Raven Wolf - 02 - The Oracle - Chapter 09 by Kurapika < Submission

Keywords male 1115192, female 1004980, wolf 182193, human 100556, mouse 50269, skunk 31748, series 4427, novel 1212, chapter 513, raven wolf 329

Chapter Nine

Yula looks around him, he in a completely unfamiliar place, the walls and floor made out of metal giving the whole area a cold and frightening atmosphere. Yula begins making his way down the long dark hallway, large doors with small windows upon them lining the hall, soldiers with masks covering their faces standing at attention at every second door.

Yula looks away from the guards as he walks up to one of the rooms and looks inside, the room large and empty, Yula making his way to another and looking inside, this one packed full of young children, it so full that it made the large room look small, there having to be at least a hundred of them in there.

Yula jumps when a loud buzzing alarm fills the air, a voice over a loud speaker sounding as a door behind Yula unlocks and opens, revealing another room filled with young children. “Group thirteen forty two, assemble to station twenty one twenty one immediately.”

Yula steps to the side as the young children no more than the age of seven begin to file out of the room as they had been told, all of them skunks that carried the exact same white stripes and markings, each one looking identical to the other. Yula looking from them as they made their way out and to the door that had been locking them away, the number 1342 written backwards on the door. Yula placing his hand upon the number and remembering what Achak had told him about visions from the past being a reflection.

Yula looks away from the door and back to the large group of children, he following after them.

All of the children wear around their necks a thick collar, each with a different number written on it, a boy whom had the number twenty six upon his turning to a companion and whispering to him so that the soldiers that stood on either side of them would not be able to hear them. “What do you think they want us for? This isn’t part of our usual schedule.”

The other child whispers back to him. “I don’t know, you’re not scared are you?”

The boy with the number twenty six on his collar worried looks ahead of them, he still keeping his voice to a whisper. “Of course I am! Aren’t you? The last time a group was called outside of the schedule they disappeared and never came back.”

His companion worriedly looks back to Twenty Six, he too just as worried as him. “Look, just try not to act scared! You know what will happen if you do.”

A young girl with the number eleven on her collar looks back to them. “There’s nothing to worry about, the groups only disappear when the test scores in the simulation are low, we all passed our simulations without any trouble. We’ll be fine.”

One of the guards that stood against the walls barks down loudly at the whispering children. “Quite!” The young children all jump at the voice having been startled by the soldier.

Yula looks from the group of young domestic children and back to the soldier that had spoken up, he lifting his hand and waving it in front of his face, it clear that even though the man could see the children he couldn’t see him.

The soldiers on all sides of group rush them along the corridors until they reach a large empty room, group thirteen forty two began to line up in numeric order to the numbers on their collars, standing still in wait for something to happen.

Yula begins to look each of the kids over as they stood as still as possible in wait, though all of them had numbered collars the numbers were blurred, Yula unable to read them, the only two that had numbers that were legible, -all be it backwards- numbers eleven and twenty-six.

A man walks in front of the group, his features strange, he having no tail and strange ears, his face flat with his skin bare of fur. He followed by another man that looks just like him, both of them wearing military uniforms, their ranking displayed over the crest of a blue star.

The two begin looking over the group that had been brought before them. “This is genetic batch thirteen forty two. So far their progress is exemplary, they are one of the highest scoring groups we’ve had on the project thus far.”

The second man looks them over. “This is all of them?”

The first man nods his head. “All one hundred.” He looks back to the group. “I believe that they should be capable of graduating their virtual simulation tests and begin their physical simulations.”

The second man grunts as he looks back to them. “We’ll see about that, I want the three females with the highest score, and three males with the highest score to test.”

The first man holds up a pad looking over it, he then looking back to the group and calling out several numbers. “Twenty-Six, Thirty-Two and Ninety-Eight.”

The three boys whose numbers had been called quickly make their way forward, the man flipping to another chart and calling out three numbers from it. “Eleven, Forty-Seven and Sixty-Three.”

The three girls whose numbers had been called quickly make their way forward, all six of them lining up perfectly in front of him, the man motioning toward the other and bringing him to the six children’s attention. “General Zephyr is going to give you an objective, you will complete it to the best of your abilities.”

The General pushes the scientist to the side as he looks down at the six that had been brought before him. “The professor thinks that you’re able to handle physical trials and battle scenarios. You six are going to prove that your group can pull this off.” A large grinding of metal could be heard as the wall behind him begins to move, they actually being very large doors that lead to a large room filled with obstacles and traps. “Get through the obstacle course, be the first one to finish and you will be rewarded, be the last to finish and you will be punished. Fail to even complete the course and you will spend the night in the chamber.”

