Raven Wolf - 02 - The Oracle - Chapter 02 by Kurapika < Submission

Keywords male 1175986, female 1066358, fox 244808, wolf 190912, raccoon 36109, lynx 13633, catgirl 8517, cougar 4417, raven wolf 329

Chapter Two

Eve speaks up, she now presenting Shiya with a question. “I have a question for you, have you heard of a place called The Eden of North?”

Shiya nods his head as he looks back to Eve. “Yes... that place would be very hard for me to forget.”

Eve continues to question him about this. “Alright then great, what do you know about that place?”

Iuana nods her head also asking her father about this, this something she indeed wanted to know about. “Yes, The Eden of North, the soldiers would speak of something they found in this place, they would ask me time and time again about it but I knew nothing of what they wanted to know or even of the place they spoke of.”

Shiya seems concerned with this information. “The Eden of North...” He closes his eyes. “I believe that it would be better if you did not know of that place or what it was that the domestics may have found there.”

Iuana nods her head. “I understand father...”

Eve though does not seem as convinced as Iuana did, Shiya’s refusal to explain just making her more interested in hearing about it. “Don’t refuse to say anything, this is important!”

Shiya looks back to Eve. “I do not deny that it is important, that is why I cannot speak any further about it.”

Fitz is sleeping soundly in his bed when he is woken by a knock on the door of his room, he grumbling and he tries to ignore it, the knocking only continuing, Fitz eventually pulling himself out of bed when the sound does not go away, walking over to the door and opening to find Eve’s father on the other side, a phone up to his ear.

Fitz tries to force a smile on his tired face, though he much loved the company of his mentor it was always hard for him to do anything in the morning without first drinking some coffee. “Up bright and early as always Mr. Cadrey?”

The old fox lets out a laugh when he sees how tired Fitz looks. “Still sleeping? Why it’s already six am! You should be up by now.”

Fitz frowns as he rubs the back of his neck. “You know that I didn’t get to bed until around three am...” He lets out a sigh as he tries not to complain and to just deal with Mr. Cadrey, after all the sooner he left the sooner he could get back to sleep. “So then, what can I do you for?”

Mr. Cadrey laughs to himself as he speaks on the phone “Oh yes, it’s good to hear that you’re alright, you know Fitz was pretty worried about you. I knew that you would be just fine though.”

Fitz tries to wake himself up, he didn’t have the patents for dealing with Mr. Cadrey’s odd eccentric behaviour right now. “So did you need me for something or are you just going to keep talking on the phone?”

Mr. Cadrey lets out another hardy laugh to the person on the other end of the phone. “Oh sounds like you’re having quiet the time my dear! Hold on now I’ve gotten Fitz up for you just like you asked.” He holds the phone out to Fitz waiting for him to take it. “Here you are Fitz.”

Fitz stares at the phone for a moment before sighing and taking it from Mr. Cadrey’s hands, wondering just what kind of person would have the audacity to call him this early in the morning. “Hello...?”

Eve lets out a sigh of relief when she hears Fitz’ voice on the other end of the line. “Fitz, perfect! Just the guy I need to talk to!”

Fitz’ drowsiness quickly snaps, he now wide awake once he had heard the voice on the other end. “Eve!? Eve where are you!? You’re father said something about you getting kidnapped or taken hostage or something!”

Eve tries to calm Fitz down, now not the time for this. “Stay calm I’m alright, I’ll explain everything to you later, but right now I need to ask you some important questions. You’ll answer them as best as you can won’t you?”

Fitz nods his head even though Eve could not see this action. “Yes, yes of course! What do you need to know?”

“The Eden of North, you were there recently on an expedition weren’t you? I need to know everything you know about that place.”

Fitz seems surprised, Eve never showing any interest in any of his travels before, she always despising when he talked about them. “The Eden of North... why do you need to know about that place so badly?”

Eve tries to explain the situation she was in right now a little complicated. “Look, there’s something about that place. Something that triggered all of this mess I’m in to happen! The military supposedly found something there, and I ended up getting caught up in a plan meant to capture the leader of one of the wild tribes in this country because he supposedly knows something about whatever it was they found in that place. Shiya is being tight lipped about anything concerning The Eden of North though, so if I’m going to get any information it’ll have to be from you.”

