Bowen had been spending a great deal of time with Haiku, but she was feeling an emptiness from the little piece of her heart that Artorias held. So, Bowen parted ways from her lover and made her way to the room of her brother. She invited him out for a nighttime stroll. Just a friendly walk through the plains.

Once they were away from the castle, their paws moving through the soft grass of the plains, Bowen leaned over and planted a kiss on the side of her brother's muzzle. "Thanks for getting away with me for a while. I know you're busy, Aegis." The cream and russet fae flashed a grin before pulling ahead, loping through the starlit grass. She liked to throw his title at him every now and again. It was a way to let him know that she was impressed by him and his hard work. Plus a little part of her found excitement in the fact that she was sleeping with the new leader of the pack. Dirty girl that she was.

Sweet, warm wind gave way to something else. The breeze chilled Bowen and she slowed to a stop, looking back to Artorias. There was a strange dampness to the air and her brow furrowed. "Do you feel that?" Suddenly the plains seemed brighter. Swinging her viridian gaze over the landscape, she noted a strange influx of fireflies. Was it just her imagination, or did her brother notice them too?

"Bowen & Artorias"

Artorias hadn't dared try to interfere with Bowen's time with her new lover. As much as it still tweaked something inside of him, he knew she deserved to be happy and have time to herself as well. It was the same case with him and Briar, and it had quickly shown him how Bowen must have felt whenever she saw him and the Fatalis girl together. If anything, if just made him yearn for her all the more, especially once Briar had returned home and Bowen was still hanging around whatshisname. He'd left them be, but it still made him smile when he heard the knock on his bedroom door to find his little sister inviting him out for a late night stroll.

Of course he'd accepted, and the two Carpathian wolves wandered the Starlit Plains side by side, enjoying the warm Austerian winter together. He turned his head to gaze at Bowen, only to receive a kiss to the side of his muzzle that sent a burst of warmth through his heart and a smile spreading over his lips. "I'm only ever a moment away, Bo. I'm never too busy for the pirate that stole my heart," he replied with a teasing grin. What had started as confusion and tumultuous emotions had become a wonderful and comfortable love and relationship he'd built with his beloved sister. There was no shame, no awkwardness to it for the dark-furred brute as he followed the creme-caramel fae that shared his blood through the soft grasses, lit by a full moon and a million dazzling stars in the heavens above. It was still odd to him to hear wolves address him as Aegis—except when it came from Bowen. The way she said his title with the way those gorgeous green eyes looked at him... it stirred things deep within his core. He repressed the urges while he watched Bowen's rump when she cantered ahead of him; there would be time for that later.

Cresting a hill behind his lover, Artorias also noticed the dramatic shift in the air. Warmth gave way to unseasonable chill, and a gust of wind like a breath from a specter hit them both in the face. Art came to a slowing stop alongside Bowen, his expression shifting to confusion as narrowed eyes surveyed Hallowed lands. All of a sudden the world felt as if it had just rained, damp and cold and disconcertingly lifeless. "I do," he said, echoing what Bowen had noticed. The fur on the back of his neck began to stand on end, and out of nowhere small lights of hundreds of fireflies seemed to rise from the sea of grasses. But something was off about their color. They weren't yellow, but... blue? What were they? Exchanging a look with Bowen, Artorias gently nudged his sister's side in a silent gesture to stick close, then meandered down from the hill toward the cluster of blue and purple fireflies.

As he drew nearer to them, Artorias began to realize a couple of things seemed off. Other than the fireflies, there were no other nocturnal insects heard. No chirps of crickets, nor whines of cicadas. There was only them and the fireflies. Or... were they fireflies? Whenever he would come near one, the lights would disappear, as if they had switched their luminescent rears off, only to reappear a few dozen feet away. "Have you ever seen anything like this?" he turned to ask Bowen. She was the more worldly of the two, and though Artorias had a fair amount of travel beneath his belt, his wayfaring sister had seen lands only imaginable with her eyes.

