The Tragedy of Kieran (A Compass Rose novella)

[Earth Hearted]

A/N: Hey there! This is just a small story that I thought up. It's about a Thorian wolf named Kieran, and it's set in the three Thorian Packs (two of which I made up, one of which exists on this site). The customs and traditions are based off the Warrior Cats, but there's original ones, too. The concept of Thorian wolves goes to Senti. All characters mentioned in this story belong to me, but if there's a wolf of the same name on Compass Rose, they may not necessarily be the same character. All visual art go to the creators.

Enjoy, and please review through PM! Thanks for reading!

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Allegiances

Lödengard

Alpha: Aki (AH-ki)-- Fire wolf, male

    PUPIL, KIERAN
Beta: Garth-- Water wolf, male
Gamma: (essentially the medicine wolf) 
Dagrun-- Plant wolf, female 

     PUPIL, AVANI
Knights: Frieda-- Plant wolf, female
Chloe-- Electric wolf, female

Astrid-- Fire wolf, female

Balder-- Wind wolf, male 
Elliot-- Plant wolf, male  
John-- Rock wolf, male
Gunvor-- Water wolf, male
    PUPIL, ALICE
Fox-- Dragon hybrid, male 
Hollis-- Electric wolf, female

Dancing Wyvern-- Transport/Dragon hybrid
Aspen-- Plant wolf, male 
Markus-- Cold wolf, male 
    PUPIL, GUSTAV
Gyre-- Comet wolf, male
Zogg-- Entropy wolf, male 

Whirling Cyclone-- Storm wolf, male
Rosemary-- Fire wolf, female 

Nosferatu-- Shadow wolf, male

Nokken-- Comet wolf, male

Avery-- Comet wolf, female

Ingrid-- Shadow wolf, female

Thawing Ice-- Cold wolf, male
Zephyr-- Wind wolf, male
Telegdria-- Water wolf, female 
Hildr-- Galaxy wolf, female 
Koro-- Rock wolf, male 
Corvid-- Owl hybrid, male 
    PUPIL, OLIVER

Claire-- Wind wolf, female
Dams: (female wolves pregnant/nursing puppies)
Tirena-- Electric wolf (mother of Corvid's pups: Olaf, Katie, Randall, and Sigmund) 
Pupils: Avani-- Entropy wolf, female

Kieran-- Shadow wolf, male
Alice-- Galaxy wolf, female 
Gustav-- Comet wolf, male 
Oliver-- Eagle hybrid, male 

Ðraustgard 

Alpha: Thornben-- Raven hybrid, male 
Beta: Whispering Wind-- Wind wolf, female 
Delta: Pharaoh-- Rock wolf, male 
    PUPIL, ALDER
Knights: Biorn-- Fire wolf, male 
Torbjorn-- Electric wolf, male 
Ursula-- Water wolf, female 
Vivi-- Shadow wolf, female 

Myrrgard

Alpha: Tyler-- Cold wolf, male
Beta: Rafiki-- Galaxy wolf, male 
Gamma: Starlight-- Plant wolf, female 
Knights: Mirez-- Water wolf, female 
Romeo-- Storm wolf, male
Maxwell-- Owl hybrid, male 
Jaqueline-- Earth wolf, female 

Outsiders

Blossoming Tulip-- Plant/Transport wolf, female

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Visual concepts of significant characters:

SPOILER: Click to show

Aki

Kieran 




Oliver 



Alice 



Gustav 



Blossoming Tulip 



Avani 

[Earth Hearted]

Chapter 1

"Aki! Aki! Are you awake?" Kieran tumbled into his mentor's den, ruining the moss bed and causing the four-tailed wolf to turn in his sleep. Impatiently, Kieran pawed at him, violently shaking the leader. He was aware that it was beyond disrespectful to do this, but he had the privilege-- he was the alpha's pupil, and he was knew that despite Aki's gruff and curt demeanor, he thought of Kieran as a son.

Aki suddenly jerked around, his eyes narrowed and his face scowled as the sunlight shone at him. Looking disgruntled, he half glared at Kieran, who didn't balk. "What time is it?"

"Well, the sun's up," Kieran said, shrugging. "So let's go train!"