Fitz seems a little confused, Eve rarely depending on him for anything. “You couldn’t go on the internet for this kind of thing? Heck aren’t you supposed to know all of this information already? This is your field of expertise isn’t it? Lost civilisations?”

“Look Fitz, if you’re not going to tell me anything and only give me a hard time than just say so! That way I can hang up and we can both avoid wasting large amounts of time!”

Fitz sighs at her response, Eve always in such a rush for answers. “Alright, alright, I’ll help you out.” He thinks back to his trip to The Eden of North. “Honestly I’m surprised you knew about the military being there. Those guys made things pretty difficult for me you know, locked off a lot of interesting places. It was a pain making my way past them to explore the ruins there.”

“You saw the military there?”

Fitz laughs at the question. “Trust me it was impossible not to see them, they were everywhere. I couldn’t tell you exactly what they were doing there. But if you believe the stories about that place than I would say they were looking for either a power source, or a weapon.”

Eve seems confused. “A weapon...?”

Fitz begins to explain, this realization the first thing that would come to anyone’s mind if they knew the stories of that city. “Yeah, The Eden of North was a highly developed city in its time, was said to be that way because they had access to a great power source, one they made a powerful weapon with, a weapon that could supposedly take out any city that dare opposed them. You know how old stories like that go don’t you, the weapon the city had made with the intent of protecting them ended up offing them and that’s how the story says that place was destroyed.” He lets out a long yawn, it still too early for him. “As epic as that sounds it’ll all not true, what destroyed that city was nature. Nothing more than an ice storm, trust me I was there, even today everything is frozen solid, the people, animals, roads, homes. There’re no untold markings of some great power, it’s all just snow and ice.”

Eve thinks this information over. “A snow storm?”

“Yup, a huge blizzard, it’s really not an uncommon thing around there. I mean, that city is in the middle of the northern tundra. There’s nothing but snow as far as the eye can see. Snow storms happen more than you would care to know, and snowstorms capable of taking out whole cities are not unheard of either. The Eden of North was not the first to get destroyed in such a way. There were plenty of cities that went out in that exact same way before it.”

Eve falls silent for a moment as she thinks the information over, she now bringing up another concern. “The Eden of North... a city that supposedly created weapons with the intent of toppling other cities, but ended up only destroying themselves... a tribe of snow wolves lived there...”

Fitz confirms Eve’s statement. “Yeah that’s right, you’re recalling the story now aren’t you.”

Eve continues to explain. “Snow wolves are a subspecies of the wolf, their fur is thick to stand up against the cold snow, the figure is small and petite because of the little hunting they were able to do in the harsh climate of the area they were in. Their coats are as white as snow, to keep them from easy being seen by their enemies...” She pauses, that description fitting Shiya exactly. “When the Eden of North was destroyed, so was that species... they’re extinct now aren’t they?”

Fitz quickly agrees with her again, he trying to get this topic of conversation finished so that he could get to more important matters. “Yeah, I know, it’s all really unfortunate isn’t it? Now that that’s over with where the heck are you!? And what exactly happened to you!?”

“I’m sorry Fitz... another time.” She takes the phone from her ear hanging it up before Fitz could even begin to protest.

*******

Eve sighs to herself, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs as she began to think the situation over. The military wanted Shiya, so much in fact that they were willing to compromise Yula, their three hundred year old pet project meant to warn them of the end of the world to do so, as well as kill the son of a very influential and powerful leader of the domestics to gain funding and approvals.

Then there was Shiya himself, he was not a normal wild. He did not act as a wild native to this area would normally act especially regarding his position in the tribe, and although he seemed to respect the rules, traditions and beliefs the wilds had, he had absolutely no fear of breaking them like any normal wild would. He took such things as casually and fearing as much consequence as someone wearing an un-tucked dress shirt to work when it should be tucked in.

And of course Eve could not forget about his appearance, he did not share the exact same features the other wild wolves in the area shared, in fact he even had features unfitting to the environment of this area, such as long and thick fur meant to stand up against very cold weather.

When all of this was put together it clearly came down to the fact that Shiya did not originate in this country, and had come here from another, a much colder one more fitting to his features. Then when you put that together with the fact that the military was right now active in a place like the Eden of North, a snow filled tundra, and were desperately trying to acquire Shiya, there was no doubt a connection between Shiya and that place, or to more accurately put it, whatever it was they had found in that place.