"Bowen & Artorias"

Whatever lust they'd built up and whatever silent promises they'd made, it all disappeared with the shifting of the atmosphere. Artorias wanted her to stick close to him. Well... she wanted that too. As the pair of wolves moved forward, Bowen kept her shoulder touching some part of her giant sibling. For comfort, for safety, for reassurance. She had also noted how unnaturally quiet the world had become. Bowen's gaze shifted over the plains before them and she turned her head to look behind them as well. Viridian eyes widened as she looked back. It looked as though they'd come through a doorway into whatever this blue glowing place was. Behind them, the world was darker, despite the plains being illuminated by stars. Ahead of them, that iridescent glow and the hundreds of fireflies cast everything in a much brighter light.

Artorias questioned her and Bowen could only shake her head at first, though she eventually found her voice. "No. What do you think it means?" Raising one paw, Bowen turned her wrist, bringing her paw upwards slowly in an attempt to rest one of the blue sparks atop it. Once her paw was close, the light blinked out. In the brightness, she should have been able to still see the switched off firefly as it flew away from her, but there was nothing. The light and whatever created it was just... gone.

In her amazement, Bowen had stopped walking and Artorias was a short distance ahead of her. The girl began to hurry forward, but the fireflies seemed to converge before her, throwing up a wall of bright, cerulean light that stopped the fae in her tracks. She closed her eyes against the flare of light and turned her head away. The lights seemed as though they were trying to keep Bowen and Artorias apart, but there was no way. Not after they'd just found one another again. Steeling herself, Bowen closed her eyes and pushed through the curtain of light, hurrying back to her brother's side. She didn't understand what was happening, but she knew that she didn't like it. "I think we should go back." There was an odd feeling within her, as though she'd stepped through a ghost when she broke through the wall of lights.

"Bowen & Artorias"

Artorias could only frown with uncertainty, his eyes focused with an apprehensive stare out at the sea of spectral fireflies dancing in the pale bluish moonlight. "I have no idea. Maybe nothing." He shrugged his shoulders, hopeful (yet doubtful) that this might just be a strange Austerian occurrence. After all, last winter had been covered in snow and ice. Maybe these strange fireflies were normal for this continent? Artorias tore his gaze from the thousands of glowing bugs to the one closest to them when it buzzed closer to them. Oddly though, its wings made no noise, despite how close it was to them. Bowen lifted her paw to touch it, and just like that the blue glowing bug disappeared. Artorias blinked a few times as if trying to correct his vision, like maybe the firefly would still be there, but it was gone. Vanished into thin air. Okay, that's fucked up...

Curiosity won out over his trepidation, and Artorias continued to walk forward, surveying the cool-hued insects that had infested the air over his home. There had to be thousands of the little creatures airborne! Where had they all come from? Artorias swept his gaze across the starry plains, looking out over towards the ocean—and freezing when he saw almost pitch blackness out over the waves. The water, which normally appeared a deep navy under the moonlight, was inky black and abyssal. It sent a chill down Artorias' spine. A cold breeze rippled past him, tousling his black and blue fur, and carrying with it a whispered voice. He couldn't discern the speech, but when he turned around in the direction of the wind, he found himself staring at another wolf just across on another hilltop.

Artorias would have instantly gone on the defensive when he found a stranger in his lands, but this was no normal wolf. The wind carried no trace of a scent on it, and the wolf itself seemed like it was made out of mist and light, glowing that same ethereal blue-silver as the rest of the world. There was something familiar about this wolf though. Despite being made up of solid white and bathed in an otherworldly glow, he recognized the heavyset build, the thick mane of fur around the wolf's head, and their missing left eye. The right eye glowed that haunting blue, and Artorias felt his mouth hang open as he gazed at the specter, haunted by its presence. Neither of them made a move, both staring at one another. It took the young alpha some time to gather up his courage, but he finally willed himself to speak.

"Mom...?"

The wolf didn't respond. Artorias blinked. The wolf was gone. The silence left lingering in the spirit's wake was powerful and oppressive. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't move. This wasn't possible; Resin was dead! Tears pricked at the corners of Artorias' eyes as he stared at the space the ghost had occupied, his breathing shallow and uneven. What the fuck was going on? Bowen was at his side again all of a sudden, and Artorias realized that she hadn't been there a moment ago. He glanced back towards the dark castle, considering Bowen's words. "I think you're right," he agreed with a nod. "C'mon, let's go." He didn't want to show his fear in front of his sister, but Artorias was deeply disturbed by what he'd seen out here tonight. Something was not right with the world, and right now he wanted nothing more than to be back inside the safety of the castle walls with Bowen in his arms.

