After the destruction had ended the few tattered remnants of the ancients were driven underground to escape the harmful radiation that was spread about by the war. In time they evolved to live in this new world that they had created with their destruction and returned to the surface of the Earth. There was no law or order. Civilization was only a memory of a memory, and so was technology. The people wandered the world over looking for some place on this harsh new world where they could stay in peace, and escape their pain and suffering. We now call this period of time "The Great Exile". This period of our history lasted for a time of twenty thousand years.

During the Exile many more people died leaving only the strongest. Children most often were left when born because people could not risk looking weak to those that might take all they had and kill. Finally certain rules formed among the weary travelers. Never to kill unless your own life is in danger, never to steal, to share what you have with those that have none. And finally whenever two wanderers meet they must exchange something,. I don't know what the purpose of such was but it seemed to be followed like gospel.

Very few animals survived the Apocalypse, and most that did were killed by the deadly radiation that still even now covers the Earth. Those that did evolved the same as the humans. Some of them even taking on human form and intelligence. The wolves are a good example of these; they evolved to a very near facsimile of humans and were so accepted as such by most people. But they began to die out near the end of the exile. You see wolves need to be together but the exile forced them apart, most of them died from longing to be part of a group.

My job as historian is to preach to all that come after us what happened to the ancients and why it can't happen again. The best way is to show you the suffering that it caused; therefore my story is about a Wolf named Jarek the Lone Wolf. He earned his title for being the last wolf. He wandered the world over just like everyone else trying to find meaning to life. Here is the story of how he found an end to his Exile.

Jarek the Lone Wolf huddled near the small fire he had built, and shivered. Not for the first time he wished that he had the long fur that his ancestors had, like the fur that covered his bushy gray tail that stuck out of a hole in the back of his pants. The wind howled around him almost blowing his small fire out, but it clung to the wood for it's very life as if it were alive. Just like all people in this world Jarek thought, as he added another piece of wood to the fire.

He was known by all he had come across over the last few years as the Lone Wolf. Many travelers told him that he was the last, and that none have seen another wolf for at least ten years. This was not a very settling rumor, he had spent his entire life searching for others, and now he was being told that there were no others. It was very disheartening.

Jarek had been born somewhere in the mountains on the other side of the world from the place where he now sat. His mother had died after giving birth and he had been left there to freeze to death. Until he was found by a man named Marcus, the man that had raised him. Thieves had killed Marcus when Jarek was only twelve years old and since then he had been on his own. Searching. Searching for an end to his loneliness. Searching for more of his own kind to run with. A pang of sadness crept across him at the thought of Marcus but it quickly vanished. That had bee thirty years ago and he was over it. Though it had taken more time than he would ever have guessed before it happened.

Abruptly the wind succeeded in blowing his little fire out. It seemed to be shrieking and howling harder than before if that was possible. He reached into his backpack and pulled out his flint and steel to try and get it started again though he was doubtful that he ever would. Suddenly a scream drifted across the wind to him. At first he though that it was just the wind itself, but soon it came again. It sounded like a woman. The scream came a third time; she sounded as if she were in trouble.

Jarek stood up, almost wishing that he hadn't when the wind hit him full force, and grabbed the sword that was leaning up against a rock beside him. He hated to leave his things behind, to possibly be taken by another wanderer thinking that they had been left when someone died, but if he was going to be fighting he didn't want to be wearing the cumbersome backpack. He took one last look at his things, and decided that helping someone was more important that losing his possessions. With that though he dashed off in the direction that the screams had come from. Soon he came upon two grizzled men forcing a woman to the ground.

"Hey" he yelled, "what's going on here?"

One of the men looked up at him as if surprised that anyone would ever come to anyone's rescue. he got over his surprise quickly and yelled back over the wind. "Just turn around and go back where you came from freak." He said. Jarek was called a freak often but he really didn't care, he was what he was and was proud to be it. "And maybe we won't hurt you" The second man added as an after thought.

"I can't do that," Jarek yelled back to them. "Either leave her alone or I'll have to kill you." He patted the sword on his belt.

The two men got up off of the woman and started towards him, he hadn't noticed before but their hands were covered in blood. Jarek was shocked; they weren't raping the woman. They were killing her. Reluctantly He drew his sword on the attackers, and waited for them to come to him. One of them pulled out a curving metal hook and the other picked up a spear from the ground.

Jarek reached out and stabbed the man with the hook in the throat catching him by surprise. He fell to his knees holding his hands to the wound and making a few gurgling sounds. By that time the second man was on him. Using his spear as a staff to deflect his blows with the sword. The man with the spear did something that looked like whirling the spear around helter skelter but, Jarek soon ended up on his back wondering what exactly the man had done.

The man stood over him and raised the spear to strike. Jarek looked around frantically for where his sword had landed and found it just out of his reach. "No body attacks Elias the Wolf Hunter and lives." The man said.

