Jakart felt as if he drifted across the whole world as evening slipped to night, and night to a few moments before dawn. It had all been pain, choking and sputtering on vile water as he rolled onto his side and drifted along the flooded territory amidst the waves of the floodwaters. He didn't even know where he was anymore ever since he'd been struck by that branch and carried away. His mind was as adrift as his body had been. A part of him just wanted to float there, remain motionless and just see what fate had in store for him. Constantly being battered and bruised reminded the grey wolf that he was at least alive, for now. But what kept him was the will to see his brothers. His sisters. Callisto. The black she wolf was his friend. The reason he was here and the reason he wasn't going to give up on living. He wanted to rest though, one ear hearing the swirling calm beneath the water and the other the full roar of the tides. It was the quieter option that he decided to venture towards and try to escape from the flood, breath slowly leaving his nose before it bubbled away as Jakart sank beneath the rushing water with but a single wash of a wave.
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When he opened his eyes it became apparent immediately that he was no longer drifting. In fact he was surrounded by sweet plains grass and the breezes brushing the tops of the fields that drew him to stand up with a start. Jakart shook his damp pelt to rid himself of water but not even a drop fell from his mussy fur. A sigh left him as he reclined on his haunches and a hind leg came up to scratch his throat. The wound on his neck didn't hurt per-say, but as his claws trailed through the wet fur the damage was felt. Water... he needed water to clean himself off and inspect just how badly he was torn up. Without much to go on Jakart simply headed in the direction the thicker grass grew, either ground water or a river ran close by.

Just idly did he spy the tree in the distance atop a hill, it's obvious familiarity lost in the immediate objective needing to be attained as the sounds of a gurgling creek drew him to hobble further along. The pine trees grew thicker, more familiar as he ignored everything in his dash to water. Stopping from almost a dead sprint Jak anxiously peered over and into the mirror surface of the river and turned his neck. At first it seemed a lot worse that it was. His shoulder was torn and ragged, an almost wishbone shaped gash had swollen his right eye shut with both lacerations to either side, the tail end stopping along the middle down his neck. With a grimace the grey wolf turned away and sat down with a shiver of his limbs as he thought about Callisto.

Walk | Talk | Think It was funny sometimes how the state of the afterlife changed so seamlessly from one style of territory to another. One second Tahlia could be standing upon the edge of the river that had been the Rio Grande and suddenly she was tossed back to the forest of the Range, pulled from the Firefly Lake all the way to the Fjord. The changes never seemed permanent, and no matter where she found herself she somehow always managed to make her way back to Bane, in which ever form of their world he happened to reside in at that time. It all happened so quickly, and so often, that she had stopped paying it any mind when the world around her suddenly took her to another familiar piece of her life. And these woods were very familiar too. Being her last place of residency when she lived, it held both a special place in her heart, but also carried with it her burden of guilt. This was where she had abandoned her children. This was where she had wasted away while her newborn son cried out for her attention and care. This was where she had forsaken her life as a mother and gave it up, as if it meant nothing. Not often did she wander this way - the dark thoughts were typically more than she could bear - but when she did it was always with a purpose. Whatever purpose had brought her here today eluded her. Tahlia wandered among the thick trunks of tall pine trees, grateful at least that she tread nowhere near the dens beside the fjord or the tree that grew atop the peak overlooking the valley. She was well away from all of it, distanced from those last locations that she had traversed before death, and as she walked she thought she caught scents left over from that time. Overlaying the natural smells of the forest, she caught her son's scent, recognizing it instantly. But it did not smell of the forest, or the pines. In fact, it smelled very different than it ought have for a memory, altered by time... Ears perked atop her head, the hunter spirit leaped forward and ran in pursuit of the scent, trailing her son's path that marched directly toward the river without wavering to either side. She slowed before she reached him, recalling her visit with Anais and how her daughter had been able to visit her in a dream. Smiling, assuming this would be much the same, Tahlia exited the treeline and spoke his name fondly to get his attention. "Jakart." Only, as she drew near, she noticed the scars, the wounds, the overall state of disarray that her grey-colored son was in. Immediately the smile fell away, fear seeding itself icily within her chest as she stopped a distance and stared at him with fresh worry that made her eyes at once fill with tears. "Oh, Jakart." Was he...could he possibly be dead?

