Chapter- 12 The Ancestral Tomb

Chapter 12- The Ancestral Tomb

 

 

            Shadow couldn’t remove the door from his eyes. He stood frozen in place. But slowly, he moved forward as though compelled to. The fabricated statues of wolves carved into it stared back viciously. Shadow ignored them approaching ever slower. He sniffed at its giant base. The door stood over sixty feet higher then him. There was no knockers or handles in means of opening it. “Could this be”? Shadow started to say. He scratched his claws against it. The rock didn’t mark from it. It was protected, protected by strong magic. Then it was what he thought. But before Shadow could remark further, he heard a strange smacking sound behind him; it was Chanoue. His cold tall figure stood sitting clapping his paws together with the stone at his side. “Well done, well done”. Shadow growled. “So you found it, before me. That is rather surprising”. Shadow felt his anger rising, his blood boiling. “Not so much”. Shadow replied cockily. Chanoue chuckled. “Well, at least you’re here so you can watch as I finally complete my family’s destiny”. Shadow began to move forward but Chanoue lifted the stone and Shadow’s back bent him forward against his will. Shadow looked up at Chanoue’s smug face. “Bring her forward. Several dozen wolves moved aside from behind Chanoue as Sarina was brought in, chains still shackled around her. “Now, son and mother reunite”. Shadow struggled to stand up but the stone held him down. All he could do was stare helplessly at his mothers, watery eyes. “When we are done, then you can both reunite again, in the afterlife, if there is to be one for you that is”. Shadow growled again snapping his jaw at Chanoue. Chanoue smiled and crunched the stone. Pain shot though Shadows body. He rolled over on his side and howled in agony. Sarina pushed against the chains. “No stop”! Chanoue ignored her. “You’re going to die Shadow”. Shadow clenched his teeth. If he was truly going to die, then he wouldn’t be pleasing Chanoue’s hunger. “You were a fool to come out here; you could have lived your life”. Chanoue said tauntingly. “That’s my son damn you stop”! Another shock of pain straitened up though his spine. “Such a waste of flesh and fur, just like James and Kanoue and all the other cowards”. Chanoue kept babbling on but his voice grew faint in Shadow’s ears. He was loosing conciseness quickly. “Any second now”. Chanoue commented. But suddenly, the pain stopped. Chanoue was thrown to the ground by a sudden force. The stone rolled onto the floor. Shadow reached out to it but Chanoue stopped him. His claws dug deep into Shadow’s paw and he pulled away the stone. Turning, Chanoue met his attacker with shock. Kanoue was standing holding up a paw buzzing with lighting. “So you’re still alive. I must admit I am impressed Kanoue”. Kanoue growled. “Enough Chanoue, I see through all the lies you fed me. I will finish this”. Chanoue grinned and then laughed loudly. His followers began laughing too. “You seem so sure of yourself”. Chanoue said smirking still. Chanoue’s followers began to close in on Kanoue. Chanoue called them off. “No, I will handle him myself”. Chanoue stepped forward holding the stone piece tightly. “So, this is how it ends, you die right here right now”. Kanoue didn’t respond. He raised his paws slowly. Chanoue hadn’t perceived the threat and simply watched with satisfaction. Kanoue shot a beam of fire in Chanoue’s direction. Chanoue reacted quickly and deflected it with the stone sending the fireball into the rock wall. “I almost forgot about that. No matter, you will die all the same”. Kanoue attempted another shot but again was deflected. Chanoue pushed the stone forward and a jet of red sliced and whipped at Kanoue’s body. Kanoue darted shooting lighting in Chanoue direction. Again it was deflected. Kanoue stopped as did Chanoue. They had reached a stalemate. Chanoue’s eyes darted around. He lifted the stone up and slammed it against the ground. It did not shatter but the cave began to rumble. Kanoue stood frozen in place as the ceiling above him cracked and two large fractions of the rock ceiling crushed over him. He was trapped but alive. “There, it was just that easy”. He walked up to Kanoue who still struggled against his rock prison. “You should have stayed in the snow pit where I left you”. Chanoue strode away from him. “So long I have waited for this”. Chanoue said awestruck lifting the stone up to the door base. “Shine the light, reveal your strength”. The stone began to glow. “Kanoue, watch as what you have shared will bring about our family’s wishing”. Kanoue gazed up in horror. “Someone, lift the crystal high over you head”. One of the wolves behind Chanoue lifted up the Crystal of Mirrors. A line of light shined from the stone and casted against the crystal. “Now blood of the sacrifice”. Chanoue poured the blood filled vial over the stone. It dripped downward over his paws and onto the floor. Shadow shook with anger but still could not move. “Souls of the dead bring fourth my key”. Chanoue raised his paw with the ring. He slowly moved it towards the light beam. Shadow watched with fear. Sarina was frozen. All of Chanoue’s followers watched in awe. The silent moment was shattered by a howl cutting through the cave. Heads quickly turned to look to the sounds origin. It was Jake backed by what looked as dozens of other wolves. David, Crystal, Donvu on his hind legs and many others stood watching. Chanoue’s prideful moment sank low and his teeth gritted. For all he saw was opposition to his last stand.