"Bowen & Artorias"

Her eyes scanned the area and as she did so, the girl completely missed seeing what her brother saw. She did think that she heard the whisper, but she couldn't decide if it had been real or not. None of this seemed real. Looking down at her paws, Bowen noted that the blue glow seemed to cling to her and knowing that it did so made the girl rather uncomfortable. She didn't understand any of it and didn't want anything to do with the glow.

Artorias agreed that they should go back to the castle and Bowen was quick to turn, her head lowered and ears tucked as she all but fled the area. None too soon. From behind them, a great gust of wind swept forward like a cyclone, almost pushing the russet and cream girl off of her paws. Along with the gust of wind came a strange, guttural groan. This sound struck fear into Bowen's heart and she released a pinched whimper as she pressed against Artorias. She refused to leave his side, but she wanted to move as quickly as they could. There was something... rotten in the air. The plains were dead. That was all that she could think of. The plains were dead.

Another push of wind urged the pair of wolves out and away and Bowen could no longer control her fear. "Run!" She managed to push out of her clenched throat before her dainty paws began to thunder over the grassy plain. Bowen kept her wide eyes on the castle, her destination. She didn't go too quickly, though she could have outrun her brother easily. There was no way that she was leaving him behind. She would never leave him behind.

"Bowen"

No sooner had the two wolves agreed to leave and had turned to do so, a strong gale whipped across the plains, bending every blade of grass and forcing Artorias to brace himself against the force of the wind. He grit his teeth and held his ground, trying to use some of his bulk to shield Bowen while he fixed his steely gaze out across the plains. An unnatural sound rang out from seemingly nowhere and everywhere, a groan unlike anything the young alpha had ever heard before in his short life. Although it struck icy terror into his heart, Artorias continued to keep his ground, pressing back into Bowen to guard and reassure her. His eyes frantically scanned the plains as shadows seemed to stretch across them from all directions. The world felt like it had been killed and reanimated into something most sinister—and it was coming for them.

Bowen's cry to run was all Artorias needed to turn tail and bolt back to the castle. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, which thanks to his rigorous training routines was fast. Bowen could outpace him though, her slender frame and long legs carrying her like coppery lightning across the plains, but she never pulled ahead of him. Artorias raced across the grass as close to Bowen as he could, hovering just slightly behind so he could make sure she got to the castle first. If anything was going to try and take them from behind, he was going to meet it head-on to give his sister a chance to escape. Another gust of wind pushed into their flanks like a demonic breath. Artorias didn't dare look back, too afraid of what he might see. The image of the ghostly white wolf burned in his memory mocked him, and the last thing he wanted was to turn to see it again.

Faster and faster the pair of wolves ran, outpacing the darkness as the castle drew larger and larger the closer they got. The darkness didn't fade though, if anything it only grew more oppressive. Just when Artorias began to fear that perhaps they had slipped into some sort of nightmare realm, the siblings reached the castle gates, and when they ran through them, the world was normal once more. The sky had returned to its normal galactic night canvas, the sound of crickets chirping filled the air, and only the smell of nearby sea salt and fresh florals from the gardens could be detected. Artorias slowed his pace and glanced back at the gate, leering hard out at the quiet nighttime plains just beyond. Gathering up his courage and swallowing the lump in his throat, Artorias cautiously made his way back to the gatehouse, stepping through the archway to peer outside and... saw nothing. The world had once more returned to normal, with only the distant glow of those strange fireflies hovering over the distant fields.

Artorias shook his head and backed away inside the sanctuary of the castle once more. No way in hell he was setting foot outside the walls again tonight. He turned and went to follow Bowen inside. He didn't think he'd be getting much sleep tonight, but maybe he could convince Bowen to snuggle in front of the fire with him while the two came down from their terror-fueled adrenaline high. Of one thing he was certain: he could never tell anyone what he saw on the plains tonight.

"Artorias Carpathius"

BOWEN

A breeze seems to blow through you rather than around you. You also find 3 mushrooms. Maybe these are worth keeping…

Artorias

Maybe coming here was a mistake. You also find 2 crystals. Maybe these are worth keeping…