Journal Entry: In the Beginning
Fallenryde


The sky was clear and the morning was warm and dry, Fallenryde stretched as he rolled over in his bed, a place of straw and cotton his mother had placed down for him shortly after his birth. He was too tired to get up but knew his father would be home with breakfast shortly and he always enjoyed being there to see what he brought for the family, Fallenryde was really proud of his father's strength and hoped that he would be as great as him one day. Resting his paws on the ground, Fallenryde slowly lifted his body from his bed and pawed his way across the room. His home wasn't too big, a mud hut built with nothing more then the very paws that created the village his parent's grew up in as pups. History and ancestors were a very important aspect in the village, the families would go out every evening and pray to the grave sights of their passed loved ones, for luck, protection or event wisdom.

Shaking his head with the blinding morning sun, Fallenryde lowered his body down for a relaxing stretch and shook the rest of his body upon raising it again. Allowing a yawn or two to escape his mouth he went outside the battened door in search for his mother who was usually prepairing for their meal at about this time. Fallenryde's eyes grew excited when her body finally came into view, a black slender body leaning over a trickling stream close to their mud and straw hut. "Has daddy come home yet?" He leaped with excitement when his father was mentioned in a conversation, he didn't get to see him a lot and in the chances that he did it was a time worth remembering. His mother just laughed and pulled him closer to her to wash his face in the cool water, something she always tried to get him to do just after waking up. The splash of cold wet on his face made him chill with the morning breeze and he shook the remaining drops from his face before looking back up at his mother with a smile.

"Your father will be here shortly, but for now can you please make sure the hut is cleaned up before he does?" She had her hands full with her current chores and often asked him for some assistance with her household jobs. Fallenryde didn't mind helping around much at all, in fact it made him feel like he was the mad on the house while his father was away on a hunt or doing his job. Nodding with a smile, Fallenryde bounded back to his little home and began cleaning things up. A few stray pieces of straw and some coal from the fire pit had misplaced themselves from their proper places and Fallenryde was right on top of placing them back where they should be. Sitting on the floor he let out one more morning yawn before walking to the doorway to search for a sign of his father returning to them.

Perked up ears and a long wagging tail made Fallenryde's image obvious his father was home, carrying with him a large buck in his jaws. It's rump was dragging in the dry dirt and it's bust antlers rubbing against the tall black Ulaya's shoulders as he carried it to the house. Fallenryde ran to the other side of the hut, where his bed was currently residing, so to stay out of his way when he came in to rest from his hunt. Entering the doorway after placing the large deer on the ground for a moment, he looked right towards Fallenryde and smiled. "Good morning son, you're up early again I see." He normally brought enough food for him and his mother to eat on their own for a week before returning with another one to feed the family. He was always away with the hunts as the village had only one dedicated group for finding food for the whole community and this leaving his father out to work most of his time, only to return once in a while for a rest.

"I'm always up early when you come home!" Fallenryde pointed out the obvious to his father, making it clear that he was still excited for his return to the family. The large muscular body of his father shook his head with a laugh and rested his body on the ground, placing one paw over the other in front of his chest. "One day, son. One day you will be able to come on a hunt with us and then you will be able to bring your own meals home." Fallenryde's eyes grew wide with excitement as he thought of going on a hunt with his father, all of the time he would be able to spend with him. But it also made him a little sad because then he would be away from his mother so much and won't have mornings like today to look forward to. He didn't mind all of this so much though, for he wanted to be a grown up adult in the family, he was always trying to do his part of working for the family and doing things around the house to help his mother.

His father flicked his ear with the sound of the buck being prepared for their meal, his black body was unique to the other Ulayas in the village. Blue markings covered his features instead of the usual gold ones, this caused him many troubles as he was a child and once Fallenryde was born he knew his times as a pup would be just as hard, if not worse. His special markings of apparent cross breeding was going to cause his life to be harder. The village was very proud of their lineages and was all about pure blood lines but his father was a cross breed and thus everyone in the area turned their heads to him, talking in the shadows about him being so different and impure. Fallenryde had also started to notice these looks and conversations going on around him as it was apparent he was more like his father then his pure blooded mother, he was far different then the rest of them and showed the broken blood more then his father himself.

A young Ulaya came up to the doorway, a soft and shy voice spoke out for permission to play with Fallenryde. This little pup was the only Ulaya in the village that didn't mind playing with him as he is different then the rest and she wasn't bothered at all by it. While everyone else treated him like he had a plague, refusing to even touch the ground he had walked upon, she was making him flower crowns and playing around the houses with him. Of all the Ulayas in the pack, she was the only one Fallenryde looked forward to seeing in the mornings, aside from his father of course. A nod from the large male at the other side of the room assured her she was welcome in the hut to see him, she often spent the mornings his father was here eating the fresh meal from the kill. It was the best time to be around and with her father passed on she didn't get such a treat with just her mother around. She was always welcomed into the house with Fallenryde, his parents knew she was a special Ulaya, one that was kind to their son and thus they treated her with lots of respect and love.