Jakart shivered again and lowered his body onto the ground. There was no warmth here wherever he was as a paw idly scraped the soil of the riverbank. Even touching ye ground fully felt muted and disjointed than how it normally should have been. If that was the only thing about his sleep beneath the waves he supposed that he should grateful that it was no nightmare. Though... if he was alone forever here the he supposed that he would go mad. Jakart had always been a quiet wolf around his family, glad to help with whatever needed to be done without much thought or words given to the task. But he felt that Callisto had changed that when he had first met her since leaving Ebony. Anais and Lior were gone to a pack, his brothers disappearing to explore for days of weeks at a time, and so he remained by himself for much of his time in the Fern Gulley. Though, Callisto had changed that.

She didn't seem to need much in the way of a friendship as it was wanting to have a mutual understanding of where they stood in their strange relationship. Jakart supposed she could've been more than a friend after what they'd done during her season but he would need her to say it. Not that she would anytime soon. Especially with how they had parted a few hours ago. She most certainly thought of him as dead and lost. Maybe there was a chance that she would come looking for him. It was a stretch for him to be found even if he did resurface intact and well enough to walk.

The mirror smooth waters of the river had a ripple travel out across the surface as a paw was gently placed into it. The paw retracted and Jakart immediately found himself sitting back up and facing the sound of crashing bushes. If this was a nightmare he would be ready to face it. But no. One long lost to him poked her head out past the edge of the forest and stopped, that missed smile he hadn't seen in years falling away sharply. "Mom?" Tahlia? What was she doing here? "Mom..." Jakart saw that she was about to cry, his own chest constricting as his black paws darted his battered frame forward. With a choked sob, emotional strength waning with each bound forward until he buried his face into his mothers chest and wrapped his paws around her back with a sharp breath. Tahlia was one thing he needed right now and he didn't even know it as his body still drifted beneath the waves of the flood.

Walk | Talk | Think Oh gods, what had happened to her son? His shoulder, his face... He looked a god awful mess, so ragged and battered that she could only assume the worst had taken place in the living world she was now barred from. And so she did. He's gone. My poor boy's gone. Tears spilled over as Tahlia saw her son's expression shift from surprised to overwhelmed in a matter of seconds, and even that was enough to confirm the stricken mother's fears. Surely that was why he cried, because he knew he was gone from the living world and would now be confined here. It was not a fate she would have wished on her children at their age - not until they were old and ready to depart - and seeing him crumble, the boy who was typically so stable and quiet, made her heart ache more strongly. "Oh, Jakart," she said yet again, his name broken by a sob as he rushed toward her and fell against her chest, wrapping her up within his forelegs. Crying in earnest with him now, Tahlia lifted a foreleg to curl around his shoulders, holding him to her as she curved her neck over and around his. She nuzzled into his neck, his shoulder - where he lacked fresh scars - so distraught to think that he had lost out on so much life but still so selfishly happy to hold him. "My son, my wonderful boy," she muttered, her words mumbled and still barely audible as she continued to cry. It was unfair. It was all unfair that he had to lose his life to be here, that the first chance she got to see him was not through a beautiful dreamed visit as it has been with Anais but through his death. "I'm sorry, Jakart," she whispered through her tears to him, unable to think of any other words to say that would matter enough in that moment, "I'm so sorry."

It wasn't exactly tears that showed Jakart's sorrow as much as it was the drawn out whines released with each sharp breath as he stamped down the urge to completely break down. Tahlia didn't feel as he last remembered her before the rapid decline in health she suffered through with her husbands death. It was a dull touch but he knew there was comfort there as she held him, wrapped her neck around his for a moment before he shifted to try and lick away his mothers tears. Tahlia spoke praise of him simply being her son in whispers that he strained to hear with his permanently pinned ears. He must have looked horrible to her as she looked lovely to him. There were no ache to his wounds but he had seen the split skin and finally began to think that she interpreted was something far more dire with his appearance.

