Dawn bled through the sky in colors of cranberry and grape, as dew settled on grass and mist hung low thick enough to breathe in. Cain left the comforts of his family’s temporary den as the group travelled, day by day, seeking whatever it was that hunted other creatures … hunted them.

Never meeting sabers or humans, Cain had thought wolves were at the top of the food chain. The new beast that prowled all these lands far and wide proved otherwise, and the adolescent didn’t know what to make of this. He came close to facing his own mortality back in Borogrove. He didn’t want to go through that again. 

He found tracks of black blood on the ground and began following them, sniffing cautiously. Still as vile a smell as ever, but the early morning helped him sharpen his focus, when nothing else stirred save for the thrushes amongst the trees, and so off he went, mapping nearby landmarks to make sure he didn’t get too lost and needed a quick getaway. 

---

After months of what felt like constant stagnancy, Oriana could confidently stride back to the small camp and feel like she could bring something of importance to the gathering. Although there was no discussed leadership, nor any real direction except finding Hircine, the ex-Queen couldn’t help but feel as though she still was wearing the shoes of leadership and was therefore responsible for her party. They did, after all, leave Saboro to come with her— and whether or not there was the argument of them not doing it to be with her, they were all still there.

In a stern pace, Oriana made her way back toward the gathering when she’d nearly bumped right into her litter sister, exactly whom she was looking for. Scindere, too, but she could speak to her later. “Naviti!” Oriana blurted out, perhaps a bit more aggressively than she expected. Or was it excitement? The golden woman was on a mission now and she intended to make sure it followed through. But for that, she needed to continue drawing her plan.

“Come, walk with me.” Forever holding that commanding tongue, even after months of no longer being Sabora. It wasn’t an option, clearly, and once she saw her windy sister following accordingly she began. “When you went off and you found Keanu…” Oriana paused, allowing Nativi to speak of the interaction if she wished; she never got any details, but that wasn’t why she was prying about that day.

“Did… she mention anything about a… Gemini? Or… ” She paused, feeling her throat tighten with anxiety and… something, she couldn’t pinpoint it. “Serrate?” Stopping in her tracks, green eyes swung to make contact with blue, searching for the same alarming, triggering reaction Naviti might’ve had at the name. Oriana was told of previous Saboras before, their mother giving her the history lesson. However, she wasn’t sure how much Naviti shared in that wealth of knowledge; so, she watched. And waited to see if this would work.

---

When one's diet consistent primarily of the flesh of deer and other related animals, it was problematic when said creatures were overcome with a blight of unknown origin. Especially when one had no idea how to catch smaller prey. She had lived much of her life amongst barren plains where the only animals to be found were hungry, savage wolves and the few animals they had not hunted to extinction. Like the prairie deer and the roaming bison, whose thick hides were only pierced by those with the sharpest teeth. Like her. But sharp teeth weren't the most useful when trying to catch rabbits that dove into their little warrens, beyond her grasping jaws. Even her fleet feet were no match for them when she was so unused to the uneven forest floor. If she even tried to run at a full sprint, she would trip and go flying into a nearby tree.

Thus, Althea had to turn her attention to different sources of sustenance. She didn't want to be a dead weight, relying on the work of others to get by the days. So much of her life had been focused around providing food for others, often in exchange for protection. But now, she was relying on her pack-mates (the word was unfamiliar and foreign to her thoughts) to get by. And, unfortunately, she didn't like it.

She had been so easily accepted in with little thought to the matter. In mere moments she had gone from being alone to being in a pack, something she hadn't been apart of in... so long. And the differences between her homelands and its cruel natives versus Alteron contrasted so much that Althea was in culture shock. There were not jaws snapping at her heels as she fled from punishment for not completing even the simplest of duties. No one leered at her as she walk, whispering biting words when they knew she could not respond without snapping (literally) at them. Everything was so different here. She didn't have to fight for her life, not for the time being.

