Fuck staying in Syndicate lands anymore. Once he got a taste of freedom, he was eager for more. With every day that passed where the nights were an impenetrable darkness and the earth continued to quiver in fear, the more he grew insistent on finding an answer. Scents of wolves traveling south forced the pup down across a sandy bridge that was nearly enveloped with water. Muddy and covered in sticky salt, Maelstrom pushed onward.

He didn't stop until night fell and he could hear the wash of waves against sand. It was almost enough to lull him to sleep but a quick wash of his face in cold water did the trick to wake him back up. Though it was hard to see without the moon and the stars to guide his way, he could tell that the land here was different. The soil felt soft and newly churned. Along the horizon, the sky began to turn red once more as the sun began to awaken. Tremors continued to shake his legs enough that it made it slightly difficult to walk.

What in the world was going on?

"Maelstrom"

Coming across his brother's scent was a surprise, yet, he was out too, wasn't he? Never really keen on being left behind, Pyx made his way... what he assumed was southward. It was harder to navigate without the stars, and the red tinge that lingered in the sky painting everything in its garish light was unsettling.

The sandy bridge, whipped by the weather, was an experience to be sure, and with the wailing wind still screaming in his ears, he turned along the coast, skirting around the imposing castle with all the care one might expect from one of his mixed bloodline.

The way the water seemed to sparkle in the muted light as he made his way along the shoreline distracted the boy, glittering like the absent stars he took just a moment to see if there was any pattern to the shine, had the stars fallen into the ocean? ...No, there was no permanence to the position of these ones, and just as quickly he was distracted by movement inland.

Shaking the salt spray from his coat, he stopped alongside his brother, head dropping level with his shoulders and tail pointed to the ground, pink tipped ear raising as he canted his head just so. "Seems a bit... violent for erosion..." He considered the unsettled earth, the snaking pattern that was appearing across the earth before them. "Do y'think there was a tunnel that collapsed?"

"Speech"

The arrival of his much more colorful brother helped settle some of the nerves. Not enough to completely calm him, but in a way that was a good thing. If he knew any better, being any sort of relaxed in this land would be bad news.

Looking to the winding channels that rose from above the surface, Maelstrom thinks about his brother's comment. It didn't look like erosion and from what he could see, they were too far inland from the water to that. "A collapsed tunnel makes sense," the boy comments with a nod as he walks a few steps closer to the nearest raised channel. His toes and paws press and knead against the dirt, testing it and trying to see if he can feel anything noticeable. "What if its a giant animal?" He says suddenly, brow furrowing.

"Maelstrom"

Moving along at Mael's side, his own paws sinking into the soil, a dark brow lifted when his brother asked if it could be a giant animal. He supposed that could make sense with the way the channels seemed to move. "Y'mean like a giant mole? Or a... worm?" The boy smirked and scoffed, turning over a clod of soil and noting a multitude of little beetle shaped bodies fleeing from the disruption.

"I wonder how far it goes? Maybe if we follow it, there'll be an opening we can slip through? If it is a collapsed tunnel..." He would leave the next steps up to his brother. Pyx was keen if Mael was.

"Speech"

With Pyx at his side, they could face anything. Even... a giant worm. The thought event brought a scoffing laugh to his throat. "Ya, could you believe that? A worm?" Mael laughs with a shake of his head in disbelief. When he looks down, he too notices the scuttling bugs parading away from the winding channels raised from the ground. Well, that wasn't a good sign.

"Only one way to find out," he grins at Pyx though he can feel that his nerves a bit frayed. The excitement of possibly finding something fun or something terrifying leaves him wanting to find out more. "C'mon," Mael urges Pyx, giving the churned dirt one more sniff before picking a direction and beginning to follow along the curves that headed toward the west.

"Maelstrom"

Pyx's answering grin is full of teeth. Young, dumb and full of... a misplaced sense of invincibility, the two of them together could take on anything that came their way. His growing legs ate up the distance as they followed the channel to the west. The further they went, the more bugs and small creatures seemed to flee their path... almost like they knew something the Syndicate kids didn't. "Y'ever notice how just before a big storm rolls in, all the birds seem t'fly away?" He asked Mael with a lifted brow, continuing to note the fleeing of smaller critters as they kept roving up the displaced channel that had eaten up the ground that he was sure had once been a peaceful plain. "What else lives in tunnels? Rabbits?" Those things had sharp teeth and strong legs. Perhaps a giant rabbit might be a bit more... imposing than a big ol' worm.

"Speech"

Maelstrom stops for a moment, listening to his brother talk. One ear turned to Pyx as his eyes scan the nearby waters seen over the top of the dune. A thoughtful hum leaves him just as a deep, guttural groan appears to rise from the depths of the earth. His eyes widen, drawing quickly to his paws as he takes a step back. "Not sure that's a rabbit," he whispers quietly to his brother as another rumbles shakes him. "Guess only one way to find out," Maelstrom shrugs with one more quick look to Pyx before he begins to dig. Why? He didn't really have an answer, but it seemed smart.

"Maelstrom"

Pyxis felt the earth vibrate beneath his paws, a low groaning moving up through the earth. The odd-tipped ears atop his head swivelled as all his focus was spent on the ground beneath them. He bent his joints for better balance, waiting for the shudders to ease some before he joined his brother, frantically scratching at the upturned dirt beneath their paws. It felt so close... Was it some sort of giant insect or worm after all that happened to detect them running their mouths and was on it's way to deal with them?

Dirt was flying with reckless abandon. Pyxis chuckled nervously, "So-uh, what's the plan if we find somethin'?"

"Speech"

What's this?

In the process of digging, Maelstrom finds an item: Firefly's Favor. It has been added to your OOC account.

He barely heard his brother's question as the dirt kept flying up behind him. It didn't take long for the shifting dirt to actually reveal an item. Maelstrom stops, eyes widening as he looks at the small bottle with a firefly buzzing around in it. "Whoooaaa, Pyx, look a-!"

In the next moment, Maelstrom's voice drops down with his body into a hole. No, not a hole, a tunnel. Thankfully he didn't experience any injuries during his fall, but his butt still smarted where he fell. "Pyx! It's a tunnel!" He calls up, raising his paw to stop falling dirt from falling into his eyes. "Think it goes somewhere?" Mael asks as he stands, grabbing his item and turning to wait and see if his brother would follow.

"Maelstrom"

Pyx paused his digging and looked to his brother just in time to see him fall through the earth. It that wasn't enough to convince him shit was about to get real, then nothing would. All his brightly coloured fur stood on end as he bounded closer and fell ass over tea kettle straight through the opening in the ground, catching his brother's words about tunnels during his fall.

He fell on his head with a sickening crunch, sprawling to the ground and closing his eyes against the nausea that threatened to overwhelm him, stars dancing behind closed lids. Heads were not for landing on.

Limbs sprawled wide, gripping the earth with all his might, he dared to crack his eyes, grateful for the darkness of the tunnel while he let the shock of his fall roll off him. He carefully turned his neck this way and that, but it seemed like he only managed to pop his bones in the fall, no fractures or breaks.

The first time he tried to stand he stumbled and had to lay down again, rocking for just a moment more before the world came into focus. He stood and shook off, stumbling a step and wincing at the throbbing in his head but managing to stay upright. "Gods, this place could use some airflow..." he grumbled before trying to gain his bearings. "What way do yer think we should go?" He tried to catch sight of the sky through where they fell but it was still plain red, no stars to lead him onward.

"Speech"