The six kids look horrified with that information, no one wanting to lose or worse yet, net finish at all and be placed in the chamber.

Yula watches at the three boys and three girls are lead to the beginning of the obstacle course, the six lining up and readying themselves to begin, a loud horn sounding and signalling for them to start, the six dashing forward as quickly as possible, each one racing to beat the other and not come in last.

The six quickly direct themselves through the obstacles and traps set before them, they running into very little trouble, the men that watched them timing each of them and marking down notes regarding their performance. General Zephyr commenting as he looks to the group of six. “Twenty-Six has a large lead ahead of the group.”

The professor nods his head. “Twenty-Six is exceptional, he’s always the highest to score of the group, and his accuracy is flawless.”

The group of six reach a long open stretch, trap doors opening and threatening to swallow them if they were not paying attention, Twenty Six moving through each one and passing the area before the others.

One of the six competitors looks towards his opponents, he grabbing onto the shoulder of one of them when they pass him, throwing her out of his way, causing her to lose her balance and fall into one of the open trap doors, she letting out a scream and she holds onto the ledge to keep from falling, the flat metal floor hard to keep her grip on.

Twenty Six comes to an abrupt stop when he hears her scream, he looking back to her and spotting her as she struggles to pull herself from the trap, her body slowly falling into it. “Eleven…” He quickly runs back knowing that if she were to fall she would not finish the trail and would be punished by spending the night in the chamber, he passing by the others that ran past him and diving down grabbing onto Eleven’s arm before she falls, holding onto her tightly and pulling her back up, Eleven and Twenty Six immediately resuming their task once they are back on their feet.

The two quickly catch up to the rest of the group, Twenty Six moving past the others once again and finishing the course before them, all of them coming to a stop once they were done, all of them panting for breath from the difficult task.

The general walks up to the group of six, he stopping in front of Twenty Six, questioning him about the actions he had taken in the trial. “What was that?”

Twenty Six looks back to Eleven. “If she feel she would have had to spend the night in the chamber, it wasn’t her fault she was pushed-”

The general shakes his head as he enters a code into the computer he held, the collar around Twenty Six’s neck letting out a high pitched hum followed by painful shock of electricity that brings the boy to his knees, Twenty Six letting out a scream of pain as the shock continues, he trying to pry the collar off of his neck but unable to do so, the electric shock eventually ending and leaving the boy trembling upon the ground.

General Zephyr yells down at Twenty-Six as he tries to push himself back to his feet. “You lost important seconds off of your time, do you know how quickly your time would have been if you would have just continued? Results are everything!”

Twenty Six looks up at him, despite his backtracking he had still managed to come in first. “But I was still the first one to finish.”

The general raises his voice. “With results we can’t use because you changed your directive.”

He turns away from them looking back to the professor to discuss the results, the guards that stood along the walls of the room beginning to move the group of children back out of the room and toward the hall. “Come on back to your room.”

Eleven walks up to Twenty Six helping him back to his feet. “I didn’t have to spend the night in the chamber because of you. Thank you.”

Twenty Six forcefully pulls his arm away from her as he glares back at her, he having been both punished and yelled at because of her. He begins moving forward with the group not looking back to her, Eleven lowering her head sadly, feeling terrible for having got him in trouble like that, she too beginning to go with the others back to their room.

Yula opens his eyes waking up, he sitting up and looking around him, he back within Raven Wolf, having been sleeping in his bed within the chieftain’s hut, he looking around the room to find no one else there, Iuana and Shiya having already woken and left.

He gets out of bed looking around him. “I guess that was a past vision that Achak was talking about.” He frowns to himself thinking the dream over, whatever had been of it had been strange, and sad, the kids he had seen living in much worse conditions than he had been in when he had been trapped in a room all by himself in the military labs.

Yula thinks to himself, this task going to be difficult. There was a message in that dream somewhere, and he didn’t know how to begin looking for it. He sighs to himself as he starts trying to go over the dream again. “This is going to be hard…”

*******

Teddy lets out a groan as he rolls onto his side, his head pounding in pain. “It feels like I hit a brick wall or something.”

Achak looks up from his work and in Teddy’s direction. “Oh, good, you are awake. You were so still that I thought that you really had died.” He moves toward his collection of ingredients. “I will make you something to help with the headache.”

