Return of the Dark Wolf

The rock walls were immediately familiar despite the disorientation I felt from having been held in the Umbra for ... how long now? I have absolutely no idea. All sense of time was lost to me through the searing pain, the memory of which still lingered heavily in my mind. These walls though, they were home to me yet still held a sense of foreboding after thinking I had left them behind for good. Why was it Charyss had sent me back here?

It was under a cloud of confusion I had left Ravenhurst to begin with, no longer sure of my direction in life or how to make sense of this monster I had become. I lived my whole life thinking myself just that. A monster. If I'd not found the Bloodfang pack of wolves in Eastern Oklahoma, I would be thinking this still today. Instead, they took me in and called me brother. Taught me what it meant to be Wendigo. Sean had tried to teach me this before but I was too stubborn to listen. Too sure of my own self to learn. These people were fierce but so very far from being monsters. After much learning, they gave me my Rite of Passage and named me Standing Mountain.

I felt fortunate they had found me, but they insisted that in fact, they had been waiting for me. The judges of the pack knew I was coming before I had ever left - said my entire life had been leading me to them all along. They could feel the burdens weighing on my soul, the evil built up in my spirit to a point that I had all but alienated myself from what I truly was. What I truly 'am'. So they began my purification through a ritual known as the Rite of the Silver Forge. Gathered together, they told me I would be cleansed and my soul would no longer be as dark as my ass. Yeah, they were a humorous lot.

I had heard of this spirit world called the Umbra though never experienced it myself. As we prepared ourselves, I had mental images of us sitting around drinking a bunch of peyote and getting stoned enough to see shit ... wrong! I could not have been further off base. After stepping sideways, I was lead to Erebus, titled an Unfortunate and handed over to the Bane which would oversee my purification. Nothing could have prepared me for this. Nothing.

Nothing.

I was chained and held shackled within a river of molten silver. Boiling, liquid silver - the mere touch of which is enough to sear my flesh and I was immersed in it. This was the method of my purification. My cleansing. The evil of my spirit was to be burned away from the inside out as this river flooded over me. Into me. Into my ears and burning like lava behind my eyes. Sheer madness and agony is all I knew as I drowned within this silver hell. Any sense of time was lost to me from the first moment and any vestige of fortitude I thought myself to possess was washed away immediately. Beneath the screaming pleas for death, my mind could focus only on the pain. It was all encompassing. Never ending. Never easing off. No sense of adjustment or 'getting used to it' like when you take a really hot shower. No. I was in hell and death was not going to save me from it.

I've no idea how long it took me to learn the secret of Erebus. I don't recall the point in which I could even remember 'why' I was there to start with. My purification was not found in the physical pain I suffered but within the torment of regret. It was only through true repentance for the demented sins of my life was my cleansing complete and I was pulled from the forge to be lead to Charyss - ruler of Erebus. Her words and demeanor were kind and she seemed ... thankful of my redemption. I knew instantly why after hearing the agonizing screams of others still being 'purified'. She taught to me this ancient Rite of the Silver Forge, my time spent in its custody a soul searing reminder to the gravity for which it is used. None are to be sent to her without severe and just cause for the penalty they will pay is not something I would wish upon anyone.

That's when she opened the portal which brought me back to my cave and deposited me upon this old and familiar refuge. I was thankful for the cold rock I pressed my face to and again, it was an undetermined amount of time I laid there before I noticed the presence of a girl digging at the stones with a knife. Collecting, she said. I don't know ... she spoke of collecting rocks and something about Gaje, whatever the hell that is. I just laid there in a sea of murkiness, my mind still trying to recover where my body had already healed. She gave me some water before I passed out and slept, my dreams scarred and unable to forget.

When I woke, the girl was replaced by a water flask - lending credit that she was even there at all. I walked out into the woods, what was once 'my' woods. I had to grin at that, at the audacity I had to hold claim over such things. 'My' woods. Hah! As if any of us could ever truly claim such things. I found an old stash of clothing which had remained untouched and ventured into the town. My first stop? The bar. I wanted a beer and a big ass cheeseburger. To my surprise, the place was startling empty save a pair sitting at the counter and, to even greater surprise, the girl from the night before. Anya, I suddenly recalled her name.

It was somehow surreal to sit there and have a normal conversation. I would have enjoyed it had some punk ass young wolf named Noah not interjected himself into the scene with a set of manners in dire need of adjustment. His blatant disregard for me set aside, it was his rudeness towards the woman sitting in my company which had me on my feet telling him to leave or I'd rip his arms off and beat him to death with them. Wouldn't you know it though? The little shit bucked up and got in my face, which was met with my fist in his throat. That usually calms them down quick enough and did the trick this time too. He backed down but with that same old fucking look these young bucks get these days. That -this ain't over- look.

...the fuck? How in the hell is someone going to back down and walk the hell away while trying to give the impression they got some shit up their sleeve? If it ain't over...then stand the fuck up and finish it. If not, then just tuck that God damned tail between your legs and shut the fuck up. Thing is...it's a line you gotta draw. One drawn in principle and 'stands' for something. You don't just go poppin off at the mouth and talking your shit just 'because'. You draw that line and you stand on that line. Never crossing it yourself but knowing full well you're prepared to kill whomever else does cross it. Anything short of that, you just mind your fucking manners.

Nope, not much seems to have changed around here. I told Noah to come find me in the woods when he had the chance. Fact is, he's obviously got some 'nads, he just seems to be a little misguided. Young bucks.

I made a trip into Seattle for some supplies. I'm not sure how long it will take the other wolves of this area to catch scent of another out here. I imagine some of them may even recognize that scent. Radio Shack was my first stop. An old buddy taught me there is a lot you can do with a simple motion sensor and garage door opener. I made a few phone calls then sat in Starbucks enjoying several caramel machiatto's before returning to Ravenhurst and meeting with a few of the more unsavory contacts I had made in some ... 'business' relations that Sho had pointed me towards some time ago.

I'm not too sure how my return will be taken in this town but no sense in leaving things to chance. Fortune does favor the prepared. At any rate, I've made more then my fair share of mistakes but I've paid for them - and then some. Redemption isn't something we all seek though. Sometimes, it needs to be delivered.