Smoldering Remains
07-03-2013, 11:04 PM
The air was stained with the abrasive and musty smell of soot, fire?s relentlessly lingering perfume. The silhouetted, gnarled skeletons of blackened trees protruded from the ground here and there like crumpled fingers, beaten down by the pitiless fist of nature?s wrath. Some broken trunks lay across the ashen carpet that was the ground ? fallen ancients that had finally succumbed to Death?s grasp. Other than that and the occasional boulder, few obstructions had survived the assumed blaze that had ravaged the land. Everything was grey and dismal, colorless and lifeless. And with the supposed lack of life came the haunting atmosphere of bedtime tales. This was the sort of place where the demons would come out at night, a world of death, still failing at staggering back to health.
Night had fallen some time ago, but the imp had yet to discover any particular haunts save for himself. The idea of ghosts and ghouls and vicious murders did not spook him much, and the eerie ambiance had little effect on him; his personal fears lay with other, simpler things. He made his way steadily through the darkness with that constant but quiet confidence, his lithe and scrawny form navigating easily past the charred corpses of mammoth trees. Little paws pressed silently into soft ash as he continued on, his ghastly pale eyes surveying the area idly. Maybe he could find a particularly large ash pile. The substance seemed like it would be fun to roll in.
Before he could delve further into the environment, life captured his attention. Ungulates, in such a desolate place. It wasn?t fitting. But it certainly provided the opportunity for fun. Still a good distance away and unnoticed, Caesar licked his lips, wrinkling his muzzle when he tasted the ash on the air. Gross. His lungs didn?t like it much either, but that was something he more or less ignored. He bunched his muscles, crouching and wiggling a tad before shooting off towards the herd. ?Go away!? he shrieked with impressive volume. Teeth bared and hackles lifted, he bolted towards them, though there was no intention of actually attacking (he had to be easily less than half their size, and he knew his limits). The herbivores of course, could not read his mind, and could not know whether or not more wolves were coming. Lifting their heads and stretching their limbs, in a moment the air was filled with the thundering of their fleeing hooves. It was a satisfying sound. Caesar skidded to a halt, grinning to himself before turning his head to glance around. Much to his surprise, there was another wolf around. "Hi!" he barked. What a pleasant surprise.