Aki grumbled incoherently, but clambered up and shook the loose moss off of his coat. "Yeah, okay." He stretched out each of his legs, while Kieran watched, his anticipation growing into frustration. He kneaded his paws on the floor of the den, waiting for Aki to walk out. Even he knew better to walk behind the alpha. The cool autumn breeze hit his face and it felt cool and refreshing. Kieran's life was as perfect as life could get. He was, without a doubt, one of the most talented pupils (and maybe even wolves) of the Pack. He had friends who admired him. And, even though it wasn't official, he had a girlfriend. Alice and Avani were the only female pupils, but Avani was off limits to all due to her duty as a medicine wolf... and everyone knew of Alice's crush on Kieran. Kieran wasn't sure if he actually liked Alice back, but since there weren't any other current females, he kept Alice close to his side.

"Kieran!" Aki's baritone growl jerked Kieran out of his thoughts.

"S-sorry, were you saying something?"

Aki rolled his eyes. "Young'uns," he mumbled to himself. "Their heads are always up in the clouds. You wake me up this early and you're not listening. I said, we will begin to review today. In a couple days, you'll have your assessment. If you pass, you'll be knighted."

Kieran's heart leapt. Knighted! One step closer towards my goal of being alpha! He couldn't resist an eager grin. "Wow! That's uh..." he was at a loss for words. "Wonderful!"

"I suppose it is," Aki grunted, though Kieran could see the corners of his mouth lift slightly. Aki rarely smiled, and it was rewarding when he did. They arrived at the training cave. "Let's start, then."

---

"Guys, guys!" Kieran skidded to a stop in front of his friends, who were all grouped in a circle, sharing prey. An empty slot had been left for him, the space doubled with Alice's absence. Kieran sat down, pulling part of a discarded deer leg. Presumably, someone had left it out for him; everyone knew that Kieran loved deer leg.

"What?" asked Gustav.

"Aki says that I'll be having my assessment in a couple of days! We started reviewing today," Kieran said, hardly able to contain his excitement.

"Really? Congratulations," said Oliver politely, though an undertone in his voice indicated that he was holding something back. Kieran almost frowned. Oliver had been his rival ever since puphood, though Oliver wasn't really into competition. But Oliver was nearly as a good of a knight as Kieran was (and maybe even better), and Kieran had made it his personal lifelong goal to beat Oliver at everything, whatever it took. Kieran's fatal fault was that he was easily jealous-- and the sin often cost him a lot.

"Hi," said Alice tiredly, padding over and plopping down next to Kieran. She leaned against him, and though he found it slightly uncomfortable, he let her do it anyway. Gustav glanced at the two of them, and Kieran saw, with satisfaction, the other male swallow. It was common knowledge that Gustav liked Alice, but she liked him as much as Kieran liked her.

"Anyone else have their ceremonies due?" asked Kieran curiously, ignoring Alice's implications, still trying to figure out if Oliver was hiding something.

"Corvid started my reviewing session four days ago," Oliver said, "and he mentioned that my assessment was in like, two days or something."

Kieran's eyes darkened, but he bit back an exclamation. How could this have happened? How did Oliver pull ahead so quickly? Gritting his teeth, Kieran nodded.

"I started reviewing today, too," Gustav added, "Mark didn't say anything about my assessment, but I'm guessing that it's coming up."

Kieran nodded a second time. He saw Gustav's head turn towards Alice, and he hurriedly opened his mouth himself. "So, er, Alice, how are you doing?"

Alice looked relieved that he had finally asked the question. "Tired," she replied. "I still couldn't create big enough supernovas, so Gunvor held me back and had me spend another hour practicing. You didn't hear the explosions, did you?"

Not sure which answer she wanted to hear, Kieran said carefully, "no."

Alice groaned. "Darn it! That means they're not powerful enough. You're supposed to be able to hear one all the way back at the stronghold. Ugh, I still don't have enough energy to be able to generate one that's enough to stun enemies."

Kieran wrapped his tail around her to comfort her. SparkPack knew how poor of a fighter Alice was. If she was to become his mate, he would have to work extra hard to protect himself, her, and their future pups. "It's okay, you'll get it someday," he said.

"I hope. Can I share that deer leg with you?"