Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2015 2:52:18 GMT -5
It had been hours since the large arctic wolf set her sights on the jungle. Even from a distance, she could see the shadows made by the competing leaves of the tree-tops dancing beneath the fading sunlight. If nothing else, it offered better shelter than the seemingly barren desert lands presented as an alternative to her right. She’d made her way across the land bridge, for no better reason than to see what lay on the other side. She watched as the darkness chased off the daylight towards the west. Just a few hours ago the day had been warm, unusually so for winter, and the sharp edge on the new overlord of the sky - a sickle moon - promised to make up for the oversight.
Scattered clouds masked the sky, casting their silhouettes upon the earth, drifting in the manner of aimless beasts between moon and stars. A hush filled the void left by the fading light like a voice was waiting to speak and yet…only more silence, unless you counted the gale that screamed across the unknown lands...
Twigs lay broken from their main life source upon the firma, cast up by waves or torn away from the jungle by merciless windes. Lifeless and auburn, the twigs were soon to wither and die. Tired eyes sought solace and shelter. Erza bleakly considered whether she might be like a twig herself. By all appearances still normal, but cut off from the life source it wouldn’t be long before the rot set in. She could feel her soul decay a bit more each day without contact from her own kind. Perhaps with each step she took, these days.
It had been a year of wandering. And she was so, so tired.
She found a nook just a few miles out from the jungle that would suffice as a den, but she passed it by. Her brain wasn’t ready to sleep yet, anyway, and she could always return to it later tonight. It was mostly exposed to the winds that would come tearing down from the north in the night, and she’d rather not be battered by those on this eve that promised a particular brand of cold vengeance.
Erza walked onward. Not even the promising scent of game to keep her going. Just the bleakly dormant jungle edge ahead. There was just nothing else to do, was there? Nothing to do but put one paw in front of the other and continue to hope. It wasn’t surprising, really. The number of drooping plants in sight. She was sure the interior nurtured more greenery, even in these harsh months. But the outer edge was constantly exposed to the elements from the north, from the desert.
“It’s no wonder something, in the wrong conditions, withers and will soon die.” She thought bleakly to herself.
As she reached the edge of the jungle, a nocturnal monkey of some sort chattered angrily at her from above. Her ear didn’t even flick in recognition. She paused for a moment to scan what she could see of the interior. Seemed safe enough, promised shelter if not food as well. Her posture was drooped, tail pulled tight to her rump and pointing down in defeat. Even slumped, she was quite tall. Masculine, for a female. Her pelt matched the russet mixture of dying plants around her, and her countenance was infinitely, profoundly sad.
She was on the verge of giving up. Truly. The countless hours alone sucked the warmth from her soul.
Erza stepped forward into the jungle, a broken spirit. She’d hardly adjusted to the various smells when she first caught a notion, the vaguest hint. “Could it be?!!” Her nose flared, grasping onto the tiniest measure of a smell. "Impossible!" It took a split second to register before her head was up, ears alert, tail perked. She moved toward the scent, and as it grew in potency her pace increased in urgency. She was moving perpendicular to the jungle, not into it, as she searched out what she hoped to be a boundary marker. "No way no way no way no way no way.." Her mind was racing faster than it ever had before. The dream surrounded her, it embraced her, and she sprinted toward the hope possessed in that whiff of her own kind.
Time slowed as adrenaline flooded her system, her eyes dilated and it was as if she fought her way through molasses to move. She was unused to the terrain, and she tore through it like a bull in full charge, taking the whiplike branches and ankle-rending pitfalls as they came, fixated only on the smell that teased her nose and made her bones soften in joy. She felt no pain, only bliss. Even just the hope was enough to invigorate her, but no - this surpassed a hope - this was tangible evidence.
Erza lost control of her bladder, but did not stop running.
She finally reached the boundary marker, after a hundred eternities. Her nose immediately planted to the ground and she feasted on the smells of her kind. She collapsed down, like one stranded at sea interminably who had just reached the shoreline. She rolled on the ground, and her body shook as she inhaled the scents.
After an unknown stretch of time she fought her muscles back into a standing position, and paced at the boundary. She ran up and down, positively jumping with excitement, inhaling the blissful smells again and again. She was fortunate the nighttime disguised her embarrassing display, and gave her time to calm down before she alerted the pack to her presence.
When she’d regained a measure of composure, she planted her haunches and cleared her throat by making a few practice noises. She hadn’t spoken aloud in who knows how long, and this moment would help her make a first impression on these wolves. Oh how she hoped they were kind and accepting, but that worry could wait. Just seeing them would be enough to give her aching heart hope again.
She let loose a mighty bellow of a howl, steeped in hope and reverence.
Who would greet her here?