 

 

          Shadow was shocked; Jake, alive? But more importantly, how had they found them? Donvu slowly moved forward watching all around him stare with confusion. “Well Chanoue, it appears you have finally found what for you had searched, our ancestor’s tomb”. Donvu gazed up at the door and nodded smiling. “It is fascinating to wonder what lies beyond these stone doors”. Chanoue moved forward letting his ring lay to the floor. “Who are you”? Donvu looked down at him. “I am your ancestor Chanoue, a past relic in your stained family, our stained family”. “Stained”? Chanoue cackled. “Stained by traitors if that’s what you mean”. Donvu moved forward. “How do you walk like this? You stand like a human but appear as a wolf”. Chanoue began to growl. “You are just like all these other traitors”. Donvu frowned and his voice became slow and calm. “Chanoue, enough is enough. You can’t begin to imagine what you are going to do. When you create this tyranny you have imagined for so long, you will inadvertently destroy this earth. War is like a contagious disease that spreads. And with each war, power finds a place to lie. Power can be an effective tool, or a dangerous weapon. You have to consider what is best for our world Chanoue, not for what our family has told”. Chanoue snarled more, not even listening. “You only want those humans to rule. Have you not seen what they have done? If Mother Nature refuses to punish them for their crimes, then we must be the judges of their fates”. But Donvu wouldn’t let up; he moved forward and spoke more aggressively. “Then are we setting the right example? By committing the crimes that we accused them for? We can’t achieve peace through fighting! An eye for an eye Chanoue, you never thought once about the right solution, only the easiest”. Chanoue was sent into rage now, his face curled like a wet blanket. “You think this was easy? This was a long time work towards revenge, peace, and freedom. I will have what I worked for”!

 

          Chanoue raised the right to light beam. Souls of wolves and people were screaming and shouting from inside the ring. All the souls Chanoue collected combined to create a key. The door rumbled; it was working. “My ancestors before me come fourth and secure my species’ place as rulers”. The giant doors slid inward against the stone walls. Sediment and fragments of rock shattered away as the door was opened. Finally the doors were hung agar revealing the hidden passage beyond them. Nothing seemed to come of it. All had gone stiffly silent. But then a light shined from inside; a very dreary faint light. It was a grey orb that was floating in mid air. It shot out past the doors and suspended itself up above the wolves’ heads. Chanoue stared up longingly along with everyone else. A shimmer of light descended downward from the orb and onto the ground and disappeared into the rock. Everything still remained silent. The wind howled behind them. Shadow felt the ground shudder slightly. Suddenly, the rock ground broke open, shards collided with the walls. A small crater has broken from the floor where the light had touched down. In it stood a large bulky form of a wolf’s shade fused with a skeletal body. Its eyes were dark yellow and only somewhat fleshy on the right side. It was standing on its hind legs as Donvu did. For a moment, things stayed silent but then the wolf began to speak. “Chanoue, you’ve done it”. Chanoue’s mouth hung ajar, his eyes sucked in with admiration. It was Vargas, dead but alive once more. “I did father, I did as you wanted”. Vargas nodded and noticed the many other wolves behind him. “Is this your army? You will no longer need them”. Chanoue turned then bowed to his father’s form. “No father, these are traitors, others who tried to stop my cause”. Vargas snarled shrilly staring over them. The others wolves cringed. “Then they will die”. As he had said this, the orb began to flash. More lights touched the rock ground and as Vargas had appeared, other forms began to manifest behind him. Chanoue smiled victoriously at his ancestors rising before him. Travi, Hanamire, and even Vladimir himself had risen from the dead. There were gasps and whispers from the army Jake had commanded. They slowly parted as a tall lumbering figure stepped forward from behind. Mother Nature had arrived. “So you’ve done it then Chanoue, you achieved the one thing I feared”. Chanoue turned and looked at her with anger. “And who are you”? He asked angrily. Mother Nature responded sternly. “I am Mother Nature”. Chanoue’s face turned fearful and his ears folded but then he remembered his position and quickly changed to satisfaction. “So, our creator, our life bringer comes to witness her end. To witness her failure in person; how noble”. Nature’s face curled. “I have not failed Chanoue, neither have you succeeded; nothing is to be gained from this”. Chanoue stared at her confused by the statement. Vladimir stepped forward pushing Chanoue aside with his bony paw. “Nature, do you recognize me? Over hundreds of years later do I finally stand alive once again before you”. Nature bowed respectfully. “I can’t say it’s a pleasure for I would be lying, but I do respect the efforts”. Vladimir snorted at her. “Your pathetic attempt at manors doesn’t hide the barbaric act you took on my family. The curse you placed”. Nature looked down. “I have committed crimes and I repent them but that does not mean the entire world needs to suffer”. Vladimir’s once lifeless eyes flared red as they had years ago during his argument over humanity’s creation. “None of this would have happened had you not created humanity. You are not a god, you’re an old dried up crone with too much power”! Vladimir roared howling up to the ceiling. “Kill them”! He ordered charging at the group. Chanoue’s men began to cower. Chanoue no longer needed them. They were slowly overwhelmed as the ancestor attackers swarmed them and Jakes army. Chanoue held the stone firmly backing away from the fight. Shadow saw him; Kanoue was struggling to free himself. A large ghostly attacker ran at Shadow. Kanoue shot a beam of lighting into him, throwing him onto the ground. “We have to stop Chanoue; he’s going not going to escape this time”! Kanoue said shooting a ball of energy into the rock freeing him and chasing after Chanoue into the tomb.