Áskell paced in his den, his stomach twisting and rolling with anxiety. He couldn't sleep. He just felt disturbed and unable to settle and on top of that a strange greenish, glowing liquid was leaking from the corner of his eyes and also out of his nose. He shook his head and rubbed at his eyes. He had no idea what was happening but he was too afraid to let anyone else know what was wrong with him. What if he lost his warrior rank? What if he was contagious and they kicked him out of the pack? Anxious thoughts swirled around his head before he finally left his den, desperate to talk to the only wolf that might be able to help him and probably wouldn't judge him in the process, his brother. Áskell settled outside Jigsaw's den and called to him. "Jigsaw? You up? I think there's something really wrong with me."

Jigsaw paced outside the den door, trying to force himself within it's depths but each time peeling right back out as the darkness engulfed him. The fear was overwhelming and made worse by the fact that he had no idea why he was afraid. Maybe he could set a fire, just light the whole thing - "Jigsaw?" The familiar voice called out as it approached, derailing the boy's train of thought. He turned upon his brother, noticing the ooze that dripped from his nose and without thought, wiped his own dripping muzzle with a paw. "It's not just you." Jigsaw explained sadly. "I can't help but feel we're the lucky ones, some of the others are growing crystals or fungi, at least we've only got the glowing fluids." With a wipe of his eye he began to pace once more, his heart pounding hard in his chest. "Do you think father somehow did this? Do you think this is related to how he called to us, needed help?" The yearling's voice rose in pitch, his paranoia leaking through as he continued to pace. "Speech"

Áskell frowned as he saw the glowing liquid spilling from Jigsaw's nose. Crap. So they were both sick. His brow furrowed at the mention of growing fungi and crystals. What the hell was going on? Jigsaw mentioned their father and Áskell shook his head. "No way, there's no way dad would do this to us. It was a wicked spirit, I'm sure. It pretended to be dad, lured us into a trap and cursed us." It was the only explanation that made sense to him but now the question was how did they lift the curse.

"Jigsaw… what do we do? Do you think you can cure it?" He'd never really talked much about spirits or curses with his father and he wasn't sure who to consult with this kind of thing. If Jigsaw couldn't help them, then what could they possibly do?

Jigsaw grimaced at his brother's words. "I don't even know if spirits are real." He complained, lifting his paw for a third time to wipe angrily at his leaking eyes. "I don't want to believe that an angry spirit can take the voice of our dad and curse the world, Askell. How am I supposed to cure magic?" Jigsaw had been doing his best to learn his craft, help the wolves of his late-father's pack, prove himself a capable healer and meet that life's goal of a promotion. At one point becoming the lead healer was the most important thing to him - how had things changed so suddenly? "I've been testing some things on the mushrooms and crystals around but nothing seems to kill them. I don't want to hurt anyone, this is nothing I've ever seen or heard of before. I caught a coyote with the same crystal affliction, and every time I tore out a crystal it seemed excruciatingly painful... then the damn thing grew back bigger." He paced more rapidly, the ooze from his eyes and nose dripping faster as his heart began to pound harder. "And Recluse, she's had babies now, what if they get sick??" "Speech"

Áskell said nothing at first, simply looked aside. What could he possibly say? He hadn't really believed in spirits too much before this. Or rather he'd never really thought about it. It was always a problem for another day and now they both had this strange illness and had heard the voice of their father. He looked back to Jigsaw. "I don't know, but if its not magic what is it? It seems like its infecting everything, animals and plants."

He listened as Jigsaw explained everything he'd tried and Áskell felt his hope sink a little. "Dammit, there has to be something that will get rid of this!" He flinched at the mention of Recluse's pups. He'd forgotten she was pregnant again. "We'll have to stay away from them. Do you know if this is contagious? We could try catching an uninfected animal, keep it one of our dens and see if infects them." Áskell's own companions were keeping a distance from him for now.

Áskell

The sickness deepens... You feel short of breath, but every breath you manage glows with glowing mist.

Askell raised his voice to him and Jigsaw sighed, pacing more fervently. "I don't know, maybe it's not magic and it's just... an infection. Maybe it will pass by on it's own as we build immunity." He was trying to sound hopeful, but the paranoid boy's voice grew in pitch as he spoke and merely sounded more frantic. "It's got to be infectious, I think, how else is everyone fucking getting sick? Just stay away from them all, Askell. I don't want you to catch it." As far as Jigsaw was concerned, he and Askell were very mildly afflicted. Leaky noses he could deal with, at least they weren't growing crystals from their eyes. Askell offered another test and Jigsaw nodded rapidly in reply as he paced. "Yes, I'll find a squirrel or something, I don't know. We can try it." He blew out a sigh. "It can stay in your den." The yearling was not willing to admit that somehow he'd grown afraid of the darkness within his own. "Speech"

Jigsaw

The sickness deepens... You can feel something under your skin. You have to get it out. Whether by stick or teeth or surgery, you WILL get rid of whatever's there... you realize too late that there's nothing there at all. Either way, it's remnants leave a roundish scar 1/2 inches in diameter.


You gain:

• A Scar- A 1/2 inch roundish scar, in a location of your choosing.