It had only taken one night that changed his life, Shadow Reborn had been a young foolish wolf. Taking what he had for granted. Letting his older sisters' voices drift around his skull, their cruel words driving thorns into his already lonely soul. He hadn't felt whole back then, only half a wolf. Something had been missing, the smallest of his litter, he didn't feel like he belonged to it. That was, until that one night everything changed. He laid far from his home, his den, his family. Shadow wanted time alone, to be away from the pack and its laws, its boundaries. He hated them, he felt.. Confined, he needed freedom, that was when the whispers started.

'Do you like being 'chained' here?' it had asked within Shadow's fevered sleep, his limbs twitched as a black blanket spread across his fur.

"Yes.. I mean no! I don't like being confined here." Shadow shouted in his dream, that blank blanket started to seep through his fur, his skin. Something took hold of his soul and pressed it to itself.

'Then be free with him, don't let them bully you no more.' the voice said, its clover soft tone almost soothing.

Shadow didn't know what happened next, dawn came he guessed as he woke and ambled back towards the pack. Unknown to him that those bright cyan eyes had taken an suspicious glow to them. Grey paws picked their way through the under brush of the forest, dodging stone and root on his way back to home. Whatever had happened that night had faded, just a dream. That was all it seemed to be, but something lurked behind his optics. It watched the world pass, the leaves, trees and other wolves that scouted the area.

A couple wolves stopped as Shadow passed, looking to each other before moving on. Something wasn't right with one of their own, something was different. Taking flight after Shadow, the other wolves stopped him before he could reach the inner circle of the pack lands. Their hackles were raised and he didn't understand why, had he been gone that long? Was this his own pack? Many questions, few answers came to his mine.

'They are not yours anymore.' came that soft voice, tickling the back of his skull. 'This pack is no longer yours. You are different than they are. You are no longer the wolf they know.'

Shadow didn't know what to think, to say, he looked around trying to find the source of this voice. Cyan eyes looked back to the wolves before him. Turning to one side, he tried to go around them, but he was cut off. What was going on?

"Let me through!" He demanded stomping a paw to the needle covered ground. "I have the right!"

"You have no right here. Who ever you are." Growled one of the wolves. "Go back to where you came from and never return!"

Shadow slunk back as the larger of the two wolves started to press forward. Tail tucking itself between his legs and ears falling back to his skull. Shadow crouched low to the ground in the stance of a defeated wolf. But that didn't last long as the opposing wolf lunged at him and Shadow had to take flight through the ferns to save his own hide.

On he ran, he didn't know for how long. Stopping at a small pond to drink, he stopped at the sight of his own ripple distorted reflection. He looked the same, but his eyes, they weren't his. They had a glow, that unnatural glow.

"You, that is why I was pushed away. It was because of you!" Shadow shouted at his reflection splashing it away with a paw as he backed away from the water's edge.

'No, they pushed you away cause they knew you were better than they were. You are special.' said the voice as a creeping feeling rose up his back making the fur stand on end.

His special? He didn't believe that. Turning away from the pond something caught his eye. A pelt, its crimson color and softer grey tones called out to him. Unable to turn away from this mess of fur on the ground, Shadow walked over and nose at it. Empty, just a pelt, nothing else left of the creature it had once been. Eyes narrowing, Shadow tried to step away from the pelt, but that darkness at the back of his mind whispered that it was what he needed to be free. Taking one last look at the pelt, he didn't remember putting it on, only feeling its warm embrace over his shoulders. A comfort over his head to shelter him from the rains that were sure to fall. He was no longer the wolf of his youth.

'There now, Shadow, you are reborn' the voice sighed in his ear. 'Breath it in, now the world is your shadow'

Taking a breath, the damp night air filling his lungs. Shadow let a grin twitch at the corners of his muzzle. His shadow, he liked the sounds of that. Perhaps he could make those of his past. His mother and sisters wish that they had never been born.. This was going to be fun!

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