Okami No Hime Prologue

Okami No Hime

Prologue:

The first thing the young, shivering and naked girl heard as she opened her eyes was the sound of the ocean, which was at first strange to her, but the smell moisture and the soft breeze soon let her realize she was near a large body of water. But that was impossible, just a few moments ago, she wasn't near any large body of water besides a small lake her pack lived near, and it certainly didn't smell of so much salt.

Taking a deep breath, the young girl lifted her head and looked around, blinking her eyes against the darkness, trying to adjust her eyes. Automatically she raised her nose to sniff, as she'd done from since the moment of her birth, but...but something was wrong. Her sense of smell was somehow...diminished. Why did it feel like she could hardly smell anything, like her sense of smell was clouded somehow. Curious, she reached up to feel her nose.....and gasped loudly, completely confused. Her paws! What happened to her paws? Where were her claws as well? She brought her hairless paw closer, confusion racing all through her. Where was her beautiful dark brown and white fur?...and why was she so...so..pale?

Her heart pounding, the girl curiously moved the strange things that she didn't know on this world were called fingers. Blinking, she looked at her other paw and saw that it was the same....hairless, pale. Sitting up, she then brought up these...things to touch her face. Instead of her snout..her beautiful, black and moist snout, she felt a strange, pert and stubby thing in the middle of her face. Where was her snout, and why was the thing she had now so...dry?

The girl was now in full panic mode, and shivering, she looked around herself, hoping to find out what happened. Home..gone the girl thought simply to herself. All around her, she saw large bushels of grass and trees, and she saw she was on the bank of a small large lake with the moonlight shining on its surface. Where was she? She looked up and her eyes widened in shock. One moon...there was only one moon shining? But before she could think on it more, another, basic feeling overcame her that was stronger than her fear and confusion. Water...thirsty. Drink

Panting, the girl moved toward the lake, but in shock didn't realize she didn't have four legs anymore, but two long pale ones that were awkward and hard to move. Frustrated, the girl crawled and pulled herself to the water. Once she reached the water, she drank greedily, not even noticing at first that her tongue was not as long or thick as she was used to.

It was only after a few minutes of drinking did the girl notice that...and noticed her reflection in the moonlit water after her thirst was slightly abated. She blinked, not believe at first, then leaned in closer. Instead of her beautifully furred face, what stared back at her was a pale, hairless creature. Her skin was frighteningly pale, with a short, stub snout that was the same color. Instead of her strong, razor-sharp teeth-filled jaw, she saw a soft, pert chin with red-colored lips that she didn't know was considered attractive in this world. In fact, she didn't know she would have been considered beautiful in this world, but to her...she was monstrous, hideous, with a mass of thick, curly, golden-colored...fur, or whatever it was, flowing out from the top of her ugly head to more than half-way down her back. The only thing even remotely familiar to her was her eyes. It was the same, yellow eyes with the pupils black. Gone where her furred ears that she took pride in, that she could hear so much with.

What happened to her? Why was she such a monster! With a yelp, the girl slapped at the water and skidded backwards away. Not me! Monster! Monster! she thought despairingly. Gasping, the girl closed her eyes and tried hard to remember what happened. A moment later, it all came back in flashes, images.  She was in training, to learn how to hunt, when she finally caught her first prey and was on her way home back to her pack. Her brothers and sisters would be envious, and her parents...oh how proud they would be!

Then suddenly, when she came near her pack's cave, she suddenly smelt smoke...smoke and burning. Shocked, she dropped the body of the large rabbit she caught and ran. As soon as she reached inside, she stopped and yelped and whined in sadness and despair; there, scattered across the cave floor, was the bodies of her family. Her father, torn asunder, her mother, ripped to pieces and lying in front of her siblings, as though she was trying to protect them in her final moments of life. They too were murdered mercilessly, even the youngest pup.

At the back of the cave, a fire burned, destroying all that she knew and loved. Whining sadly, the young she-wolf backed out of the cave, confused and distraught. She turned to run, but suddenly a figure stood before her, large and imposing. She looked up and whined nervously as a big, black-furred wolf..his eyes shining a deep yellow, looked down on her. Niece, the immense wolf said in her mind, licking his chops. Come to me..Niece.

But the wolf..just barely out of puphood, backed away, knowing something was wrong. With a yelp, she dashed away just as the big male wolf stepped closer to her. As the young wolf ran away, two companions of the black wolf walked up to him and stood on either side of him. He turned to look at one, then the other before looking to where his niece ran. Get her, he commanded, giving a wolfy grin.

The two, equally large wolves ran off, growling loud and menacingly. It didn't even take a few moments before the wolves caught up to her, snapping at her ankles and paws. The young wolf went down in a yelp. As they surrounded her, her uncle walked up, her eyes shining evilly in the early evening. Something special for you, the enormous wolf said in her mind. He closed his eyes and growled deep in his throat. He then snapped opened his eyes and a black, swirling hole opened up beside where the young she-wolf struggled to stand. She looked at the swirling hole, then at her uncle. No! Please, mercy! she desperately sent into the wolf's mind.

But no sympathy or mercy showed in her uncle's eyes. He grinned, and with a growl, shoved her into the hole. The she-wolf whined desperately and she fell in, not understanding what was happening. The hole closed a moment later as the wolf and his lackeys turned away, thinking all was done.

But the wolf didn't know was that the magic he used also flowed through his niece, the daughter of his now dead brother. Despite her fear, the she-wolf searched deep within herself, and commanded her magic to send her someplace safe, someplace where there was hope she might see her family again. Her eyes glowed a deep, brilliant yellow, and after that, all was darkness.

Back in the present, the young girl sighed in sadness. She looked up in the sky at the starry sky, with it's one moon. Taking a deep breath, she tried to howl, to show her sadness, her despair...but instead of her glorious song, what escaped her now pale throat was nothing but a high-pitched yell, which sounded nothing like what she was used to. Horrified, the girl tried again, but it was the same. Finally, the girl collapsed on the ground in exhaustion and defeat,

Just before unconsciousness claimed her, the last thought the girl had was how she not only lost her pack...her family, but her very identity herself. She had lost everything, and there was nothing for her to live for now.

Above, the moon continued to shine down, bathing all in its soft, pear-like glow, including on a shivering, naked girl lost in a strange world.

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                                  Okami No Hime


                                  Coming Fall 2012