Mountain of Dire bane of the mountain

A rumble can be heard coming from Mountain of Dire. Mid-day, mild winter temperature, overcast.

Ava had had a somewhat off feeling about the day, even before she roused herself from her make-shift den that morning. Standing at the base of the Mountain of Dire the feeling intensified to the point where it nearly constricted her lungs. And in a few minutes, she would never be more sure that she should've just stayed her ass home that day.

She'd battled with the idea of returning to the mountain for weeks even before she'd crossed the border of the Lore. Not even to revisit the Poisoned ones, just to approach her old haunt. Nostalgia did not call her forward, but something certainly did. It almost felt as though she couldn't feel solid until she returned to her roots in even the smallest sense, like she wasn't back in Relic Lore unless she saw proof of a place she once belonged to. The only problem was the sheer amount of effort it would take to simply take a look at the Lost Lake. It took hours to climb, hours to descend, and it was a tiring labor for a she-wolf unfed. It almost took more ability to come up with the sheer gall to do it. There was no such thing as baby steps, in truth. How could she be expected to meander up the mountainside at a comfortable pace? Mountains were not made for comfort, and she was no longer a wolf of stone.

And yet she found herself at the base of it all anyway, a black figure against the iced grey surrounding her, with two legs in the dirt and two legs on the rocky trail. It felt like years that she stared up the beaten path, but finally the decision was made and she pushed off her static stance to begin the journey up. The stone was cold and slippery beneath her traction-less paws but discomfort was to be expected with such a long time away. The coal-pelted female moved slowly, almost delicately, with far less grace and speed than she used to tear through the foothills. But her blood was flowing, her senses were engaged, and it seemed that conquering the alp would turn out to be a good idea, after all.

It happened suddenly, then. Out of thin air the very stone itself shook beneath her paws and the summit growled at her approach, trembling so cruelly she nearly toppled over herself as she scrambled to a halt. Hackles raised in alarm she looked up the path to find the sky undulated downward - and a millisecond after that she'd come to the right conclusion. Time stopped, her amber eyes wide and plastered to the sheet of white that started overtaking trees high above her, and a cold realization washed over her that she'd just been rejected by the mountain. It'd felt her through her pawpads on the stone, read her traitorous heart, her betrayal in her bones, and turned against her. It knew, just like she did, that she did not belong here. And it fully intended to run her off.

Blind panic tried so very hard to steal control. Her dark limbs tangled with one another as the she-wolf whipped back around. The avalanche was still far ahead of her, but it gained with a fury she could not conjure even in her most venomous moments. As she leaped and slipped and tumbled away Ava felt her heart spasm, starting and stop in her chest, unsure if it ought to race to get her legs pumping faster or just stop and steal the avalanche's thunder for credit of her death. In the smallest window of clarity Ava understood she would never outrun the avalanche, but perhaps she could run its width before it swallowed her whole. Instinct swung her body perpendicular to the snow's path. The pale demon in her peripherals was all the motivation she needed to keep her legs from turning to jello no matter how weak terror made her. Like an ant she scurried, desperate and full of regret that she was even there in the first place.

One thing was certain; if the mountain found it in its heart to spit her out instead of swallowing her, she'd make damn sure not to make a symbolic trip near it ever again.

art - threads

Namara was simply wandering today, pressing and crossing her boundaries all at one time, she was getting lost to the mountain, letting her very soul intertwine with that which she came from. Plus, the headstrong she wolf thought it would come to an advantage should she ever need to fight on this mountain. Her thoughts were trailing back to Kamota and Tenzin and why Tenzin couldn't have just come to his family. But again she shrugged of the thought, he had made his choice just as she had made hers. Suddenly she felt the earth begin to tremble and while oblivious to the avalanche that was quickly forming she simply continued to walk lost in thought.

