Chapter 1 - A Chat With a Hole

   My name is Griffin.  I was a Turubian Wolf, but my brother and I got kicked out of the pack about a moon ago.  My legs ache.  I feel as if there is no reason to live anymore.  I'm just a small pup: lost and hungry, wandering these plains looking for a home.  A home where I can live a happy life.
   The land I am wandering is lifeless and dry.  Nothing lives here.  Will I starve?  Will I ever see my family again?  Will I survive?  All these questions and pass through my mind - one thought coming up after another. These plains are called Altia, which means 'A bearing waste land'.  There are hundreds of holes in the ground.  I check every hole for signs of life or food.  Every hole in the ground is empty.  I still need to check that hole by the cactus.  I walk by and collapse.  "So tired," I say out loud.
  What was that? It sounds like a wolf yet strangely different.
  "Get down," says a voice coming from the hole near the cactus.
  "Where do I hide?" I ask.
  "Over here."
  "Over where?"  I bent down to get into the hole.  YUCK!  It smells disgusting!  I heard the voice sigh.  Then, I felt a paw wrap around my leg and start pulling me into the hole
"No, not there, here!!!"
"Where is here?"
"The hole, you wolf!"
   I walk over to the hole I was having the conversation with.
"Here?" I ask. "Yes," says the voice.
"It looks a little small."
"It widens out, now get in here the shadows are coming. I can hear them."
"Okay, if you say so, Mr. Talking hole."
 I bent down to get into the hole.  YUCK!  It still smelt disgusting!  I heard the voice sigh. Then, I felt a paw wrap around my leg and start pulling me into the hole!  Was this my fate? Being pulled into a hole, never to see the light again?

Prologue - The Homeless Pup

    It was a rainy day, clouds rolling above like a giant wheel in the sky.  I hear something coming.  I hope my Ma will protect me. I know she will...she always did. I am only 5 moons old and not old enough to hunt for myself; well, I know how but I am horrible at it. She would not leave me right? I heard my mom stifle a yawn and look up. I saw her lush green eyes open with fear. Her fur sprang up stiff and straight.
   I felt my brother look up and whimper. "Hey, wake up...I think...someone...is coming," he said in a series of whimpers.
  "I'm already up," I answer back. I hear an ear piercing howl split the air. I looked over to the space where my little sister Lalani usually rested. Then, I remembered that she was killed by a wolf. I leaned against my mom's fur but stumbled. My mom stood up. "Off," she said.
   My mom was lifting her nose up to the air. I copied her. I sense something. I could smell other wolves!
   The leaves near us rustle and out came three wolves; Reed, Viper, and Cobra. "I know you just joined the pack, Nohia. But you know the rules," snarled Cobra, the leader of our small pack.
   Nohia is our mom. Our dad went off to war against the shadows. Our ma won't tell us anything about the shadows, only that they are evil. Anyway, ma fixed the visitors with a glare.  Her large teeth bearing wide.
  "I know the rule," she barked.
  "Well, why haven't you gotten rid of these pups?" barked Viper in a hostile voice.  
  "Quiet, Viper," said Cobra. Cobra looked at me and my brother, Swamp. "You two must leave.  And Viper, you must also leave," he barked.
   I looked at my Ma for support, but she was being pinned down by Reed. "G-Go," she managed to say.
  Swamp and I turned to run. We looked at each other for which I thought would be the last time we would be together and I started off toward the open Grasslands of Honta.
  "Good Bye, Griffin," said my brother.  It was his last words to me before he disappeared into the shadows. I did not know what I would do there but I knew one thing for sure, I would never return to my homelands.