Since immemorial times, the Stone Giant at the middle of the Seek Valley looked after wolves; its single, baleful eye seeding fear in the hearts of their enemies. By centuries, it is said, the Giant had kept Wolf's greatest threat to survival, Man, at bay. Never had the two-legged monster dared to intrude inside Seek Valley... But one day, things changed.

It was a bright morning, it is said, and two little pups, the Alpha and the Beta's sons, were found playing at the base of the Statue; under the supposed watch of a Subordinate wolf, who could be found asleep, as always. It was a very peaceful scene indeed, and none of the wolves who were alive at that time could imagine how much pain and suffering it would bring-- but I'm getting a little ahead of myself here.

At any case, after much playing around, the Beta's pup finally managed to corner the Alpha's, and with intentions of pinning him down and howling in triumph, like he always did, he leaped at him. The Alpha's son was faster than what he had been last time they played, and without much difficulty, he managed to dodge the Beta pup's attack; so instead of bumping against his playmate, as he intended to, the Beta's pup crashed against a fallen tree, against one of so many that littered the forest grounds.

Without receiving any kind of injury, the Beta's pup spun around and he was ready to resume the game when, suddenly, the earth shook, and rumbling noise caused him to hide behind his partner in fear. The sound had been terrible; like the simultaneous roar of twenty mountain lions, or like a bolt of lighting falling at inches from you. It had been as if the Evil Spirits had needed just that little push. The tree against which one of the pups had crashed, had rolled down the little hill in which they played and delivered a terrible blow to the mighty Giant's base.

The blow knocked a couple ornaments from the black stone, and much to the pup's horror, it caused a horrible crack that ran right through the Stone Protector's
single eye.

- - -

Many pack reunions and counsels were held after that; and later of much discussing, the shamans got to the conclusion that the Giant had lost its magical properties after the crash, and that the only way to restore them, was with a sacrifice. Not wanting to jump into conclusions, the Alpha decided to give a little time to the matter... Yet there was no time to give to the matter.

A human was quickly spotted by a Scout wandering by the outskirts of the Valley -and that wasn't just it, the human had dogs with him! The Scout returned badly injured after losing the hunters in the savage river, and with this, the wolves knew their little paradise was in the process of turning into a living hell; there was no time to lose, they had to act, now.

The Shamans reunited once again that night; the topic to discuss, this time being how to soothe the raging Spirits of the Monolith. After much talk, they finally agreed, that it had to be a sacrifice --as decided earlier-- "But a deer or a cow will not suffice" They spoke "It has to be one of Them, who enraged the Spirits in first place." And not wanting his son to suffer any harm, the Alpha was quick to decide who would die.

He went and spoke with the Beta, he told him it would be for the good of the pack; that it was the only way. He told him the humans would return if he didn't accept, that many lives were going to be lost; he even said the Beta would have permission to have another son when time came, but it was of no use. The Beta didn't agree to have his son sacrificed in some sort of stupid ritual, and he dared to challenge the Alpha, then and there.

The two wolves fought, and many more interfered; still, that battle wasn't evenly matched, as by far many more wolves backed up the Alpha than the Beta, and the last one was quickly killed. Seeing themselves outnumbered, and out-powered, the fallen Beta's followers had no choice but to retreat. Yet they swore that they would return...

Once that things had settled down after the fight, the Alpha spoke that it was time to get on with the sacrifice, but he discovered with horror that the fallen Beta's son was missing; these cowards had surely taken him with them while they retreated. Pausing one moment to curse the traitors, the Alpha was soon shocked by the fact that the only way remaining to calm the Spirits, was to sacrifice his own son. But despite of his words of how one had to give it all for the pack, he couldn't do it.

He asked the shamans that if he could die in his son's stead, but they answered with all respect, that to a sacrifice of that kind, the Spirits would only laugh and continue to spread havoc through the land.

The date of the sacrifice was never given, and time passed during which the Alpha paced from one side to the other in his den without knowing what to do. Meanwhile, wolves were being gunned down, falling victims of strange sicknesses, and dying to famines. Tension was starting to build up once again.

- - -

Half the pack would die by when the Alpha finally made his decision. Not wanting this, a revolt occurred, a revolt leaded by the Alphess herself. She wasn't afraid to kill her own son for the sake of the pack, so she lead the revolt with the promise of that when it finished, the Spirits would calm. In this revolt the Alpha was killed-- but here the story splits in many different tales:

Some say the fallen Alpha's son was killed, sacrificed. Others claim that he was accidentally killed in the revolt; and probably the most creative of all stories, tells that human hunters broke into the den in that crucial moment when the shamans were saying the words that would restore the peace among the spirits-- but whatever the real story might have been, the Spirits didn't regain their calm, and the packmembers retreated into the forests, chased by the newly-created, enemy pack, or by the hunters, or maybe by themselves.

When everything seemed to settle down, the scattered members from the pack started to reunite around the broken Monument; a missing spot meaning a lost life. And because of the tensions and the stress, they blamed it all on the Alphess. She had promised the peace would return if they helped her to assume total leadership of the pack; yet that had not been the case.

Despite of her words of that how had the humans brought the misery with them, and how she wasn't at fault, the Alphess was attacked-- but not killed, exiled. Everyone agreed in that she lost her mind quickly after, however, and 'The Curse of The Stone', many called it.

The thing was, that after the Stone Giant was broken, all disgrace fell over the wolves of Seek Valley. The wolves from the once mighty pack got to know nothing but pain and suffering ever since, as the peace to the Spirits was never restored. It is true the pack managed to pull itself together, but the deaths continued, and more than once, it was close to disappear.

Generations lived and died, and the story went deteriorating and missing pieces; and the new descendants got to blame the mournful losses on the black stone. Quickly they got to lose the immense respect they once held for it, and they got to call it:

"The Stone of Agony"