• CHAPTER ONE:
    Hi. I’m Leo. I am from Vanglahan forest in Marcenon. I am fourteen and a half years old (or I would be if I was human) and my birthday is March eighteenth. I have three siblings; two older identical twin brothers, (note they are identical, which makes them clones, right? Right. Its awesome, ain’t it???) named Nathan (I refuse to call him Nate, though he prefers Nate), and Ben (short for Benjamin) and one teeny tiny sister named Sapphy (short for Sapphire) who is the youngest of us four. Our parents died a few years ago when they got in a feud with Satt Mwain, who is the big, bad Emperor of all the land to the north of Vanglahan Forest, which includes the cities of Cartinigge, Starrn, and Barnalle. We used to play games together a lot of the time, mostly hide and seek, tag, or just play plain old sports such as (international) football (or rather, our version, where rather than kicking the ball, we move it around with our snouts and tails), but now we mostly go exploring in our beautiful, wise, old forest. We find all sorts of food, such as rabbits and mice, and when we can we eat berries and nuts. I am a coal black coyote, and my siblings are normal grey and white coyotes, Sapphy is the most beautiful one of us (she‘s right here, and she made me say that). After our parents died, I was normally our only hope of protection because all of the predators trying to get us thought I was an evil spirit or devil or thought I was Death himself, and ran off. Okay, so here’s my [amazing and awesome] story!!! And now, for the one and only... Chapter one; It was a dark stormy night and...okay, okay, it wasn't, but I have always, always, ALWAYS, wanted to start a story like that, but here it is (again) Chapter one; It was a slightly foggy morning with a moon slightly visible through the mist and a light breeze blowing softly throughout Vanglahan forest, we (my siblings and I) decided to go exploring. While exploring, we came to an area of Vanglahan forest where the trees grew close together.(By now it was about mid afternoon) We had never (ever) been there before, so we decided to split up and explore more before sundown.
    Sapphy climbed a tree to look at some birds nests (the tree was hanging over in a low arc). Nathan and Ben (of course the twins HAVE to always be together and do everything together ALL of the time) went to explore to the left, and I went to explore to the right.
    I wandered around for a while, looking at plants and bugs and small animals. I came across a small stream and managed to catch a few fish. I decided to save some for my siblings, so I saved them, but unfortunately, the fish all seemed to have disappeared...I had (accidentally) eaten them. (Sapphy, I’m telling you, it was an accident. Yes Nathan, I do like fish, stop saying I despise fish and have refused to eat them for years. Fine, fine, I give up) Alright, alright, I didn't catch any fish, but I did catch a chipmunk named Jordan and had him for an afternoon snack and found a blackberry bush. (sorry ‘bout all that talk before, Sapphy, Nathan, and Ben are reading over my shoulder)
    First, a booming rumble began, and the earth began to shake rapidly. Suddenly...CRASH!! BANG!!!! A loud crack exploded throughout the entire forest, then a thud, a whimper, then… silence loomed around us, and the ground was still. Ben, Nathan, and I ran towards the source of the noise--towards to where Sapphy was.
    “Sapphy’s fallen into a pit!” Nathan screamed, his ears snapping up in surprise, his fur on end. We looked in, and there she was, sprawled across the ground, unconscious, a pool of blood spreading rapidly around her, (alright, that’s an exaggeration, but she was bleeding a little bit from the fall) and here we were, too far up to get her out.
    “I think that tree branch she was on must have cracked during the earthquake,” Ben moaned with a hint of exasperation, “Oh no, oh no, oh no!”
    “Lets try to pull her out” I explained, stating what I thought was the obvious answer.
    “I know we should, but...but...we will probably fall in as well, and that’de be bad.” Nathan stuttered, his eyes staring at the scene below us in, wait...what was it..oh yeah...FEAR. (Nathan and Ben are here as well as Sapphy and now Nathan is scared, help!! He’s trying to bite me..wow...he’s scary when he’s annoyed, oh well) Nathan was petrified.
