s.p.i.n. m.e. 'r.o.u.n.d. {openforall}

[Sivoncé™]

Heat.
An Indian Summer, as some called it -- in the midst of an icy, early-frosting autumnal atmosphere, a warm front made its entrance with a bang, the mist began to thin out into steam, and the forest seemed to wake a bit from its grave slumber. Prey starving and desperate for food finally emerged from their hiding spaces long enough to find something to satisfy before running for the dens once more -- all was not well in this waking. Something else was waking too.

A small, dilapidated male limped into the clearing, a bloodied mouth and maw and a rank stench proceeding him. He was slim-limbed and wore a cloak of rough gray. His eyes were bloodshot with exhaustion, and his stagger was an ardorous, doubtful thing. Falling seemed likely.
And so it was.

"Uff!" Shiro, the young Yozoran neophyte, fell to the ground, beaten, defeated, tormented. Had it been only hours ago that he had bickered ignorantly with his sister, Trianna, over something so trivial? Why did I waste time with them fighting? Why did I waste time being so hard-headed and bitter towards them....they are my family! And now they'll never know -- the forest is in danger, we're all in danger! We know we didn't kidnap those wolves from the other packs, and now we know there's an outside force, watching us, stalking us......this sounds like what the seniors say about Blood Mist! DAMN them, DAMN this, oh, just DAMN EVERYTHING....

His head rose in a mounrful, furious, bleeding resignation, peering through the light veils around the blackening skyline.
Storms were rising in the valley, more than just the mental one....

[.Rabid Lycan.]

A silent sigh huffed from Sumer's muzzle as he slowly climbed a rise in the terrain, walking aimlessly into the thinning smoke. He felt as if he had nothing to fear, yet he hung his head low with a tail dragging along the earth. Nothing to fear but his older brother.
He couldn't say the same for the wolf beside him, a young Proeliator that had tagged along this hunting trip. The brute bore an ebony pelt, with silver streaks of well-groomed fur cutting across his flanks. He glanced around, ears back and muttering a curse under his breath. They had strayed from the proximity of the camp, and he was nervous with the scent of bad weather on the breeze.
"Any idea where we are?" the wolf asked with a barely masked nervousness in his voice. Ashai glanced down at the smaller brute, who barely acknowledged the question, and sighed. "Me neither..."
Suddenly, the brute stiffened, the wind picking up and buffeting his coat. "Hey... smell that?"
Sumer twitched his whiskers... and halted as well, a scent clearly on the breeze. He nodded, padding forward a couple yards before happening on another wolf. One who clearly held the scent of Yozoran.
"...?" Ashai ran up behind Sumer, looked to the other wolf, and widened his eyes. "Either he's on our land... or we're not in the territory anymore."
Sumer scented the air once more, and-- judging by the absent of scent markers-- supposed it was the latter.
Meanwhile, the wind continued to pick up and the sky visibly began to darken...

[Sivoncé™]

Shiro didn't hear approaching wolves, didn't feel the tracings of their pawsteps revertebrating in the ground. Instead, he collapsed, and laid there. Waiting for help? Waiting to die? Waiting at all? Who knew. The brute was very close to slipping from consciousness alltogether. In fact, it would be hihgly unlikely for him to awake to witness anymore of the sky's torture. Maybe he would be lucky to sleep it out and wake up in heaven with no pain. Maybe he would be saved.
Maybe....

The female of pure white, velvet black, and sweeping moonlight was there in the thinning fogs, there because this was the place where the scents had led her. For weeks, she had circled and rounded its perimeter. Now, she was entering its center. Well, stepped right up to its center and waiting for precious Mother Nature to rip it up from its roots. There were she-wolves that needed punishing and ordering, males that needed beheading for meddling with her plans....and children to be found once more. The majesty Babylonia froze, taking in his lovely sight once more from just feet away.
Not yet. Sumer cannot see me yet -- he is not alone.
She hid herself, but watched her son from afar with intense longing. The nagging hate for what rested in the stomach of the Eternal Tree did not deteriorate in the least, but at the same time passionate, fierce, motherly emotions were waking in her.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

Clearing his throat, the older wolf straightened his posture before padding over to the apparently-Yozoran neophyte. He somewhat-gently prodded the smaller wolf with his nose, uttering an "Are you alright?" before glancing back at Sumer.
"I think he's alive," Ashai woofed.
No duh, genius Sumer thought critically, noting how Ashai had become more niave since he had become a Proeliator. Trying to act tough or something, I bet...
The younger, tan wolf looked to the sky, fur bristling slightly at the ominous signs swirling in the clouds. The wind was picking up further, whipping his pelt in one direction and forcing his head back down.
I wish Ashai would just get on with it-- we'll need to get shelter for this storm... it seems big.
He was so preoccupied with thoughts of the oncoming storm that he easily shook off the paranoia that clawed at his mind when he swept his gaze past the nearby thicket...

