Willow Ridge the dying of the light

tw: Death & cancer.

Hagar had never fully recovered from his collapse at the Lagoon. The smoke and ash continued to build in his lungs, while the cancer within his chest spread as though feeding upon the debris. It choked his heart and clogged his airways, eliminating all chances for his body to regain its strength. He could feel, deep down, what was becoming of him, and it left him numb.

He did not seek out his children, did not stay at his wife's side. Hagar wandered instead, tired eyes dazedly searching for where he would die. The wolf ended up at Avella's favorite place, beneath the tree which shaded part of the creek. For a while he'd stared upon it, imagining all the times he'd seen her there, as reliable as the sun rising and setting. Then his heart fluttered and his head felt light and he knew the minutes were coming to a close.

Hagar curled up at the base of the tree, bones that should still be strong aching as he folded them beneath him. His muzzle rested upon his paws, and consciousness drifted away. It would never return.

He knew his dad had been sick. He'd known it before the collapse - it was why he'd followed Hagar out to the lake that fateful day. It was why he'd been following him around their homeland, this loose territory of a pack that was not quite a pack. The pack that was not a pack that was a family, and a family that seemed to continue falling apart. Daegal's mother was gone, and he his brother, and he couldn't bear to lose anyone else.

He knew something was wrong that morning when Hagar disappeared. He wasn't with his youngest children or new wife, he wasn't at any of the caches. Daegal began to slowly grow more frantic as he searched and only relaxed when he finally found a whiff of his father's scent. He followed it and saw his sleeping form beneath a tree and finally felt better. "Hey dad," he called as he approached, ready to ask him if he wanted something to eat - Daegal would bring it to him, anything he needed - only to stop.

Something was wrong - very, very wrong. The pale yearling stared at the darker form for several long moments, struggling to make his lugs work for reasons entirely unrelated to the smoke. "...Dad?" he whispered, only for there to be silence. "Dad?!" And he rushed to the man's side, nudging and licking him and trying to get the cooling form moving. "Dad!"

But no response came and finally all Daegal could do was sit back and cry.

(This post was last modified: Jul 31, 2023, 01:21 AM by Daegal.)

Love seemed blind to many things.

Niamh had stayed hushed, silent, prayed only in the darkest of hours. Willed any diety to look upon her husband and provide relief. Yet it seemed that each prayer fell upon deaf ears.

Each bone she read upon did not relieve her mind.

So she wore thin her own threads while she feared his were already gone.

Once, he had disappeared before, and returned worse for it. Perhaps she had to be no fortune teller to know what could await her this time. Maybe it was why she walked slow with timid steps. Scared of what might be around each corner.

It seemed she had every right to be terrified.

A voice rose into the willows. A single word, a title, upon the air that landed with a hit that chilled her blood. It boiled into some soft sense of anger. To think that instinct had drove him away from loved ones in last moments. To think that something had tethered him out here, instead of curled in circle with those who cherished him.

Her grief was sudden, greedy and selfish.

She only looked on through misted eyes and silently cursed the grounds they stood upon. She was done with the loss and agony of the willows.

They would take no more.

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.

Eve had begun to visit this place often. Though unlike her father, she never rested below the tree as her mother had. Instead, she only came in hopes to find her mother there, settled and looking out at the water as she had time and time before. And Eve could think how she would run to her and snuggle up to her side as she had in her youth. To fall asleep to her mother's words and the sound of the river.

This day she came, there was someone under the tree, but it was not the picture which she had painted in her mind time and time again.

Her pale brother at their dad's side, trying his most to rouse him awake as he nudged at him. Niamh, a now single mother having been pulled into the beauty of the willows, only for it to curse her in the same ways it had the Archer family. This land was once their sanctuary. Their empire. Now, it was cursed. Ghosts of old giving warning after warning, but the little family heeding them not.

In the shock of it all as she stood, the weight of reality hitting her, Eve lifted her head and screamed in agony.

She had been contentedly chewing a stick vaguely close by to Niamh, attacking at it with her needle-sharp teeth with gusto, growling at it, even. The voice in the distance had her pausing, the anguish in the cry enough to get even her to stop what she was doing. Her gaze shifted to her mother, unsure of what was going on and seeking out any cue from her.

She seemed... sad, though Deirdre did not have the ability to articulate such a thought. But she could sense it.

Then a blood-curdling scream rang out through the willows, sending Deirdre skittering into the legs of Niamh in fear and confusion. Her chest heaved with deep breaths, eyes wide as she pressed herself into her mothers fur, and a soft whine slipping from her maw. She looked up into the face of her mother, unable to articulate her confusion beyond the worried look on her face.

Daegal had not realized at first that he had company, not until his sister screamed. He looked up, sobs hiccupping into stunned silence for a moment as he processed not only Eve but Hagar's new wife and one of his daughters. Blinking, he stepped back to allow Niamh space by Hagar's side and moved to his sister. He fell into the old habit of comforting her, only now his own crying had resumed as he embraced her. It wasn't fair. Why did they lose everything? He held Eve a little tighter, afraid she might suddenly disappear right from under him.

Izzy. Mom. Dad. He missed the simple days when it it was just them. He missed playing in the trees without a worry, missed jumping in fallen leaves with wonder and joy knowing his parents waited back at the den. He hated that he was so afraid. He didn't know what to do anymore... and he wasn't sure he ever would again.

FADE

(This post was last modified: Dec 21, 2023, 01:30 AM by Daegal. Edit Reason: fade )