    “Yeah, Nathan’s right. We’ll probably fall and break a leg or something, THEN what'd we do?” Ben sighed ashamedly, eyeing the pit with anxiety and tensing up. rolled my eyes.
    “Okay, alright, you big scaredy CATS. I’LL be the GOOD big brother and care for his sis’. I’LL go down and save her.” I emphasized certain words to get them annoyed and irritated as I talked, “I don't need any WEAKLINGS to help me anyway. And Sapphy PREFERS ME the best.” That made them snap. They glared at me in frustration and annoyance, I could tell from the look in their eyes that they were terrified of falling in, (the only one of us four who isn’t afraid of heights is Sapphy) and yet they knew they should and really really REALLY wanted to help.
    “F..f..fine...alright, we’ll help” Ben gulped. “Lets get her out of there before its too dark out to see. We looked back in, all three of us trying to think of a way down. “I know!!!” Ben started to talk again, but this time with a bit more enthusiasm (he gets excited when he has a new idea, no matter the circumstance). “ Two of us *cough me and Nate cough* will jump in as carefully as we can so we don't get hurt, then one will climb on the other and we’ll pass Sapphy to the one up here *cough Leo* , then help each other out.” Nathan and I agreed, suddenly feeling a little less downhearted.
    We then decided who was going down and who would stay up, and seeing as the twins wanted to do their jobs together, they went down as I stayed up. I could barely see the bottom now, and looking up I saw a dazzling scene, starting from purple, the sky slowly faded into red, then orange, then yellow. The sunset. Night was falling sooner than we expected.
    “Hurry up!” I called down, starting to get worried, I had never been alone at night before, “the sunset has already come!” Then I saw movement, Nathan was only a few feet below the edge of the pit holding Sapphy, I reached down with my snout to grab her in my jaw, but I couldn't reach. I snaked my way slightly closer to the edge so that more of me could reach down, and I reached for Sapphy, I managed to grab ahold of her then... my hand slipped and... WHAM!!!! I had slipped and fallen into the pit.
    “Ow!!!!” someone moaned. I recognized Ben’s voice. He must be next to me. Thinking back, I remembered falling into the pit, and guess I must have bumped into everyone as I tumbled into the pit, I opened my eyes. Sapphy was on my left, still unconscious, with Nathan on her left, also unconscious, and Ben was on my right. I tried crawled to Ben to see if he had passed out as well and I felt something warm and tasted bitterness in my mouth. Blood. My blood. I finally managed to crawl over to Ben, though I was minutes if not seconds away from passing out from the pain. He was unconscious. I groaned in helplessness, hopelessness, and because of the pain. I rolled onto my side, then...everything went black. Dun dun dun...(sorry, that was Sapphy making sound effects).
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    CHAPTER TWO:
    I woke will a start, I could sense something moving around me.
    “Who is it?!?!? Who’s there?!?!” my eyes snapped open and I jolted upright.
    Sapphy laughed, “It’s just me, dummy” as Ben and Nathan started to howl with laughter at the look on my face.
    “Its an honest-to-god mistake, anyone could have made it” I grumbled. Something skittered across my paws and ran to Sapphy. “What’s that” I asked.
    “He’s this thing I found. Isn’t he adorable?! I’m going to keep him as my pet <3. I’m naming him Nature, and you will like him or else I wont talk to you again.” Sapphy declared, defiant. I raised and eye and tilted my head at Ben and Nathan, they shrugged.
    “Is he a squirrel?” I asked Sapphy, “and why is he down here?”
    “I dunna why he’s down here,” Sapphy shrugged, off handedly, “and how the devil is he a squirrel?!?” I looked at Nature again (He just purred at Sapphy while Sapphy cleaned his fur) and looking closer, I noticed some things I hadn’t seen before. Nature wasn’t dirty blond, as I had thought at first, but dirty WHITE, and his very pale green eyes seemed to glow as he looked at me. His ears weren’t small with alot of fur sticking up like normal, but were long and shaped sort of like long hackberry leaves, and also, do squirrels purr?