The trembling and the noise got louder until she realized with a jolt that she knew what was happening, and if she did not find the source quickly she would be swallowed by the snow and frozen before nightfall. Never more would she see Poison Path or her brother. Shit, shit, shit she thought, where is it? Where is it? then from what appeared nowhere she saw the wall of white bearing down upon her and a dangerous distance from its base was a small black speck which she noticed was a wolf running at full pelt directly toward her. Namara spun on her own length as she had been taught to in these situations, just as the black she wolf shot past her, the scent of fear thick in the air.

Namara ran as hard as she possibly could, in her mind however she would not be surprised in the least if she were killed this way, it would serve her right that's for sure, however her paws slammed the stone and brush she realized her size was a very major disadvantage because the wolf that had pelted past her was already a good distance away and the avalanche would not slow until it hit the bottom of the mountain she guessed. She kept getting snagged and tripping her large form dragging her down, she kept hoping she would make it but she was very sure she wouldn't for the snow had closed off the path behind her, and being raised in the mountains she knew if she made it out it would be a miracle. The best she could hope for was that she made it at least to the edge.

It's been so long since we threaded. <3

The dark king found that he ventured further from his borders each day. Perhaps he was testing fate, hoping to bump into one of their neighbours with each trip he took, or perhaps he was out searching for those who braved the mountain and could be a suitable candidate for their pack... or perhaps he was just frigging bored. All was well now that he had his female pack, they had a new pack of a complete mish-mash of wolves of all shapes and sizes, they were getting to know each other, slowly, but he refused to settle back into an sort of routine. No, look what had happened the last time he allowed himself to sit still and enjoy his surroundings. He had made a vow to himself to never slip back to his old ways, to be more active in his role and above all else, to be his true self.

His paws had taken him south of their pass, along the path that perhaps the wolves of the lake might use and in truth, he would love to bump into one of them, send them back home with maybe a little message and a whole lot of blood. Their own, of course. He kept his wits about him, his guard never dropping as he casually trotted across the mountain, unafraid of the mistakes his paws might make and tumble him from the edge- he was sure of his footing, he was sure of their home and in truth, he found peace amongst the rocks and against the wind, more so than he might find in any forest now.
His pace was not mellow, but not quick, he walked with purpose in his stride and his gaze fixed on the area that surrounded him, but he sure steps were not to last as a loud, sudden sound grabbed the air around him. He stopped, frozen in place like a rabbit in headlights as he listened, trying to figure out just what might have caused such a noise. All around him, the world was still, nothing was out of place... no, wait. The ground beneath his paws was trembling, vibrating against the leather of his pads. He looked down to his toes and noticed that small, pointless stones were dancing against the vibrations. An inate fear ran though him, making his dark blood boil as every inch of his body told him to run- but from what? He strained his ears, keeping his breath silent as he sought out the source of the sound which seemed to be growing louder and it was not until his eyes caught the movement of snow and ice in the distance that he realised just what was going on. "Fuck." he said beneath his breath, blowing hot against the icy winds which whipped around him.

He'd never seen an avalanche. He had heard of them, sure, but he had yet to feast his eyes upon one and up until now he had been thankful he had yet to witness such a natural disaster. He figured he was not in the way, the snow and ice seemed to be tumbling down the next rocky peak, but its path was unpredictable and it was not until he saw the figure of a black wolf running with all she had that he realised he might not have been quite as out of the way as he might have hoped. It took him a moment to recognise the dark woman... Ava. Yet it appeared that there would be no time to reconnect with her, they had to run. That was obvious and he had would made haste, were it not for a scent he had secretly been searching for touching his nose. As Ava slipped past, he thought perhaps he went unnoticed, his dark figure did well to hide amongst the rocks. From behind her, a silvery female was giving chase, he assumed she too was running from the snow which would soon be cascading down this way... maybe. It was her scent that interested him however, she stunk of the lake, of the wolves who lived within the nightshade he had once called home. He could not stop the rumble that fell from his chest at the sight and smell of her. He didn't know her, but he didn't want to... what he wanted to do was beat her to a pulp.

