Evolution Of Dawn

I looked up at the sky, it was tar-black and the large clouds were moving toward us. I trailed behind the rest of my pack, moving towards a cave opening for shelter over the oncoming rain. I settled down on the rocky ground and cuddled in with the rest of them, my head rested on my foreleg. I heard a tapping on the cave and then it became a pitter-patter, I looked out the cave as heaven spat out its beads of water. I sighed and closed my eyes listening to the murmuring of the rain sounding like the buzzing of angry bees. Snuggling in closer to the rest for warmth, I doze off feeling safe and contented. ____________________________________ I woke up to the collective chorus of dawn, the twittering, tweeting, and chirping of wild birds. Standing up gingerly I lowered my head and arched my back upwardly like a bow and stretched, I dusted my fur before walking outside the cave. I scented the air, inhaling the "petrichor" the earthy aroma of the after-rain, the sky cast a soft hue of orange light through the forest canopy. I looked behind at my pack of eight still asleep under the shelter of the cave before walking into the denser part of the forest looking for food. I had been walking aimlessly for minutes before I caught the scent of prey, stalking slowly toward its direction; I saw a rabbit munching on grasses in an open field. The only cover I have is the fallen tree trunk which the rabbit is facing directly, I decided to wait until it changes focus elsewhere. Slowly I lay down on my haunches waiting patiently for my time to pounce. I noticed the rabbit keeps eating away from me without fully changing its focus from where I lay in wait, having no other choice I pounce; but the rabbit scurried away in time just before I could lay my paws on it. Not willing to give up, I chased after it. The rabbit ran into a small fallen tree hole that could blearily contain my head and stayed in-between, knowing I had no chance at getting it, I gave up. I walked through the forest following the smell of fresh water and came across a lake. I bowed my head for a drink, after quenching my thirst I looked at my reflection in the water, brown eyes and dirty brown fur coated with mud were staring back at me. It had been a week since I last took a bath. Deciding to do some body cleaning I walked into the cold water to soak my fur, I walk out of the water when I noticed my body had started shaking from the cold. I shook my now shiny fur and walked back the way I came. When I arrived back at the cave I found the others tearing their canines into the body of a deer, I ran forward and joined in the feast; blood coating my snout. After the food, I lay back down under the shelter of the cave with two other wolves, while the other five wandered into the forest. I had joined the pack with my father two years ago, traveling from south to west and wandering with no destination in mind. The pack did not stay in a place for more than a month before moving to another. While they are an ordinary pack of wild wolves, I'm not. I'm a shapeshifter though you can blearily tell because I hardly go on two legs, I'm too comfortable in the wild form that I can't even remember when last have taken my two legs form. I'm more of a wolf than a human, my wolf side and human side have no balance because I never allow it and a human in the wild is lonelier than a wolf. According to my father, my mother gave birth to me in my wild form which is extremely rare but not weird considering my mother's origin, my father is a shapeshifter just like me. But my mother? "She is just an ordinary wild wolf". My father used to live among his kind long before me, changing forms. From two legs to four and from four legs to two, he once had what was called a mate and was living happily until his pack was attached and burned down. He was among the lucky few who escaped the war wounded but alive. Mate? "Dead". He lost his mind and wandered around, he was rejected and chased out by another shapeshifter's packs whenever he got near. They said he lost himself to his wolf and turned a rogue because his mind isn't steady, but if you ask me; I'd say they were the ones who turned rogues and lost their minds because all I saw was a man lost and in need of help. After facing countless turns down and rejections he'd turned into the safety of the forest and became wild, he was lonely and joined some pack of wild wolves living and moving around with them. He found my mother among them, mate with her, and had me. She's a beautiful wolf with brown fur and brown eyes just like mine. Because I was born in wild form, my father had thought I'd inherit my mother's gene "an ordinary wild wolf and not a shapeshifter like him" until I turned twelve. It was my first shift, painful and agonizing but it was worth it. I'd talked with my father for the first time on two legs. Later I found out we can communicate through our minds either on four legs or two. But sadly I still wasn't able to talk with my mother or the rest of my pack because they aren't magical beings like my father and I, though we don't communicate with each other in words or mind links like I sometimes do with my father. But we still understand one another and communicate in our way. By the time I was fourteen, most of my packs had died including my mother. It turns out the life span of an ordinary wild wolf and a shapeshifter are not the same. My father and I were together but lonely. We moved from one pack to another over the years, until eight months ago, a week after I turned twenty-two we were hunting down a flock of buffalo heading West with the rest of the pack. During the attack my father was accidentally hit by a raging buffalo fighting for survival, he was sent tumbling down a hill. He'd ended at the button with a broken spine, leg, and a gaping hole behind his skull. That day he'd called me Thyra, and told me it means thunder warrior and that's my name. He died three days later, the pack stood by me. Together we'd mourn him and howl to the moon crying for our loss. he was a great hunter, warrior, and father. I buried him inside a cave opening, covering it with rocks just like have seen him do with members of our pack who died over the years including my mother. He made me promise him just before he took his last breath to leave the wild, find and join a shapeshifter's pack. But it's easier said than done, I know nothing about a shapeshifter pack except the little knowledge he passed down to me. It's been eight months, and I finally made up my mind to fulfill the promise I made to him, find a shapeshifter's pack, joined them and find balance, how hard can that be? I can't wait around any longer to lose a member of my pack again, because I'm tired of seeing my families which I have bounded with over the years die. It's not fair to me or them, and it's taking a toll on my body and soul. One more night, just one more night with my pack before I leave and go in search of my future and the beginning of a new dawn.