    “Leo?” Sapphy started making a puppy-eyes face
    “Yeah?”
    “Ben and Nathan said we can't go down that passage until you woke up, can we go down it now?”
    “What tunn...” looking around, I saw it, “um...I’m not in charge” I straightened my back.
    Nathan rolled his eyes, “Alright, lets go....” and we started down the tunnel.
    We walked for what, days? Months? A year!?!?!? it must've been at least a year!! Okay, okay, alright, it was probably more like hours, but it seemed to last forever and ever and EVER, with Nature lighting the way (turns out his eyes are glow in the dark). Finally, we found something, well not someTHING, plural, somethings. A blindingly neon green light filled the tunnel.
    Once we got used to the brightness and got to the source of the light, we looked at the source of the light, there were neon green stones covering the sides and ceiling of the tunnel, and the stones were glowing, almost looking like bright green suns, illuminating the tunnel around us and for a good distance down the tunnel. (Later we found out they were a type of Geode called Trancas Geode, and we didn’t care at all.)
    “They’re so pretty” Sapphy said, spellbound by the stones, “Leo, get me one” abruptly looking at at me.
    “Why ME?!” I reply.
    “Because you're her FAVORITE, right?” Ben grinned at at me looking completely satisfied. I glared at him as angrily as I could. He and Nathan laughed at me.
    “Hurry up” Sappy whined.
    “Alright, alright, I’m getting some, but how will we carry th..” I didn’t manage to finish my sentence, for Nature had sprinted towards the largest stone there, which was about one inch in diameter, grabbed it as easily as though it was lying on the ground and stuck it in his cheeks like a squirrel holding on to its acorns and nuts. I raised my eyes and looked at Nature, “really” I said to him. Nature purred and climbed onto Sapphy’s back. “Come on, lets go now,” I sighed, and started heading down the tunnel. Nobody followed, and looking back, I saw Nathan staring at some of the stones.
    “What is it?” Sapphy asked.
    “What’s what?!” I asked annoyed that we had stopped.
    “THAT” Sapphy bowed her head at the wall where Nathan and Ben were now looking at.
    I walked over to them, “what’s...”
    “Its a crack in the stones” Ben told me.
    “A crack?” I said flatly, “really. A CRACK.” I was astounded, they had stopped to stare at a crack in the wall.
    “There’s light coming from it” Ben retorted, “ and it isn’t a stone, its not green”
    “I want to know what the light is.” Sapphy made a puppy eye face, “NOW!!”
    “Okay,” Nathan, Ben, and I raised our eyes and looked at each other sending a silent message thinking the same thing. “But you do realize its probably dangerous..” I continued.
    “Which is why” Ben started.
    “We will find out what that light is and have an adventure!!!” Nathan declared.
    Sapphy squealed in delight, “precisely what I was going to say” I grinned at them. “Lets get through this wall.” and we started to dig, which is especially easy for us seeing as we are dogs (wild ones).
    After about an hour (Nathan is good with guessing time and he told me), we broke through the wall and tumbled (again) into a huge expansive room-like space.
    "Owww" I cried, falling down. My head KILLED!! (Like, hurt killed, not the killing version)
    "What is it!?!?" Nathan, Ben, and Sapphy chorused, looking worried.
    "I feel diz..." I never finished my sentence, for at that moment, a bright white light filled my vision, the tunnel and the room disappeared, and a village emerged into my sight, and it wasn't just any old village or town, it was Starrn, one of the cities north of our forest.
