“Duskpaw, what are you doing out here?”

The reddish wolf turned his head to look at the silver-pelted creature now seated beside him. He was gazing into a small pool of water deep within the confines of a forest. Few knew its location.

In the Glade, everything was sacred, but some things were hidden more purposefully than others- the pool was one of those things. Because while all noble wolves went to the Glade upon their death, the only ones granted access to the Pool of Insight were those who had been among the High Packs in life.

“I am watching the living, as I do so often.”

“So late at night?” The she-wolf cocked her head curiously. In life, she had been the mate of a High Pack’s leader. No one dared to challenge her, for as soft as she seemed on the outside, she had led her pack nearly as much as her mate.

The male sighed and studied the she-wolf. To him, she was far more than the ex-leader of a pack. He was descended directly of her, as she was his grandmother. While not all pack leaders were born into the position- most were, however there were rare cases when leaders had no male pups, and females naturally didn’t lead on their own as the true leader- he had been one that was.

He’d carried the position well, and proudly, and his pack never had cause to question him. Much as she had years previously. He’d never known her in life, for she was long dead by his time, but she’d been the first to welcome him to the Glade when his time had come.

For a long time he stared at the images swirling in the pool. It was what they naturally did, until someone was looking upon them and chose one to peer closely at, or willed the pool to show them something. His answer was an eventuality.

“The pool has troubled me as of late, Stormdance. Has it not done the same for you and your mate? And the other leaders?”

Hanging her head to dip her nose into the pool, Stormdance inhaled deeply. The swirling images were drawn away, to show one solid thing. It was a young human girl, asleep in a large bed, appearing at peace. For several minutes, she allowed the image to remain. When nothing changed, she dipped her nose to touch the water again. Now it revealed a wolf pack in the woods, most of them sleeping, two awake and keeping watch, obviously in deep conversation. It was possible to reveal words spoken in the pool, but Stormdance felt no need- both of the wolves at it’s side knew what they would be discussing. Stormdance changed the image one final time, to show Duskpaw the moon as it truly appeared, and this trueness could be seen by few on the world below, only through the Pool of Insight within the Glade.

The moon was carmine red as spilled blood, with a slash across it. Like a lightning bolt.

Using a paw, she splashed the pool to return it to its usual chaotic state and murmured, “Of course we are concerned, Duskpaw. The spirit of the Bringer of Storms never came to the Glade after her death, and was instead kept on the earth after a short visit of her soul to the- to the Lake. None of us knows why she went there. And for sixteen long years, we have been unable to locate her soul. Suddenly she reappeared but a moon ago, and the packs are having trouble, while the moon is disturbed, leading to strange happenings on earth that were enough for even the humans to realize something was unusual. To top things off, the Goddess has not revealed herself to me in some time. Things are doubtful in the Glade for now. We have no way to help the packs on the land- what shall we do?”

Duskpaw stared at her intently, concerned of what was to happen in the world below. For though he didn’t know what it would be, they all knew it would be something terrible.