With a playful bound, Fallenryde was out the doorway and on his way to play with his best friend, Stella. She walked elegantly behind him with a plastered smile on her face, she was always proud to see him in a good mood, considering his state and how the rest of the village treated him. "C'mon Stella! Hurry up!" Fallenryde was rather energized from just waking up and he wanted to get to their favorite play spot before anyone else gets to it first. She just shook her head at him and raised her ears as she replied back to his antic, "I'm coming, you're just more awake then I am is all." She didn't always wake up as cheerful as he did for she really missed her father and fresh meal day brought her down a lot, at least until she gets to spend her time with Fallenryde. "I'm gonna get there before you!" He threatened her, hoping it would rush her up and trot up next to him but instead she just laughed at him and almost seemed like she slowed her pace down more. Releasing a sigh of defeat, Fallenryde paused in his place for a few moments until she was up beside him and then he started walking at her rate. "You really are a pain, you know that?" He finished with a giggle and started to bob his tail with his steps, an attempt to keep his energy contained until they got there.

Shaded under the forest's entrance was a tall oak tree with branches hanging off from all directions, low enough for a young Ulaya Fallenryde's age to reach. The two came upon it and almost instantly the little boy began scratching up the tree's trunk, scraping it's bark with his firm claws. Reaching the lowest branch he climbed onto it and looked down at his friend who was watching him scramble up the tall tree. "So how long is your dad going to be in the village this time?" Stella decided to strike a conversation with him, possibly entertaining their minds a little more then they already were. Fallenryde shrugged and gave his usual answer to her, "Probably as long as he normally does." He never really knew what was going on about his parents, especially his father who was always more busy then Fallenryde wished he was.

Three beastly Ulaya boys came up to the tree, two walking a step behind the first. They were always found around each other, never leaving one another's sides other then to return home for the night. The three boy didn't take a liking to Fallenryde's blood line, almost as much as their parents didn't. But these boys were different, they expressed their hatred towards him more then any adult would, they really didn't have morals at their age and thus had no remorse for him at all. "So, hiding in your tree like the normal scaredy cat I see." The leading one said with a laugh after, almost instantly followed by his two sidekicks. Fallenryde and Stella's heads both turned to the boys and his ears perked straight forward as he rolled his eyes at them. "Leave him alone! Don't you three have anything better to do with your day?" Stella always tried her own little attempts at defending Fallenryde but, of course, they rarely every helped the situation any. "So you're still turning to the girl for defense I see." Again his two stooges laughed at his comment as if they were drones in his little game. "Why don't you go chew on a pinecone, I hear it's your favorite treat." Fallenryde knew the kid was proud of his elite hunting family and he rarely ate anything but meat, and he also knew this would be a mood setter for the little male bringing on a fight.

This enraged the other Ulaya, just as Fallenryde knew it would. But as he didn't think he figured being in the tree would protect him but it also made it worse on Stella. "Oh you'll get it for saying that half blood!" He stormed up to the tree trunk and growled up at the branch where the blue marked Ulaya was sitting, waiting for the right time to get at him. "Stop! Leave him alone!" Stella yelled, pushing at the boy to get him away from the tree. Turning his ears back he push Stella right back, slamming her head into the trunk and sending her skidding onto the ground. "Hey!" Fallenryde was mad now, anybody could pick on him as much as they wanted but nobody was allowed to touch Stella. Leaping down from the tree he landed to the ground with a thump, looking up at the other boy he turned his ears back and lunged at him, mouth opened and teeth barred. Snarling at the attacking Ulaya, the boy raised up onto his hind legs and slammed Fallenryde on the side of his face with his front feet, scratching him badly with his claws. Falling to the ground, Fallenryde struggled to stand before getting attacked by the other two Ulayas, now getting a great beating by all three of them.

Almost 10 minutes had passed before the three boys got bored of their game. Standing with blood and dirt dried into their fur the leading Ulaya turned his head back and snorted a laugh in Fallenryde's directed as he lay motionless on the ground before walking into the direction of the village. Stella raised her head from the ground and slowly lifted her body from the dirt, walking over to her friend she looked him over with a shake of her head and a sigh. "Just leave me alone." Fallenryde shivered from the pain and closed his eyes, waiting for her to walk away like everyone else in the village would have. But instead she sat down next to him and rested her head by his own. "We have to stick together in this, and not let anyone defeat our hopes." Fallenryde opened his eyes and slightly raised his head to look at his friend with a wonderous look upon his face. Admiring his cuts and scrapes Stella placed her paw by his cheek and squinted her eyes. "This one will probably become a scar if you don't take care of it right." She traced the 'x' mark over his eye with her finger as he shook his head. "I'll keep it there, to remind me of how you treat me. Of how you're the only one I can look to for guidance."

.:Finished:.