He decided to give chase, streaking after the other two wolves as they made their sharp exit. His long strides were effortless, his footing sure as he followed up the rear- his icy grey eyes focused only on taking down the silver female once they were out of harms way. With Ava long forgotten, his mission had been set and accepted- it would just have to wait until the storm that bellowed behind them passed.

yes, it has! this is gonna be good ;p

Overwhelmed by alarm, Ava would not have even noticed the other she-wolf had she not very nearly barrelled into her. In fact she wasn't entirely sure there had even been another wolf - with Ava sprinting to save her sorry life and the other female whirling around as she passed her it seemed like a mere trick of the nose and an odd brown spot in the corner of her vision. Had she not turned her dark head over her shoulder (almost tripping in doing so) to see a wolf's form gracelessly heaving after her in the distance she would've passed it off as a figment of her wildly inactive imagination, and yet there she was, another wolf betrayed by the mountain.

She had, obviously, no time to notice that the she-wolf bore the mark of one pale lady Ava had once followed, much the same way she had no time to notice a dark form watching them from further up the mountain, to whom she'd also sworn allegiance almost a year prior. The black-furred female knew not a damn thing of the turbulence that had only swelled on the mountain, and had she known a recent history lesson was emerging as she raced across the mountainside she might've acted a little differently. But that was something she'd have to consider in hindsight.

As she ran she scanned the surrounding stone for something that might give her a leg up on the impending doom. with every passing second the ground beneath her shook more violently, threatening to uproot rocks and block her in so the snow could claim a victim - or perhaps just to steamroller her into a wolfy pancake, who knew? So when Ava spotted a boulder much like her once-beloved sunning rock in the Heights, flat on the top and of a decent height, she wasted no time and pivoting on her heel and heaving herself up the side. Her blunt claws raked against the ice that frosted the top and it was without poise that she tumbled onto its surface, but she'd made it up there anyhow. They were nearly on the outskirts of the avalanche, almost safe, and with that in her grasp she had to swallow the metallic taste of fear in her mouth. Opposite of the rock there was a crest of mountain, a slightly higher peak that she could reach if luck favored her. There she might endure the afterthought of the avalanche, but it was a far cry from the full rage that had not yet made it to the bottom.

Ava turned her head, in case the she-wolf was still behind her. At the very least she had to know if she'd seen Ava's escape route, lest her death be bloodied on her dark paws. It was then that she finally saw him, dark and lean and unmistakable, leaping hotly after the other she-wolf. Rhysis? Of course, from her distance she could not see the fury in his cold eyes; how was she to know that he was driven by bloodlust rather than fear? Now this was a personal matter. He'd saved her life once before - and her debt could be repaid by saving his (or you know, so she thought).

If they didn't get out of the way soon the sheet of snow would cover them all, hiding the path they'd taken beneath several feet of snow dotted with hunks of ice and rock and all sorts of things Ava didn't really feel like diving head-first into. They had to go, now. Words failed her, so with an urgent bark she directed attention on to herself and hoped that would be enough that they'd understand. Then she turned her back on their fate and tumbled forward, hobbling over protrusions and jumping over lesions in the territory to reach the precipice. Only once she was there would Ava turn her head to see how many wolves would be behind her - if there would be any, at all.

art - threads

Namara pressed herself and notice another had joined the race, but this one seemed to be behind her while she was sure he could easily be in front, then the thought struck her that maybe he was from the pack, she didn't know, she hadn't caught a scent nor anything of the sort. Plus as distant and untrusting as the pack was being to her she hadn't met enough of them to know that the one behind her was their former king. Or that he hated her just for carrying their scent and was at a full mind to bring her down just for fun. She merely hoped they made it out alive and she could talk to other wolves. Since her pack did not seem to do too much caring these days.