What that could be though was not exactly clear. If one thought over the information Fitz was able to confirm than it would be a power source or a weapon, but in all reality what power source or weapon could such an old city and ancient culture possibly provide the advanced militaries of today? There was no way such out date technology could be more powerful or even prove to be beneficial to them, could it?

And even with all that taken into account, how did the military possibly find out that Shiya descended from that particular race of people to target him in the first place? And what could he possibly be able to do or say that the military would find so important?

“Shiya!” A young high pitched voice interrupts her thoughts as a young girl excitedly calls out what running down the hall past the room that Eve is in.

Eve lifts herself out of the chair she is seated upon, walking over to the door of the room and looking out, watching as the small lynx ran down the hall still dressed in her pyjamas, she leaping at Shiya who is right now eating a bowl of cereal and latching onto him happily. “You came to visit again! I miss you when you’re gone!”

Shiya laughs as he takes a break from eating and pats the small child on the head. “You haven’t been causing Uncle Luca trouble while I’ve been gone have you?”

The small cub shakes her head no. “Of course not! I would never cause my Uncle Luca any trouble!” An annoyed look fills her face when she sees the cereal that Shiya is eating. “Hey! That’s mine! Are you going to eat it all on me again?”

Shiya shakes his head no. “Of course not! The last time that happened the box was already almost empty!”

“No it wasn’t! Uncle had just brought it home the day before brand new!”

Eve looks from the young girl and back to the walls of the house, that were covered with photos that displayed various past family members and relatives and their roles in the domestic military, it hitting her. It wasn’t just the military that thought Shiya knew or had something they wanted. Shiya knew it too, all the connections he had, the information he knew regarding his enemy. There would be no other reason for a wild to ask for help of this magnitude to remain hidden unless Shiya indeed had something that he desperately wanted to hide.

*******

Teddy is sitting on a chair as Luca right now looks him over, Luca beginning to question him as he went about his work. “So soldier, how did you end up getting mixed up in all this mess?”

Teddy looks over to him, a little surprised by the question. “Excuse me?”

Luca chuckles to himself as he begins to explain. “You know, how did you end up on Shiya’s side. You’re a member of the military aren’t you? From what I know most members of the military aren’t on friendly terms with him if you know what I mean, so what’s your story?”

Teddy points to his badge. “I’m not a soldier, I’m just a security officer.”

Luca looks at the badge that represented Teddy’s position. “Oh really? I didn’t notice that. I guess I just assumed that you were still a soldier.”

Teddy seems interested in this, he having never indicated that he ever was one at any point. “How did you know that I was one?”

Luca lifts Teddy’s arm as he begins scanning it over. “I’ve seen you before. Not personally of course, just in a photo. My father has a picture of you, not an old one... I think the photo is around seven years old.”

“How are you so sure that it’s me?”

Luca chuckles at the comment. “I’m sure it’s you, when I first saw the picture I even remember pointing you out and asking dad about you. It was the first time I had seen a wild in the military.”

Teddy shakes his head, that not completely correct. “I’m not a wild... sure my parents were but I was born and raised in the city. I’m a registered domestic just like everyone else in that photo was.”

Luca seems surprised. “Really? I guess that partly explains how you were able to get into the military, still though, you must have some pretty exceptional skills for them over overlook your bloodline. As I said you are the first and only wild that I’ve ever seen in the military, even my father used to say the same thing. In the entire time he worked within the military he only met three wilds, and two of them happened to be brother and sister. He also used to say that he thought it was always strange, because even though they were both wilds they didn’t have wild names, they had domestic names, really easy to remember ones at that too, reminded him of toys.”

Teddy lets out a long and tired sigh, there no denying it with that information. “Yeah that’s me and my sister alright... Teddy and Dolly Conner.”

Luca puts Teddy’s arm down now moving to the next. “That’s interesting, even you’re last name doesn’t originate from the wild’s family names.”

Teddy nods his head. “Yeah... from what I know my parent’s names were changed by the government when they became fully registered and certified domestics. I’m not sure why, I never really cared to ask them about it... maybe their original name was too hard to spell, or maybe it was to help them and their decedents somehow fit in better with the domestics. I guess the reason could be anything.”

