It had been easier in the moment. He hadn't thought it could get more difficult - he'd fancied himself so high and mighty, leaving his father alive to assert the fact that he was better. Then why didn't he feel better now? Why couldn't he feel anything but fear and absolute, crippling dread? He'd been running for days like a deer separated from the herd, eyes darting frantically around to scan the landscape but not actually seeing anything. He hadn't stopped to eat - he couldn't stop, couldn't let anyone catch up to him. He needed to get as far away as possible from that hellish, burning kingdom. Crow wasn't the only dangerous one there; he knew that slavers might come for him, to drag him back to his birthplace and drown him in the tar. He couldn't let that happen.

He would not. Let that happen.

It was determination and terror alone that kept him going. Already thin, Charon was looking quite sickly - the lack of food and brutal pace he kept up had begun to hollow out his form. Smooth black fur was riddled with scratches from bushes that he carelessly passed through as he avoided clear paths and open roads. Exhaustion dulled his silver eyes and weighed on his limbs. He couldn't keep doing this forever, and even the weather was turning against him now. It was cold, colder than he had ever experienced before in his life. The desert nights have been chilly, but it was nothing compared to this. The chill cut right through to his bones and he felt as if his whole body was shutting down. Moving helped keep him warm for now, but soon that would not be an option. He was weakening by the hour, strength draining from him each minute.

But They could be right behind him. He could feel their hot breath on his heels, hear their zealous howls. How much of it was real and how much was his own guilt? Did it even matter? Both would kill him eventually.

He forced his way through the underbrush and suddenly found himself in a small clearing. The momentum he'd used to break through the branches carried him forward too quickly and he stumbled. Once he began his descent, there was no stopping it - his legs struggled to brace up his body but he could not hold his own weight anymore. He fell to a half-bow first and then slid the rest of the way down, belly hitting the cold ground and feeling almost comforted. It was soothing...it was quiet here... he could rest... just for a moment. His eyelids began to fall, always snapping back open right before they closed completely. It wasn't safe. He wasn't safe. He had to keep going.

But his legs were so sore that they were going numb, and it was so cold, and it felt so good to lay down. A tiny white flake fell from the sky and landed on his scarred muzzle, and though he was perplexed he was too tired to react. More white flakes, cold and wet, began to fall down around him. What was this? He might have thought it was beautiful if it weren't so strange and uncomfortable. Was this the final joke the universe would play on him? Frozen water covering his corpse while he died alone in a foreign land?

It was fitting, wasn't it?

//

//

Horizon: A simple wolf RPG

Realistic to semi-realistic wolf · Sandbox, Freeform, Simple · Literate, no word count, shorter posts encouraged

Our characters inhabit a fictional region called the Horizon Valley, somewhere near the Pacific Northwest US and Canada border, and the year is 1908. Join us and step into the neverending story— we can’t wait to have you.
horizon.taiyae.com

There had been many nights where Alana did not sleep at all. It was due not to insomnia, but instead to the overwhelming sense of guilt and shame that wrapped around her heart and mind like thistle vines. The Queen had not expected the search party to bring Mercury back to her, and it was a pleasant (albeit worrisome) surprise. Ayliyra's return, on the other hand, brought with it a dark cloud that thundered and flashed angrily at Alana, reminding her of her past wrongdoings and misjudgments. There was hesitance in her slow steps as the matriarch made her way through the Nardiri territory, as of yet unmarred by tragedy that would strike only days later.

As she traveled across her lands, Alana thought back to before Aylie's exile. Things had been difficult, to say the least, and perhaps that had something to do with the decisions she had made. With a sigh tumbling from her lips, Alana shook her head; that wasn't an excuse. Aylie had threatened the safety of Nardir and Alana's own children, not directly but by making decisions that the pack did not agree with. Ayliyra had deserved reprimand and punishment, but the Queen knew that the way she had handled the situation was not right. She had cast Aylie out of her home, away from her family and friends, and left her to be dealt with by their ally.

The woman hated herself for it.

When she reached the meadow, the Moon Queen made her way over to a cluster of rocks and boulders, smoothed over by the wind and elements. There the woman perched like a bird, seafoam eyes drifting over the flowers and tall grasses that would all soon turn brown and wither as fall and winter arrived. She howled a summons for Ayliyra then, her smooth voice lifting up into the cool fall air. All the Queen could do then was wait, and hope that the spotted wolf answered.

