Malachi

Adah (Sister)

Benjamin, Shiloh, Gideon, Josiah, and Boaz (Brothers, NPCs)

Leia, Tamara, and Michal (Sisters, NPCs)

## Application Sheet

Malachi was a gray-and-white male wolf with sandy brown markings and pale chartreuse eyes, born outside of the Domain with sister Adah. He lived in Chandor, serving the pack as a Brother (a messenger, or diplomat, for the pack) and later a Lynx Totem. He and Kaen fell in love and became mates, but Malachi would be swept away by a strong riptide in the ocean, saving Kaen when she was in trouble. He would never have a chance to meet his children: Kaito, Padavina, Chise, and Nikola, and was grieved by his packmates, though his death was never confirmed. Malachi was created and RP'd by Aschefall.

## Personality

* ***Good-Natured, Cordial, and Respectful.*** Over the years, Malachi has grown into a good-natured and mellow fellow, deeply sensitive to the emotions of others and insightful to the situations of those around him. While his experience in the world has shaken the naivety of his trust, he still hopes for goodness to show in every wolf, though he often finds himself doubting the genuineness of their initial displays toward him. Still, he remains cordial and respectful to every wolf he comes across while proceeding with caution in the information he exchanges.
* ***Ambitious, but Prone to Burnout.*** Unless surprised, Malachi carries himself with an air of propriety, reflective of his upbringing. He has also retained a sense of ambition which, while his sense of judgment has sharpened in recent years, makes him prone to dream big and set goals for himself that are beyond his ability to attain, resulting in self-depreciation and burnout if he is not careful. Malachi enjoys working with others both to find their potential and help them reach it, and is acutely aware of his own faults and shortcomings (less so his strengths, which he more often overlooks and undermines), and has grown into an individual who takes measured steps to overcome them.
* ***Initially Reserved, with Strong Conviction.*** Malachi holds silent on matters of deep importance to him unless the other is willing to listen. This might give him the appearance of being private or withdrawn, but when he finds a willing conversationalist, Malachi is quite content to voice his questions and thoughts. However, his speed in reaching this point varies from wolf to wolf. He tends to withdraw from nosy wolves, or from those who force themselves on him too quickly, much preferring a slow relationship that builds over time. Age and experience have weakened the sensitivity Malachi once felt toward criticism, but if a deeply held conviction is challenged, he will hold to his cause with a stubborn and unshakeable will.
* ***Pacifistic, Faithful, but Uncertain.*** Raised in a pacifistic and deeply religious pack, Malachi still functions in the faith of his fathers. He is neither a violent nor vicious wolf in actions nor words, and holds to the belief that the world was made by One God, the Creator, who has set in wolves an innate sense of morality derived directly from Him. Though evil entered the world through His creatures' free choice, the Creator's laws still stand, and will be used in judgement in the Day of His Coming to bring justice to make all wrongs right. Since leaving his pack in the Blackwood Vale, Malachi has grown distant from the Creator, with whom he never fully understood to begin. Though he seeks to remain faithful, he struggles to think his mistakes and failures capable of forgiveness and, while content with life in Chandor, Malachi can't help but feel *dissatisfied,* no matter the tasks he takes or how full he makes his days. A feeling his paws are desperate to amend.

## Pre-Group History

Malachi was born second in a litter of five to Isaac and Sarai Kalderon of the Blackwood Vale in a winter both deadly and cold. His elder sibling perished shortly after birth, along with one of his younger, and left Malachi in the position of the Kalderon's firstborn son, a worthy and respected title in his natal home. His parents committed themselves to raising him in the propriety of their culture and faith, as they did all their children, yet a heavier responsibility weighed on his shoulders as he grew in his puphood.

From the start, he proved a determined and passionate child. While he sought to respect his parents, he often butted heads with his father, who held ideals Malachi sometimes called to question. Regardless, he held a high regard for both his parents and learned much under their care. Eventually, he sought to learn the ways of a chronicler and committed himself to the telling and retelling of the history of the pack.

Their land remained a haven from external threats, but the danger had begun to grow within the Vale even before Malachi and his siblings had been born. The bountiful valley attracted rival predators, and such arrivals soon became the packs' largest threat. Malachi and his siblings were taught the combat of the cats who settled there, as best as a wolf could be taught the movements of a feline. One attack led by the wolves proved much too ambitious, to Malachi's fault, and the cat escaped on his error. However, it soon returned in a vengeful strike against the Kalderons and attacked their most vulnerable at night - Sarai's two-month-old litter of three. The Kalderon's chased the cat away, but when Isaac called for another strike against the predator, he barred Malachi from coming with them for the attack.

