Antimony

Antimony froze, disbelief coursing through his veins and sinking into his very bones. Exile? Why? Why would he be exiled from his own home in the desert? His ears pinned, he stared incredulously at the others, the three who'd come to drive him away from his home.

"What did you just say?" The male spat, his hackles prickling. His tail swished angrily as he glared from one wolf to the next. "You can't drive me out of my own home! This is my territory!"

"Not anymore." One of the three wolves, a big brown male with cold green eyes snarled, hackles raised in anger. "We're takin' it now. Either you beat it, or we line our nests with your scrawny hide."

"Yeah!" Chimed in a second male, a much smaller gray with icy-blue eyes. "Beat it, mange-pelt! Otherwise Kaeya is gonna rip your pelt off and use it as a nest!"

"Shut your muzzle, Siobhan!" The first wolf barked at the second. Antimony used the opportunity to make a lunge for the male called Kaeya, only for the third wolf - the biggest of the three, with fur as black as pitch and eyes a beautiful shade of amber- to ram into him before he could attack the leader.

"I would not do that, if I were you." The brute said slowly. "Do that again, and I will kill you myself to spare Kaeya the trouble."

"Good job, Zhongli." Kaeya growled, a grin crawling across his maw. "What say we show this scrawny scrap the color of his insides?"

Antimony felt his blood run cold. I'm going to die if I don't escape-! He told himself. With panic fueling him and adrenaline coursing through his veins, the smaller wolf managed to throw his opponent off.

Immediately after that, Antimony started to run.

It was seasons upon seasons that were spent on the run. From the desert, he ran for miles through the dense deciduous forests, heading east for a time into the lush grasslands. If it hadn't been for the neighboring packs not welcoming in a scrawny, starving loner, Antimony could very well have made his home there. Food was plentiful, and the weather was… passable, most seasons. Except for winter, when there was little shelter against the harsh winds and frigid snow. He would have frozen out in the open.

However, he wasn't alone. Along the way, he'd made a friend by the name of Revenant, a fine huntress but… an odd one, all the same. A spirit, she was, and a very violent one at that. However, he soon earned her loyalty and companionship, and the two continued north together, towards their new home.

The wild tundra…

The first thing that Antimony discovered upon arrival, was the cold. If he'd thought that wintertime in the grasslands was hard, then he was in for the most rude awakening of his life. In the tundra, it was always cold. Permafrost expanded as far as the eye could see. Further north still, he could see the slightest hint of the colder-still glaciers, but he dared not travel any farther than this.

Upon his first night within the tundra, he had been scouting the area where he and Revenant had stopped to rest their weary paws. His discovery made him feel… the first threads of hope since his exile.

It was a castle. And a grand one at that.

It had been carved into the very stones of the earth, deep within the heart of the tundra. It must have been as old as time itself, it felt like, and yet there it stood, untouched. Was this some sort of omen? A sign from whatever higher powers existed? Antimony had no way of knowing, but one thing was undeniable.

He needed to tell Revenant. Now.

And thus, with the arrival of Antimony and Revenant, an empire was born. With the two at the helm of it all, a kingdom was founded within the frigid tundra climes. There were many things that needed to be done before it could truly be considered a kingdom, but thankfully, Antimony had the assistance in getting his empire to rise.

First, he needed more followers. Though the neighboring wolves were skeptical at first, Antimony managed to recruit a few loners who were in need of warm shelter and food. And with Revenant by his side, prey soon enough, was not an issue. His numbers had exploded by the time the warmer seasons rolled around.

Second, order needed to be founded. A ranking system was established, with hunters and scouts elected based on capabilities and preferences alike. Hunting parties were formed based on levels of cooperation and synergy, whereas the two scouts were chosen based on their speed and agility, as well as their traveling strength and levels of endurance. Nor only that, but only the most trustworthy of members were elected for a vital task: the protection and care for the pack's youngest members. Pupsitters were elected based on their ability to teach and guide the next generations in the laws of their empire, as well as the history and hierarchy set up by the kingdom's rulers. Antimony and Revenant were Crowned as King and Queen at the start of spring, with the arrival of their first litter to herald the start of their reign.

And lastly, their empire needed a name that would fit it. It couldn't be just any old name; it needed to be one that would both inspire its allies- from the Riparian Woodland, including a very kind yet fierce femme with a stormy pelt and icy eyes known to others as the Wandering Storm, Reika- and strike fear into the hearts of its foes and prevent them from coming to topple the new rule. A name that would be spoken with fear and reverence for the endless generations to come.

That name… was Aketia. The Aketia Empire.

A kingdom of glass, yet a legacy of diamonds.

Written by Jamie (Fem/Them)BDAY SOON