Lost in the world. Chapter one.
The moon radiates a ghostly glow about it, turning the night sky a dull azure. Stars streak across the heavens with a bright flash and streaming trail, gone in an instant, as the meteorites continue to fall from above. The sands of the vast dessert are now calm in comparison to the hustle of small creatures during the day. They grow constantly colder in the night almost to a freezing level without the warmth of the sun. A solitary frog chirps on a slimy rock near an oasis, breaking the eerie silence in the desert wastes. The water at a complete rest in the fertile area, calm and smooth as glass, reflecting the full moon's light perfectly on the surface. A night of two moons in the desert calm.
He stumbled knee deep into the water, shattering the glassy appearance of the previously calm oasis. He drank thirstily after hours of wandering lost through the endless sands. He stopped to catch his breath before once again downing the refreshing liquid. His pure white fur could almost blind someone in the light of the moon with its sleek brilliance. The long spiked hair tied into a pony tail on the back of his head dipped into the water every time he reached down to scoop it into his hands. The hair atop his head was equally spiked in every direction and as white as the rest of him, save a single lock died black. The sand washed off from the metal caps on the fronts and ends of the outside of his boots. The leather arm gloves were as black as the sleeveless shirt they tried to reach, while leaving his fingers exposed to the cold desert night. The belts crisscrossed his waist, holding a baggy pair of loose fitting, navy blue jeans. Slowly he waded out of the freezing water to flop on his back and stare at the night sky. His ears flicked as a chilling wind blew across. He laid sprawled out, legs and arms spread apart, his tail positioned flat between his legs. Tired and exhausted, he stared at the moon with two beautiful, violet eyes. A black stripe running across his face from one side of his head to the other over his lids and around them, with two sharp peaks forming an almost triangle between his nose was the shape the stripe could make.
"What have I gotten myself into? I'm lost in the desert, starving and freezing to death!" He laid his left arm across his now closed eyes. "I should have known better, if you sleep with a man's only daughter...The least he's going to do is try to kill you. And the worst part is, it wasn't even my idea!" He tried to fall asleep among the desert sand, but the bitter cold was keeping him awake. "That's one more foster home I've been kicked out of, that makes 7. Luceil is not going to be happy." He removed his arm to once again gaze upon the moon and the falling stars. "She was supposed to check on me today, so she'll come find me, she must know I'm missing by now." he was not quite sure if it was the adrenaline, the cold, or the fact that he was a nocturnal that was keeping him active, but he was sure that it was getting on him. "I should be used to cold...Shouldn't I? I am a tundra wolf after all." He began doubting his survival, it had been over 12 hours since his last meal. He began doing what he always had done in a situation of waiting when he could not sleep, he began performing sit-ups. Time slowly passed and he fell back exhausted from the exercise. Huffing and puffing he closed his eyes. "I think I beat my old record...I don't know, I lost stopped counting after 78." he felt something odd atop his chest and suddenly realized he had company. Startled he batted whatever it was away and quickly opened his eyes just in time to see the from splash into the water, once again breaking the calm of the surface. With a sigh he laid his head back, curled into somewhat of a ball to keep himself warm, and soon blacked out.
Morning had dawned as the desert had already heated considerably from the night before. The small creatures and their respective predators, if not already, began emerging from their night time dwellings and greeted the day. Mice scampered about the grass of the oasis carefree, wiping their whiskers and grooming their hair. Needless to say the morning was quite active not just around the oasis as snakes had already made their first hill of the new day. As the creatures before him, slowly the young man had begun to awake. He sat strait and wiped the crust from his eyes, awkwardly realizing what he had done the day before. He gathered his wits and crossed over to the water's edge and splashed the still cool water on his face. "Happy birthday to me, 17 years on this earth and still no home to welcome me." He spoke very coldly now realizing that the chances of finding a Foster home to stay with would be very slim. "I should back track, it's the best chance I have of someone finding me. That reminds me! Who willingly lives this close to a desert any ways!?" He yelled at anything that cared to listen, but mostly himself. With a frustrated sigh he drank until his thirst was quenched and rose to his feet. With the sun just rising to his backside he began trailing back the way he had come doing his best to remember the exact way he had come.
Hours passed and the sun had risen to high noon as the desert became bustling with life. On more than one occasion had he been passed by a jack rabbit or side winder hurrying along with their daily activities. Sweat pored from his entire body as he continued in the unbearable heat. "This is the end," he thought as he fell to his knees and stared off into the distance. Suddenly out of the waves of heat and the sound of shifting sand, a familiar sound could be heard, a vehicle. He stared at the fast approaching jeep as if it were a mirage, but he could tell it was his salvation. As it drew closer he could see who it was and waved it down, shouting at the top of his lungs. "Luceil! Luceil, oh thank the heavens! Luceil!" The vehicle stopped only a few feet to his left. He stood to meet her as she came out from his salvation. She stood only 3 inches shorter than him, her total height being 5 feet 10 inches. Her black striped brown fur was miles darker in comparison to his own. Her bushy tail nearly dragged behind her. "Luceil, my favorite 'coon and caseworker. Not to mention my heroine!"
She gazed upon him with scornful green eyes and stood with her arms folded across her breasts. "Don't butter up to me, your lucky I've listened to the daughter's side of the story, or I never would have rescued you."
"Not even on my birthday?" The young wolf said surprised.
An apologetic look crossed the 'coon woman's face. "We'll talk about your birthday on the way back. Now just get in." Luceil returned to her seat in the jeep as did the wolf. She handed him a canteen filled to the top with refreshing, life giving water and began driving back through the sands to civilization. "You know I would never do this for anyone else, right?" She glanced at the youth drinking deeply from the canteen as he tried to nod and down the water at the same time. "Slayne Inaru Crestlock, the things I do for you." She sighed in a content frustration.
Slayne removed the nearly empty canteen from his lips. "How many times have I told you? Just call me by my first name! And let's not forget the things I've don for you." Slayne winked at her with a slightly devilish, flirtatious grin.