Accalia (Kari)

Accalia, *Nature Ascendant*

Known primarily as "wolf" by her party members, or "Kari" by her Goddess Melora.

After her death, Kari was chosen to continue in the afterlife as a minion of the Raven Queen. Kari spent most of her time in the form of a grey-blue wolf with bright blue eyes, she carried with her several totems and summoned creatures she referred to as her "pack" that aided her in combat. The green stone of Telepathy bestowed upon her by the Raven Queen and placed in her forehead allowed her to communicate with the other minions as she rarely took human form.

**Background story from 2015**

Accalia, Alpha of the Forest.

[Past]

Earth. Wind. Paws. Ground. Grass. Water. Sun. Sky.

Leaves. Sticks. Moss.

Scents.

Scents. Intruders. Territory. Running. Watching.

Hunting.

Light.

She wandered for many years in the forest of Melora. A wolf in the realm of the nature goddess lasts longer than that of the mortal world. The air had a certain healthy feeling to it, leaving the foliage lush and green; animals thrived there. After being there for centuries, the rhythm of her paws on the soft, moss-covered floor of the woods had become as familiar as her own heartbeat. As was routine, she padded down to her most frequented pool of water, with the reflective surface that sent her own image back to her. She knew it was only an image, she had tried to catch it before. As soon as she touched the edge of the pond, the other dog would shatter into fragments she couldn't seem to touch. A few moments would pass, and it would come back together to show her the same animal as before, who moved when she moved, and stopped when she stopped. The large gray wolf had a bluish tinge to its fur along the spine, down the tail, and over the head. It's most prominent feature wasn't its fur, but the piercing blue eyes that seemed to shine almost as bright as the moon.. She.. She was the large gray wolf. Only since the meeting with Melora had she realized this. She had realized a lot of things since then.

The light was blinding. She felt for a moment almost as though her existence has ceased. Only for a moment. She was then flooded with an abundance of feeling, sensation, memories, knowledge, and.. Awareness. Suddenly she was hit with this notion of who she was, and how her surroundings all fit together. Once that feeling subsided, she felt other things creeping toward her new-found consciousness; dark things, darting through her forest. She needed to protect her home from them, to protect her Goddess. Her Goddess-who, as the light faded, stood before her. A small girl, with eyes that knew too much to match her innocent and childlike presentation. In a dress of leaves with a musical giggle she played the part flawlessly, but beneath it all, there was a wisdom that the wolf had never seen. “Kari means wind. You're like the wind, hehe. You'll be Kari now.” she said. Her giggle was warm, and full of something Accalia... Kari, to her goddess, had never experienced. Home? The girl climbed on to her Kari's back, and they took a walk together. Melora explained herself, Accalia's new sentience and position, and why it was given to her.

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Everyone was doing their routine sweep, Accalia-The Alpha, was in the front. There was a path that created a line directly down the middle of her sector, she would intersect with it each run to either side of her territory. She zig-zagged across the mossy forest floor relying on each of her keen senses to warn her of oncoming danger. These intruders were strong; there was something about them that felt unfamiliar to her. It was almost like an aura surrounding them, she couldn't find a word for it, it was unnatural and... wrong. The best description she could give to her Goddess at the forest assembly was that they were made of darkness, they pulled in all of the light from around them and made them invisible. They smelled of death, and were wielding weapons she never wanted to come into contact with. She had taken down a small number of them, it wasn't easy. Her pack caught the odd one and managed to take care of it, but there were only about four other wolves who could handle these things one-on-one: Vilkas, Lykaios, Tala, and Fenris.

They were her closest companions, together they were an indestructible barrier into the forest of Melora, but they each had their own paths to travel with their varied strengths. This often led them off in different directions, which ultimately weakened them, but it was unfair to concentrate the group's power and leave the other wolves on their own in times like these. Vilkas was black as onyx, his shiny black coat encased an animal of pure muscle. He was known foremost for being strong and sturdy, like a rock. Lykaios was much the opposite, he was silent and smart. He would choose a spot and wait, often no one would notice his presence until they passed too closely. At precisely the right moment he would strike, and swiftly stop the life of just about anything that crossed his path. Tala was Accalia's most reliable companion, she was always there when her Alpha needed her. The two had become so in sync that they had practically given up on verbal communication with each other. It wasn't needed. Not much communication was needed within the pack as it was, but even less so when it came to Tala. The last member of Accalia's personal pack was Fenris, a monstrous wolf that was influenced by no one but Accalia. He took initiative and wouldn't often look to her for guidance, he was capable and was second only to the alpha.

