Call of the Wolves Blurb

The worst emotion of all is the lack thereof.

After the recent death of her cousin, Kryyk, Cyras is filled with questions about the royal family. Do they truly have immortality as claimed, and if so, how did her mother die? There are too many flaws in Empress Owlis' "explanation". Regardless, she will follow the Empress to the end.

The Queen of Glacialane, Raynfall, lets her tears fall from the heavens, slowly flooding her kingdom. As Cyras and Team N:Era journey throughout the kingdom, they're opposed by the Howlers who work for the mysterious Ethereal King, and another mysterious wolf who's against all factions.

To stop Raynfall's flood, she has to understand the melancholic she-fox before every city is washed away, but how can she understand her when she doesn't even understand herself? And she also needs to survive the truth of the Ethereal King and the secret of the call of the wolves,

N:Era: Call of the Wolves is an Animal Fantasy exploring themes of godhood, depression, and forces beyond one's perception.

Sample Pages: 

Cyras never talked about her emotions. As she organized her cards, she grimaced at a few of the spooky dark ones that mentioned death, and thought that might not be appropriate for the next playing session. Would the others judge her? This wasn't the first time she was touched by death, not by a long-shot. Her father left her, and when he didn't return the following Spring, her mother explained he had died while wandering. And if everybody in her life was lying to her, she still had blood on her paws whenever she went out hunting, anyway.

The glow of the television bounced on the walls of the treehouse. Someone knocked. Rosod entered along with Lilu and Ahmond, so the entirety of Team N:Era was here. Cyras said, "Oh, you're all here . . . again."

"Owlis told us you would be here," Rosod said.

"Yeah, looks like you're ready!" Lilu said, seeing Cyras with her cards.

"I guess. Give me a few minutes, just play among yourselves."

The news mentioned Glacialane was facing severe flooding, one country was now re-emerging from beneath the sea, and the show Feed Me got cancelled after the host, a reclusive billionaire, was found to be a cannibal.

"This is sick," the officer said, holding up a chocolate dire wolf. "Sick I tell you! Sick!"

Cyras blinked a couple of times. "Riiight. Is television supposed to be this stupid?"

Lilu shrugged. "Nah this is pretty smart for the channels we get."

A news anchor said, "Glacialane officials advise everybody to stay in-doors, as this year's howling seems to be taking place in the Spectral Woodland Wilds. Queen Raynfall has only spoken on the issue in relation to land ownership . . . "

"What is the 'Howling'?" Cyras asked as she wrote a few lines on a notebook.

Lilu said, "Kinda this old folk tale. Every Spring, there's this Ethereal King, who attacks people. Those who survive being captured by his pack return with severe bites. No one's ever really seen his true form, but some survivors say that the looks they got, is he's apparently very inky."

Ahmond said, "Some say he's not even a wolf. My grampa said he heard the Howling a couple of times at his farm."

"I thought your grandpa lived in Chesniy," Cyras asked, pointing out how far the Ethereal's reach would have to be.

Lilu said, "The Howling has been heard in Aplepsis, Valarri, even Skya."

Cyras skeptically said, "If he has followers, you'd think at least one of them would have been interrogated or drop the whole truth."

"The attacks are pretty recent," Lilu said. "Like only 50 years ago. And I think his pack is wilders, so none of them are reporting anything to Civic authorities."

Cyras nodded. "We'll leave that to someone else."

"Nah, let's just throw a pretty foxy at him," Lilu said teasingly. "Speaking of foxies, I can't believe Owlis is really making us use this old place."

Rosod sat. "What are you writing?" she asked. "Card formulas?"

"Yes."

"You want any help?"

"Uh, no, thanks."

Ahmond asked, "Cyras, are you okay? You've been acting a little, down lately, maybe because of you-know-who."

"I am a bit."

Lilu said, "Hey, we're here for you, and we're glad to see that you're still doing pretty well. You have a great emotional resiliency than most of us, that's for sure."

The girls thought she was broken up about the death of Kryyk, but she hadn't even done anything wrong. She took out someone to protect the ones she loved.

They played cards for a few hours, until everybody left, the first one being Cyras. She slumped onto her bed.

That morning, she felt groggy and in a stay-in-bed-the-sheets-are-warm mood. However, she knew Owlis was expecting her over for breakfast. She exited her tower, made her way down into the main building, and followed stairs towards the back of the castle where dining arrangements were.

The sight of her friends and dignitaries greeted her. Owlis sat at the head.

"What's with all the guests?" Cyras asked, and hopped on the seat next to Owlis. Weirdly, this wasn't jam and tea or grapes and biscuits, but gravy and potatoes. A chicken sat in the center.

Cyras immediately wanted to go all reachy, grabby-grabby, but she wasn't that type of person anymore. She ordered a servant to bring her a piece.

Owlis said, "Cyras, we were planning to have this meeting earlier, but you didn't come in the morning. Can you explain why you missed breakfast?"

". . . I missed breakfast!?" The fox nearly panicked. She could almost feel darkness in the corners of her vision, but if she fainted now, would she also lose lunch!? How many calories would she deprive herself of? How long until you just . . . die? Oh wait, she's gone days without food in the wilds, she would be fine.

"Why didn't you wake me? Why didn't you all drag me out of bed? What time is now? Is this dinner? Was I awake yesterday!?"

"Cyras, Cyras," Owlis said, placing a paw on her shoulder. "Firstly, last time someone woke you up, we weren't able to clean the red out of the carpets, and I'm starting to run out of staff. Nextly, you just missed one meal. There are even leftovers. You can have them."

Cyras, immediately placated, said, "Okay! Where are they?"

"Focus, my girl," Owlis said. "Everyone said they could stay for lunch. There was a letter given to your room last night. I'm not sure why you didn't read that."

"I might have been asleep," Cyras said sheepishly.

"At 21:00?" Owlis muttered. "Anyway, we're on an emergency talk about the flood that's going on in Glacialane."

"Oh yeah, the flood," Cyras said. "Why is there a flood anyway?"

Owlis said, "Because of Snofall's sister, Raynfall. You met her during your birthday. I can feel her manifest the magic."

Cyras nodded. "Okay." How big was Glacialane? A few towns?

Owlis said, "Several towns are starting to flood in the northern lowlands and all throughout the entire kingdom. Millions are impacted by this, as are over a thousand towns and cities."

Huh, weird, bigger than she had thought. Not that she really knew how big a bunch of cities were, still getting accustomed to this whole "Civic-living" thing as opposed to living in the Wilds.

"Anyway," Owlis said, "We're not sure why Raynfall is doing this. We're not sure if she's lashing out because of Snofall's re-emergence, if she's trying to keep herself safe from something, or if she's been dumped by her boyfriend."

"Seriously?" Lilu asked.

"Last time she was dumped was 500 years ago." She muttered, "We still haven't recovered that city. Anyway, Cyras, you're the only Ascended who hasn't upset her, plus you're adorable, so we've decided you should be sent to investigate why she's acting the fool."

"Please," one dignitary said, "the rainstorm has been going on for several days now. My roof is leaking and my children have swim classes but the institute has been shut for flood warning."

Lilu remarked, "But in that case, can't they like, just go outside then?"

The dignitary grunted until staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.

Owlis said, "As is typical, I will be providing your tickets and transportation. Prospect, Glacialane's capital, isn't near a major portal network, the easiest way is for all of you to appear at Backport, and work your ways up."

Cyras said, "We'll be ready in a minute! After breakfast-lunch!"