44. Epilogue

Humphrey stumbled down the mountainside, his eyes staring ahead with a gaunt hollowness. The Jasper wolves stared around, expecting a necromorph to leap up at them and continue the battle. The necromorphs did not rise, however; the Marker was destroyed and so was their chance to kill. The threat was over on the same eve that it had begun. Humphrey lost his hold on the rocks and crashed to the ground at the base of the mountain. He groaned and pulled himself back up, walking over to the center of the Ĝarnaw. Or at least, what was left of it. The blood-stained rock was dilapidated and hardly recognizable as the same place, the bodies of necromorphs and Jagged Ice wolves lying about in bloody heaps, gore splattered about the rock clearing. The battle had been won yet terrible, hundreds dying in less than an hour. Twice in two years this had happened; twice had tragedy befallen them, and now Humphrey had lost the one thing he held most dear to him.

Kala lied in the center of the Ĝarnaw, Scourge attending to her. Humphrey walked over to her and nudged her, trying to wake her up. She did not move, she did not breathe. He nudged her again and again, the Jasper wolves looking on in sorrow for their poor Leader Wolf. First, he'd lost his mate, now he'd lost his daughter. How could he be so cursed for these terrible events to befall him? What had he committed to deserve this? Kacey, Winston, Garth, Lily, and the pups rounded the mountain and were horrified to see the carnage. When she saw the body of her stepdaughter, Kacey wailed in agonized sorrow. The pups stared at her in horror, hoping that Kala's eyes would flutter open at any moment and she would be okay.

Humphrey continued to nudge his daughter, praying to every wolf god he'd ever heard of to let her be okay. He had promised her, he'd sworn upon his life that he would protect her no matter the cost that he'd never let anything happen to her. She was a newborn pup at that point, but he'd meant it wholeheartedly that he'd protect her. Now, he'd proven to be unable to make promises, for he'd sworn protection of Kate as well. The two wolves most important to him had been cruelly torn from his life and cast away into the darkness, leaving Humphrey nothing more than a bitter shell of the wolf he used to be. He lied down beside his daughter and nosed her face, whispering softly to her, telling her to wake up. Tears blurred the vision of the wolves when they saw him do this, knowing that Kala would never again stand, that his attempts to wake her were in vain. Faolan averted his eyes, blinking away tears that he refused to let flow.

"Please, Kala," Humphrey pleaded, tears rolling down his face. "Please, wake up. Please, Kala, please…" Marcel and Iris fluttered down. Iris was covered in blood, Marcel missing many of the feathers on his left wing. They looked sorrowfully at Kala when they saw the poor young she-wolf. Humphrey began to weep piteously, burying his head into her neck fur and letting his tears soak into her fur.

He had failed her. When she was born he'd sworn to protect her and he'd broken that promise. His daughter was dead, his daughter was dead, she was dead, she was dead…Kala is dead. How could he allow this to untimely fate to befall his beloved daughter? He had failed her…

Tilting back his head, Humphrey began to howl requiem for his fallen daughter. It was a mournful, agonizing howl that portrayed his shattered heart and mind. He cried out to the heavens above, singing his misery of his fallen daughter to the skies above. One by one, the other wolves began to howl for her as well. Faolan let a tear fall down his face, tracing his Spirit Markings down his eye. He was the second wolf to join in with Humphrey's howl. Marcel and Iris joined in their voices, mimicking the howls of the wolves. Even the pups tried to join in their yip-bark howls. Kala, the young grey-and tawny-furred she-wolf that had been so incessantly admired and loved throughout the Jasper survivors, was dead.

**Kala**

Kala opened her eyes and found herself in an unfamiliar world. She was in a vast, expansive region of mountainous area. Beautiful, glorious, golden sunlight streamed into the range and shone beautifully off of the hard, compact snow, glistening in a perfect world of beauty. Groaning, she rose to her paws and found herself standing in the snow, yet it did not feel cold. She stood atop it, feeling nothing but warmth and comfort in this strange new world. She looked about the unfamiliar landscape and then glanced back at her flank. It was perfectly fine; there was no wound or evidence that the icicle had impaled her at all. She felt strong and fit, as though she'd never suffered the slightest trace of an injury in her life. Perplexing as this was, she knew she had to find out how to get out of this new, mysterious place and find her father and the rest of her pack. Faolan crossed her mind briefly, but she was more focused on the wellbeing of Humphrey.