[Sivoncé™]

Shiro showed no notable signs of change as the wolves approached, and laid there like a useless sack of potatoes as they mulled over him in the wake of an oncoming storm...

'Storm' was barely an apt description. What was happening with the world right not was nothing short of a horrific, prophectic nightmate. Trees were snapping under the pressure of fighting thrashing torrents of wind, branches were flying everywhere; already wreckage was beginning to create issues. On the skyline, the portal of black-hearted fowl that covered the heavens came to a head, being sucked and swirled into a fine-pointed vortex....

Babylonia took no notice of this creature, this great natural force prowling closer ; too enraptures with Sumer was she. Must get rid of that other wolf....imposter, inhibitor! If it were not for that little wench, Sumer and I would be somewhere safer by now...
Insanity does strange things to you.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

Sumer closed in on Ashai, nudging the other wolf's side with his muzzle and nodding toward the sky. Thankfully, Ashai looked-- even though it was only a brief glance-- to the heavens, and cursed softly at what he saw.
"Alright, no more playing around-- whoever you are, you need to move unless you want to be struck by lightning or something." He prodded the neophyte roughly and sharply with a paw.
Sumer swallowed loudly, knowing simply by scent that lightning would be the least of their problems...
And, quite suddenly, a branch snapped. Sumer's eyes flew upward to see a tree limb flying past him and crashing into the thicket behind himi.
Dear Lupus... we need to find shelter NOW.

[Sivoncé™]

Lightning...?
Only now did Babylonia take note of the true, imminently dreadful aspect of the current situation.
And a mad fire was lit in the she-wolf.
My son is out there, far from any nearby shelter....no, that's not true. Sumer and I could get out of here and just leave those two idiots to earn what was coming for them! Yes, it's time to intervene here....
"Sumer!" She barked over the roar overhead, no longer caring if Ashai took notice of her or not -- she could deal with him if needed.

Shiro groaned, twitching, but still did not come completely back into consciousness for a few moments. His eyes flickered open, the world a hazy, wind-torn and lightning-struck blur. "Who are you...?"

[.Rabid Lycan.]

The eldest wolf sighed in relief when the Yozoran finally responded to his efforts.
"We're Destinians... I'm Ashai; that's--"
He blinked, startled when his sentence was finished for him. He swiveled around, staring into the burnt and blackened thicket for signs of the speaker. Instinctively, he stepped in front of Sumer, as if to protect the neophyte.
"...you, whoever you are," Ashai looked back at the Yozoran, "We need to get out of here now... there's a storm and... someone else. You need to get up!"

Sumer froze as Ashai shielded him from the direction of his mother's voice.
No, no you idiot... I'm not the one who's going to need protection...
He quickly swiveled around and kneeled beside the other neophyte, tugging at his fur in an attempt to lift him to his paws.

[Sivoncé™]

(I thought they were both warriors )

Shiro was shaken to a point of further wakening by the sudden popping of his eardrums -- the entrance of a colossal volume into his ears. He struggled to a stand, still tattered and bleeding heavily. "We have to get out of here....where....?" he coughed, maw pinkened with blood.

Babylonia snarled with frustration. Damn you, Euphrates! So you've already gotten to Sumer? You've already poisoned his head? I don't care, I'm not letting him die! "SUMER! I KNOW A SAFER PLACE!"

[.Rabid Lycan.]

((*shrug* I wasn't actually sure... I probably just can't remember the ceremony
*cough* WARRIOR then!))

Sumer's ears twitched. His inner voice-- one that sounded much like Euphrates-- lowered to a whisper. We-- I. I would be safe with my mother...
What about him?
Sumer nudged the neophyte-- who was now standing-- in the direction of the voice, wishing he could add the reassuring "Follow my scent" that he wanted to say. But he couldn't, and simply began heading in Babylonia's direction.