No matter how Malachi argued, Isaac remained set in his resolve, but after they had left Malachi slipped from his watch and set after the cat, determined to kill the beast who nearly killed his younger siblings. He found the cat upon the mountainside and attacked. Unknown to him, his brother had followed him from the den. The rains proved heavy that night and drowned the already vulnerable ground. The cat tore at Malachi's face just as his brother came upon the scene, and when the cat lunged, his brother charged an interception. But the rocks and the dirt shifted beneath their unbalanced weight, and before either could move, the mountain slid from beneath their feet to become a flowing river of muddy undergrowth. Both cat and wolf disappeared beneath the flow, while Malachi bled, dazed and semi-conscious, on solid ground paces from where his brother had fallen.

They found his brother's body in days to follow, and the cat's shortly after. Bearing the scars of his failure, Malachi helped his family relocate to a secure location within the Vale, but his family no longer looked upon him with the affection they once had. In its place rose a bitterness from his sister Adah, and disappointment from his ever doting parents. With the completion of their move came Isaac's suggestion Malachi leave the Vale. A banishment shrouded in gentle words, but Malachi understood and set off with only guilt and shame as his company.

Three months later, he met a woman in the South - Tuwawi Sveijarn - who offered him a place in her forming pack. Seeing his own family in hers, and longing to amend his wrongs, he pledged himself to her cause and helped found Duskfire Glacier under her rule in late summer. For a while, Malachi enjoyed his new life there, and though he could never shake the guilt of his brother's death from his heart, he began to find a family in the Sveijarns.

Yet the past reared its head when, shortly after settling into their Glacier home, a lynx raided the densite and stole Tuwawi and Njal's youngest son. Njal disappeared in pursuit of the child, and the pack began to search for their lost members, but to no avail. Malachi, too, searched fervently, but he did so with the refusal to involve anyone in his leads. The memory of his brother would not leave him, and he would not put another in danger on his account. In late October, Tuwawi disappeared, presumably in search of her missing family. Without leadership, Malachi took the role as Alpha, yet only to ensure the pack's survival. He led with the intention of forfeiting the position once the Glacier's rightful leaders returned, certain they would reunite with the Glacier pack with their son in tow.

But when the Sveijarns returned, their son remained lost. Tuwawi had changed deeply from her hardships and the loss of her family, and while hope budded when Malachi came across a wolf who claimed her pack had Tuwawi's son in their charge, this hope proved short-lived. The wolf's words were ones of deception and led to Malachi's ultimate fall. He concealed what information he gleaned, unwilling to give Tuwawi false hope and afraid of the actions she would take if she discovered the information he possessed. Yet the news reached her in the end, along with the declaration of war from the very pack who claimed possession of the Sveijarn's lost son.

Overwhelmed with guilt, and unable to withstand the pressures that mounted against him, Malachi let Duskfire slip back into Tuwawi's paws and left the pack without a word. He intended to find a peaceful end to the war, but failed in his endeavor, unable to find the sea wolves in time to bargain. He was near Duskfire when the war broke out and joined the fight too briefly to be noticed. Despite his ire against the wolves of the sea and his drive to attack those who threatened his family, he saw in these enemies wolves much like himself. He could fight for neither side, and so he fled a traitor with a broken conscience and disappeared from the land in a shamble of anger, shame, and fear.

Some months later, Malachi struck North again in hopes of finding redemption among his family in the Blackwood Vale. His efforts were thwarted when he stumbled upon Dante, leader of Blacktail Deer Plateau. Though hesitant to join the pack, Dante's offer of a home swayed him and Malachi pledged himself to the long-standing pack and their welfare, hoping for a fresh start and another chance at redemption. Yet he remained stuck in the past, and shortly after joining, tensions with another pack, as well as a fire in their forest, led to the pack's relocation to a grove near the shore. The sea proved a constant reminder of the sea wolves, and stirred an anger and vengeance in Malachi that he feared would lead him down a road he did not wish to travel again. He grew distant and withdrawn and eventually left the pack out of fear of what he would do if he remained.

The months that passed proved a time of introspection, in which he came face to face with his cowardice and sought, this time, to face it without running. So when a time of famine fell upon the land, Malachi sought the Plateau family again. Though the sea still stirred him, he faced the ocean full on, for he counted the wolves he had left there willing to fight for. Yet his sudden departure marked him an unwelcome prodigal in the eyes of the pack's Alpha, and he was forced from the land. Yet while shame still filled him, Malachi now saw how it continued to destroy him. Though he left his old pack without a word against them, he did so with the firm resolve to reject the self-loathing that continued to rule him, and to move on from everything in him that led himself and those he cared for into trouble and pain, so that he might one day become the firstborn protector his parents had always hoped him to be.

