There was a lot Ronan didn't know, hadn't seen- but this was familiar. Painful.

The night's darkness stretched on far longer than it ought to, unsteady ground beneath his paws with tremors so fierce he felt them in his chest. And then when dawn finally broke it poisoned the sky red. Sickly. He couldn't turn a blind eye and ignore it, he had to know and found himself rushing to the west, ran till his paws throbbed with each step. Till his sides heaved, nausea stirring in his gut. He didn't know and that's what bothered him, but he'd lived long enough, seen enough shit to know that something wasn't right. That something was coming.

Sharp, jagged metal spires jutted out of the earth. Looked like ruins, felt like them too; just the sense of disquiet as the red light seared across the horizon. Dimming even his vivid glow. He slowed to a walk, grimacing in discomfort only just starting to catch his breath.

Exploring bits and pieces of Boreas was becoming second nature to Bramble. She had actually been on her way to explore more of the west near Raider lands when night had fallen. Near sleep when the trembles began. At first, she paid it no mind until the undeniable feeling of fear started to envelope her. Something was very, very wrong.

Hunkering down for the night, she barely sleeps as the trembles continue to worsen. It is only during the few hours of exhausted tossing and turning does the sky begin to turn red, and when she awakes, she is awash with the eerie red glow. Nothing about this felt good and something in her felt like a tugging sensation. Go. Follow it. Her brain insisted as she stood to her paws and looked to her raven.

“Go to Tati. See if Hearthstone is safe,” she urges the beady eyed bird before taking off toward the sensation and where the red glow is the brightest. Bramble doesn’t stop until the spires rise before her. Paws aching and muscles strained, she slows, panting quietly. Wide eyed and truthfully scared, she begins to look around until a dark navy and red man nearby catches her attention.

“Excuse me,” Bramble calls softly, her nervousness apparent in her tone. “Do you have any idea where these came from?” Her head cants toward the metal spikes that reach for the bloodstained heavens.

She lived for moments like these. Intrepid explorers, flooding to the a singular location to figure out the truth of the matter. The sickly red glow that illuminated the lands only served to get her blood running hot. Makara tightened her goggles and foot gear, securing them extra tightly around her paws. There was no telling what might await her, especially if the earthquakes that had rocked the lands during the night were any indication. Things were bound to have been stirred up. What lay beneath Boreas' soil was of utmost interest to her, as the foremost scholar in the Creatures That Came Before.

That's what she had taken to calling them, anyway. Whatever had built the structures that dotted the lands had long since passed away. Did they have something to do with this, too?

Makara skirted the entrance of the Glowshroom Cavern and arrived to see two other wolves beginning to traverse the land. A young girl - well, young to her, she supposed, and a fellow about her age. "Greetings, greetings! Fascinating, yes? Boreas never ceases to surprise me, in all of my travels I've never encountered a land that holds such... secrets," she said, peering up at the spires through the lenses of her spiked goggles. The reddish light almost seemed to make the formations glow. "Hmm... natural material, yes, but nearly unnatural shape," she said under her breath.

She started, realizing the girl had spoken. "Oh, not the faintest idea! But isn't that what makes it fascinating?" Mak turned to the large male, sporting a few strange mutations of his own. She tilted her head to the side and asked with a smile: "And you? Have you ever seen anything like this?"

speech

Ronan turned slightly, ears flattening. So many questions, not one wolf but two. Could hardly blame them, since he'd hauled ass to come and investigate as well, change like this was loud and blaring; near impossible to ignore. He shrugged a shoulder, wings tucking in tight against his sides. The tawny green wolf was nervous, dripped with trepidation but the pale one was curious, learned in a way that felt dangerous. Like she wouldn't know to leave well alone.

"Old. Lots of shit like this where I came from." The structures themselves were of little interest to Ronan, the shape and nature of it was foreign to him since time and the elements bent metal into all kinds of shapes. "Tremors though, red sky, not sure."

He paused then, the earthquakes had torn up the ground pretty badly. Gaping cracks split the ground, Ronan gave them a wary side eye as he gave them a wide berth and stepped over them with long strides, as if they'd give him bad luck.

"Came from the north, caused some landslides on the mountains."