Teddy moans as he looks over to Achak. “Oh no you won’t, I’ve had enough of your help I think.”

Achak frowns as he turns back to him. “Fine then, keep your headache.” Achak crouches down as he stares at two jars of berries, they looking exactly the same to each other, he scratching the back of his head as he stares at them. “Why do so many things look identical?”

Teddy pushes himself up as he begins to look around him. “How long was I out for?”

Achak doesn’t take his gaze from the jars as he answers him. “All night, and then all morning. My wife was looking for you, she needed to speak with you about something.”

Teddy looks a little confused, there no way an odd crazy wolf like him could have found a mate. He looking at Achak’s shoulder and indeed seeing the tattoo that symbolized that he was currently in a marriage. “You’re married? How is that- was it arranged.”

Achak looks insulted by the remark. “She was not forced into marriage if that is what you are implying. I asked her yes, but she was very happy to have me ask.” He begins making his way across the room, traveling on all fours as he usually did. “She didn’t even have to think about it, said yes right away. She was head over heels in love with me I‘ll have you know, and still is to this very day.”

Achak swoons to himself as he jumps onto the cot that Teddy is on, laying across him. “She’s the most beautiful girl in the tribe too, at least I think so.” He growls at Teddy. “And you can’t have her so don’t even think of trying to steal her, not like she would even think of running away with someone as boring as you.”

Teddy stares at him, not sure how the conversation turned into him trying to take Achak’s wife, Teddy pushing against him to get him off of him. “I’m not going to take you wife from you, now get off.” He frowns unable to get Achak to budge. “Really get off of me.”

Achak looks down at him. “You should get up now, there are plenty of things to be done.” He leaps off of the bed, landing on all four and trotting back to his supplies, getting back to what he had been doing. “Warriors like you have a lot of work to do. Well, if you are given that title anyway, you have to impress the leader of our warriors, and let me tell you, you’re not doing so well in that area by being late.”

Teddy frowns he having never actually said that he would become a warrior let alone a member of Raven Wolf. “Me becoming a member is still undecided, I don’t know why everyone is making the assumption that I’ve already joined.”

Achak laughs at Teddy, it being pretty clear why everyone already thought that way. “You have somewhere better to be then? Maybe somewhere else to go?”

Teddy gets out of the cot he had been sleeping in, he turning to Achak to argue back. “Alright, so I don’t have anywhere to go, but that doesn’t mean I have to stay here. There are plenty of other places I can go. Places that may not be obvious to me right now, but I will find if I have to.”

Achak lets out another laugh as he sits down in front of Teddy he speaking in a sly tone. “Yes but will other places you go have the beautiful Iuana in them?”

Teddy frowns as he corrects Achak’s assumption. “Hey, we’re not like that.”

Achak hums to himself. “Really? Well then I guess that’s good for Iuana.”

Teddy watches as Achak turns around and walks away from him, he now questioning him a little annoyed. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Achak returns to his work as he answers. “Well if you have no feelings for her than she will not be burdened when she is faced with her suitor.”

Teddy is actually upset to hear this. “Suitor... Iuana has a suitor?”

Achak shakes his head no. “Not yet, but once the trials are over she will.”

Teddy stands in place for a moment, he turning away from Achak and leaving the hut, Achak glancing back to the entrance that Teddy had before been standing in. “Not like that’ is it? Doesn’t seem so ‘not like that’ to me.”

A figure once again steps into Achak’s doorway, he looking back to find Yula now there. “Oracle, what can I do for you?”

Yula looks around him nervously. “I had a vision! I know that it’s my job to figure it out myself… but I can’t. I need your help.”

Achak shakes his head, quickly stopping Yula before he could enter and start pouring his dream out to him. “I can’t possibly help you! You must tell the dream only to the chieftain! Shiya spoke to you about this didn’t he?”

Yula looks reluctant to go to him. “Yeah but… I don’t know the message in the vision… I’m supposed to figure it out right? If I go to him like this I’ll just look stupid.”

