Once Upon a Time, Two Pups Cross Worlds for Love

Long ago existed a land that was beautiful and plentiful. This land would eventually be called Inukuni. It was trapped between the sea and a semi-circle of mountains. For a long time that land belonged only to beasts. There came a time when men came to this land and they pillaged it and began to devastate the forests in hopes of obtaining its riches. Only by the screams of the very land itself was it made aware of by the gods. Boar gods, raven gods, deer gods, and the life began a battle which would drive the humans out of the land. It happened that one group of miners and lumberjacks fell under the wrath of a wolf goddess named Mil-la. In their desire to escape and cling to life they threw a tiny young girl in her path, to catch prevent Mil-la’s jaws from reaching them. Only those who made for the mountains, and would never return, lived. Fate had it that Mil-la spared the life of this young child. Her hatred for humans grew at the thought of them throwing their own flesh before her and her pity compelled her to raise this child with her pups. She named the child Ranna in her tongue. Ranna took to loving her woods and became more wolfen than human. She grew wise to the ways of the forest and in time coupled and bore her children. The one thing that Ranna did not possess was the immortality of her foster mother.

Ranna’s children grew and had children of their own and in time became a small group favored and protected by the gods. They lived under the free sky and learned the secrets of their mother’s forest. Perfect and innocent they slept without fear under the starry sky. Within time they even learned the closest worlds to Earth and passed through them at ease. Ranna’s children enjoyed the peace of their land but that was a joy they would soon lose, forget and never see again. Humans came back to this land and this time with intentions of war and conquest in mind. The gods took to war again but many were defeated and beings that had existed since before time began were snuffed out. In a final struggle the gods, Mil-la, her pups, and the children of Ranna, in the shape of human-wolves, marched a final battle and pushed the humans back to the mountains and beyond. In this battle three lords of the gods tribes fell, including Mil-la. With this battle fought they gods decided to sail away to the Eternal Lands. Evergreen it would be and remain and could not be touched by the hands of mortals. Their one regret that they shall carry with them is that they could not take the mortal children of Ranna with them. Deer ram, boar, wolf, frog, crow, raven, eagle, and the like parted the world on the night of a full moon and their shapes shown bright as their ships carried them away from these shores forever. Meanwhile on the beaches the children of Ranna cried tears as they were left behind. It was like watching children who couldn’t see their parents in the midst of the summer festival. Feeling unwanted and unloved, some cried and other’s fell into despair. Some even walked through the fabric of this world and into another and were never seen again. Those that remained formed together and build a village that would become a city. They named it in a tongue that only vaguely resembled the tongue of Mil-la. Getsudandou, the Stairway to the Moon. The children of Ranna became strong and would protect themselves. In time their city spread and other villages came to be. Another assault was made upon their land and through much blood, the children of Ranna won this war and named their country Inukuni, the land of the dog. Their king took up the heads of their defeated enemy and dipped his fingers in their blood and painted his face. He then declared that they were the people of the dog, the Kounin.



That is how it is the story that the old men and women tell beside the bonfire to children during the summer festival. No one truly knows what it was like and if there was a time when Mil-la ruled this land or if she became fond of a human girl who then procreated a race of mystical mortals. The Kounin have resided in these lands for many years beyond recall of the moon herself. She cannot even recall a time when they could become an abomination of human and wolf parts. All of them appear human enough but from their experiences with other humans they have learned they have better senses than the average human. All have dark hair and most have dark eyes. Some few among them have blue or grey eyes and they are considered to be sacred and closer to Mil-la in blood. Parents rejoice at the birth of children who have blue or grey eyes. This child will most likely become a great warrior, a priest or priestess, a lord or lady, a leader. The most beloved of traits to them are strength and power. All other emotions pale in comparison to the Kounin. Like all beings they live in the World of Waking Moments though they can walk briefly into other worlds. Mostly they play within the Astral Plane and sometimes in other worlds close to it. While in the Astral Plane their spirit shows their avatar and it takes on the shape of a dog. It is in this state of consciousness that they work their spirits and their wills. They have even been known to attack their enemies in this state. One standing guard at the gates of his camp would suddenly see the landscape fade before his eyes with a pack of wild dogs running towards him. He would be torn limb from limb by them and yet his screams would go unheard. He would feel all life leave him and his spirit would succumb. His spirit would return to his body if the damage was not too severe and it weren’t for the fact that his head was severed from him body in the World of Waking Moments. They are a warlike people that battle their enemies and themselves. Some parts of Inukuni are civilized and other parts lawless.

