D i m o s t h e n e s Dime stood alone, staring out into the sea. The full moon glittered a path across the water and illuminated a pack of islands of varying sizes and shapes. The river rushed beside him. The night was young, but the evening had been long. He wanted nothing more than to rest and sleep. He yawned, and a firefly flew into his mouth and was crunched by his teeth. At that moment, although it was probably a coincidence, the wind picked up more than before. A sort of wordless whisper followed it, and before Dime could stop himself, he took a step closer to the water. He still couldn't hear what the voice was saying, but he was pretty sure it was a voice. If he got closer, maybe he could tell. The fireflies danced around him, and he couldn't have slept now if he tried. "Speech"

The voices were driving him insane. He could barely hear them and no matter where he went, they seemed to fade between somewhat audible and barely audible, with seemingly no pattern. Unable to figure out where they were coming from or where they wanted him to go, he struggled his way down a sandy path surrounded by water. Fireflies fluttered around, avoiding him knowing well that they'll be snapped at for getting too close.

Despite the voices fading in and out of his head, he noticed another standing off in the distance pretty quickly. Almost immediately, the voices hushed and went silent, offering Doom the first moment of relief in hours, it seemed. Wondering if this wolf had anything to do with the strange voices he was hearing, he approached quickly but stopped to give a few yards between them for safety. "What's going on?" He demanded, lavender eyes narrowed at the strange wolf.

D i m o s t h e n e s "Hello..." the voice whispered, faintly but undeniably there. So it was a voice. Clearly. Dime was just, you know, completely alone, hearing voices that came from nothing he could see. He was hearing people that weren't there. That was definitely not an indication of his sanity or lack thereof. Kiddo. The voice sounded like someone he had met before, now. It was a distinctively thick accent. A friend from back in the ring, he remembered. Well, not a friend. Just Bighead. It was an apt nickname, but he was a guy he could get along with despite it. He was a decent guy, but not really important to him in any way. He wondered why it was Bighead he was hearing, before he realized it. He didn't have anyone more important. He didn't have anyone. A strange man interrupted his thoughts, demanding to know what was going on. "The hell I know!" Dime responded, a bit sharper than his usual tone. He softened a little. "Do you hear the voice too?" "Speech"

Doom wasn't sure what this other wolf could have to do with the strange voices he was hearing, but it seemed like the only explanation at this point. He certainly wasn't insane, but this new world seemed to be. First, and still, the fireflies. The unending night. The glowing... everything. Now, voices? This was almost too much. Doom was ready to go back home, he thought. Or at least somewhere else. Anywhere else had to be better than this!

The other wolf answered his question, responding with equal uncertainty. "Voices." He emphasized the plural form of his question, scowling as he approached assuming that his earlier concerns were in fact false. This man was not the one controlling the voices, at least he was lead to assume that. Doom wouldn't let his guard down though, just in case. "Do you think it has something to do with the fireflies and... shit?" He asked, gesturing vaguely to everything around him as he spoke.

D i m o s t h e n e s The other man emphasized that he was hearing multiple voices. Dime frowned slightly and tried to pay a little more attention to what he was listening to instead of ignoring and blocking it out. Slowly more voices gathered. Not just Bighead now, but also Lip and Follow's twin high, silky smooth tones. And then the whole gang of them followed. He could have cried if he was alone, even though he didn't think he'd loved or missed them much. He hadn't even thought about them since leaving. He pushed down the emotions, not wanting this stranger to see him upset. "I don't know why all of this is happening." He snapped at a firefly in irritation, and crunched down on it as well. Dang, he was good at that. "Speech"

The man before him admitted that he didn't know what was going on and Doom frowned. He had hoped this man had at least some kind of answers beyond what had already been asked. When the man snapped at a firefly, the voices returned to Doom. This time, they all spoke at once as if they were conversing amongst themselves in the distance. Doom tried to focus on them, but found it too difficult at the moment. He looked back to the man a moment, huffing. "It's strange. My homeland isn't like this. This I take is new?" Someone before had already answered this question for him, but more than one insight would be good. Besides, he wasn't sure he could trust that man anyway. He seemed... strange.

Come.

Doom blinked, hearing a whisper over his left shoulder that caused his head to turn. Behind him, a few fireflies swarmed and hovered close as if it had been them that had spoken to him. "Do you think it's the fireflies talking?" He asked, glancing back to Dime out of the corner of his lavender eyes.

Come. The voices insisted again, drawing Doom's gaze back to the swarm as he slowly started to step towards them.

Doom

Your gaze is drawn up to the fireflies and suddenly your vision begins to blur. Instead of a dozen glowing bugs, you see a wolf floating in the air and staring you down. When you blink, both wolf and fireflies have vanished.

Maybe you shouldn't have done that...

Before the other man could answer, Doom noticed the fireflies above him and soon, no matter how many times he blinked his eyes to clear his vision, it blurred regardless. Above him the fireflies began to fade and change into something else. At first he wasn't sure what it was, but within seconds and after a few more blinks to try and clear up his vision, he noticed the shape before him was turning into a wolf. A floating wolf. That was staring at him. His eyes widened in fear, his hackles raising as his fur bristled. What the hell? He blinked one final time, only for the floating wolf and fireflies to suddenly be gone. As if they never existed in the first place. Was he starting to see things as well as hear things? Was he going insane?

He looked back down and shook his head a bit, trying to clear it from whatever he had just witnessed. Looking back towards the man, Doom's mind couldn't stop seeing the floating wolf and wondered if the man had seen it, too.

Dimosthenes

You crunch down upon a firefly in frustration and suddenly your body feels.. weird. Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy.

Maybe you shouldn't have done that...

Doom - It Continues...

Huh? It doesn't seem like anything happened... Well, maybe that's for the best...