She saw the smaller woman before her was gone at some point and pressed on keeping on her hopeless path until she heard a sharp bark. Above her stood the she- wolf and Namara understood it was intended as help. The large Gray and Brown hued woman turned her body slightly to spring to safety when her right front paw slipped on a small ice covered boulder. First that shoulder went down, then the left her head tucked back against her chest to avoid breaking her neck she slid sideways on her back and felt the ground disappear. The first time she hit ground she was sure she had only fallen a few feet, then she skidded over another drop and fell much further this time she landed against two large rocks and felt all the breath leave her body.The final drop would save her life but she didn't know it, the same two rocks she had hit earlier had formed an overhang which she fell just far enough beneath to spare her from the snows rage.

A rush of sound and she was surrounded on all sides by white she had no Idea how close she was to the edge nor how injured she was, her vision was blurred and she could see the scarlet pooling on the pure white of the snow. The pain was nearly unbearable and it was all she could do to limp very painfully to the inner edge of the rocks and curl up, if she survived this, she would never go back to her old ways. She would torture no more she would, use no more, and she would feed on misery no more. But Namara had no voice for this and she just lay bleeding into the snow around her having no idea truly how thin it really was. She would wait she decided, until she gathered strength right now she was tired so she needed rest.

(This post was last modified: Jan 23, 2013, 06:05 PM by Namara.)

It felt. So. Good.
He had forgotten how much he loved to just run. To feel his facestring from the sharpe breeze as it whipped past him. To hear his heart thumping against his hollow chest as it sourced him with fuel. His legs stretched in a graceful way as he consumed the ground beneath him. The icy gale around him petted his fur, running cold fingers along his spine and against his warm skin. It felt wonderful and his body enjoyed the feeling like nothing else. It had been far too long since he had just ran.

Perhaps however, it would have been far more enjoyable if the run was not due to the fact that they would soon be encased in snow and ice, most likely dead. That thought did make him run faster, but it also sucked the fun out of it.

From ahead, he heard Ava's bark. It was strange to hear her voice after so long, but it was no different now than it had been before. She dissapeared, but he was too far behind to follow. In front of him, the wolf he wished to chew on slipped and went flying towards the edge. "For fuck's sake." he snarled as he watched the silver and russet blob of fur vanish. Which left him alone now to brace the snow behind him. With nothing left to chase, he decided to end the game he was playing. Without hesitation, he threw himself towards a ridge that seemed to jut out from the mountain side. He pressed his large body to the rock, lowered himself to lay with his tail coiled and head pulled back. He had but moments to spare before snow and ice pelted before and behind him. The ridge acted as a barrier, causing the snow to split around him leaving him high and dry.

The sound was almost deafening and the temperature plummeted as he lay within the snow cave, until at last the rumbling stopped, the movements around him stopped and the vibrations he felt upon the floor...stopped. It appeared it was over, for him at least.

He gave it a little longer before he stood, shook the stands of snow and ice that had managed to reach him before he moved to the snow wall. It seemed that the majority of the avalanche had been over before it reached them, it was not too deep. He reared onto his hind legs, braced his paws against the snow wall and began to dig upwards.

The moment came and went so quickly it was like it hadn't even happened at all. One second Ava was standing, certain they could make it where she was, and a blink later she was all alone, surrounded by absolute silence and piles of snow and ice . She tried so hard to piece together the snippets she could recollect from her panicked memory: The poison she-wolf leaping toward Ava, only to topple topple forward without even faltering in motion. The roar of the avalanche growing louder as she skirted closer to the edge, cautious not to be shaken off her safe peak by the ever-growing ferocity. Rhysis, somewhere down the path, headed desperately for an overhang. And then the roar became deafening and she turned her head before seeing if he'd made it to safety to watch the fury of the pale devil swallow everything. The coal-pelted female shirked, lowering herself to the ground and jammed her eyes shut. The entire mountain felt as though it were crumbling, everything was so loud she couldn't hear a god damn thing, and suddenly it was all over.