Achak picks up and holds up five jars, each on holding a white powder in them. “I can’t even distinguish the different between these! How could I possible distinguish a dream?” He waves Yula out of his hut. “Go to Shiya, he knows that you are inexperienced at this, he will not hold it against you.” He looks back to five jars, going back to trying to tell the difference. “If he can put up with my inexperience than he certainly wouldn’t mind yours… Shiya is a good leader like that…”

Yula sighs to himself as he leaves the hut, the look on Achak’s face becoming upset as he continues to stare at the five jars, he unable to tell the difference between what was in them at all. “Once Shiya is no longer our leader my inexperience will not be tolerated… six months… six months to get it right…”

*******

Teddy is makes his way through the small village of Raven Wolf, the headache that he had woken with starting to clear, his body feeling much lighter with it gone, his mind though still occupied with thoughts, what Achak said about Iuana not easily forgotten. “How come she never told me that she would be getting a suitor?”

In fact she had never acted like she would be getting one either, she having actually shown a lot of interest in him.

Iuana takes Teddy’s hand holding it within hers. “You should stay with me and my people!”

Teddy looks back at her a little surprised by the request. “What?”

Iuana continues to explain. “You are a kind and good person so my father is sure to accept you, and you said yourself that you were not happy living among the domestics, and the other guard was always talking about how you liked the way that I looked-”

Teddy flushes as he interrupts her and quickly tries to explain. “I’m sorry about that! Magellan shouldn’t have been saying stuff like that when you were present it was very rude of him! I mean that’s not to say that you’re not good looking or anything like that! You’re very pretty, but there’s a lot more to you than that you know, you’re smart, strong and-”

Iuana frowns as she slightly raises the tone in her voice. “Will you stop babbling for a moment! I am not insulted!”She sighs once Teddy has calmed down. “To be perfectly honest… I think of you in the same way… even if I hadn’t of know about Yula I still would have met you in your home… without attacking you and holding you at gun point of course!”

Teddy laughs at the comment, Iuana smiling back at him. “I’m happy that you have accompanied me this far, and not just because of all the work that you do. Then when the journey is finished, if you do indeed accept my offer to stay with my people, to have you continue to stay near me… I would be happier with nothing else.”

Teddy sighs to himself, perhaps Iuana had been leading him on all this time.

An angered yell fills the air, Teddy quickly stepping back as Iuana races past him in a rage while she yells out a name. “KITCHI!!”

Ahead of Iuana about fourteen young warriors of Raven Wolf right now train under Tahki, Kitchi among them.

Tahki looks over to Iuana when she hears her angered yell she rather annoyed to have their practice interrupted, while Kitchi immediately drops what he is doing, turning around and running from Iuana as fast as he possibly could. He unable to move fast enough as Iuana leaps at him tackling and bringing him to the ground, Iuana beginning to question him as soon as she had him pinned. “It was you wasn’t it!? You’re the one that told everyone about the trials for my suitor in six months!!”

Kitchi screams as Iuana twists his arm. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!!!”

Iuana begins throttling the wolf. “I asked Father to give me some time with the matter, father wasn’t going to say anything about it to the rest of the tribe for three days for me! But everyone already knows without him saying anything!!”

Kitchi tries to defend himself. “I didn’t mean to! I only told it to a few people… I don’t know how the rest of the tribe heard about it! Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!!!

Tahki looks from Kitchi and Iuana over to Teddy, who had followed Iuana and is right now staring at her as she causes Kitchi to suffer for listening in on the conversation between her and her father and then not keeping his mouth shut after it.

Tahki calls out to Teddy getting his attention. “Well, well, well.”

Iuana stops what she is doing as she watches Tahki approach Teddy, Tahki frowning at him as she stands in front of her, her arms crossed. “The security guard has finally decided to grace us with his presence then? You are only six hours late, my classes are almost over.”

Teddy frowns as he looks back to her. “Despite Shiya telling you that you should make use of me as a warrior I never said that I would actually join Raven Wolf.” He holds his head, he still a little dizzy from his headache. “As for me being late, that was all Achak’s fault for making me drink that stuff yesterday.”

Several of the young warriors laugh at the comment, it no surprise to them that Achak had messed something up, Tahki glaring back at them and snapping at them angrily. “Achak works hard and does the best that he can for his people! Do not mock him for his mistakes!”

The wolves in question quickly silence themselves, Tahki looking from them and back to Teddy. “If you are not here to be trained as a warrior than leave, I will not tolerate any more interruptions today.” She turns away from Teddy now looking to Iuana speaking to her in a condescending tone. “That goes for you as well Princess.”

Iuana frowns as her, she hitting Kitchi on the back of the head one more time before getting off of him and back to her feet, she walking over to Teddy grabbing onto his arm, leading him away, it rather clear that the two of them were not welcome right now.

