAKIN' OUT! WHO THE HECK ARE YOU, AND WHY CAN NOBODY SEE ME AND WHY AM I DEAD?!?!"

    "I am Sky Wolf, Gengi... I have grown old in my attempts to stop the forces coming from your past."

    "S-sky wolf?" I whimpered.

    Sky Wolf was an old tale of misery and woe from my home. As legend has it, Sky Wolf was the happy leader of Sky Pack ever since he was old enough to fight. And fight, he had to. Sky Pack and Night Pack were supposedly at war for over a millennium, and Sky had much to lose -- a loving family, a powerful pack. While at war one day, ten wolves died, and so he was forced to bring in his own son and wife. They were strong and courageous, but in the end, both of them died on the battlefield... trying to save Sky Wolf. 

    Sky Wolf put himself into exile the day after their deaths, and as soon as he left, the pack fell into mayhem and lost the war. Night Pack ruled with Night Wolf at its head, a cruel leader who forced everyone who wasn't a war general into slavery. Sky Wolf watched as his brothers and sisters fell during his rule, and eventually Night Wolf found Sky, and killed him savagely. What Night Wolf didn't know is that Sky Wolf became a spirit, much more powerful than any mortal wolf, and Sky Wolf snuck into Night's den one night, and sent a fierce fog and an army of bears to battle with Night's Pack. It fell almost instantly, and Night Wolf was the first to die, in an attempt to kill the spirit of Sky Wolf.

    Since then, Sky Wolf helped the rulers of each pack keep harmony, but only ever contacted the strongest of leaders...

    "Sky Wolf! I am not leader of my pack! Why do you contact me now?" I inquired, fear spiking my words with high squeaks of terror.

    Sky Wolf took a breath that seemed to last an eternity, and finally said, "Your past... is filled... with darkness..."  -- another deep breath -- "But in the darkness, there is one single light..." -- another deep breath -- "However, if you do not seek... the darkness... you will never reach this light... Night Wolf will rule again..." -- another deep breath -- "and you... along with all your loved ones... will suffer... Gengi, you must seek your past... you must seek... your father..."

    "I do not seek my past," I told Sky Wolf with a forcefulness which did not become me. "My past is behind me, along with my father."

    Sky Wolf's figure glowed with more light than before. "You MUST seek your past, Gengi!" He fell into a coughing fit after forcing out, "I... cannot hold Night... back... forever..."

    "S...sky Wolf?" I whimpered, poking him with my paw. 

    "You... must..." he breathed out, and with a flash of blinding light, he disappeared. 

    My eyes readjusted to the light, and then back to the world I knew. Many moons ago, I had forced my father to live with what he had done to me. Now, Sky Wolf was forcing me to live with what I had done to my father. My past, my history, everything that had become to fuzzy in my past, was being forced upon me. I was being forced to save the world... But the thing that scared me, was that I wasn't sure I could do it. I turned towards Realid, who was crying over what she assumed to be my dead body. I wanted to save her. I wanted to save my pack. I wanted to save everyone. But I wasn't sure if I could do this, this task that was just forced upon me.