Planet Hell [Volcano] [Emergency Pack Meeting]

It started with a distant, horrifying thunder that Aurielle was certain she’d never heard the like of in her life. It brought her head snapping up from the traces of deer she’d been investigating in the moor, breath sticking in her throat. Fear. There was nothing visibly wrong here on the Moorlands, but still, her instincts were screaming.

Her throat closed as she gazed off to the east, where the noise had come, peering into the night. There was danger. Deadly and already pouncing like a great cat from the shadows. She felt it, trembling through her bones, then, as she was trying to decide what to do… the ground shook. Her eyes dropped to the earth beneath her paws as she steadied herself.

Something was coming, and Valhalla needed to get together. Now.

Her body twisted in a graceful twirl as she spun on her haunches to throw up a howl. It wasn’t the usual gently call to a meeting. It wasn’t even one of mild urgency as it had been when she announced their neighbors at large. It was a full-on demand, one that brooked no argument as she pelted for the standing stones, knowing the pack was likely to gather there, as Gwen had called meetings there in the past.

When she reached the stones, she didn’t hesitate as she flew up onto the leaning pillar, howling long and loud again, urging the pack to be faster, don’t tarry.

Even as she glanced toward the east again, her heart stuck solidly in her throat. A glow permeated the far horizon, violent and bright, rippling. Even from all the way in the west, the volcanic fury lit the sky with flashes of ashen lightning. It was like in the stories, passed down from her great grandmother to her daughters, and through Surreal to Regulus, and through Regulus to Aurielle and Aramis. The tale of when Mount Animi erupted, sending all the creatures into an exodus to Boreas, for to stay was to die.

Would Valhalla have to leave the home it had held for so long, off and on through the past many years? Where would they go? Where would the other packs go? Her allies, her family—Lirim might be in danger. She clenched her teeth. First the pack, then the rest of the world to worry about.

She paced the pillar, fighting the tremors that were wholely her own this time. But as soon as she heard the first sounds of paw steps approaching in the night, she turned and stood, projecting a firm, strong mask to hide the utter terror she was battling within. They didn’t need hysteria she could contend with on her own time. They needed her to be strong.

Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think