Cave

                The dank drip of water echoed around the cave. The rough stone walls were slick and wet. The air was filled with the smell of moisture and wet animal fur. A rat scuttled along in the darkness. It scurried along, nose twitching, searching for food. The rat stopped and raised itself up to smell the air. There was a slight widening of its eyes, a terrified squeak as it tried vainly to run. Too late the last thing it saw was the flash of white teeth and its world ended.

            A seventeen year old, sandy-haired boy walked unconcerned through the dark passageways. His converse shoes made a squeaking noise over the slick spots of the cavern floor. He was tall with wide shoulders and amber eyes stared at his surroundings intently. He had on a hockey shirt with DTSS in bold across the front. The further the young man walked into the caverns the more his shoulders bunched up the more intent his gaze became.

            Further along the cavern a wolf appeared on the sandy-haired youths’ left. The boy didn’t look at it. For all intents and purposes it seemed like he didn’t even know it was there. The only sign that he knew it was there was the further pilling back of his lips. The wolf loped along, its yellow eyes catching the light. Its gray fur rustled and rolled with each step. Another wolf appeared, this time dappled tan. Its tongue hung out and it had a wild look in its eyes. Though the second wolf was slightly smaller than the first, both looked to be the size of ponies.

            They walked into a large cavern, bigger than any that they had previously been through. The front of the cavern held some light, but it was so dark in the back that even the boy’s intent gaze couldn’t pierce it. It was an unnatural darkness; it hunted the light to swallow it whole. The wolves peeled off to either side. Turning, they faced the boy and lay down. They were both no more than a body’s length away. The dappled tan’s eyes seemed to be smiling with madness. A rumble filled the room shaking the stones on the floor. A dark voice echoed inside and around the chamber.

            “Why do you don such a pathetic guise when coming before me, Vragi?” the voice echoed in his bones, touched with malice and amusement. The voice held the promise of death, the power and wisdom of age to do so. The boy Vragi knew that if he wished, the voice could kill him a thousand times over. “Isn’t your normal form more… pleasing?”

            “It is not so easy for me to make the change.” Vragi answered carefully; he bowed his head and stared straight at the ground. “And I bring news too important to waste time. We have found a spawn of the old gods.”

            The chamber rumbled and shook. The darkness boiled. Even the wolfs whimpered and flattened their ears.

            “Tell me what you know.” The voice was cool and collected, sharp, more dangerous than before.

            “One of my pack was found dead on yggdrasil. The stench of a half-blood was all over.” Vragi answered, fighting the urge to put his nonexistent tail between his legs. The chamber was quite for long moments before the voice spook again.

            “The progeny of the deceivers must not live on. You will take care of this, Vragi. I must rest and if this has not been resolved by the time I wake, I will take care of you and the god child.”