We Are Stained with the Blood of Stars

Deity had smelled the sulfur from a considerable distance. The stench had made her wrinkle her nose, but there had been something intriguing about it, something almost... pleasant, dare she say. So, being a lonesome young she-wolf with nothing but time on her paws, she’d followed the smell.
Eventually the tranquil sound of trickling water had graced her ears. She was deep in the forest, dwarfed by regal trees that grew so thick that it was difficult to see where one ended and the next began. Vines and ivy dripped down their trunks and off their branches like molten emeralds, hanging still as death, for no wind could penetrate this dense woodland. Deity looked down. Her eyes followed the twisting paths of gnarled roots, twining together like secret lovers under a cover of darkness and spongy moss.
Deity cast her eyes upward and noticed a wisp of steam that drifted toward her, ghostlike, before dissipating. She must be close to the source of the smell now. The she-wolf traveled only a few steps more before she broke the treeline. The dimness of the trees evaporated immediately, and the sunlight, blazing in contrast, kissed Deity’s face. She turned away and muttered a curse, eyes watering from the sudden light. When she’d adjusted, Deity turned back around and straightened up in surprise. All around her, half-moon pools were filled with water that shone like stars’ blood. Lavender sprung up in patches between each pool, lending a sweetness to the air that she noticed now that she had grown used to the sulfuric tang. The moss carpet continued nearly to the lip of the pools, where it gave way to a dull stone edge. Deity approached the nearest pool, which was about the length of her body and the width of her leg. Gently, she moved her paw above the water, breaking the film of steam, and dipped her toe into the pool— to her surprise, it was warm! Deity had never felt such a thing. She laid down, soaking both front feet in the water, and drank in the solitude.