Prologue
Night had fallen, and Avalon slept curled up in her den after a long day of patrolling the packs perimeters. She had grown exhausted over the last few days, her sleep always disturbed by a single vivid dream as if it had happened yesterday. But alas, it was a shared moment that had happened two, maybe three years prior. And yet, every night that the dream would wake her, she would find herself searching the night shadows in vain for that face...each day she had hoped to hear his name whispered upon the winds, but the more time had passed, the more she would come to accept that perhaps...perhaps, he would never be seen again. And that was precisely what had woken her this night too. Hardly a couple of hours of sleep had been stolen for herself, yet already she was rising to her paws as restlessness gnawed at her stomach. Her heart ached from time to time, the fact that she didn't know what became of him pressed on her chest every day for the last few years. Even when she had run away shortly after that night, her heart and mind refused to let her forget. Refused to let her let go. But that was so long ago...perhaps it was time to move on.
With heavy and tired steps, Avalon made her way to the western edge of the territory where the plains bordered their lands. The hues in the sky turned from orange and pink and purples and faded into a velvet blanket, and before she knew it, the lands were completely cast in a blanket of darkness littered with stars. It was such a beautiful sight, though she hardly stopped to enjoy such things for a while now. Since she had lost her family, lost herself even, she had grown somewhat detached from the world around her. The scar she had acquired from the year she had been enslaved was hardly visible, instead replaced by the thick fur of her fathers lineage. She had always felt alone in this world, until recently when she found Arian and had been adopted into the Adravendi family. Though they were not blood related, having Arian as a sister filled a part of her soul, but not entirely. Part of her was still...missing, and she didn't quite know what it was.
The cool summer winds brushed her pelt, her head hung low from exhaustion as she half dragged her paws in the dirt. Her gaze had become a little dull due to her lack of sleep, but it was often hidden away from Arian whenever she crossed paths with her adopted sister. As she stopped at the edge of the border, she stares out over the plains as she wondered how the family beyond fared. She didn't see too much of them except for when she saw them at the meeting. Perhaps she would go and see if they were still around, make sure nobody was bothering them. After all, the woman who lived beyond was a close friend of Arian's as far as she knew, so it wouldn't hurt. Stepping tentatively upon the land beyond their borders, she walked at a slow pace as her grasses brushed her body. All former thoughts left her mind as she tried to replace it with a blank slate, trying to empty her mind except for the moment of here and now. Her paws stepped in small dips and mounds, gaze lingering on parts of the terrain for a moment or two. She remembered this place, for it was where she had been rescued from the clutches of Glaciem and Amenti, forced into a war she wanted no part of. This land carried history that were none too pleasing to remember, and she was all too eager to forget about the events that had transpired here.
As the summer wind picked up, she tasted the air for any hint of Surreal and her families location. The tang of the woman's heat was faint, so that meant she was on the right path. But then...something else would catch her too. A look of confusion crossed her features, brows furrowing as she tasted the air again. Was she...still dreaming? Had she not really woken up? Lifting her head higher, nostrils flared as she sought to pull the underlying scent from the air. And suddenly, her heart would pound against her chest, the sound of it roaring in her ears. It had to be a dream...it wasn't true...and yet, even with that thought in mind, she found her paws pulling her in the direction where the scent came. It felt as if the entire world had gone still, the only sound was the echo of her beating heart, not even her breath sounded in the night air. Quietly, she slipped through the grasses, large and fluffy figure moving as if she were in some ethereal land. Her motions felt slow, the wind itself seemed to stop, and time seemed to have stopped altogether as well.
Drawing closer, the scent beckoned her forward. The woman's paws delicately stepping one after the other, both eager and hesitant to find out if this was real, or nothing but a continuing dream. As she pushed through the grass before her, she stepped out into a small flat clearing, and there standing in the moonlight would be a dark brown figure, green eyes reflecting the night stars. She stared for a long moment, amber gaze fixated on the form before her. They were but two or three yards apart, yet her mind couldn't grasp what she was seeing. As she watched this...what exactly? Was it a ghost from her imagination? Surely he couldn't be real...not here...not now...and yet...it was all she had wanted...all she had hoped for. Was she dreaming about it so much now that this was simply a continuation of her dream? No...it couldn't be...could it? The scent was all too strong to be a ghost...her mind blanked again, gaze never leaving his form almost as if he would truly disappear if she looked away. She struggled to find words, mouth suddenly feeling dry. This had to be due to her lack of sleep...or some cruel trick of the world. And yet..."N-Newol?" What she thought would be a stronger voice had come out as nothing more then a choked whisper, disbelief etched within that single name. "Talk" "You" Think |