Inukuni is a country that rests beside the sea. The sea rests to the east of the country. Beyond the sea is a small island where the Kounin have also populated. Anseishima is the name of that island. It is said that the gods rested there before passing into the Eternal Lands. The Island cannot be seen from the shores but can be from the mountain that breaks the eastern beach. Kensan is the mountain and within it and upon it is built the city of Getsudandou, their first city and the place where the Kings have resided. Around the country exist mountains to the South, West and North and between them exist the forests and planes. Tribes of other peoples inhabit the Western and Southern mountains and they are the forefront of the war against the Kounin. Only the Northern Mountains still belong to the Kounin. It is said that on top of the Northern Mountain Mil-la met her end and from where her body fell a stream erupted from her blood. The stream’s waters are red to this day and the people built a shrine around its base and a city, Mirrakyou, around that shrine. To drink from the Mirratou, the Spring of Mil-la, would increase the power of a warrior and prepare his pallet for blood. The spring soon became crystal clear and a calming blue as it wound away from the city and fell over the edge of the mountain and became a great fall and a great river. The Kengawa, that ran from the base of the mountain to the East and into the Ocean. At the base of the Kengawa was a village known as Gousensou, the Mountain’s Paw. It is here that the rarest of things happened. Among these brown-eyed people other colours of eyes are rarely seen and those few born with such eyes are said to be closer to the gods. It is in this village a cry was responded with cheer as a grey-eyed pup was born to them and named Kael. About seven years behind another newborn was hailed when he opened his blue eyes and was named Reisil. Their strange eyes seemed to reflect the divinity of the gods and they were exalted.

Now Gousensou was not only the birthplace of these two pups. It was also the first place that a great avatar had been seen. Thor was the name of that Avatar. He was a great wolf who had unknown strength. He had notable grey eyes that were piercing and endless that seemed cold and condescending. His body was covered with scars and tattoos. He had fought in Gousensou and some of the greatest battles of their time such as the Battle of Uncounted Tears. No one knew whom this avatar belonged to but his visage was known in the battles of the Astral Plane. This Thor was said to tear through enemy lines as well as other pups and dogs that got in his way. None knew if to welcome the sight of Thor as a friend or foe, the promise of victory or defeat. He was a legend to these people. It is with Kael, Reisil, and the mysterious Lorthar that out story begins…

Reisil was a little boy. He had always been. In body, frame, stature, voice, and heart he was tiny. Not to say that his heart was not kind. Far from it for it was the biggest thing in him. The heart he was small in was his courage. He was seen as wise and fair by the Kounin tribes, but unable to achieve greatness and power which was the core desires of the Kounin tribes. He always felt small when compared to his aniki Kael. An aniki or aneki is an older pup who is supposed to watch over one put into his or her care. Those in their care are like younger brother or younger sister until it is time for the youth to become an adult. It was Kael who watched over Reisil. It was decided that the grey eyed and blue eyed pups should be paired together for their divinity would only increase manifold.

Kael was present throughout Reisil’s life since the time he opened his blue eyes and they were paired together. It was Kael who helped him take his first steps as a toddler and fight his first fight. That was they way of their people. It was with Kael that Reisil first journeyed into the Astral Plane and found his avatar. In that world he was named F’thar. He looked at himself in a pool of water and the felt his was just as tiny in this world as he was in the World of Waking Moments. Especially when compared to his aniki's avatar who was strong. Kael could even be quoted as chuckling "That's not even my real avatar." Kael was just a man and Reisil was still in that state of being a boy and a man. He was still learning and his avatar still reflected the visage of a pup and not a dog. Kael was already a great warrior and had fought many battles in life and in the Astral Plane. Reisil had only fought a few battles and his life had been sparred in one only thanks to Kael. Reisil was always in his aniki's shadow. Kael’s ‘runt’ as he had been nicknamed.

Always being ignored it was no surprise that he eventually fell asleep within his heart and refused to awaken. He fell into a seeming sleep but not a sleep. He was walking. He was in the Astral Plane. But there he did not stay. He wandered further beyond the Astral Plane. He came across the World of Dreams but not while asleep.

As he reached its end he was stopped by a booming voice. “Go no further child,” uttered the great and echoing voice. He spun around to be greeted by a silver fox. He knew instantly who she was. She was the Lady of Deepest Night’s Dreaming. She stood there like she was made from the sheen of the moon. Her coat was just as light, her whiskers were like the tails of falling stars, her eyes that were like black mirrors that reflected the stars and had the stars within them, and she had five glowing tails. “What pray does a child wander here, so far from one’s body and not dreaming,” she asked. “I wish to leave that world like the Children of Ranna,” F’thar replied. “Long has it been since I heard a Kounin refer to their ancestors the Children of Ranna. So long ago was it that they passed through here that they themselves became like dreams,” she said and her face showed deep recollection. “So they did pass through here and leave the World of Waking Moments,” F’thar questioned with enthusiasm. “Nay,” responded the Lady of All Night’s Dreaming. “So they became dreams then,” he asked. “Nay. I said like dreams. They passed through here and never came back, they wandered that path you now take and vanished forever,” she said gravely. “So then they did leave the world,” he asked. “You used different words to ask that question before,” she stated and with a pause continued, “they did pass through here and they went that way but what became of them I do not know. They vanished and were never seen again.” “And what became of their bodies? Did they fully leave that world or did they pass through here only in spirit?” “I care not much for the events of the Waking World,” she said, “I do not know if they fully passed through here or left their bodies as empty husks on the eastern shore. I know that they passed through that gate and were never seen again.” F’thar sat in silence and then turned away from her and began to walk through the gate. “What drives a child, a young pup to such an extreme? Is the world in ruins like when the old gods died? Or are you not able to accept something and cannot find a better way,” asked the queen. He simply responded with “my destiny is fleeting there Milady, and I would rather face any opportunity whether it be brighter or darker than what he World of Waking Moments has to offer me. Farewell,” and he continued on past the gate. She then whispered to herself “Mil-la, may you guide that child well. I see a light in him that I have not seen in men in eons. I pray that I see him again,” and with that the little white tail of the pup vanished from site beyond the gate.

