The White Wolf

'What's taking him so long!? Did he slack off because he knew that the condition is not critical anymore? But even if he walked there, he should already be back not long ago, it's been about an hour since he left!'

The wolf pack is currently waiting for the black wolf to come back and bring the cure for their poisoned friend so that they can go back to their nest to continue eating the boar they had hunted, but even after waiting for a long time, the black wolf still didn't come back.

The white wolf who is already tired of waiting told the gray wolf to search for the black wolf whereabouts and bring him back quickly,

"If you encounter any creature that seems dangerous, don't even try to confront it, just go back here or howl to ask for help if the situation forces you to."

"Understand, leader, I'll be off then." The gray wolf said as he ran into the same direction where the black wolf went earlier.

"You and me, we'll stay here and protect your injured brother." The white wolf said to the other light grey wolf who is currently standing guard protecting his twin brother that is currently still laying on the ground weakly.

"Yes, leader, I'm sorry that he does stupid things like this."

"Don't worry, I understand. I was once a youngling too, but disobedience in a pack is a punishable crime and he has to be responsible for what he has done. It's lucky that I happen to know what caused him to be like this and how to cure it, if it is something else that I didn't know, he will already be done for."

"Thank you very much leader for saving him, I will make sure that this kind of accident won't happen again in the future."

"Yes, and make sure you guys learn from this, in the future when you guys are strong enough to evolve and have your aura ability, you will be leaving the pack and make your own, make sure you remember this kind of accident so that you will know what to do if such things happen in the future."

"Yes, thank you, leader."

The three wolves waited for the two wolves who are currently going out to come back, but even after another 20 minutes, they both still didn't come back, even the white wolf is starting to get suspicious of the situation. If the black wolf took his time and slack off, the gray wolf who he sent to get him back should have already told him to hurry up and get back, but so far, not even one of them came back.

'Did they both disobey me? What made them dare to do that? Or is there something holding them back from coming back? But I already told the gray one to notice me if anything is happening and to not engage in combat. Whatever it is, this is not normal. And if they ever dare to disobey me and do their own things, their punishment won't be light since they neglected one of their own injured kin. And if this happens because of other reasons, I hope that it is not anything big.'

Looking at the two light grey wolf brothers, one at the ground and one standing up, the white wolf said,

"You stay here and protect your brother, I will go out and bring those two back. And remember, if you ever feel something odd or you see any creatures that can harm you, the first thing you will do is to howl and tell me. Understand?"

"Understand, leader."

The white wolf then soon set out also into the direction of where the black wolf and the gray wolf disappeared.

He scoured the forest and using his excellent sense of smell, he tried sniffing their scent and followed it. Although they have already walked past the place for some time, the white wolf's nose is better than the others after his evolution that enables him to use the aura ability. Basically, his body and ability are built for him to be the alpha of the wolves.

There are many wolf packs and the area from the lake to the nearby area is the white wolf's territory, if there is another creature that made a mess in his territory he needs to take care of them. And now that two of his pack members are either missing because they disobeyed him which is not supposed to happen since if he deemed that their insubordination is fatal, they can get kicked out of the pack and be lone wolves.

The wolves operate in packs because that is the most beneficial tactic for them to survive in the vast forest. When hunting against other animals that also stayed in groups to protect themselves from predators, such as the boars, the wolves need to work together in order to successfully break the boars' defenses. But despite being a lone wolf, they are still able to survive in the forest, but without the pack, they are able to be easily defeated by a group of boars or by a stronger creature if they ever invaded their territories such as the bear or the crocodile. And the white wolf is sure that the black wolf and the grey wolf won't risk being kicked out of the pack for trivial reasons such as insubordination.

And the other reason why they might disappear is that they encountered something that they can't handle on their own and were killed before they are able to notify him before they're dead. And if that was true, that means that he needs to prepare for a flight or fight depending on the situation. Since he was alone, his aura ability will be greatly weakened as it is used for empowering not only himself but also the other members of his pack. If his enemy is another strong creature, he will need to go back and regroup first before deciding to strike back or flee the area if fighting it is impossible.

'Whatever, I will see first what actually happened.'

After the white wolf ran for about 4 minutes, he finally caught a strong smell of the black wolf. He followed the smell and what he found was a pool of blood that had the exact same smell as the black wolf's. He could see that not only the pool of blood but there's also a blood trail that led to the other side of the forest. And the faint smell of the gray wolf could also be found and it seemed to be following the blood trail.

'That foolish wolf, I told him to notice me if he found anything, why did he follow the trail without telling me first.'

While being very cautious, the white wolf walked with light steps making little to no noise at all and used his nose, ears, and eyes to follow the trail and watch out for anything that may ambush him. While the smell of the black and the gray wolf was getting stronger the more he followed the blood trail, he also started to be able to smell another creature's smell but he didn't recognize what creature it was from the smell only.

He walked and followed the blood trail slowly with both of the missing wolves' smells getting stronger and stronger by the second until he finally stopped in front of a tree, with the black and gray wolf now turned to lifeless corpses being placed at the base of the tree.

'WHO DARED TO DO THIS IN MY TERRITORY?'

Looking closely at two of his pack members, he could see that they are killed by a surprise attack and it's only a single swift strike to their neck which makes them bleed to death with blood bursting out from their neck, which explains why they aren't able to howl since their throat are flooded by their own blood.

The white wolf tried to search around the area to see if he could find tracks about the one who killed his subordinates. Since whoever did this is surely a strong creature that is able to take out wolves only by a single attack, and there is not a lot of creature in the area that is able to do that.

'But this area is at the border of the beast and the insect's territory, there is supposed to be no other creature that is strong enough to take on the wolf other than the crocodiles. The bear has his own territory and I never heard of him moving out of his own territory. Who was it?'

The white wolf then spent another 15 minutes in the area before finally found the smell of the unidentified creature from behind the tree and tried to follow the trail of scent to see where it was going. And after following it for a while he then realized,

'This direction is… I NEED TO GET BACK FAST!'

Then the white wolf ran as fast as he could back into the place where the light gray wolf brothers are currently waiting and it is the same direction where he smelled the scent of the unknown creature is going.

'Damn it! Who did this! This creature is clearly targeting us, the wolves! But what did we do to this creature? I don't remember fighting any powerful creature recently. But more importantly, I need to get back to the brothers as soon as I can!' The white wolf thought as he moved his 4 limbs, the fastest he ever moved them ever since he was born.

But alas, he was too late. When he came back, the wolf brothers, the same as the gray and black wolf, had died from having their necks sliced and their bodies dragged to the base of a large tree nearby with their blood leaving a trail from their bodies being dragged away.

The white wolf slowly walked to their bodies and looked at them carefully, and made sure one more time that they were really dead. He sniffed them again and tried moving their bodies, but even if he tried anything, their bodies still didn't move at all and their breathing had completely stopped. And with that, he is now a lone wolf without a pack to lead.

Venting the surge of emotions within him, the white wolf swore to himself to avenge whoever did this to his pack, and he let out a howl to the sky, the loudest that he ever let out. And it made him didn't realize that something just fell from the tree branch above him before he felt that something had landed on top of his body and a prick could be felt on his neck.