Past

Aronus was born into a tightly knit pack with much love for one another. He was as boisterous and happy a pup as any, freely frolicking and chasing insects through the grass. The young male was the blessing his parents had been wishing for and the rest of the pack were pleased. As he aged a few months Aro found that, whenever he was alone or was in a quiet area a voice would speak to him. Of course, this scared him senseless at first for the voice was cruel and cold. Never did it speak kindly or with any encouragement. Only harsh truths. He attempted to speak to his father about the strange occurrence but the older male simply waved it off as a young wolf's daydreaming. And so days went on with these sinister whispers in the pup's ears.

As the weeks dragged on these whispers grew more frequent and each time Aro wanted to run to his parents, seeking comfort and solace in their presence. But each time he felt the urge to flee to his parents he recalled his father's dismissal, and slowly the young wolf grew colder. There came a point when Aronus at last decided that he was the only one that could hear this voice, and that it had to be in his mind. He deemed himself crazy and, one fine spring morning, began to hold conversations with the voice.

"Who are you?" The gray adolescent inquired timidly. For many long and anxious moments nothing happened and then at last there was a reply. "I am what you make of me. I am everything, but I could be nothing if you made me so."

This comeback stumped the still youthful male and he piped back with his own complaint. "Well you obviously aren't nothing. I can hear you plain as day." With a plop Aro sat down. "But I'm crazy, so I guess it's whatever."

A booming noise rumbled in Aro's mind and he felt a wave of sharp disapproval. "Many minds I have seen, fool, and yours is far from the most shattered, though I'd not jump to calling it the sharpest around."

"I'm no fool!" Raged the small brute furiously. "What's your name? Why don't you show yourself, huh, then I'd show you I'm no fool." The challenge lay trembling in the air before the smooth tones of the voice in Aro's mind reached out once more. "It does not take a sharp-witted being to fight like an idiot." Came the hissed taunt. "But you were wise in your inquiry, my name is Kobal."

At this point young Aronus was all but stewing in his own anger and irritation. He sat stiffly with his ruff and the fur along his spine bristling unhappily as Kobal's last words trailed away. "Well. Kobal then." There was a pause. "Why don't you go away? You bother me more than anything."

Deep chuckling issued forth, followed by Kobal's ominous words, "If you wished me gone, strong-minded buffoon, you had simply to will it the day you first heard me. But you did not, and I've found your conscious to be...quite to my liking."

So Aro pondered those words. For three days all was silent in his mind as he reviewed constantly what Kobal had said. On the eve of the fourth day, he asked aloud, "Kobal, what are you?"

The reply came forth without pause. "A wisp of darkness in a world of light; nightmares held by those young enough to see truth before their very noses. I am a demon, young fool. And you'd do well to remember that."

 

Aronus took heed of that remark. Weeks passed where the two would converse frequently about differing matters, Kobal coming out the winner in every case. The demon one day convinced the wolf to leave his home den and pack, stiking out further into the woods. All alone changes began to wrack through Aro, throwing unnatural colors into his thick stone-colored pelt and robbing him of his pupils while granting his eyes an equally unnatural turquoise color and glow. It happened one day that his mother flewed by whilst he and Kobal were speaking. She turned to her son, relief, worry and amusement all clouded in her gaze. "My boy, the pack has been looking all over for you! What are you doing talking to yourself way out here?"

As Aronus turned to his mother she shrieked and fell back, "Monster!" She cried. "Creature of Hell!" The young male strode forward with cold, pupil-less eyes and glowered down at the fae with not even a hint of the love in his gaze that he once held for her. "I left." He replied to her first question. "I left because I do not belong there. Because I do not care to be there. Father wouldn't listen, but Kobal did. Leave me, mother. Leave me to be the monster I have become."