    In the center of the town, I saw everyone, literally everyone!!!!! They were all standing around a large wooden box, which I later found out was called a stage, and guess who was on the box! Satt Mwain, the murderer of my parents and the ruler of Starrn (and Cartinigge and Barnalle, but that's not important at the moment). He was starting to give a speech, so I went closer to listen to his speech.
    As I walked up to the stairs on the side of the box, no one paid me any attention, it was like they couldn't see me, and I had an easy time going up to the stairs and sitting down to listen.
    "citizens of Starrn, we need more land! We need quieter and more free and relaxing lives! We need less of a mess in the City of Starrn, and I have the perfect solution! Vanglahan Forest is right next to us, and what does it give us? A smaller city and a messier city! It takes up room where we could have houses and buildings. It makes it hard to get to neighboring countries! It gives us NOTHING, nothing what-so-ever! It's animals dump their waste in our streets and yards, it's animals dump out our trash, and it is pointless!! We must destroy the forest and the creatures" He spat out the word as though it was a rotton berry he had just eaten,"that inhabit it! We must annihilate it and expand our country!" everyone glared at him.
    "you're just...just..horrible!!" a man yelled from the back, people nodded in agreement and a man next to him gave him a high five.
    Stat Mwain looked a disturbed, but mostly nervous, he loosened his tie, "um...I meant to say...um..those words were a bit strong, I meant..um..more like...move the animals to a larger forest and clear out the forest." he tried and failed to smile, and his words became less, much less, formal.
    "What about my syrup and berries business!?! " another man shouted
    "And I'm a carpenter" a third called.
    A little girl walked up to Satt Mwain an tugged on his shirt, "but what about my friend, Anabelle, she's a coyote." and the riot began.
    Anabelle... she’s a coyote... the name rings a bell... Anabelle... Anabelle... MOM!!! I yelled, I ran to the girl and asked her, over and over again, "where is she, how is she? Where can I find her?!?" the girl ignored me, then...starrs (get it starrs, not starts, okay, thats a bad joke, but oh well, too bad for the author, they don’t need to know) the white light appeared again as Starrn disappear from my view.
    “What happened?” Sapphy was staring down at me.
    “I was just in Starrn!!” I jumped up in excitement, “mom..mom.mommy’s alive!!!!!”
    All three of them looked at me as though I was insane. “Uhhhhh....Leo? Mom’s..” Ben gulped, “dead...” he almost sounded ashamed.
    “But..that little girl said she was friends with Anabelle the coyote..”
    “What little girl?” Nathan asked with concern and growing anger, “HAVE YOU BEEN HANGING OUT WITH HUMANS LEO?!?!?!” he practically yelled at me.
    “No. I was just in Starrn...two seconds ago.”
    “Nope.” Sapphy replied sharply, spitting out the word.
    “Bu...where was I then?!?!?”
    “Right here,” Ben said, stressing each word as he said them.
    “You passed out” Nathan said still angry.
    “I have NOT, been hanging out with humans.” I replied flately. “But when I was in Starrn just no...”
    “You weren’t in Starrn....” Ben raised his eyes.
    “JUST LISTEN” I howled at them, feeling insanely angry at them for not letting me talk, “I saw a white light and then...” and I told them what happened.
    “But..” Ben started.
    “How..” Nathan continued.
    “Were you there and here, and how is mom alive?!?! Satt Mwain killed her years ago.” Ben and Nathan chorused.
    “Anyway...” Sapphy started to talk, “Satt Mwain is suppose to be in Barnalle this week.”
    “How do you know that?!?” We turned to her.
    She shrugged us off, “Passing villagers.”
    Ben SAID “Oh...this is weird...really..really weird...”
    Nathan continued “quite strange....impossibly strange...”
    I rolled my eyes at them and turned to Sapphy, “so, what do you think Sapphy?”
    “I think you’ve gone mad” Sapphy replied.
    “I am not lying!!!!!!” I yelled at them.
    They all rolled their eyes at me. “Come on, lets find out where we are” Nathan sighed, and they all started walking away.