Albeit, she did have to fight to hunt for food so that she didn't have to feel as if she were a burden upon those around her. Such a struggle was mostly centered around finding a new source of food and not yet catching it. She was unfamiliar with the sort of biomes that Alteron's territory was comprised of, especially the temperate forest and waterways. Fish were a new sight to the young female, having brought her wonder during the first few weeks of her stay. She was only used to the occasional creek fish, nothing more. Completely unlike the trout and salmon that she would catch flashes of when she walked along the lakebeds and riverbeds. They were foreign and intrigued her to little end, especially when she learned that some members knew how to catch them.

Frankly speaking, it was beneath her pride to find someone to teach her how to catch fish. Or to even somehow convey that she wanted to learn how. In her eyes, the only solution was to simply find out herself. And how, one might ask? Well. She was going to figure it out as she went.

Currently, she figured that perhaps it would be best if she stand in the shallows of one river, violet eyes scanning the water as she tried to keep herself from wincing at the frigid waters. Her shadow was away from the water (albeit, she didn't know that would help her endeavors) and, to her luck, she saw a flash of color beneath the small, rippling waves. Diving forward, the wolf snapped her flailing jaws at the fish to no avail, her mouth filling with nothing but water. To her surprise, the area beyond the shallows was far deeper than expected.

Unfortunate when one considered that she didn't know how to swim.

Below the surface, she gasped, flailing as chilled water filled her system. Some part of her begged her to remain calm but the choking feeling in her thought and the lack of air in her lungs was almost overwhelming. In a stroke of luck, however, one of her struggling paws found the river's bottom, kicking off so that she might find a way back into the shallows. Indeed, she did, heaving herself from the depths and struggling toward the riverbed.

There, she stood, unwilling to humiliate herself further by collapsing. She coughed up water, chest heaving as her form--its skinniness silhouetted by her soaked fur--trembled at the cold. She glared at the waters and, in her thoughts, cursed every kind of fish that ever had existed (or would exist).

The group had travelled out of the forest and out across the plains. They stood strong as a group of six so far: the holy woman of the light Filianore, her husband, the knight Templar, and Cain, the child they cared for. There was Zach, a fellow golden warrior, and finally Elowen, the poor tortured soul he had stumbled across. He trusted all of them, as foolish as it may have been with wolves who he had just met. Filianore's Lord of Light had actually protected him against the abomination they had put down, and now Zaniah would have to stick to his word; he would dedicate himself to her God.

It was difficult, but he couldn't deny the past few events of his life.

Zaniah was intent on putting this epidemic to an end, but in their days of travelling they had begun to realise how widespread the issue had become. The stench never left them, it lingered everywhere in puddles of silver, black or white blood. The prey had fled far beyond the horizon, and anything that was left had become tainted. Their faces bled black and they screamed as if in pain, and they attacked anyone that they came into contact with. Even harmless rabbits were trying to strike down those that they would naturally run from.

The golden man realised then, that they needed any help they could get.

The group stayed within the grasslands, once vibrant with yellow sunflowers but they had begun to collapse and rot away. They were settled for the moment but Zaniah had told them his plan. That he would try and gather what remained of the packless wolves and see if they would help them in their quest. So, he threw back his head and howled.

"I call upon any who would stand up against the curse that plagues these lands!"

Dawn was fading, and the sun continued to rise in it's glory. Within the field of ruined sunflowers, the loners would find the group that the Lord shined his light on. They were glowing, they were his warriors.

They would be the ones to stop this nightmare.

This is the thread for the monster sighting at the Glass Fields

Information about what is happening in Gemini can be found - HERE
(so I don’t have to copy + paste the entire thing everytime)

Information about the chapter of this plot, as well as links to other threads can be found - HERE

This is the thread for the corrupted boar event at the Faerie Pools.

Information about what is happening in Gemini can be found - HERE
(so I don’t have to copy + paste the entire thing everytime)

Information about the chapter of this plot, as well as links to other threads can be found - HERE

This is the thread for the monster sighting event at the Isles of Crom.

Information about what is happening in Alteron can be found - HERE
(so I don’t have to copy + paste the entire thing everytime)

Information about the chapter of this plot, as well as links to other threads can be found - HERE