Jarek was surprised and appalled at the same time. The man claimed to hunt wolves. He was a murderer killing those that were different than him for the one reason that they were different than he was. Jarek looked up into the man's eyes and saw hate and a lust for murder; there would be no talking him out of it. Jarek just lay there and waited for the inevitable.

Suddenly the man was down on the ground next to him grappling with the woman that he had left to kill Jarek. Jarek rolled over and grabbed his sword as the man threw her off, jumped to his feet and picked up his spear. Elias walked over to the woman and kicked her savagely in the ribs. Forcing her to the ground. He then jammed the spear into her chest and twisted it a few times before pulling it out in a fountain of blood and gore.

Jarek walked up behind him slowly and stabbed him in the back. He fell over, dead, across the woman he had just mortally wounded. Jarek pushed him off of her and looked into her face. Her mouth was hanging open and blood was pouring out of it. That's when he first noticed that she too was a wolf. Her fangs were sticking through her lip as if she had bitten through it in pain. And he hadn't noticed before in all the fighting but she had a tail like his own. He wondered how he could have missed it before.

She reached up and touched his face as if she knew him. "Th-the o-others . . . Th-they are wai . . .ting for you." She managed through the blood that was pouring out of her mouth. Jarek was shocked. Others there were others.

"What others?" He asked hurriedly hoping that she didn't die before telling him. He then though of how selfish that was but he couldn't help himself.

"T-t-the Wolves . . .m-mountain . . . n-n-north" With that she died leaving Jarek alone once again in the howling wind. He didn't know what to feel. He hadn't known her at all but he felt a great loss, knowing that she was one of his own kind. He had spent his entire life almost searching for others like himself and now that he had finally found one she was brutally murdered by a man who both admitted to hunting wolves but demonstrated that he would kill wolves.

He glanced over at the two men that he had killed, even though he knew that they were murderers he just couldn't bring himself to leave their bodies to rot. He stood up, and started heading back to get his things. He would probably be digging most of the night, and he had already left them unguarded for far too long. For a wonder the wind had restarted his fire, he looked at it wryly for a second before kicking some dirt over it until none of the embers showed. Picking up his pack, he started back, then suddenly what the female wolf had said to him came crashing into his mind.

She had said that there were others in mountains to the north. He peered off to the north but saw no mountains, but there were possibly some out of sight over the horizon. He decided that he would start out in that direction. It was not as if there was any place better to go anyway. Even if there were no others and it was only the delirious ramblings of a dying woman, having a purpose in his life could possibly take the bite off of his loneliness for a few weeks.

He pulled a crude shovel that he used to dig up relics of the ancient ones. They were considered by many to be valuable things. They mostly could be sold or traded for enough food and water to last at least a month, sometimes more. He set to work making three graves. It was a long time before he finished. Almost first light but he did not mind, the work took his mind off of the biting cold that had been on the world for as long as he could remember.

He lay down when it was finished and fell asleep almost at once. It was well into the day when he awoke, the cold was still there but not as badly, he looked up at the purple sky. Some said that it used to be blue once upon a time but purple was the only color he knew for it. There were no clouds in the sky. That was good, whenever it rained travel was impossible. The only hope of surviving the deep cold combined with being soaking wet was to take any shelter that could be found. He had found many a dead person that couldn't find shelter before freezing to death. He couldn't imagine how horrible that would be. One time he had fallen into a lake after slipping on some wet rocks, he would have died if it weren't for an extremely nice traveler who had pulled him out and built him a fire. The man had died himself from the cold; Jarek couldn't help but feel guilty for it.

He collected his things and put his backpack on. Turning to the north he started walking. He walked all day long barely stopping to eat near the middle of the day. At night he stopped and made a small camp. Just as he had the night before. He sat there staring at the fire, watching it dance over the wood and grass that he fed steadily into it. Soon he saw a shadow creeping up a distance away. No doubt the person still though he was out of site, but Jarek's night vision was much better than that of humans, so was his hearing and sense of smell.

Jarek reached for his sword and put it across his lap, a person could never be too careful, especially with the state of lawlessness that spread over the entire world. The man snuck up and tried to hide behind a rock near the fire. "You might as well come out," Jarek called, "I've been watching you for quite a while now."

The man stepped into the light with his hands raised no doubt to show that he meant no harm. "I mean no harm, or intrusion to you sir," The man said, "I was robbed today and have no means of starting my own fire."

Jarek gestured to the ground on the other side of his fire. "You are welcome to share mine," he said.

The man sat down. "I thank you," he glanced at Jarek's tail. "I have not seen a wolf for quite some time," he said, "I have heard of you from many travelers. Most of them say that you are the last. My name is Jack, and I guess would be the one they call Jarek the Lone Wolf."

"Yes that's me," Jarek said, "I wish it wasn't so but fear that I am the last. Well be comfortable, I will not harm you in any way. I hope that you will return the favor."

"Have you not heard?"

"Heard what?"

"There was a new law that has been passed around for about a year. No one is allowed to harm you, since you are the last of your kind."