Accalia watched as each of her pack was taken from her by these intruders. She had sought out her adopted family members after they stopped checking in at their agreed intervals. All of the wolves were supposed to check in, most of which the Alpha would never have noticed missing, but when her pack, her pack missed a roll call, there was something wrong. She found three of their corpses, but the last one had vanished somehow. She could only hope that Lykaios had managed to find somewhere safe to rest.

Her numbers were dwindling. Accalia was left without her family, and with only a small number of the newest recruits that were pushed into the front lines early to keep numbers up. Some of them were only pups. They were weak, and she was tired. She hadn't taken a rest in days, she couldn't leave the forest under the control of these youths. Accalia had catching these 'darklings' down to a science. She was taking out more of them than she had since the beginning of her reign. Bounding from shadow, to bush, to tree without skipping a beat had become like second nature to her, she never missed a movement in the darkness, and always hit her mark. Though, within the last day or two, her senses, reflexes, and strength had begun to weaken. Her eyes seemed as though they had dulled, her muscles felt tensed and coiled so tight that they may never fully work again, and her thoughts were scattered; she was missing things.

There was a yelp, not far to her right. She carefully made her way towards it tensed to leap onto her target. She crouched over a small wolf she thought may have been named Lowell, there was a black gash between two of its ribs that looked like it was crawling with something alive, it was devouring the cub from the inside out. This was different, she had never seen this before. It took the dog so quickly, she couldn't stop it. She only closed her eyes for a moment to say a prayer for this tiny protector, but the darkling had come back for her. It was a trap. The blow tore through her tired body, but how? It hit her with a cold sensation that seized all movement—then it started to burn. It started from the wound and exploded inwards, searing her entire body. Within seconds, she went from feeling every nerve, to nothing at all. She heard what she could only assume was laughter from the thing that attacked her, as it faded, she heard a high ringing noise, and felt something rushing toward her from very far away. The ringing became suddenly muffled by the sound of beating wings.

‘VACATION’

[Present]

Being back was strange. The lingering forest creatures called her by name, it filled her with a feeling she had forgotten in the company of the Raven Queen. Her companions in that realm had referred to her only as 'Wolf'. She had kept her distance from them.

It was hard for the alpha to be back here. She reminded herself over and over of what Melora had told her that day they walked together in these very woods. Accalia remembered with vivid detail how the small child with the ancient look in her eyes had explained what then had seemed to be an impossible mission. ‘Kari’ had been told by her goddess of what was to come. Melora knew that the Goddess of Death would try to collect her strongest guard, and she wanted Accalia to allow it. “Become one of the Raven Queen’s minions, to do her bidding exactly as you are instructed to- because it’s the only way.” She had said, laying in the grass of her forest, head resting on her companion’s side. “Every end, is a new beginning.” She finished quietly, picking at a flower she had taken from a plant beside the river during their walk. After a long while, Melora stood, and handed the flower to Accalia. Almost by reflex, she reached out and took it. Not realizing until it was already done that she had taken the flower with a pale, long-fingered hand. She had changed, remarkably, from her wolf form into that of a person. A human. She was staring at her hands holding the small blue flower, it looked both lonely and somehow peaceful. The feeling washed over her as she looked up and realized the Goddess had left her, standing in a shaft of sunlight near her favourite pond.

Accalia had come back here, this time, to do what she couldn’t in the days leading up to her death. To lay her pack members to rest. Properly. As an integral member of Melora’s guard, she had been given the knowledge and authority to perform the rituals with which her goddess would put her disciples at peace. Assuming her human form, she gathered what she would need, and set off to follow her past self from a distance for the last days of her natural life.

She could not allow herself to be spotted; It would be overwhelming and confusing to everyone. She had decided before she had come back that at all cost, she would not be seen by any of her pack.

She waited, concealed by the heavy foliage near the body of Tala. Her closest friend was the first she found, she recalled with a momentary pang that longed for her lost companion. Her fingers tingled with the sudden urge to summon Tala with the powers she had developed in the realm of the Raven Queen. She stopped herself, she was to stay hidden.

After some time had passed she felt another presence enter her range. Crouching lower into the bushes, she saw the blue-gray wolf tear into the clearing and halt so abruptly that she almost flinched. The strangled and heartbroken noise that ripped its way free from the animal’s throat was so full of hurt and defeat that she almost set mimicked it herself. She felt it all over again. The fear and anguish of losing her partner. The wolf sat there, stunned, for a few moments and only seemed to come back to reality when a twig snapped somewhere to their left. With one last look at Tala’s broken body, she bounded silently into the trees after it.