Luca sighs at the comment. “That’s kind of sad actually, not being able to keep your own name.” He looks from his work and back to Teddy for a moment. “So Mr. Security Guard. How did you end up all the way out here, following Shiya of all people? I’m not saying he’s a bad guy by all means, but from my understanding Shiya and the military are, well to say the least, not on good terms.”

Teddy shakes his head, even he confused if he were to try and think it over. “I don’t know exactly how it ended up like this... I know how it started yeah, Iuana held me at gun point and forced me to help her and her brother Yula out of the city... why I’ve stuck with them since then... I don’t know...” He sighs to himself, this something he had thought over a couple of times. “I mean it doesn’t make sense... sure I guess I can understand Iuana and Yula’s point of view, and yeah... I do want to help them... but running from the military has got to be the worst possible way to contribute to their situation, not only for them but me as well.”

Luca thinks the situation over for a moment. “Maybe you’re acting to instinct, you know, you’re wild blood is telling you that this is the right thing to do. Or maybe it’s something even more simple than that, and you’re just acting in a way that will both help Iuana, and allow yourself to be by her side.”

Teddy looks back to Luca. “Alright that’s enough about me. How about you, it’s just you, your niece and grandfather living in this house right?”

Luca nods his head yes. “Yeah, just us three, a very uncommon family structure I know but it couldn’t be helped. A lot of stuff happened and this is how it turned out.”

Teddy begins to question him, this not a situation that he could relate to, he very happy to be living away from his own family. “It is a lot of trouble for you?”

Luca sighs to himself, the answer to that complicated. “Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. I used to live on my own, but when grandma died dad needed me to move back to help him take care of grandpa, as he isn’t exactly the easiest person to tend to. That wasn’t a very easy move for me, I much liking living on my own you know.” He pauses for a moment. “Having my sister die, and my niece Ophelia move in with us for me to take care of... that was even harder. Then when father died... I think that’s when things became the most difficult for me.”

Teddy thinks the information over. “That does sound difficult.”

Luca looks back to him. “It’s not all bad though. Ophelia has brought a lot of joy into my life, and I wouldn’t trade grand-dad for anyone else in the world, even if he is needy, bossy and somewhat of a pain in my behind.”

Teddy sighs to himself. “I don’t know how well I would be able to handle that. I moved away from my family as soon as I got the chance.” He looks back to Luca. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if we are on bad terms by all means... I just...” He lowers his gaze, it sounded bad to admit that as much as he loved his parents he was completely embarrassed by them. “I don’t know... I just didn’t see things in the same way as them... it’s not that we didn’t get along because of this... I just felt like I couldn’t be myself... or that no one could see me in the way that I wanted to be seen because of them.”

A surprise tone can be heard in Luca’s voice, he having lifted something from Teddy’s uniform. “Well... this is strange...” He holds the small chip up to the light to get a better look at it.

Teddy looks the tiny object over. “Is that the tracking device?”

Luca looks back to Teddy. “Well... this is ‘a’ tracking device for sure, but it’s not the one that causing you problems.” He holds the chip out for Teddy to see. “The build of this is inconsistent with anything that the military has made, and believe it or not it’s also homemade, there’s no tag or serial code in it at all. It’s not the military that’s tracking you with this one.” He points to a small piece on the chip. “See this part here? This thing is not only tracking you, but it’s listening to everything you say.”

Teddy takes the small chip from Luca’s hand as he begins looking over it in a amazement. “Listening too? This little thing could really do something like that?”

Luca frowns. “Something like this would have taken a lot of trouble and effort for someone to hand make, you wouldn’t happen to have any idea of how you could have possibly ended up with something like that on you do you?”

Teddy shakes his head, he not having the slightest clue. “I have no idea...”

*******

A young girl with the ears and tale of a cat yet figure of a human lets out a sad sigh as she looks at the screen of her phone, this small electronic what she was currently using to keep up to date on Teddy’s location. Though she had managed to recharge her phone after stealing a solar charger from the military camp she was unable to find Teddy through the tracking device she had put on him anymore, no coordinates or sounds being sent to her, only a heavy wave of static. “I guess that it got broken during the fighting... just great... now what am I supposed to do?”

A voice rises from the speakers of a small computer that is clamped around her arm. “-Lumia I warned you that this was an ill thought out venture, you should have just remained at home-”

Lumia rolls her eyes letting out an annoyed grunt. “You know it was actually kind of nice when you didn’t have any battery power, do you have any idea of how annoying your nagging is?”

