She had been feeling the shadow over her for a long time now. Perhaps it was depression, and she mixed up reality and the mind. Perhaps not. Either way, she felt it with her still. The impending sense of doom that had been crushing her for the past few months. She had passed over the reigns to Theory, and given her the pack in truth. The young woman had risen to the challenge, and already spoke with authority. The last time they had spoken, she had talked of moving Abaven, of taking it away from the lands of its birth. Perhaps that was why she had made the journey from the Island, despite the ash and smoke and heat from the lava she could feel one land over. She wanted to see her home, the place she had been born, and had always loved.  She looked to the lands where her Auntie had taught her how to catch salamanders, and she in turn had taught her daughters. Daughters, that now where missing, perhaps even gone. She regretted that they had known the same peaceful childhood that she had, that they had not been raised in a quiet world, and that their leader and mother had not made so many mistakes. She stood upon the cliffs, and gave herself a vantage point to look down at Abaven territory. The ash fell still, and she questioned if this had become her legacy, of bitter rain and death. Would this be how she was remembered, if she would be remembered at all? The leader who lost her mind when the ash-rains came, and the fire and destruction took from them their homes. She raised her head, feeling the soot settle upon her brow, and closed her eyes. She waited for fate to show its final hand. It took her by surprise when she heard the titan foot-falls of Odysseus, and her eyes flew open as she turned to look at the large, imposing warrior-healer. “Ody? I didn’t expect to see you here” she said, and it was all she had a chance to say. The world began to tremble then. It shook and tossed its back, and the Once-Alpha lost her footing. She slid part way down the cliff, Ody falling with her, and still the world rolled around them. It shook apart a chasm at her feet, and she had no chance to circumvent it. It swallowed them both whole, and her world went black. She came to in the darkness, with a mouth that tasted of earth and ash. She couldn’t see, and blinked multiple times, waiting for her eyes to adjust. When they did, she would see that she was in some sort of small cavern, and the roof she had fallen through was whole. The walls seamless and absolute. “Ody?” at first she whispered it, and then she yelled. “Odysseus!?” she cried, voice echoing in the empty chamber. Had she accidently brought the knight in to share her long-awaited doom? "Talk" "You" Think

"Ody?" In the dark he roused groggily and stared with bleary, uncomprehending eyes into the still falling dust. He had no idea where he was. Everything was dark and shapeless. He squinted and tried to make sense of the last memory he had before waking up. There had been a feeling of weightlessness as he'd stared up at Shaye. He remembered a glimpse of her falling and another glimpse of dark walls suddenly looming over him as he fell. Did he remember the shadows of falling rocks? Was that what that was at the end? He couldn't remember with certainty.

"Odysseus!?" Shaye. She was somewhere in here too. He needed to find her. Instinctively he tried to get his paws and was surprised to find he couldn't. The titan looked down in the hopes of understanding  - not that he could really see anything - but the darkness around him gave him no answers. He coughed. "I'm here, Shaye." Where exactly 'here' was he couldn't say.

He got a clue when a drop of something, blood maybe, rolled down the length of his muzzle to hang suspended on the end of his nose. It was then the pressure in his head made sense. He was hanging upside down, wasn't he? Odysseus coughed again and closed his eyes. Though a feeling of claustrophobia nagged at the corners of his mind he fought to ignore it. It would do him no good. He needed to think.

After clearing his throat and taking a deep breath he called hoarsely, "Can you see a way out?"

She struggled to breathe, and an idle part of her brain noted that there must be a great deal of dust and fine particles in the air around her, her breaths where deep and long, and still her lungs felt starved. Each breath brought a rattling pain to her chest, and she wondered if she had broken her ribs. She should pause and do inventory, but she was afraid of what she would find. Ody’s voice called out to her, sounding almost calm despite the cough that followed. Where was he? She used his voice to orientate herself, and began to drag her body forward and through the fallen debris. She bit back a cry as pain assaulted her, taking shallow breaths for a moment to dull the pain. Her head spun with dizziness and another part of her head was chanting a terrible mantra can't breathe, can't breathe, can't breathe. She ignored it, groaning as she pulled herself closer. She finally touched a warm body, and what felt like half a cliff, Ody was buried. She started to dig, pain assaulting her with every movement, breath coming short. Her vision dimmed and she had to pause, struggling to breathe, why was it so hard? She coughed, and it felt oddly damp. When she licked her lips, she tasted blood. Realisation made her cold, and she pushed it down. She to free Ody, no matter the cost. “I can’t see anything, it's too dark” she admitted. It was evening, how much time had passed? Perhaps they only could not see because night had come. She continued to dig. “I’m getting you out old friend” she told him, the effort of speaking causing her to hack. She had to pause, forced herself to breathe, to take in those sweet wisps of breathe, not knowing which one would be her last. She heard the light clammer of movement above then, and turned her head, the faint flash of white in the darkness catching her eye. If her Raven had been any other tone, she never would have seen him. The bird rarely spoke, finding the form of wolf-words on her beak unpleasant, and finding little reason for them. This time however, Winter would talk, the clack of her voice brisk and weary. “Little wolves, live, live. Help will come” The raven said, already climbing back through the tiny gap in the roof above them. “Winter, no, wait!” Shaye cried, gasping at the pain of speaking loudly, forgetting how to breathe. She sucked in air, desperate for it to reach her lungs. “Winter, please, I don’t want to die with regrets” but Winter was already gone. Shaye felt the tears on her lips, as wet as the blood. She had so much to tell those she loved, and she knew they wouldn’t get here in time. "Talk" "You" Think

After what sounded like much effort Shaye was at his side and feeling along his ribs. So he wasn't too far off the ground; perhaps suspended near the bottom of the shoot they'd fallen down. If that were the case... "Stop, Shaye," he commanded gently as she dug around him. "Stop." He snorted a humorless, sardonic laugh and then sighed. "I might be what's keeping the rest of these rocks from coming down on us." It would be nearly impossible to tell without laying eyes on the rock pile. They'd have to get lights in here or something.

Wait, what was she saying? "Come on, now. We're not going to die. We just need to think about this, eh? If the bird can get in..." What was that sappy saying? 'Where there's a will...' Though his odds weren't good Odysseus wasn't willing to admit defeat yet and he refused to let Shaye. To accept defeat was to be defeated.

There was a soft clattering from above and then the sound of muffled footsteps as something climbed down the rock pile. "Odysseus? Shaye? Are you alright?" It was Olafur and soon Odysseus felt a reaching hand pat around the small of his back and then firmly grasp a fistful of fur. "I don't know about alright, but we're alive. Is the way out big enough for us?" When he said 'us' he meant Shaye. If it were possible to free him it would take time. "I'm afraid not, we'll have to find another way."