Sex: MaleEven the clouds, as they hung suspended, seemed as though at any moment they could burst, bleeding down upon the wilderness the red hue that soaked the evening sky. A gentle breeze swept over the blooming grasses and through the naked limbs of the trees who, too, seemed to have been touched by spring's breath of life. He would close his eyes, and let go every thought that weighed so heavily on his mind as it cut through the fur of his cheeks and crown. It was so quiet here, something the man now felt as though he'd taken for granted. Life in the cedarwood forest he'd left behind for the day and night had become suffocating; it was as though the close-knit family that he'd embraced was now crumbling, changed forever by Borden's crusade for power, <i>one that would soon come to a grinding halt.</i> The thought itself was enough to shake him from his moment of tranquility, and the darkened gaze that had once seen only despair and loss opened to a new world - at least, a world that he viewed in a new light. There <i>was</i> hope around every corner, and the whimsicle swirl of cloud cover seemed to illustrate the fact before his very eyes.
Where the winter had been cruel to many, the static-hued man had only grown stronger, <i>resiliant</i>. Weight that had been gained over the past months now served to fill his broad frame, and although the shedding of his winter coat appeared slimming, the musculature beneath was robust - fine tuned, now, as the transition into maturity was well behind him. The silver eyes that had first laid sight to Relic Lore seasons ago roved over the rolling features of the lakeland with a wisdom beyond his years. The man held little concern now for things he'd once felt were important. Freedom, individuality, <i>fate</i>. The control was his, and always had been; he'd been deceived into believing that you make the best of what was given to you, to expect the worst and hope for the best; he knew, now, that he was fully capable of taking matters into his own hands, to will with them what he wished. It was this ironclad empowerment that would propel the Attaya male into the next chapters of his life, but not before he reunited with the very place where his being had once been dismantled: <i>where the fog meets the shadow</i>.
Wide paws would hit the ground running as the wolf descended from his position atop an impressive gang of boulders, beneath a nightly sky so beautiful that it could have stolen his breath, had he given his permission. Weaving through the lengthy grasses was like child's play as he cut through them with precision, the length of his tail serving as a counterbalance when the ground underfoot would pit or become uneven. The rhythmic beating of his paws was, perhaps, the only sign that he was ever there, masked by the shadows that had become a part of him as he danced closer to his destination, the hole in the hillside where he hoped to find the remnants of his shattered, past life. <i>He would require every shard</i>.
Eventually the pace he'd eagerly adopted would wither and the male would halt, craning his head as his snout reached out to the winds for a sign that he was close, <i>and he was so very close</i>. The scent of freshwater carried from mountain would fill his lungs, and a second wind would lead him to the peak of the slope where his path was now hidden away, covered by vegetative growth, a thickening layer of fog hovering just above the ground. Stealing a glance to the left and then to the right, he would ensure that he was alone here before proceeding.
The angle of the hill was long forgotten, but adaptively the man would slide his way down as sheets of melting ice had when they carved their impression into the earth during the winter. Debris would tangle the coarse fur of his thick legs, now muddied and not without fresh cuts that would remind him that this was <i>no</i> dream, though for the life of him <i>he could not wake.</i> At the bottom, the very sight the king sought awaited him - every bit of what he imagined.
The lake had lost none of its mystery, and it seemed as though his absense had been forgotten in time. Where he had expected to find the ruins of what was once a humbling spectacle, a kingdom remained. The surface of the Lost Lake was still, untouched even by the breeze that had carried him home, the silhouette of the peaks in the background like a flawless, mirror image within it. Young cattails lined the lake's edge, now much closer to the den he'd painstakingly forged, and it would seems as though winter's snowfall had filled the body of water to the brim. Glancing for only a moment to the mouth of the narrow hole in the hill, the dark figure would warily approach the rocky shore as a somber sigh of contentment was lost to the night air. <i>He really did miss this place.</i>
Stepping into the cold water, the male would lap up a quick drink before standing in awe, half-submerged and nearly unable to contain the fulfillment that rushed over him. A pale, haunting gaze would meet the hanging moon, full and bright among the flickering, distant stars that surrounded it.
As he searched the perpetual black veil that was the night sky, suddenly, <i>it was Jaysyek's eyes that peered back.</i></blockquote>
(This post was last modified: Mar 24, 2012, 10:32 PM by Kade.)