Immediately she opened her eyes wide, amber gaze sweeping across the setting before her just to make sure she was alive and on the Mountain and not somewhere in her own spit of heaven. When she was certain that the quaking she felt came from her shaking legs and not the stone beneath her paws she stood and eased her way toward the edge. Ava had not seen the she-wolf's paw miss its grip and slip across the ice-frosted rock so she had absolutely no idea where that wolf went. Rhysis, on the other hand, seemed as though he'd flat-out melted into the stone. Last she'd seen of him he was running for it and now she truly could not fathom where he could have found shelter. Regardless she knew she would have to find them both, and she could do no such thing if she didn't remove herself from the ridge of safety.

Ava inhaled deeply, hoping that as her lungs filled with air she might find herself filled with courage as well, and delicately approached the gentlest slope downwards that she could find. Aided by the snow she pointed her toes and slid downwards, tail quivering with uncertainty. The more she moved toward them, the higher the mounds of snow became, and by the time she felt solid rock beneath her paws again she was nearly chest-deep in the cold substance. She felt overwhelmed with the chill, blinded by the sheer amount of white in her vision, and positively irritated by some weird scratchy sound that she wasn't even sure if she was hearing at all. How the hell was she expected to find two wolves in this condition?

Flustered she bellowed, "Rhysis," hoping that he could hear her somehow. She scanned her surroundings for any sign of recognition. If only she knew the girl's name, she could try and draw her out too. The fall had to have injured her; what if she was in no state to recognize anything but her own name? Still, Ava had to try. "Hey," she shouted once more. Ava declined to act any further until she saw some god damn thing at all, for fear that if she placed one more paw forward the snow would collapse underneath her and she'd disappear into an abyss much the way the other two had.

(This post was last modified: Jan 28, 2013, 11:24 PM by Ava.)

art - threads

Namara lay still, in what her thoughts were quickly forming into her tomb, her final resting place, but there was a small voice in the back of her mind that whispered "Fight". The large she wolf stayed awake, her eyes were heavy and tired, she could not yet tell weather or not she had broken anything. For the first time in Namaras life she stood and whimpered, like a lost pup she was afraid for the first time. Truly afraid, to her very core that she would die here in the tomb of ice and snow, what was worse was that she doubted weather or not anyone would care she was gone.

If she could cry she would between the pain in her body, and the pain racking her heart and mind she was utterly defeated. It was almost ironic that she would not be struck down by a wolf, but by mother nature herself. It was her reckoning she realized, there was one wolf in this world she thought might look for her, and that was Kamota, otherwise she was a ghost. No friends in her life, no one to care for her. She began to whine softly as she limped towards the snow and brushed her bloody sides along the wall leaving a perfect streak of red.

So much pain, is this what I've done to myself? her mind running wild she continued her slow limp, putting as much pressure on the wall as she could without yelping in pain. She fell back to her side with a painful grunt before she saw one bright spot near her. Once again the big she wolf rose only this time she hit the wall at what felt like the most painful jog ever. Light flooded the cavern eerily, the bloodstained snow giving the appearance of being flooded with blood, straining she raised a fore paw and scraped at the snow it all came down as if a pathway opened up for her to exit, just as she heard someone calling from the outside world.

She crawled upwards it was painful, excruciatingly painful, her body screamed in protest, as she made her way to the light the icy air hit her full in the face, sucking the air from her lungs. She stumbled the last few steps and coughed as her head hit the snow outside of the hole. Scarlet dotted the powder before her face. She had to get back to the pack, or she knew she would die, she could only hope that there was enough heart in those wolves to help her. She knew her past deeds may very well come back to her at this moment. Her only thought, I don't want to die, I want to live, I want to be worth something, not just a painful memory, not just evil and hatred, please don't let yourself die Namara.