“-I worry about your safety, I can’t help it-”

Lumia sighs as she tries to think over her next move. “So... what to do next...? I guess the most sensible thing would be to head back to civilization.”

“-Would you like me to locate the town closest to your location?-”

Lumia frowns at the question. “Of course I do, why would you even bother to ask? I thought dad built you to be an intelligent program.”

*******

Eve kneels down next to the sofa in the living room, she staring at Yula who was right now completely passed out on it sleeping away. She looks away from him knowing that she shouldn’t wake him up if she wanted him to have a so called vision of the future, Eve wanting to see if the circumstances that Shiya had explained earlier were indeed true, and that if Yula was allowed to sleep and awake uninterrupted if he would actually have a vision.

She looks away from him and towards Kit, who is right now seated in front of the TV playing a videogame, the boy completely occupied at the moment with it.

She looks from Kit towards Shiya, who is right now seated on the ground across from Ophelia and talking to her. Ophelia catching him up on everything he had missed since the last time he had come to the house.

Eve sighs tiredly to herself, obviously if she was going to get answers from Shiya she couldn’t ask him directly. They had tried that already and he had flat out denied to give them any information.

She looks from Shiya over to Iuana, who right now watches her father, a rather tired and perhaps stressed look on her face, the fact that her father was not acting as he should obviously getting to her. Perhaps Iuana would be able to help her out with this, even though she might not know the information directly she may know something that could relate to it that would help Eve put the pieces of the puzzle together, heck she might even know about what it was Shiya was hiding without even realizing it.

Luca enters the room after his long absence, returning Teddy to the rest of the group, he looking from Iuana to Eve. “Alright then, Teddy is good to go. Who’s next?”

Iuana sighs as she begins making her way over to Luca, intent on getting this over with, Eve silently watches her leave, making a mental note to herself to ask Iuana about what it was Shiya was hiding later.

Eve takes a seat on the sofa behind Kit as he plays videogames. She glancing away from the TV and over to Ophelia and Shiya, the young lynx pulling at the various necklaces and bracelets he had on, asking Shiya about each one. Shiya of course giving her an explanation on what each one meant and his reason for having it, every single thing on him apparently there for some kind of reason.

Ophelia holds up one of the wooden handmade necklaces for Shiya to see. “What does this one do?”

Shiya looks it over. “Oh, that one carries the mark of the mountain lion spirit. Mountain lion teaches strength and grace, and reminds us of our responsibilities and the importance of leadership.”

Ophelia lets out an aw of amazement before moving to the next. “What’s this bracelet do!?”

Shiya laughs when he sees it. “That from Achak, my tribe’s medicine man, he gave it to me because he says it will make me grow taller. It doesn’t work.”

Ophelia laughs with him. “You don’t need to be taller! Shiya is the perfect size right now! I like you short!”

Shiya frowns at the comment letting out a short annoyed grunt he apparently not too fond of being as short as he was, Ophelia laughing at the reaction she had gotten from him. She pushes several of Shiya’s necklaces aside, grabbing onto and pulling forward one that was well hidden behind all the others. A thinly cut animal hide with nothing but a light blue crystal attached to it. “What’s this one do?”

Shiya hums to himself as he looks down at it. “That is a stone that holds something very special and important inside of it.”

Ophelia lets out a long gasp. “Really!? What is it!?”

Shiya gently takes the crystal back from her as he holds it over his head to look at. “Well it helps me to remember things that have happened so that I don’t forget. I’ve lived for a long time you see, I have to remember so many things that sometimes I can forget the more important things that I should be remembering.”

Ophelia stares up at the stone. “Will it be that way for me when I’m old too?”

Shiya lets go of the crystal as he shakes his head. “I don’t think so. People don’t often live as long as I have.”

“What do you mean? Just how old are you Shiya?”

Shiya laughs at the question. “You know at this point I’m really not sure myself.”

Ophelia laughs at the comment. “Shiya needs more of those blue crystals to wear. Lots more!”

Eve lets out a tired yawn, it had been a long night and with everything going to casual an easy going now all the tension from being chased around by the military was leaving her allowing sleep to take over, Eve closing her eyes and eventually drifting off.

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Raven Wolf - 02 - The Oracle - Chapter 02

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