*******

Yula walks into one of the huts in the village in his search for Shiya, a horrified look on his face when he sees that he had walked in upon a very loud and heated debate.

Shiya is once again in an argument with the elders of Raven Wolf, Eleven the second in command of his warriors present as well, she somewhat stuck in the middle of the debate, silently sitting in the middle of the group as the elders bickered back and forth with Shiya.

Chogan, the leader of the elders holds his hand out to Eleven. “Have her go and get rid of the two soldiers that followed you here! It won’t be long until they are out of the boundaries of our forest and if we allow them to return to the rest of domestics our location will be revealed! They must be killed before they are able to pass this information to the military.”

Shiya shakes his head not allowing it, to fight the military in self defence was one thing, to attack them when they were wounded and running was a completely different matter. “To hunt them down like that would sever everything I have worked so hard for!”

Chogan argues back with him. “You are putting the lives of your people at risk by doing nothing like this! Send Eleven to deal with them now!”

Shiya again shakes his head still refusing to, it more than just him that was uncomfortable with the request. “Eleven requested that I not force her to fight against them. I respect her wishes because I respect her.”

Chogan lets out a growl as he barks back at him. “You only agree with her because her decision coincides with your foolish ideals!” He looks over to Eleven, this not something she should have a choice in. “They are within Eleven’s hunting grounds, it is her task to hunt them down!”

The arguing between them escalates, Yula nervously interrupting the argument, raising his hand and speaking up in a weak voice. “Umm… excuse me…”

Everyone stops talking as they all turn to Yula, Yula gulping as he takes a fearful step back from them, the elders all fixing him with very nasty glares. Yula tries to speak up, he having a hard time finding his voice. “If… I could… umm… speak to Shiya for a moment… I promise it will be quick… I had a dream… I mean a vision… so…”

The elders all look towards Shiya, Shiya motioning for Yula to come to him as he looks back to the elders. “I will only be a moment.”

Chogan and the rest of the elders watch impatiently as Yula approaches Shiya, Yula keeping his eyes on them as he walks up to Shiya kneeling down in front of him. “Maybe this isn’t the best time…”

Shiya shakes his head it fine, what the oracle had to say much more important than the bickering of old men. “Do not worry, what you have to say is more important than anything they have to say.”

Yula looks back to the elders once more before looking back to Shiya, he speaking in a low voice as he began to whisper the details of the vision to him, the elders waiting impatiently as they wait for him to finish so that they could get back to their debate. Yula lowering his head in disappointment after describing to Shiya what he had seen, unable to explain anymore than that. “I’m sorry… I don’t know the meaning of it… I don’t even know how to begin figuring it out.”

Shiya thinks the dream over for a moment, he turning over to Eleven and asking her a question. “Eleven, what is the name of the domestic you recognized?”

Eleven shakes her head really unsure. “I don’t know what his name is now… but when I knew him he was known as Twenty-Six.”

Shiya smiles as he looks back to Yula, everything becoming clear now. “I understand the message in your dream. You need not worry about it anymore.”

Yula is shocked to hear this. “You do?”

Shiya’s smile turns to a frown as he looks back to the elders. “The decision has been made, the oracle has had a dream concerning this, his vision sides with my decision. Eleven will not be sent to hunt down the two military members that have come here.”

The elders look angered as they look towards one another, it sounding as if Shiya was just using Yula’s interruption as a convenient way of getting what he wanted. “What was his vision? Explain it so that we may understand!”

Shiya looks back to Eleven, she the one capable of getting the most significance out of this. “Twenty Six is one whom will act against his orders and face punishment to protect Eleven, that is what Yula’s dream has told him.”

Yula thinks back to the dream, now that he thought about it that had been an important detail.

Chogan and the rest of the elders seem confused, this not making any sense at all to them. Eleven though, just as Shiya has guessed, looking to completely understand what he was saying.

Shiya turns back to the elders. “The soldiers that followed us here will not give the military our location when they return, to do so would mean that those they wish to protect will fall to harm.”

Chogan lets out an angered growl, it near impossible for such a scenario to happen. “That is a bold statement even from you Shiya. How could you possibly believe something so ridicules?”

Shiya looks back to Yula, having put his faith in the dream he had and the message he had seen in it. “Yula was sent this vision for a reason, because its message needed to be heard and understood on this day to keep unnecessary blood from being shed. Mark my words, they will not give the location of our village out.”

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Raven Wolf - 02 - The Oracle - Chapter 09

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