Azrael
Harbinger
Subject : A
Posts : 103
Join date : 2012-06-12
 | Subject: History of the Glade  Thu Jun 14, 2012 4:53 pm | |
| It all started with Project WICKED: Wolves Isolated in Communal Killzone - Experimental Department. Their objective was and still is unknown and no one is sure who is behind it all, or whether they are even from earth. All that is known is that they conduct a great variation of tests on wolves, physical experiments that also assess their cognitive ability and response towards tense and stressful situations.
They began by placing an initial 10 wolves into a large expanse of land called 'The Glade'. The wolves remembered only their name and had a rough time sorting out a sense of order within the group. Their immediate thoughts were of escape from this strange, eerily artificial world, but all efforts failed. If they strayed towards the borders they would lose themselves in a shifting maze haunted by foul half-mechanical beasts they came to call 'Grievers'. To be stung by one of these Grievers caused an irreversable mental breakdown, and no wolf recovered the poison - physically of mentally. They lost four wolves to the Grievers.
Then the eleventh wolf arrived and it allowed them to discover 'The Box'. Surely if this was the way they were transported in, they would be able to get out just the same? It took only one wolf to realise that this was not the case. Something too quick to catch a glimpse of whizzed through the air and sliced the poor male into eight parts, spitting the remains back out in front of the onlookers. As a reminder to all future wolves that the Box was not a suitable escape route, they left the pieces hanging from the trees surrounding the shaft.
Some sense of order had been made by the time the twelfth wolf, that went by the name of Azrael, arrived. They had split themselves into groups based on skill - healers, hunters, defenders and scouts - with one wolf, Lyorin, to lead them. There were fewer casualties and at random intervals a new wolf would arrive and as their numbers grew it was decided that each wolf would have assigned to them a number based on how long they have been in the Glade. Azrael became known as 'Seven'. They also came to realise that occasionally supplies arrived in the box, from medicinal herbs to extra food to comfort items.
As with most other things within the Glade, as they had come to call this world, new nick-names and slang terms were invented for just about everything. Healers became Medjacks, hunters became Reapers, defenders became Argents and the scouts became known as simply Runners, because it seemed that was all they did. Runners became well appreciated as they were often what kept the pack safe and inspired ideas of a possible escape one day. It also came to be realised that they must also rely on intellectual individuals if they were to ever dream of leaving, and so there came to be a group known as the Cerebrals.
As the Gladers grew to number sixteen, a council developed as there grew to be a head - or Keeper - of each group that made up the pack. It became more recognised how experienced one had to be as a Runner and so the group grew to be more prestigious, unaccessable to new wolves who came to be known as Greenies.
More experimental tests were thrown their way and there were casualties, but the harsh conditions allowed strong bonds to form between members. Azrael became almost brothers with Fourteen, a male known as Damon and the two both became skilled Runners, patrolling together and fighting side by side.
It had been almost two years since the first wolves arrived when they recieved Thirty-three in the box to make their current head count tewnty four. With so many wolves the idea of escape had begun to stir up again until it was in full force, being the only thing they would talk about. A meeting of the council managed to convince the leader, Lyorin, that if all twenty-four of them stormed the maze the Grievers wouldn't stand a chance and the Keeper of the Cerebrals assured them that as long as they kept their tails touching the left wall they would eventually find their way out. Nobody listened properly to the Runners though who described the high risk and almost certain failure this attempt would bring. Azrael himself insisted that it was far too dangerous, but everyone thought they were merely playing up their roles.
It was a blood-bath. The shifting walls timed themselves to separate the pack and the Grivers came with force and without warning. Wolves dropped left, right and center, and it was only with a stroke of luck that four of them made it out - Azrael, Damon, Medjack Ten and Cerebral Eighteen. The images of their friends being so brutally attacked were permenantly burnt into their minds, but the more pressing issue was the scratch across Azrael's left hind leg from the tip of a griever spike. All four were well aware of how fatal it was likely to be and Azrael insisted they take him to the Box to make his death short and swift.
Upon reaching the shaft, they were surprised to find that a delivery had been made by WICKED: the leg of an antelope and a small bowl containing a thick, dark green substance that Medjack Ten couldn't identify. The four deliberated for a while until the Cerebral came to the conclusion that the 'Serum', as he called it, must be for Azrael as the first time it had arrived just so happened to be at the same time Azrael had been stung, and surely they didn't want all their wolves to die. The Keeper of the Runners grudgingly agreed, both applying some of the paste to the wound and swallowing some under the Medjack's advice.
The days that followed were agony for the black male, pain searing every inch of his body as thick green lines flared across his skin, almost seeming to stain his fur as it swirled like vines across his pelt. Both Damon, the Medjack and the Cerebral didn't know what to do as he screamed out nonsensical things, writhing as images flashed across his mind - nightmares or memories, he wasn't sure.
By the time he finally came to on the third day, the vine-like ropes that had seemed to cover his body had mostly receeded, except for a few strains under his eyes, at the tips of his ears and what looked like a vine wrapping its way around the leg that had been injured. All four were relieved to see that he was well again, and because he had been in the Glade the longest and experienced the most, named him the new Harbinger.
It was their decision to rename the subjects after letters of the alphabet, as opposed to numbers, to signify a fresh start. However, unfortunate circumstances followed; Medjack 10 (Subject B) was of only a very frail, light build and so died in a hunting accident because she was not experienced or strong enough to hunt well, and Cerebral 18 (Subject C) wandered too far into Nightmare Niche and went missing and is presumed dead.
This left Azrael and Damon in the Glade, still attending their duties as they awaited the arrival of more wolves in the hope that the Cerebral had been right - surely WICKED wouldn't just leave them all to die, would they? | |
|
