Lupine Noctem

Darkness.

'What… what is going on?'

A hoarse voice echoed out in an empty, clouded realm.

'I feel like… like i was just somewhere else. Where though? Why can't I remember anything?!?'

The voice realized it could feel something. A cold stone floor was under him, and there was something warm surrounding him, pushing against his sides.

The warmth felt like furry bodies, about the same size as his own. Only his sense of touch seemed to be online, all of the sounds around him seemed to be muted, and his nose could only vaguely smell what was right in front of him.

He tried to shift around, but his entire body felt horribly weak, like he had just run a marathon.

Suddenly, an ache spread through him.

Hunger.

He was absolutely starving. His nose told him that food was right in front of him, so he stretched out his head, and instinctively began sucking.

'This is… milk?!? What is going on? I can't remember anything… I am blind, surrounded by warm bodies, and on a stone cold floor… am I a baby animal?'

He tried to remember something, anything while sucking up the milk from what he could only assume was his mother, but nothing came to mind.

He seemed to know about basic things, like what the world looked like, what stone was, and some other miscellaneous information, but he couldn't recall anything about who or where he was, not even his own name.

'Hmm… well, if I'm an animal, I'm guessing no one will name me, so I should just name myself. What is a cool name that Roth would like… WAIT! Who is Roth?'

Just as the name had come to him, it slipped away into the mist inside his mind.

'Did I reincarnate and lose all my memories? Maybe if I go to familiar places, I will be able to remember who I am. For now, I only have a name, probably one of my friends or family members.'

'Well, nothing I can do about that for now. I need to focus on surviving. Hopefully I am somewhere safe, because I am completely helpless right now. I guess the only thing I can do is eat and get stronger. Now, back to naming myself… I need a cool name that everyone will admire, cooler than everyone else's names!'

As he was thinking, his mother shook off the babies and stood up, leaving the small animals to huddle together for warmth, but it didn't affect the baby that was lost in thought, trying to come up with a name for himself.

'Jerry! No… Jeff! No, I don't think I like that name. It sounds basic, like someone who isn't very smart and wastes their time on unimportant things. Strange, I wonder why I don't like that name, I guess it must be someone I didn't like in my past life. Anyways, I need something unique.'

He thought for a while, but nothing came to mind.

He wanted a strong name, something resilient and unyielding.

Something came to mind that possessed these properties: An ash tree.

Ash trees were known for their strength and shock resistance, good qualities for both a tree and an animal.

'Ash. This is my new name!'

Ash lifted his little head, letting out a cute little squeak, as if announcing his new name to the world.

He began squirming around, trying to figure out what exactly he was. His eyes were still sealed shut, but his other senses seemed to work at least a little. After a few minutes, he was able to figure out just what he was.

'I seem to be a wolf, or something similar. I have 2 brothers and 4 sisters, and we seem to be in a cave of some sort.'

'I suppose I should name them all, that should make it a lot easier to keep track of them as we grow up. I guess I will name them off of trees too, since I can't seem to remember many other things that wolves are named after.'

He first named the pup to his left, a female who seemed a bit rowdier than all the other pups.

'You will be… Mimosa. You on the right, you will be Aspen.'

He went down the line of pups, giving the names Willow and Fern to the other two females, and dubbing the males Oak and Birch.

Ash felt tired after all of his naming, so he cuddled up closer to the other pups and drifted off to sleep, falling into a dreamland.

His consciousness slowly faded out, falling into a world of forgotten memories.

Light streamed into his eyes as he looked up, a world materializing around him.

"Hey bro, you awake? Class just ended, we have to go." Roth said, tapping Ash on his shoulder. Ash sat up, looking around, confused for a moment. He was in a classroom. All of his memories seemed to flood back into his mind. He was Jeff Thompson, a 17 year old high school student living in Canada.

"Yea sorry, I just drifted off for a moment. That was a weird dream, something about being a wolf." He looked around, dazed.

"Wicked bro, wolves are cool! We should go to the wildlife park and see some sometime. I hear it's a great spot for a date, so whenever we finally get girlfriends, let's go on a double date there, aight bro?" Roth was very enthusiastic, chattering on happily.

Ash was still confused. That dream had been too real. Was he really awake right now, which one was the dream? Is this real?

A feeling of deja-vu enveloped Ash, but it was broken off by a sudden pain.

Something bit down on Ash's hand, but when he looked down, nothing was touching it.

The pain kept intensifying, and the world seemed to blur around him, before falling back into darkness.