His paws were freezing, to the point where they burned with the cold, but he was almost to the surface. From afar, he heard his name being called and without a doubt he knew it was Ava. Her concern was touching- it was lucky for her that she had abandoned the poisoned wolves when she had, else she too might have been his prey. He didn't know the ins and outs of course, but he Naira had told him she was not there and he couldn't help be feel pleased that at least one of the wolves they had to leave behind, was not fucking retarded. As for that other wolf, well... if the drop off the side of a mountain didn't end her, he certainly would.

His patience paid off, and at least his paws broke free of the icy chamber he had been locked within. Kicking off with his hind legs and using what little grip there was upon the compacted snow around him, he hauled himself slowly, but steadily from his icy grave. The vivid blue of the sky above burned his eyes for a moment as they adjusted to the natural light, he narrowed them slightly to make the process less painful before he scanned the area around him. Ava was a little further off, but her deep black coat stood out like a beacon against the crisp white background. A further scanned did not yet reveal the silver wolf who did not yet meet her end, but the stench of fresh blood was unmistakable in the air.

He had two choices at that point- go to Ava and make chit chat, nice talk. Maybe try to convince her to come home with him for she had been a valuable asset before... or he could hunt down one of the wolves who angered him to the very core. Hmm. Not really that hard a choice. "One moment." he called to Ava, before he tasted the air with both his nose and his tongue as he sought out the scent of the injured wolf. He hoped she wasn't in too much pain... it would be more fun that way when he caused her extra grief. With a wicked smirk, he headed off in her direction.

The silence was haunting, her ears abuzz with the incomprehensible sound of paws against snow that she mistook for the rush of her own blood. A frown etched itself deep within her features, teeth bared against her own anxiety. Her call had echoed through the mountainside and it'd been only seconds, surely, but the lack of response was downright unnerving. Somewhere beyond her vision the Poison Path she-wolf broke through the tomb of snow that had encompassed her, and with her freedom came the reek of fresh blood. Unlike that of a stag, which would've driven her forward, the stench of wolf blood made her feel nearly sick. In the cold, it smelled like death, and the threat of such an absolute end clutched at her heart. Her fear was so intense that when a response finally broke the tension in the air she felt herself jump, eyes flickering immediately toward Rhysis's voice.

One moment? She didn't have a damn moment to spare and neither did he and neither did that other girl, wherever the fuck her broke ass had landed. Frustrated with the situation all together a haughty snarl slipped from between her teeth and she propelled herself forward through the piles of snow, paying little regard to the shards of ice that tugged on her skin and threatened to draw her up with little marks. Her paws bumped against rocks on her path, slipping on ice and snow and lack of mountain savoir faire, but she pushed on regardless. If there was nothing more to be said about her skills on the stone paths it was that Ava would not roll over and accept that she was far from the Mountain wolf she'd once been. She had always been quite resilient, a fact self-appreciated as she dragged herself forward. Through the blinding light and the obstacles she could still catch Rhysis's lanky form, his long legs devouring distance that she struggled to make up for.

A break in the mounds of snow gave her enough room to leap forward, sinking into the fallen powder and gaining steadily on the male. The further they went the more sickening the red in the air was. Ava could put two and two together - Rhysis was following the wretched stink of blood in the air - and yet she only came up with three. There was no way she could foresee his intentions; if she had she surely would not have trotted up beside him. The air around her former king reeked of adrenaline like a hunt did, but her veins were flooded with the stuff as well. There was no calming her either, especially as they approached a ridge over which she could spot a patch of red crueler than any other. It was bright like a fire, shimmering in the overwhelming sunlight, and it could only belong to one wolf.

Momentarily she forgot Rhysis and averted her course, slowly finding a way down among the slippery slopes. Still she could not see the female, but her scent was all over the air and her blood all over everything else. With a grimace she barked again, hoping for any noise in response just to prove she did not seek a dead body.

art - threads