Bramble nearly startles at the arrival of another female. Her eyes widen, taking in the albino features and spiked goggles. Canting her head slightly, her lips clamp close quickly, attention fully on the chattering of the stranger. "You have traveled a lot?" There is quiet curiosity in her tone as she too looks up to the spires that rise above them. She nearly forgets the formidable man at their side until his gruff voices speaks up. His choice of words has her ears folding back, eyes flicking to him hesitantly. It was quite odd that he appeared similar to their newly swathed red surroundings.

"Secrets are indeed a good way to think about it," she still speaks quietly as she pulls away from the duo that appear to know far more than her. All Bramble has known is the castle and this is far different than that. Even the ground feels different. She hadn't noticed the stillness of the air until the wind suddenly picked back up, allowing a soft but eerie wail to pass through the spires. "So are these natural or not?" Bramble questions, looking back to the other two with a furrowed brow before turning back to the closest spire. Reaching forward, she gently places her paw upon a smooth edge and pulls back quickly when a shiver runs through her.

Bramble Carpathius

table coding by bunni ♥

Lots of shit like this where I came from. A delicious fact! Makara's eyes widened imperceptibly, but they were hidden behind the smudged lenses of her glasses. She had grown wise enough in her years of travel to know when not to pry, but she desperately wanted to pry. Forget the strange subliminal terror of this place - clearly this strange man possessed some kind of experience, some kind of knowledge that she did not. Oh, she wanted to peer inside of his head so badly. "And where, exactly, do you hail from? East, west...?" She asked, unable to resist feeding a bit of leading information. Makara wanted answers badly.

The younger girl seemed nervous and out of her element. That was fair, there was certainly nothing familiar about this place, but perhaps the tales of an experienced traveler would soothe her! "Oh, yes, I've traveled far and wide. I've explored plenty of ruins - above and below ground - but I haven't seen anything quite like this before," Mak admitted. "That's to say that this isn't perfectly normal! There are all sorts of strange natural phenomena. Phytoplankton that come alive in the tides, creating sparkling waves that defy natural light. Crystals that grow in fantastic patterns, deep underground. Gems that are only formed beneath the earth's crust and its greatest pressures. These are all natural, yes?" She added, hoping this might soothe the poor girl.

Just then, a strong wind whistled through the land. It caressed each crevice and hole within the spires, creating a haunting sound that echoed down to her bones. Yes, this certainly inspired terror. Perhaps the girl was right to be afraid. "Landslides..." she said, quirking a brow at the stranger. "You're lucky to have made it here in one piece. I'm Makara, and you two are?" The albino addressed them both with a flourish of her tail. Screaming winds, dangerous red light - this was just another adventure, right?

speech

Ronan shrugged again, it was hard to really point a direction to say where his city had been. And even if he knew, he would hardly wish it upon anyone-the fact he'd gotten out was sheerly due to the fact the others hadn't. One life for countless others; a rip-off in terms of prices paid.

"Far." Was all he was willing to divulge, lips pursed tight as he listened to the pale one warble on. Excitable, curious. A bad combination if he'd ever seen one. "Ronan."

He stepped forward, ears flicking forward to catch the sound and a firmer grimace settled on his features. A general sense of... don't fuck around and don't find out lingered in his mind. These women weren't his responsibility, he didn't care, but he was pretty sure it would bother him if they died- most of all if he could've prevented it.

Fine.

"Well, what is it you want to do?" Ronan's shoulders slumped, angled wings tucking in slightly with a weary, withered sigh.

Bramble's mind is a tangled mess of questions as she glances around. Something that the guy with the wings mentioned kept coming back to the forefront. Her brow creases, ears barely hearing what Makara is saying until the man introduced as Ronan asks what they want to do. She looks to him, eyes narrowing a moment, trying to really see through him before moving to look around at the spires that had suddenly protruded from the ground.

"Bramble," she states simply, eyes still assessing, looking, searching for anything that stuck out. Wait. Would he know what the carvings were? Her gaze hones in to the closest spire, her paws moving her closer without word as she leans in to take a look. "You said lots of things like this where you came from. Can you tell us what these carvings are?" Her head practically whips around to stare at Ronan, expecting an answer. If there had been a landslide in the north, digging felt too dangerous, but if he could read the spires... That might be helpful.

"Bramble"