Yet the road would be long. Malachi left the land of the Plateau and of Duskfire and travelled far until he reached a place he had never seen, a land he did not know and that he hoped did not know him, where he could start a life free from the burdens that the ghosts of yesterday brought.

## Group History

Malachi fit right into Chandor, as a polite and easygoing fellow. Many pack wolves would be hostile towards loners, but Malachi enjoyed a pleasant walk with a loner named Sparrow. He also had a pleasant meeting with a loner named Kaiser, where they discussed their pasts and opinions of packs.

As winter arrived, Malachi tried his best to hunt for the pack, but sometimes his catches would get away - and sometimes wolves like Holly were there to witness it! It was around this time that Malachi realized, although he knew about the wolves in his pack superficially, he hadn't really opened up to his packmates yet. He was determined to change that, and he took on the task of a Brother - responsibilities, he hoped, would connect him to his packmates.

He tried to befriend packmates through the winter, like Holly and Kaen. He liked Kaen - he felt at ease in her company, after they met at the Winterfest. He also spent time with the alpha, Nadia; she had showed him around the territory when he first joined, and now he offered to run and have fun with her, to take her mind off the things that were dragging her down.

As winter abated, Malachi realized his skills were better suited to being a hunter, and he became a Lynx Totem.

He grew closer to Kaen and Nadia. The trio of wolves went to the Raptor's Roost to get feathers to decorate their fur with, and Malachi saved Kaen from getting attacked by a fiercely protective hawk. Kaen gave him a feather that matched hers, and later, Malachi would sneakily give a long white feather to Nadia while she slept, calling as he raced away, "No givebacks!"

Malachi didn't often attend Chandor's full-moon festivities, and Kaen sought him out one of these nights to learn why. Both realized these festival nights brought back sad memories of their families. This was a nice bonding moment for the pair.

A strange newcomer arrived in the pack, named Renyk, and Malachi offered to show him around the territory. Nadia suggested Arcuza go with them, but Arcuza slipped off before Malachi could beckon to her to come with them. Though he wished it wasn't just the two of them (because he wanted to hunt on the way back, and hunting with three wolves is easier than with only two) but he made it work.

Still, Malachi's primary focus was on hunting and building his relationship with Kaen. They were starting to develop feelings for one another, and Malachi was trying so hard to let himself let his guard down with her, but sometimes his own emotions, thoughts, and fears would rear their ugly head in her mind.

Eventually, after deep reflection, he decided that he needed to go to the ocean, to see it. Malachi didn't want to leave Chandor forever, but he had to take this trip. He asked Kaen if she would go with him on this journey, and Kaen agreed, excited at the idea of seeing the ocean, and spending more time with him. Malachi felt the same.

After asking permission from Nadia, the pair set off to the ocean. It was beautiful, and there, they decided that they would become mates. That first night at the ocean was beautiful - everything Malachi could ever have wanted from life. But at night, with Kaen sleeping, he fell into a deep sense of melancholy. He'd lost his Maker's song. How would he get it back? *Could* he get it back?

The next morning, Kaen was wading in the surf when a strong, sudden wave pulled her out, and she was caught in a strong current. She screamed, begging for help, and Malachi raced to save her. Unfortunately, though he managed to get Kaen back to safety, he would get caught in a riptide and swept under and away...and Kaen never saw him resurface. She searched desperately for him, hoping he'd washed up on the beach, but there was no sign of Malachi.

Heartbroken, Kaen would return to Chandor and report that Malachi had died saving her. She and Nadia grieved his loss immensely. It was only later that Kaen realized she was pregnant with his pups.

Malachi has never been confirmed dead, but he has never been seen since saving Kaen from drowning.

## Trivia

* The feather he wore on his shoulder was gifted to him by Kaen, after they and Nadia went to Raptor's Roost to collect feathers.

## Quotes

* ”I take it [life] twelve days at a time, hoping one day I’ll guess the future right. Hasn't worked too well for me yet." (to Kaiser, *What the Moonlight Reveals*)
* "I just - all my life I've wanted to be someone who does things right. Someone good. But Kaen, I've made so many mistakes. So, so many - and they - my brother - he died because of a decision I made. And my pack - they trusted me - but I couldn't even... I was supposed to protect them, but in the end - I ran. I ran, when I was supposed to be the one fighting, the one protecting, and Kaen I don't even - I don't even know - I don't know if they're even - I'm just - I just want to do something right for once. I want to do something good. And I don't want to hurt you. I love you, but I'm so afraid." (confessing his feelings to Kaen, *Heartfelt Confessions*)

## External Links

* Official Application Sheet
* Aschefall's deviantART Gallery