Soulless Forest Altar

Whereas Manea was apprehensive about the sudden changes to their world, Alastor found his usual macabre glee in the grim and gloom. The fog that crept through the trees was everything he enjoyed, his dark ebony fur blending in with the shifting shadows as he walked with his family toward the shrine her scouting ravens had found, large paws trudging between the decaying corpses as he studied each one as if they were a piece of fine art. When they approached the dark marble statue of the three-headed wolf, Alastor felt bizarrely connected to the entity. Almost as if its patron was waiting for him, calling out to him. Manea, Avacyn, and Fiametta all made their offerings, his youngest daughter's contribution of painting matching flame markings akin to their own on its side drawing a barking laugh from the maddened dire wolf.

Then it was his turn. Alastor approached the effigy, abyssal eyes studying it closely from ear tips to base. The fireflies glowing in its eye sockets that seemed to be watching him menacingly did nothing to intimidate him—if anything, he felt emboldened by the watchful gaze of the entity upon him. A black cat exchanged a wide smile with the wolf, then beckoned him forward to present an offering to the deity. Alastor strode up to the statue, his flowing fur trailing behind him through some dried blood on the grass surrounding the monument. From a black satchel around his neck, Alastor produced an hourglass, about the size of his paw. The glass was made from clear crystal, and was surrounded in a black wooden frame. Contained within was a perfect blend of sheer white and pure black sands that swirled together as they descended from the top bulb to the bottom. Alastor set the glass down on the statue's base between the two stone candles, watching the sand slowly drain down the neck into a gradually growing pile. A symbolic representation of the time every living thing was steadily running out of. "Memento mori," murmured the dire wolf with a grim smile up to the judgmental facade of the patron, then stepped back to rejoin his family.

"Alastor Mendacium"