Walking ahead, Kala sought for a sign or path of travel that would lead her back to the world of reality. She looked through the trees and saw the blue, shimmering apparitions of wolves walking about. They solidified and turned into glowing versions of normal wolves, no longer blue and transparent. Upon closer examination, she noticed massive wings on their backs, beautiful feathers blending with the color of the wolves' individual fur pelts. It occurred to her that this must be the heaven for wolves; why else would they have such wings? Then, the daunting, horrifying realization sprouted into her mind: she was dead.

No, that couldn't be! Kala could absolutely not be dead! She reassured herself by inspecting her body and finding now wings on her. Then again, perhaps those were earned after meeting Lupus and Lupa. She padded forward with brisk speed, desperately trying to find a way out, yet she could not see any way out of this world. Everything was so strange, so foreign, so frightening to Kala, yet at the same time, she saw nothing but flawless beauty and perfection in this world. Ahead, she saw a large wolf approach her. He did not have wings, nor did he look to be quite 'angelic' in nature. Still, he approached her. She had never seen this wolf before, yet he looked so familiar. He was massive, well over twice her height and length. His shorter yet grizzled, broad muzzle and muscular nature identified him as a Dire Wolf, but she knew that she'd seen him somewhere, yet could not tell from where. He had snow white fur with jet black paws and ears. She looked at his eyes, and she instantly remembered who he was. She had met only one being who had such undesirably haunting, bulging white eyes.

Fenrir beckoned to her with his tail and turned around. Knowing that she had no other choice but to follow the God of War, she padded closely to him. Kala looked about in interest as Fenrir led her through the twisting trees toward a truly massive mountain, one that towered above even the clouds themselves. A path began to reveal itself and spirit wolves began to look at them. Kala was unnerved by their penetrating gazes and she began to walk closer to Fenrir. Despite his mysterious nature, she knew him well enough to know that he was a friend, not a foe.

"What is this place?" Kala asked him. Her voice seemed to echo a bit in the frozen world.

"It goes by many names," Fenrir replied, his voice echoing as well. "Heaven in the most common of terms used to describe it; you may also know this place as the Winter Mountains." Kala's eyes widened as she looked about. This was where the Jasper wolves had been heading, and now she understood the horrible realization that the Winter Mountains were not a safe haven for the living. Before she could voice her claim, Fenrir cut her off. "The Pack of the Winter Mountains exists in the realm of the living as well as the dead," he explained to her. "Of course, to accommodate the massive amount of beings that come here, this realm becomes larger and larger. As the Winter Mountains bears the perfection of life, we decided to use its geography as the realm of afterlife. The Pack of the Winter Mountains, however, is quite real. They are as described: the direct and closest descendants of the Dire Wolf. They are the only wolves that I truly consider to be my kin, my blood."

"Even after I completed the Trials," Kala said exasperatedly. "You still don't consider me to be True Wolf?"

"You are Full Wolf, but you are not True Wolf," Fenrir told her gruffly. Kala looked down in disappointment and Fenrir looked back at her with a wry smile. "You are, however, closer to the mantle of True Wolf than others that I have seen in this life time." Kala took condolence in the compliment and smiled a bit as Fenrir continued leading her through the mountains.

"Am I dead?" She asked him, incredibly terrified of what the answer would be.

"No," he replied. "Not yet. You must realize your destiny first."

"And that is?"

"I'm not at my liberty to tell you yet."

"I find that hard to believe," Kala growled skeptically. Fenrir didn't reply as he led her to a clearing before the largest of the mountains. Kala looked to her right and saw the golden, winged form of her mother, Kate. She was playing gleefully with three young pups: her unborn siblings, all of them scampering about and fluttering with their small wings.

Kate looked at her daughter and smiled. The three pups looked at her as well and waved their small paws, grinning at her. Kala couldn't help but smile at them. Then, she returned her gaze to the mountain when she saw two bright lights approach. One was a black furred male, the other, a white-furred she-wolf. Kala and Fenrir fell to the ground in a bow of reverence; they knew instinctually who Lupus and Lupa, the Gods of Wolves, were. They resembled the balance and perfection, the divinity of all wolves. They padded up to them, the spirits towering over the two.

"We are the balance of light and dark," the two said in perfect unison. "We are the night and the day, the good and the evil, the saviors and the condemners."

"I thought only one of you would see me," Kala said, still bowing. "That only one of you represents day and one for night." The two smiled at her and told her to rise. Kala did as requested and stood up.