Tahlia repeatedly voiced an apology as she held him and his forelegs tightened in response. He knew this must have been hard seeing him like this after almost three years of being out of one another's lives. "It's ok mom. I forgive you, your place was with dad." The son spoke in a profuse manner as he tried to add to inform her of what had happened since he'd last seen her. "There was a woman," He started as the conversation was abruptly brought to the state of his appearance. "A flood. Saved her but replaced her." As to what was happening to his slumbering body in the present world Jakart had no further information. Drawing away from his mother his mismatched gaze stared into the two complete eyes of Tahlia and spoke with a touch of fright. "I'm drifting now." Jakart hugged his mother again with a with sudden flinch.

In his momentary escape beneath the waves as a branch poked him in the gut, paws drawing closer to his chest reflexively even in the strange limbo like sleep he had fallen under. A few remaining bubbles escaped from his slightly parted muzzle as the tide slowed. The flood was losing momentum on the wide surface of the plains, water now spidering outwards to flow down the ravines and trails that lead out of the decimated territory with its lone victim.

Walk | Talk | Think She could not stop the onslaught of tears that carried with them her heart's ache, and felt rather than saw through the blur of her vision as Jakart swept them away with soft licks. It hurt terribly to know her son, so young with so much life ahead of him, was now here with her in the afterlife and would no longer have a chance to build a life for himself among others. That he had ended up where she and Bane resided was a small blessing, but Tahlia could no longer be so selfish as to wish her family dead with her when they deserved so much more. Her apologies were heard, but their meaning was misinterpreted. Jakart accepted them but for her untimely departure from the living world, speaking that he understood her place had always been with Bane. It was not what she had meant - she was sorrier that he was here to stay now - but it was still true enough to bring fresh tears to her eyes and a renewed sense of guilt to her conscience. "I'm sorry," Tahlia whispered again, remembering only vague details of those last days of her life and how little of it she had actually been mentally present for. It had not been fair to her children who were suffering with their own grief, who had needed someone stable to get them through it, for her to leave them as she had. But they were strong, she realized, stronger even than her, and she was so very glad of it. As he suddenly went on, Tahlia struggled to restrain her grief enough to follow, and at first did not understand. A woman? What did that have to do with him here? With his wounds? Before she could assume some sorry excuse for a lady had done this to her son and left him for dead, the story became somewhat clearer. A flood? Replaced? It was so tragic, so selfless an act, that she was even more proud of her son for his quick action in saving another life, but the severity of that act was not as tragic as she believed it to be. I'm drifting, he said, and with a furrowed brow over her dark golden eyes Tahlia finally caught on to what that meant. He's still alive. There was, beneath her immediate joy, still a sense of heartache for knowing her son would not stay with her, but it was overpowered by her relief that his life was not over yet. "You're alive," she said in momentary shock as he reached forward to hold her again, "you're... But you must go back." There was urgency in her tone, fear in her voice and heart. If he stayed too long, if he did not go back in time... "If there is a chance for you to live, you must go," she pleaded quickly, her voice wobbling as her eyes, staring desperately into his, filled once more with tears. She missed him already, and yet she knew he should not be here. Not like this, not so close to the edge. He needed to go back, before he simply could not.

Jakart knew that his mother was sorry for leaving so soon. Even when she apologized when he mentioned her passing it was simply a waste of breath for her to say it. Jakart and his siblings all knew that their mothers place was with Bane, the grey male preferring to think that it was her love that brought her here to wherever this place was. The afterlife he supposed. Currently it was just him and his mother but it was cause for concern that Bane wasn't here with them. "Mom," Jakart swallowing the lump in his throat and drew away. "where's... where's dad?" But Tahlia only stared back in what he took for shock, a worried whine leaving his throat at the look as his forelegs shifted their grip around her shoulders.

Alive? Of course he was alive. He was only taking a quick rest beneath the calm waters of the flood. It was just a momentary closing of his eyes. "Yes. I'm alive..." A strand of doubt entered his mind. What if he awoke to late? Would he stay here forever. Callisto! The ebony she wolf would be looking for him. Possibly. Yes, he needed to go back soon. Even Tahlia said so and was losing her composure from what he saw at this revelation the two wolves had come to. His grip tightened around her shoulders. "I'll missed you," He whispered into an ear before he couldn't get the chance to do so. "terribly. Espirit misses you. Nako and Kailos miss you."