F’thar passed next into the City of Stars. Full of mystery only few being came here. It was from here on that he would have to walk with care. One wrong step could cause him to fall and his spirit and soul would vanish as if it never was from here on he knew he would be alone. He followed the paths while looking for the gate to Sands of Time and the Sea of Glass beyond. And with each step he took, he wandered further and further away from his body.

He retreated to a world further than the Astral Plane to a world made of pure blackness, blacker than velvet and leather. A blackness that flows like an ink, yet here his soul shown its true nature and his soul radiated its brilliant beauty. Now the light that radiates from the soul of one innocent and pure is not uncommon but when it is stagnant it becomes a beacon to all that which is evil.

Demons came to trouble this pup and within time subdued him. They collared him, and bound him, tortured him, and little by little took his life. This is a world unlike the one of Waking Moments but more real than the World of Dreams and yet more deadly than either. He was helpless before these demons that controlled his body like a puppet. Soon they would have his life too and even worse yet his soul. Soon his very light began to wane.

It was in the moments that he thought to be his last that a light came. A dark light. It was like another sort of evil. He stared at it as did the demons that surrounded him. Then the light hit them all and broke and skipped upon the inky landscape that was this world. Standing in the epicenter stood a wolf. He had grey eyes, battle scars, tattoos, and was adorned in a leather harness, leather cuffs, and a collar, all as black as this world. All of the tribes of the Kounin would know this avatar if they saw it. Without a doubt, it was Lorthar; the Legend. His deep growl sounded like thunder that sent the weaker of demons in flight and by their own will they returned to their land of birth and torment rather than face Lorthar. He fought with the greater and the strongest of demons and broke their bodies and bones and sent their disembodied spirits back to an even darker world as their bodies turned to ash. It was then that his gaze fell upon F’thar.

His eyes were cold and unending. "Will I too fall to Lorthar?" But to his surprise the great Lorthar bit threw solid chains of adamant and freed F’thar. Then this light of darkness melded into F’thar's light. Lorthar curled around F’thar and he began to lick his wounds. Tears welled up in his eyes and he began to lick the wounds Lorthar received for his sake.

When all wounds were healed Lorthar licked F’thar's ears gently and a vaguely familiar voice said "I will always know that light from near and afar. I will always be the light that finds you. Even in a world, such as this, that is beyond the comprehension of men. Come back to the World of Waking Moments!" F’thar sat in silence and asked “If I go there, will I find you again some day and not just you the avatar but the body who wields it?" "You will..." replied Lorthar, "...You already know me. You've only seen a guise. Everyone has seen my avatar but no one knows my true avatar. None ever shall know save you, I'll wait for you." And before F’thar could ask another of the thousands questions on the tip of his tongue, or even mutter a ‘thank you,’ Lorthar faded away. F’thar watched as the hound went from real to pale to transparent to nothing, save that his grey eyes hung there for a moment before they too vanished, like the last moments of embers in the hearth.

F’thar knew those grey eyes from somewhere. "Who was Lorthar? Why did he save me? Should I leave? Should I stay? Can I go back? What am I doing? Help me! Don't leave me! Don't forget me! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!" And with that his soul broke through the blackened egg of that world through the Sea of Glass, beyond the Sands of Time, past the City of Stars, screaming through the World of Dreams, ripping the fibers of the Astral plane, and back into the World of Waking Moments. His soul fell into his body with a pain that damaged both.

Reisil lay there with tears in his eyes, his body finding difficulty in moving from weeks of sleep. He lay there in the dimly lit, unfamiliar room, feeling the warmth from the dying fire. He sighed heavily and then felt a strong arm tighten around him. He realized the fire wasn't the only warmth in the sleeping furs. It was another body. He felt an erection rub into the small of his back and a piercing pushed into his skin. Then that he heard a deep voice. "It took me a long time to find that world..." it was his aniki, "...it was a hard place to find. But I knew I could do it. I promised you, I will always be the light that finds you. Even in a world, such as that, that this is beyond the comprehension of men. You have no idea how glad I am that I did. Welcome back." Reisil spun around to see Kael’s-Lorthar’s eyes and before he could whisper a word Kael’s mouth closed over his and his tongue filled his mouth. Reisil's body fell limp as the arms of his aniki pulled him close to him and held him tight, until his spirit grew just as strong.