For generations, my kind lived with wings, almost perfect copies of our two Goddesses. The land we live in, Okalani, is spacious and diverse, there is plenty of space here for our dual races, those honoring the light Goddess, Arinna, and those honoring the dark Goddess, Lilith. Our Goddesses watched over us, delighted in our innocent joys, our purity. They boasted to one another, each gift granted was more lavish and fantastic than the last, and our populations swelled with their playful competition, as they outdid one another by blessing more and more puppies to happy parents. The parents were never worried about feeding all those mouths, the Goddesses they followed provided more than enough; no wolf wanted for anything. We were truly happy, and blessed beyond belief.
But somehow, we became greedy, we wanted the one thing our Goddesses had forbidden from the beginning. Our races, once separated by vast amounts of open territory, barely aware of one another, began to lust after one another. Now much closer, the best, strongest, and most beautiful wolves were flaunted for the other race to see, and we began to worship one another, turning our eyes and hearts away from our Mothers, those who created us.
As a final act of heartbreaking betrayal, we used our beautiful, treasured wings to cross the remaining space between our territories, over the great canyons that we once had no desire to cross. Dark and Light met face to face, and we did what was forbidden, taking one another into our dens. The puppies produced would be wingless, void of magic, cursed in the Goddesses' eyes.
The Goddesses watched, heartbroken. They saw many of the wolves that stayed behind, those lifemated to their own kind, were jealous in their hearts. They wished to be playing and betraying right alongside their sisters and brothers. The Goddesses waited, hoping the wolves would change their ways on their own, after seeing the puppies with their cursed, wingless bodies, but they saw how, even after the females began to produce these wingless puppies, they went on with their games, and the Goddesses became furious.
They came down to their children, anger burning in their eyes, and took their most precious gifts away, the beautiful wings...
Now we who were with pups, those who mothered mixed puppies, are forced underground, forced into the canyons, by those who felt they were punished unjustly, though they were at fault as well, we had all betrayed, in our hearts.
Three separate packs now stood, as we gathered together in the canyons in desperation. Some of our males joined us in our mixed group, some returned to their origin pack, tails tucked beneath them, as they pretended they had not fathered any of the mixed pups.
Only a handful of wolves never lost their wings. The Goddesses had their favored sons and daughters, the alphas and betas of the origin packs, with their lifemates, and a few other handpicked guardians to look after the packs. With that they left their children, resolved not hurt themselves any further by appearing to all of them, determined to only speak to those loyal enough to earn their wings back.
~~~~~~~~
Many years have passed, and today the sun rises on a new era for us.
The years were dark. Mixed wolves continued to be persecuted for a long time. Our food became harder to find. Without our Goddesses' love, some of us turned away from goodness altogether, becoming twisted versions of what we were meant to be. Puppies became scarce, and yet the number of unwanted puppies seemed to grow. It was difficult for everyone, and it made the Goddesses weep for their children.
The Goddesses tried not to let one another see their anguish. Heartbroken as they were, they still held onto their pride. For some time they watched alone.. but then wolves began to die. They killed each other in competition over food, and sometimes just as sport. The Goddesses couldn't hide their grief any longer.
Finally they sought solace in one another. They quickly fell in love with one another, and discovered that all this time they had ruled over beings that had just as much right to love one another as they did themselves.
Suddenly one day they realized- puppies were coming. The love they shared had created tiny little beings, and they finally decided to correct their mistake.
They appeared, these many years later, to the place where their pride had done the most damage. In the center of the canyon a beautiful glade appeared, and magnificent bridges crossed overhead, connecting the two great lands that made up Okelani. They gathered all the wolves they could find, all who still loved them and had missed their presence, and they made their apology to all.
Many wolves regained their wings that day, and wolves far and wide discovered that they too had puppies on the way, blessings of peace and promise straight from the Goddesses.
Once more, there was unrivaled happiness in Okelani.
