Rock wasn't very old, but so far he had had a busy life! First, his sister Kona had been struck by lightning, then, he had met the strange but alluring Auggie outside of the packlands. He would have to seek her out again some day. Upon his return home, his other sister, Jani, had attacked their sister Yjeva before destroying his stash, and eating one of the mushrooms, nearly killing herself in the process. She frightened him more than any other member of his large family, but the small pup felt there was nothing he could do about it. Now he was off on yet another adventure, one to learn and grow, and hopefully get his head right – away from his family.
Rock was going to the sister pack to the one he was born into. As he had been told, South Seaside – his birth pack – had once been a large and prosperous pack. His grandmother Loki had had a mate, and together they had populated this interesting land. Rock had been told the story early, having met with Loki by chance. She had told him the story of “The Ones Who Walked Away”. It had piqued his interest, and he wondered where more than half the pack had disappeared to. Since the great migration, the pack had swelled in numbers and then gone almost to a level which one wouldn't even think of as a full pack.
As time passed, and Loki grew older, wolves began to filter in and out of the pack, and on one night, the old wolf made the decision to split the packlands, and appoint a new alpha over half the land. The mountains, which were not much for living on top of or around, held a wondrous cave system in and under them. Loki had taken the then-teen wolf, Samhain, and put him up to be alpha of that new pack, leaving herself with only half the land she had had before – much easier for her to handle on her own.
Rock grinned as he padded along, playing his memory game as he relayed the whole story to the tiny mushroom tilting and pinging off the walls of his stomach. He had only taken a tiny baby, to hopefully show the mushrooms that he still needed them, but he wasn't greedy, he wasn't the cause of their destruction the night Jani went mad. So far, so good, on the mushroom front. He had found a new mossy bed with new mushes sprouting from the lush thick green area. This time, he knew better than to let anyone follow him at all, or even let anyone on to the fact that his behavior was not completely natural.
Soon, he could see the tree-bridge that joined the packlands to each other. This one was much wider than the one he had found leading off the pack's land altogether. He felt a bit safer crossing it, but still stopped in the middle to look at himself in the rushing waters. This lake, he had discovered, traveled a long way, maybe even a lifetime, to reach the ocean. He had been told this too, and figured that one of these days, he would have to follow it South to confirm that tale. Today, however, was for exploring this other pack. They had been told that this pack was a safe haven for them as well as South Seaside. The two packs were one, in essence, of course, at either alpha's discretion.
With a tiny twinge in his belly, the pup hopped from the log, landing in the soft grass of the other side. What was that saying again? The grass was always greener on the other side? He looked back to the South Seaside side of the river. Grass didn't look greener over there than it did where he was standing. Somebody had lied to him, obviously. Ohwell, no time. He had to explore these caves! Something mushroomy was calling to him, his belly told him so.
As he bounded across the thick grass, Rock giggled happily to himself. This was the most fun he had had in a long time, it seemed. Things were always so heavy and crushing with his family, with Kona almost dying, Jani almost dying... the other pups were unsure of everything, especially Rock. He had no idea what would happen in the future, but the thing he did know was that he was willing to live every moment as though it were his last. He figured that was the best way to go about it, anyway.
He was large for his age, but no one could tell if it was his body, or just his exceptionally fluffy shoulders and tail. His tail he loved more than anything, all pink and fluffy, the perfect pillow for napping the day away, if he could find a safe place to close his eyes for a few moments, anyway. When it was too sunny, his tail served as the perfect eye shade, drooping over the bridge of his nose comfortingly as he snoozed, curled up in the sand. But there was no sand here, so far. The grass was soft and inviting, and the pup had to fight to keep on his feet and keep moving. He so badly wanted to lay out, to let the green feathers tickle his soft belly and prickle in his nose as he sniffed curiously all around him.
There were things to be done, though, and the pup headed closer still to the looming mountains with their grey and brown jags. There was a way in, he just needed to sniff it out! He felt like he was searching for hours, and the sun had begun to set in the sky. When he looked up, he could see the beginnings of stars pricking holes in the vast dark blue blanket that was the sky. He loved this time of night, when things were purple and the world took on a blue hue, all around him. It was as though he was living in a parallel universe when the world looked like this. He wondered as he searched if the world looked like this early in the morning too, but had never been awake to find out.
Finally, Rock sniffed out the entrance. It was a little farther north than he had figured, and was hiding expertly behind a large bush. His small body didn't have to fight much to get through, but he wondered how the bigger adults did it without destroying the plant. He was immediately engulfed in a different sort of darkness, but didn't mind a bit. The smells were earthy and inviting, and he felt as though he were one with the earth, as it was meant to be. He would definitely find mushrooms here, and maybe, since it was so dark, the mushrooms would create their own light. He skipped down the tunnel happily at the thought.
The smells of other wolves were thick, but Rock saw no one as he made his journey through their home, guided by his nose. He was sure that someone would have come out to confront him by now, but he had immunity, he would be safe, either way. He noticed another tunnel, this one leading up. This wasn't what he wanted, so he passed it by, sneaking further into the caves. The smells of the wolves who lived here grew thinner, as though they didn't visit this part of the cave as much. A few moments later, the pup realized why – the walls seemed to have grown closer to him, and he felt a bit cramped. He was going into a tunnel that none of the others could fit into, and this made him even more excited.
Up ahead, things got even tighter, but the pup clawed his way through. Some simple digging was all it took to make a Rock sized hole for him to wriggle through. When he recovered from his tumble on the other side, the pup gasped, his eyes going wider than ever before. In front of him was a medium sized cavern full of mushrooms, glowing a light blue. There seemed to be small sprites flying around them, bugs that fed off of them? Or maybe the relationship was symbiotic. In the middle of this cavern was a jag-edged pool of water. Rock had no idea how deep it went, but he was amazed at the reflections of the mushrooms in the glassy surface.
Rock crept forward, entranced by the still water. He dipped a paw in, creating ripples that flowed across the pool to the other side. He had no idea how to swim, or he would have eased into it, though he was frightened of how deep it could be. He thought for a moment that dying in this place wouldn't be so bad, before moving to walk carefully around the underground lake. The pink and brown pup approached the mushrooms on the far wall carefully, reverently. He had already eaten one mushroom today, sadly. He didn't want to push it, even though these mushrooms were completely different. He hoped that maybe some day soon he could come here and try one of these glowing types. Pity it was such a long journey for a pup to make. It was then that he realized the best part about his dysfunctional family: they would never miss him for just one night. The pup jumped against the wall, resting his forepaws on the dusty rock and dirt. His pink fluffy tail wagged slowly behind him as he stood on two legs, propped up to get his nose closer to some of the lower growing mushrooms.
Rock suddenly felt dizzy as he looked into the calming glow, and a whispering annoyance started up in his skull as though he had flies buzzing around in there. He shook his head carefully and dropped back down to all four paws. He felt frightened, though calmed, and didn't know if he should run back home or stay put. Rock crawled towards where he had come from, but a growing pain in his head slowed him. The world felt fuzzy, suddenly, and he dropped to his belly, feeling as though he were spinning. Before the small pup could make it out of the cave, he fell unconscious.