They chatted for a time and then went to sleep. Jarek was haunted with dreams of the man, Elias, was hunting him. He awoke in the morning, before jack did and wen about getting something to eat. Soon the man awoke and asked if Jarek could spare some for him. Jarek not one to be cruel happily shared with him.

"I notice that you came from the north," Jarek said, his tail twitched absently, "I was wondering, did you see any mountains in that direction?"

"No, no mountains, but before I was traveling south I was traveling West to East," Jack said, "I decided that I wanted to see the ocean before I died and turned south. There may have been mountains beyond the point where I turned south."

"I thank you," Jarek said. "You must allow my to give you a coat at least, you'll freeze to death, with nothing more than you're wearing."

"That would be most welcome," jack answered as if he had never been more surprised in his life. "I mean no offense to you or anything I am only curios. I was wondering, does that tail of yours twitch like that often?"

Jarek glanced over his shoulder to see his tail twitching, and smiled before saying, "Yes, It has a mind completely of it's own."

They talked for a few more minutes and then went their separate ways. Jarek walked north for days. The days turned to weeks and the weeks into months before he finally saw a small range of mountains before him. His heart leapt; finally he had found it, the end of his journey. In a few days he had climbed to the top of the highest mountain, and had seen no others. His heart fell from it's high but it was no more than he had expected.

He looked at the brown and gray land that surrounded the mountain on which he stood. Then something caught his eye. It looked to be a piece of paper sticking some how to a tree. He walked over to it and looked at it, and had never been so happy in his life that Marcus had taught him to read. It wasn't a skill that was anywhere near useful in survival, but he had learned it anyway. The note he held in his hand was probably the single best thing he had ever read.

"We have forsaken this land, it is dying, follow if you wish west to the great lake."

Over the next twenty-one years The Lone Wolf faithfully followed notes much the same as the one he had found on the mountains. Over the years his hair grayed and grew long, but never did he stop. He had been given a quest and he meant to finish it. Nothing could deter him from it. Twenty-one years he followed, twenty-one years of mindless walking without end, twenty-one years of pure pain and suffering and yet he never gave up hope that he would find what he sought.

Finally he found a note that was addressed to him by name. It read:

"The end is near. Keep hold of your faith and you will find us Jarek. If you wish to follow go east to the ancient crater."

Jarek could hardly contain his excitement. His tail wagged uncontrollably behind him, travelers he passed had probably never seen a funnier sight. Finally the crater was within sight. Thrusting out of the Earth like a circular mountain range. It was said that the crater was made when the ancients destroyed themselves. He climbed the side of the crater and was soon standing at it's top. He looked down inside but saw nothing but mist filling it's bowl.

Something snapped inside of him, all his disappointment from the last twenty-one years had just been carefully filed away in the back of his mind, there had always been the though of finally reaching his goal, but there was always a new direction to go, a new path to follow. Now when he had been told that the end was near he was led to yet another empty place.

He raised hands clenched into fists up to the sky and screamed with all his frustration. Then began yelling to the heavens. "Why! Why have I been made to follow this?" He yelled. "I have followed faithfully for more than twenty years and what do I have to show for it. A stack of paper bearing notes to go here or to go there. When is it going to end? When is it going to end?

"What could I have possibly do to deserve such a punishment. What? This insanity ends here. I will not follow on a leash anymore. Starting today I live my life for myself once more."

He fell to his knees and cried. He doubted that there had been such a painful moment in his entire life, beside the day that Marcus was murdered. He cried for a long time and when he finally stopped it was dark. He looked around as if surprised not to see the sun up. Then his eyes drifted to the crater before him. The mist was still there but there was something else . . . Light. There was light under the mist, like a thousand fires spread around inside it. He was so surprised that he fell forwards and tumbled down the steep inside wall of the crater. When he finally tumbled to a halt he looked around at his surroundings. It was as if someone had taken a drawing he had once seen on the inside wall of a cave and built it here in the bottom of the crater. There were hundreds of . . . he didn't know what to call them. Structures he guessed would be the closest word he could find for them. There were people too walking amongst the structure. All of them were wolves. A few of them saw him and came running over to him, all warm smiles and happy greetings. It was also quite warm, Jarek noticed. This was the first time he had ever sweated because of temperature. He liked it, it felt right. He got up to his knees and began to weep again, this time for joy. This was the happiest moment of his life.

And that is the story of how Jarek found the remainder of his people, and civilization. It is Ironic that the first ones to resurrect civilization were the ones though of by once civilized people to be savage beasts. I hope that we humans can learn from the mistakes made by the ancients and never put anyone through such a painful life again. Again I write this story as part of my chronicle warning those who will come after us too never make the same mistakes that the ancients made. If ever you are in need of help or are hurt in some way, the wolves still inhabit that crater, their city, the first city ever made by us, called The Valley of the Fallen Star, is always open to you. The wolves are kind and generous. And with that I leave you with your thoughts.