"The revival and resurrection of a wolf is to be decided and dictated by the both of us," they said. "Your father walks a difficult path of two prophecies, and you share the burden of helping him with them. You will not die on this night, for your destiny still continues onward. You are given one last chance for life, Kala; do not take this gift lightly."

"I won't," Kala promised. "Thank you, Lords." The two dipped their heads and touched their noses to her head. Kala saw a light from behind her and she saw the apparitions of the Jasper wolves howling for her, her family singing requiem for Kala. She smiled at them and took a final look at her mother and siblings. They smiled warmly at Kala and she began to walk towards the apparitions, the world around her fading as she approached her body. She fell into herself, and went back into the realm of the living.

**Humphrey**

**Two Moons Later**

The shock and relief of Kala's revival had overjoyed Humphrey and the rest of the pack. He had embraced his daughter and refused to let her go for a long time, crying into her fur when he realized that she had died and been brought back to life. After they had regained their sense of reality, they left the Ĝarnaw immediately. Although Humphrey didn't like the prospect, he allowed Faolan to come along with them. He had nothing left and he and Kala had fallen in love with one another.

The Marker had been destroyed, but it had released the two shockwaves. The first was a tactical pulse for the immediate vicinity of necromorph 'life.' The third pulse that had not been released was an automatic activation of all Markers. The second, however, was a world-wide pulse wave that allowed three more Red Markers to rise in secret locations across the earth, all ready for manual activation. If even one was activated, they would raise the Black Marker and the world would be engulfed in the darkness of the necromorph plague.

Saren was still alive and out there, and he knew many wolves of many packs that agreed with his ideals, all of which he would assemble into an army to bring the necromorphs back. This was no longer just the mere insanity of a single wolf; this was now all out war. Humphrey had no inclination to walk into a war, but there was no choice. He had to protect his pack, and now he had to do so while waging war against Saren and his army. Their priority, however, was to find the Pack of the Winter Mountains. If anyone could help them and stop Saren, it was the legendary descendants of the Dire Wolves. It had taken them three long moons, but they had reached the end of the horrible mountains, leaving the Jagged Ice Ĝarnaw behind forever.

They now stood united as one atop the final mountain, looking out over the forests and mountains in the distance. The sun shone ahead, the light shining off of a large point in the distance as the earth curved away. It was the entrance to the Winter Mountains. Humphrey looked at Kala and Kala back at him. They smiled at one another and then the pack looked ahead together. For too long, they had been residing in the darkness, turning them into nothing more than wolves of the darkness. Now it was time to end it. It was time to transcend into the light. Now, it was time to come out of the darkness.

**END BOOK 2**

**This is the end of Wolves of the Darkness and I would like to thank everyone for reading this story. Thank you Dawn Walker Wolf, DP, the117, the dark shadow, LoyalWolfHumphrey, RexieCakes, Alpha Andrew, Apex Wolf, The Silver Wolf, imjustlikehumphrey, someone who isn't important, chiefdaniel117, MoonTrekerAF, The-crazy-lone-wolf77, LilyandMe, The Lonely Blitz, humphreyandkate together, and light555 for reviewing this story!**

**This is the second book of the trilogy. The next shall be the last chapter of this saga, a story rightfully called Out of the Darkness. It will be a dark tale, one of hurt, loss, pain, retribution, betrayal, and war. Yet there will still be a brink of light, the light of hope that the Jasper wolves will find peace with the Pack of the Winter Mountains.**

**As I am on Spring Break, I won't be posting Out of the Darkness for two weeks (probably the Friday after next Friday), so keep looking out for it! There will be no sexual-content chapters in Out of the Darkness. I had no inclination to even make one for Wolves of the Darkness, but that's what it escalated in to.**

**I am accepting OC suggestions for Out of the Darkness as well. If you have an OC that you are interested in seeing in my story, send me a PM and you may just see him or her in Out of the Darkness! To answer the questions of a few, yes, Saren was the name of the villain in the first Mass Effect game. I couldn't think of another name to use for the character so I thought to myself 'hey, here's a villain I don't like, why not use him?'**

**Thank you to Dawn Walker Wolf for the OC suggestion of Kacey. Thank you to all of you for reviewing my story. Thank you to all of my good friends on HLK's forum for being there for me every step of the way. And most of all, thanks to my amazing girlfriend RexieCakes for supporting me and being there for me. You guys and girls are awesome as hell! Well, as always, UNTIL NEXT TIME!**

**-The Dishonored Wolf**