Luka

Luka was one of those boys- the kind Walt Disney manifested or adopted and put in his films. By all accounts, he was once mortal, just as you and I are. He had been the only son of a businessmen and the disobedient child of a common housewife. His stubborn attitude and lack of concern for most of anything in the real world was just too much for his parents to handle, much less so than his odd fascination of running around on all fours whilst he pretended to be a wolf.

There had come a day when Luka finally hit the mere age of fourteen that he could no longer feel any tangible connection to his parents, his school mates, or the industrial world around him. That night of his name day, he left under the cloak of a starless night and ran as fast he could. He stumbled through the trees, thorns reaching out to grab at his bare skin and vines tangling around his feet in attempt to keep him from a world in which he was not born into. Little did the forest know, it was this process that changed Luka for good. The thorns tore at his clothes and the vines pulled the shreds from him until he was as he was born- pure and free.

And it was this night that the innocence and childlike wonder stayed with Luka and changed him forever. The stars above him had seemed to see the boy's struggle to be free and shed their magical tears upon him- halting his progression into manhood, keeping him innocent and pure for all of time.

However, youthful and naked and beautiful as Luka was, it was the wolves that made him exactly what the legends portray him as. He'd fallen asleep on the damp forest floor that first evening, only to awaken with the sun in his eyes and a circle of wolves surrounding him. The stories say that he merely sat up, cross legged and stared deep into the Alpha's eyes, striking not fear but compassion and care into the dominant creature's soul. The Alpha had never seen anything, much less a human being, so beautiful and pure, and he knew that he was nothing if he were not loyal to him. The wolf bowed his head and the pack followed suit.

Luka truly became more than human that day, for he was the immortal king of the wolves. It is rumored that the story of Luka is more than that, and that they boy exists in any and every forest, commanding his legion of canines. It is also said that if you were to wander the forest on a starless night, you just might catch a glimpse of gaunt, pale boy with stone colored eyes and silvery hair wearing nothing but a crown of laurels. And, if perchance you don't see him, the legends say that he is the first wolf to howl when a young boy enters the forest, welcoming his fellow comrade. However, only the most innocent and special of boys can hear the excited words within the howl.

For any boy pure of heart, and the starless night is silent save for the howl, they just might hear the King of Wolves shout, "It's great to be king!"