The first symphony (TAGGED)

Albion sat down on a nearby log and closed his eyes, appreciating the sounds of the winter, the powerful roaring wind, the endearing yawns of a hibernating chipmunk and the rare yet lovely chirp of a songbird who woke up too early, oddly the marching herd complemented the harmony.

Until something changed.

The almost synchronized march of hooves soon turned into a mayhem of stomps and grunts, the rare chirps seemed to disappear completely in the distance, almost as if they were startled by something... Something big.

Albion's tail wagged curiously as he pondered "What or even who could cause such disturbance in a calm day like this? Perhaps a wolf?". A shiver went down his spine as he noticed the huge herd of elks, stomping their way through the snow as they brandished their long and sharp antlers in the air.

Fear took over Albi's body as he ran away, the sudden spurt of energy, mixed with adrenaline and fear, he had never felt that before and honestly, he didn't want to feel it again.

After a while of running aimlessly, Albi found shelter in a huddle of rocks, he layed down, exhausted from the unexpected "adrenaline-bomb". As Albion panted and wheezed, he felt the presence of another dog, perhaps they also needed shelter?
Although tired, Albion tilted his head trying to get a better look at the canine, she looked kind of good, her brown markings stood out against her fawn-like fur , Albi barked, trying to hide his heavy breathing "He-*wheeze* Hello... Who are you? My name is *wheeze* Albion Tufan"

Albion slowly got up, he was pretty winded as well... He started to take deep and long breaths instead of short wheezes and pants as he tried to smooth down his spiked fur.

His ears calmly poke up, listening carefully to what the other dog had to say, or atleast, he thought she was a dog... He had never seen a wolf before so, how would he know? Maybe wolves are huge flying dogs with bat fangs who can summon the undead, She definetly didn't fit that description so he shrugged it off as he barked "Ay-ee...Gis, is that correct? It is a beautiful name! You? Out of shape? You outran that herd by five fallen trees, if there's anydog out of shape here it's me!" Albi chuckled as he wagged his tail cheerfully.

Albi looked at the path were the thundering herd had passed through, maybe she caused the stampede? Why would she do that?

Upon closer inspection, Albi found the answer, Aegis seemed exhausted and starved "I see, she tried to get a meal and ended up starting the stampede... Aegis doesn't seem mean... Maybe she wouldn't mind if I got her some food?" after a moment of pondering Albion asked "Aegis? Are you hungry?"

Albion noticed how much she liked compliments, Albi took a moment to ponder about her name, It surely was strange yet quite charming, Albion barked "Human's godly tool? It sounds interesting...My name means storm on the white cliffs or something along those lines."

Albi noticed that she was scanning the area for any prey around, to no avail of course, the few animals around the area had already fled in fear thanks to the ferocity of the thundering herd.

Albion felt guilty, he had managed to find a log filled with mice not so long ago, but, that was way before the stampede, they are probably gone now... Albi's instinct kicked in and he quickly barked in an energetic and happy tone "I can get you some food! Just wait here!"

He bolted out of the "shelter" and started collecting some of the scarce dry leaves and thin blades of grass, putting them down in front of Aegis barking "It's quite cold, you could use it as bedding. I'll be back as soon as I can!"

Albion skipped through the uneven snowy ground, holding his head high, trying to find any birds hiding on the trees, he was sure he'd heard an owl hoot around somewhere, although deep down he knew it was borderline impossible for him to find AND kill one, but it was worth a try, right? He was helping a friend after all!

Albi kept hopping until something caught his eye, a lonely cow "Did she get lost from her herd? Poor thing... At least... Her family won't see me killing her..." with her head lowered, seemingly distracted by something on the ground "She's trying to... graze? G-good, then she won't notice the pain! I hope..." Albion approached, holding his body close to the ground, he jumped on the back of the female, biting the back of her neck, trying to make end the process as soon as possible, only to be thrown off by a desperate yank along with a few unsucessful attempts to stomp him, she seemed to be trying to protect something, after a while of walking around the cow and barking, he managed to bite her neck, tightly pressing her windpipe, the cow thrashed wildly, kicking Albion in the chest and was thrown across the snow.

As Albi layed motionless on the ground, unable to breathe properly and seemingly agonizing, the cow ran away bleeding and yelling, possibly fearing her life, after some of the pain had faded away, Albion managed to lift his head and noticed that the cow had left the thing she was trying so hard to protect behind, he slowly approached the strange object, only to realize it was a dead fawn, probably her daughter who was mercilessly trampled during the stampede, this left Albi teary-eyed "She couldn't keep up with the herd... Died...And I attacked her mom... I'm so sorry, little elk..."

After some minutes of mourning, Albion slowly carried the oddly large fawn to Aegis, trying to hide his heavy breathing and tears, he dropped the carcass on the ground near the purple-eyed dog and pretty much collapsed on the ground, softly whining "I'm sorry, it's not much"

After a while of laying down his nervous panting became a steady breathing, it felt nice to be home again, although it was nothing like his den, the huddle of rocks and dry fern he now called "shelter" felt oddly comforting, perhaps it was Aegis's presence?

Albion's thoughts were interrupted by a nuzzle, further confirming his theory that Aegis was some sort of oasis of warmth, he lightly brushes his neck against her muzzle. Her kind words echoed through his head, he felt proud about helping a friend, in fact, he felt twice as much proud when he realized, that fawn was probably the biggest thing he hunted all winter, he smiled at her compliments and wagged his tail cheerfully.

His grin got wider as she invited him to share the carcass, he was rather hungry thanks to his previous fight but he didn't want to be rude... "You can eat first! I'm not that hungry."

Albi slowly got up, his back still ached a bit, as expected of someone who was thrown around the snow like a ragdoll, he soon managed to sit straight, but not before releasing a few low whines, his ears sprung up as he heard the proposal "Me? An Alpha? As in, the L-E-A-D-E-R of a pack? Wow... I had never been offered anything like that, I mean was never the runt, but also never the favorite, so my options were always pretty narrow, I could either become a loner or find a pack to join, I never even considered making a pack... You know what? Yes! I'll do it! I'll make my family proud!"

Albion barked in a nervous and shaky tone as he profusely licked his nose, he was quite nervous "Well I-... Uhm-... I could-... Ah-... This sounds like a-... I mean-... I never-..." Albi sighed and shook his head, trying to calm himself down before barking once again, in a more confident tone "Yes..."

Albion watched Aegis take a greedy chunk out of the carcass, she surely seemed hungry, she surely seemed hungry, he pondered about the pack,it was kind of shocking how fast it all happened, one minute he was skipping through the snow, wondering if ladybugs had knees and now, he was the leader of a pack, although he felt confused and nervous, he was oozing happiness, and his wagging tail wouldn't lie.

Albion approached the carcass and pulled out a bone with a few scraps of meat attached to it, he started to playfully gnaw on it, leaving shallow bitemarks along it's course.

Albi dropped his lightly gnawed bone as soon as Aegis mentioned the pack, Albion barked "Underlings? Uhm... Do you have any sibling or friends we could invite? I didn't have many friends when I was young and although I do have a brother but I really doubt if we can find him, what do you say we settle here for a while? Our huddle of rocks could be a 'temporary alpha den' until we find a more appropriate place. Oh, and about the last one..." Albi put on his most innocent smile as he softly wagged his tail and tilted his head asking "After you are done eating, do you want to go for a walk? I want to show you something!"