The young Timber wolf scouted it's territory, having been recently forced to leave its pack to hunt on its own. It was starving, not eating for several days had made it slow and drained its magic reserves to the point where it could barely regenerate. So far he had only found 3 manticore cubs, which seemed quite appetizing until the mother came along, who tossed him into a termite infested log. The wolf shuddered at the memory of pain that those little insects could cause. To think, something as powerful as his species could be brought to their knees by something so tiny.... But, the past is the past, he must focus on searching for something edible.

His search had led him across his new territory, but the only thing, he had found so far were insects, a squirrel, parasprites (which were quickly avoided), and two adult phoenixes, avoided because of their potent fire magic. Even to the powerful Timber Wolves, the Forest was still a dangerous place. They primarily survived because of the pack, which together were arguable the most feared and powerful force in the entire forest. However, HE had the brilliant idea to anger the alpha, and then had to make the decision to run away and try to create his own pack. That didn’t seem to be happening, however, and if he didn’t start soon, he would most likely splinter in only a few years of this hellish existence outside the pack.

The wolf sniffed, trying to find a meal, and used a little bit of its magic to search in the trees. This was such tedious work, boring, and almost always came up with ABSOLUTELY NOTHI.....wait, is that? Ohhhhh it is, a small living creature, with a sizable magic storage itself. This would be perfect, it could feed him for weeks! It soon saw his new meal, a newly hatched phoenix. As it knew from experience, a grown phoenix was deadly to the wooden wolves, but a youngster was unable to fly away fast enough, or engulf itself into flame. All he had to do was climb the tree, and then he would have his me....wait, no that wouldn't work. Now he could understand the irony of this situation, his species, beasts made of tree parts, were unable to actually climb trees themselves. Normally he would just absorb the branch the chick was standing on, but his magic had to be saved, just in case. Ok, new plan, wait for chick to get out of the tree, and if the parents come, run for the hills. Wait, no, no hills nearby, then he should run for deeper parts of the woods. Then, it waited, and waited, and waited
and waited
and waited

and waited

and waited

and waiteeeeeee.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The wolf woke up, to the sound of tapping. Groggily he opened one eye, and saw something amazing. The phoenix was tapping ON HIS SNOUT! This must be the easiest hunt ever, so he hit it with his paw. The phoenix did not do the desired reaction however, instead of falling down and dying on the spot like a good, polite prey, it jumped and started a strange, wobbling flight, most likely from its small, undeveloped wings. The wolf, deciding not to spend much energy on this, walked after the weak bird, almost at a casual pace. The bird continued like this for another few feet, then turned its head, and realizing the wolf was indeed following, changed quickly into a fasted glide, smooth and quick. Great, the wolf thought, now I have to run to catch this thing. And so starting a jog, he followed it, knowing it would eventually tire, and then he would have dinner.

The wolf was panting from exhaustion, now in full sprint, and then started to notice the first signs of the Phoenix's tiring. The wing were beating faster, its breath was quicker and deeper, and it was slightly slowing. Soon the bird would tire and the meal might as well have been made. However, another mile and the wolf would half to give up or it would begin to collapse. It seemed that he was almosed at that point already. Slowly, he started to feel a weird feeling in his foot, and upon inspection found cracks spreading throughout some wood in his body, to the point where one good hit would shatter him. Suddenly, the bird flew into a clearing, and into a tree on the north side. This could be the wolf's lucky break, so he snuck over to the tree and attempted to climb it. Finding the hole the chick was hiding in, he was just about to consume the young phoenix when a bright flash occurred, temporarily blinding both beasts. After their vision cleared, both temporarily forgot their situation to scan for what had started the flash. At first, there seemed to be little difference, however, after a few scans of the surrounding area, the small fire bird squawked toward a large tree, causing the large wooden wolf to sniff the area. Soon finding a small, but growing, disturbance in the nearby magical energies. It was clear something was unconscious, and possibly had a great magic potential. After the scent was large enough to be clearly smelt, the wolf walked toward the source. Soon he found a quadrupedal creature, complete with flesh! The only other thing he had seen at this size was a manticore cub, but this had clear differences, like a fur tail, short, centralized mane, well developed for one of his age, and a horn, not to metion the lack or claws, and the facial differences. But, since nothing else fit, it must be a manticore, just a different type, and with a lot more magic. The wolf decided to wait for it to wake, and if the mom came out, run. If not, he would have to see if it could be food. The timber wolf then curled up to sleep nearby, while the Phoenix watched from the large tree.

Author's Note

Well, this is my first fic, please tell me of any issues, and any questions about this, as well as any ideas you have about this