It still felt surreal to the matriarch to have her sister home at last. Mercury had been missing for what seems like eons, leaving Alana to many sleepless nights and uneasy days worrying over her sibling's fate. Where had she gone, what had happened to keep the dark sister from her home, from her family? Alana frowned deeply, the corners of her mouth falling downward just as her ears fell. Alana could only imagine what horrors her sister had gone through.

It had seemed.. inappropriate to interrogate her sibling just after Mercury had been returned to Nardir. With a few days come and gone since that time, the Lunar Queen felt it was finally time. In truth, the woman had absolutely no idea how to approach her sister after so long away from one another. Things couldn't just go back to the way they were - that would have been too easy - but Alana had high hopes. Nardir had certainly changed during Mercury's absence, and Alana had changed along with it. This was a different Nardir than the one that Mercury had left, and Alana fret endlessly over it. Would Mercury feel at home here, would she settle? Or had her homecoming been tarnished by a new society and new faces?

The moon queen shook her head, blinking the thoughts away. What good would thinking like that do her? Dainty paws fell quietly on the frosty ground as she made her way to the area Mercury was staying in, hoping to find her around. "Mercury?" she called softly in the early morning light, the name sounding strange on her tongue. It had been so long since she had said it like that, like she expected Mercury to answer - and finally, perhaps, her sister would.

"I brought you some breakfast.. I was hoping we could talk." Why did she sound so formal? Her tone was as stiff as her body, and not from the chill of the morning air either. Alana supposed it had a lot to do with nerves; she was extremely anxious and worried for her sister. Mercury had always been her rock, the one wolf who could level out Alana's emotions. Times had changed so much in the time Merc had been gone. The milky white and cream Nardiri couldn't decide how she felt about that fact, either. She slipped her makeshift vine-and-leaf pouch off from around her neck, placing it gingerly on the ground. Inside were some small food items, skinned and herb-rubbed rabbit legs with dried strips of deer meat.

Mercury's scent was fresh around the area, but where was Mercury?

He was laying down, not so much resting, though it was useful for that at least in the physical sense, and thinking, or rather observing and contemplating the varying heights of the blades of grass that remained regardless of the season. When it snowed they would all be buried of course, except on occasion when they were unburied by whatever circumstance happened to occur to do so but for now they were still visible with all their variations, of height and color and scent. Each blade was unique, was different from all the others, and yet was still so similar to the rest of the living carpet as to all be called, or at least able to be called, grass. It was very much like his packmates, and perhaps, he supposed, like their allies..and enemies as well, there so many similarities yet..so many differences as well. It had been so long now since the war with Saboro but still he thought about it, pondered over what had caused it, and more importantly what could be done to prevent another such thing from occurring. If he could have gone back in time he would also have been thinking of how to stop and prevent the first one but alas going back in time was just not possible, it was not an option, so while he did muse on what could have been to stop the violent clash of the two packs he put more focus, or at least tried very hard much, to put more focus on the future and on moving forwards.

His musings were interrupted however by a call from the border at which point he quickly rose and headed that way to investigate as the borders were his responsibility, or part of them anyway, but as he'd been on the other side of the territory working on the other part of his responsibilities, diplomacy, he arrived well rather late with nothing but the scents of well recognized, if not known ally, still lingering in the area. That would not do, for one who was supposed to greet others at the border arriving late like this and leaving it at that simply would not do. While the summoning party had of course been met and thus had not been slighted by Inaria he still felt as though his tardiness should be made up for so he picked out a scent of one of their guests and began following it as it wafted and drifted and floated about hoping he would be able to locate its owner and rectify his error.

The endeavor, though not a long one in actuality, seemed far too long to him still but there was nothing he could except to make the best impression he could but boy was this awkward. "I..ahem..". He began before realizing he'd come from behind and might well have startled the very one he was trying to make a good impression on which..would hardly be a good impression. He waited a moment to allow any jarred nerves of the guest to settle before continuing. "I am Aeolus, one of Inaria's greeters and welcomers and so I would like to welcome you, though you have undoubtedly been welcomed already, to Inaria". He would introduce himself, so glad that he had managed to remember to give his name, he usually forgot that part. "I am sorry I was not there to meet your group when you first arrived, I was busy elsewhere, I would still like to make amends though so if you would do me the honor of allowing me to show you some of Inaria's more notable features I will gladly do so". He then offered with a warm smile hoping to make her feel as welcome as possible.