Ashai narrowed his eyes when Sumer pushed past him, growling, "Hey, stay back!"
He silenced and stiffened, however, when Sumer gave a warning glance.

[Sivoncé™]

A large, ancient oak above them swirled and swayed with the power of the wind, a harsh, sharp creaking splitting the air as a branch was ripped from its lodgings in the tree. It fell, knifelike, backflipping as it came. Shiro turned, mouth agape, but no time for sound as the woodland harpoon struck his life out from his core.
He stumbled, then fell back, blood leaking in slow, monotonous movements and thick density from Death's mark. The neophyte was terifyingly still, all the while the rest of the world was being blended and grinded into a whirlwind.

"SUMER, WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW!" Babylonia shreiked, starting forward towards the two, taking no notice of what Ashai's stance was. She couldn't care less for the mass of molecules ; she wanted her son, safe.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

((..."mass of molecules"... XD))

Scarlet spattered across Sumer's face, his eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar at the shock of watching Shiro die an inch from his face. And the lifelessness... Sumer took a pace back, the inert nature of the corpse in front of him sending a shudder down his spine.
...
Not able to think for himself, he obeyed the first voice to enter his mind-- his mother's voice. The small wolf turned and sped after the voice, ears back and eyes closed as he tried to erase the memory of the Yozoran neophyte's death from his mind.

Ashai looked blankly from the dead wolf to the retreating Sumer, and slowly took a few steps after his packmate.
"...wait..."
After Sumer had already disappeared from sight, Ashai seemed to regain mobility.
"...wait-- Sumer! Come back!"
The older warrior took off after the younger wolf, pulling his ears back when the wind began to roar too loudly in his ears.
Oh god... tornado.

[Sivoncé™]

(( xD I was tired, okay! ))

Babylonia felt barely a millimeter of relief as her son fled towards her, relief that there was a possibility they could still get out. She didn't wait for him to reach her ; she seized him by the scruff and spun, charging with forceful muscles flexing deeply. She did not look back at the oncoming wrath of the sky, nor did she maneuver her head over her shoulder to see if Ashai was lost, following, or swallowed by the mists again.
All that was in her mind now were three vital, pivotal things:
Sumer. The storm. Somewhere to wait out the storm in safety.
Come on, come on, DAMNIT! THERE'S GOTTA BE A FREAKING CAVE OR DEN OR--
Babylonia's fluid, rushing-water pelt suddenly morphed into a frantic, scattering bolt. Behind her, the forest fell into destruction ; she dipped into the ground and moved away from the perils that were above.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

Seconds slowed into years, and throughout it all, Sumer's heartbeat was a hum of fear and anxiety. And during those years, Sumer heard three things: Ashai's heavy breathing and pawsteps as he came forward, his mothers startled gasp, and the roaring of wind that nipped his hind legs as he ran. And then his mother's fangs met his fur, and years became seconds again, and suddenly he ended up beside Babylonia in a depression in the ground.
And while he was panting and ducking his head down as far as possible, he remembered about Ashai...

Ashai blinked, seeing Sumer taken by Babylonia in a fraction of a moment, and then watching the duo ride away in a blur. When Sumer was out of sight, he suddenly realized what was happening. It terrified him.
He ran faster, his young warrior heart beating frantically in his chest as he dodged branch after branch after branch in a desperate flight from the storm.
And suddenly one branch move backwards. The wind was so loud, Ashai didn't even hear it snap. And with everything shaking and roaring, he didn't see it coming toward him either...

[Sivoncé™]

Though they were safe, embraced by the earth, the screaming of the less fortunate, annihilated spirits above was unceasing, constant. The only light here was a narrow, arrow-lit shaft of colorless tyranny. The she-wolf was silent for a pawful of long moments, the only noise issuing from her was a heavy panting that gradually slowed into breathing with some amount of regularity.

He's safe....I'm safe...it will be fine. We'll just figure the rest out later...I'll pretend I had no idea who those other two wolves were. Who really cares about them, really? And it's only just a little white lie. It's true to say I was just so concerned by Sumer's safety that my senses overtook me.....oh, Ashur, pray to this sweet, sadistic earth you've found shelter....