There was nothing else to say as he waited, not knowing if he would return in an instant to where his body drifted. Jakart let his grip slacken around Tahlia as a strange sensation rippled through him like a jolt of electricity. For a moment he felt something waiver as if a difficult decision was being contemplated. "I have to go mom. Maybe I'll see you in a bit. Don't worry to much." Already his paws were carrying him to the river when the two of them stood at. Jakart blinked and felt nothing but the water through his fur and the burn of his wounds. He waded into the river, suddenly jumping in, diving deeper and deeper into the depths in the search for a way back.

It was the only way he saw to leave her. A flicker of consciousness had decided for him when he had wavered to stay. It was an almost out of body experience as he saw himself reach the bottom of the river, looking up and seeing Tahlia on the surface before suddenly he was gone. Jakart's mind had dove down beneath the water, his motionless body giving a shudder as he opened his eyes in the waking world.
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Something impacted Jakart’s already injury shoulder and sent the wolf tumbling, a flurry of bubbles erupted around his muzzle and drifted around his neck to the surface. With his remaining strength he paddled downward and kicked off the rapidly moving bottom to head to the surface. The journey up top to air and life was a struggle, vision greying around the edges before finally his muzzle broke the surface. Jakart gulped down air and shook his head while desperately paddling to stay afloat, gaze looking around the bobbing surroundings. Not much debris was on the surface of the flood, the brown and muddy slurry traveling much slower now. The shore was off to his right and the sun was just staring to peak out over the distant mountains. He had, incredibly, survived the night. Dawn was just a moment away. And he was alive.

-Exit Jakart-

Walk | Talk | Think "Your father is here," Tahlia answered hastily, but said no more than that. The story of how this world changed was much too long and complicated to tell it now, and she felt a pang of regret that Bane had not already joined them. If there had been more time, she would have happily tried to explain to her son everything that she knew about her afterlife, would have found her husband so that he could be a part of this reunion too, but it could not be so. Jakart was injured, stuck possibly within a flood, and the worrisome mother feared what would become of him if he remained for too long. He was still so young and had so much life ahead of him. She wished more than anything for him to have a chance to live that life to the fullest. He did not object as she urged him to leave, and she suspected by the look on his face that he had drawn the same uncertain conclusion she had. It did not make her feel any better - she desperately wanted more time with him, but not at the expense of his potential life. Jakart's forelegs tightened around her shoulders and Tahlia leaned into his embrace, reassured by his strength that he was strong enough to withstand this and return to his world whole to mend his wounds. The lump returned to her throat as her other children were mentioned by name, and her dark golden eyes shut tightly as more tears stung them. "I miss all of you," she whispered, losing her inner battle of will as her repressed tears began to course silently down her cheeks. She sniffled as her grey son relaxed his hold and eased back from her, doing everything she could to keep a brave face for him. The guilt she carried from her untimely death had eased some thanks to seeing him, and she hoped he intended to carry on her apology to his siblings. Maybe then, finally, she could put those feelings of remorse to rest. Through her tears, Tahlia watched as Jakart stepped away and backed closer to the river, feeling confused and anxious. "Jakart," she called nervous to him, even following a step, but as he entered the waters she thought she understood. He was trapped in a flood; water must have been his only way out. It was still painful to watch, to stand helplessly on the riverbank as her son dived below the surface and never came back up. Her body was rigid, tense, as she played witness to it, but his plea for her not to worry was impossible to obey. Needing to know, she rushed to the water's edge and waded into the river, diving in search of her son. There was no sign of him, and neither could she see him ahead of her downriver. Tahlia resurfaced and swam swiftly for the riverbank once more, emerging drenched and weighed not only by water but by a new worry. Please let him have made it, she prayed, shivering, and feeling the tears begin to gather within her eyes again she ran into the forest in search of her husband. -Exit Tahlia-