Accalia waited for her past self to be long gone before she ventured into the meadow-like area. Little yellow flowers had begun to grow all around Tala, almost as if Melora had reached out and touched the ground beneath the wolf, and filled it with beauty. She knelt beside her friend and stroked the soft brown coat of the wolf while she whispered the words her Goddess had taught to her, to put Tala’s spirit at peace. Once she was finished, she took one of the flowers she had gathered from beside the river out of her pocket. As was customary, she pulled each blue petal off as she circled Tala, and placed them around the body, amongst the pretty yellow ones that were already there.

The Alpha sat for a while, and thought. She had seen how Melora’s plan had panned out, and she wasn’t confident in its success. She wanted to find her Goddess and tell her everything she knew. She wanted Melora to take what her ‘Kari’ had gathered and formulate a new plan, a different way to escape the grasp of the Raven Queen. There had to be a another way.

Several days passed, and it was time to meet her former self at the resting place of Fenris and, only a day later Vilkas. She had also had the time to look for Lykaios while she waited, which was almost more painful than each of the other wolves combined, she found him on the verge of death. He must have been searching the woods for her, as she searched for him. He was on the ground, curled around a wound much like the one that had ended her own life, a seething black gash that seemed to be alive with darkness. She held her friend’s head in her lap as he struggled. He looked up at her, and when she caught his bright gaze, he seemed to understand. He closed his eyes, and they waited together for the darkness to take him. They had never found each other back then, Accalia almost wondered if that was for the best. With each of her pack members, she performed the same ritual as she had with Tala. Each of them had been surrounded by the same tiny flowers, almost as though they were being marked as special. She silently thanked Melora for the beautiful gift that filled her with the feeling that she was not alone.

It was only after she was done with Vilkas’ ceremony that she could go off in search of Melora. She was going to pass by her pond, when just as she was about to step out of the trees onto the soft moss, she heard a familiar sound. It was the weak whimpering of a small pup. Her head snapped up, and she spotted herself with the little wolf. She had been so preoccupied with her pack that she had forgotten about her own death, and everything that had preceded it. Accalia was too stunned to look away. She knew what was coming. She watched the pup die again, and saw herself drop her head to pray; it took a few moments longer than it should have. Had she fallen asleep? Was her death the result of her consciousness slipping away from her as she sat with one of her last soldiers? It was almost as if both his and her strength left their bodies at the same time as she slumped forward over Lowell. The Alpha was silent for a few moments, when she caught a flash on the other side of the pond. It was over quickly, more quickly even than it had felt at the time it was happening. Once the wolf had let out its last breath, it was taken by the Raven Queen. She couldn’t put her own soul at peace. It looked just the same as every other death she had witnessed of her companions since she joined the realm of death. She had been swallowed by darkness.

Accalia felt an intense urge to go to the puppy, and put Lowell at peace. The flowers had started to encircle him, Accalia took it as a sign from Melora. The youngling hadn’t been an intimate member of her pack, no, but he was so young, and he gave his life for Melora. He deserved this. Very quietly she made her way to the small body to do one last ritual. She would put this soul at peace in honour of all the soldiers who gave their lives and were never avenged. The she whispered the words, and though she thought she did not have an extra flower for the pup, when she reached to check her pocket, she found one. It was tiny, which was fitting she supposed. She kissed his head once it was over, and set off to find her Goddess.

After stumbling through the darkening woods for some time, Accalia decided she would move faster in her wolf form. She kneeled in the grass, closed her eyes, and waited as her entire body began to buzz with life and warmth. She took off at a run on four legs instead of two for the first time in days, it felt incredible. The forest became increasingly more populated by darklings as she got closer to Melora’s throne room. First just one or two every mile or so, but their numbers thickened quickly. They paid her no attention now, she wasn’t strictly ‘alive’ anymore. She kept running at top speed until there were too many of the darklings blocking her path. There was a sea of these creatures making clicking noises mixed in with guttural snarls that chilled her to the bone. She shouldered her way through them, flinching with every look they pointed at her. She was so close now, that she could feel Melora’s presence. Some of the darklings were making pointedly angry noises and shoving back at her. She was almost at the edge of the crowd, there must have been thousands of these horrible creatures. In the center of the chaos stood Melora, there was a wide circle that seemed almost like a shield surrounding her. The Goddess was frantically searching the crowd, and just as she caught Accalia’s gaze, a look of great sadness filled the eyes of the young girl as one of the darklings shouted “HER!” as a cold shock blazed through Accalia from the back of her head, just as everything went black. The sound that greeted her next filled her with dread; beating wings.