Why did your face hit the brick I threw?

Ravana prowled through the dense underbrush, her movements light. They were supposed to be on a hunt, sent out as their growing independence commanded—as well as their parents. Ravana was pleased at the thought, delighted at the idea that she might be able to witness the world as it truly was; cruel and merciless. Though, that was before that very world suddenly dulled to a haze. One moment she was flanked by Abyss and Sericea, their voices familiar noise in the silence, and the next—a shroud of fog rolled over them, thick as smoke, devouring everything in its path. Ravana froze as it snaked through them, hackles prickling as the fog wrapped around her, cold and unnervingly silent. Strange. She could barely see her paws, much less her siblings.

"Abyss? Sericea?" Her voice, usually haughty, now lilted carefully, swallowed by the fog as though the very air had teeth. The sounds she did hear were…muffled. A chill slithered down her spine, and for a fleeting moment, Ravana felt something she rarely allowed herself to feel—vulnerability. She was lost, cut off from the sounds and sights that usually painted her world in shades of familiar danger and thrill she enjoyed so much. By this point she was actually getting angry, frustration sending her tail lashing out behind her as she huffed. Where did her siblings go?

She stepped forward, intent on finding them, her ears flicking at a faint rustle somewhere to her left. She quickened her pace, paws muffled against the earth. The fog was unnatural, swallowing every scent and sound, leaving her floating in silence and blindness. Her heart thrummed in her chest, a pulsing beat in her ears. The deprivation of her senses left her reeling, and that meant her mood was rotten.

Then, as she turned to catch a new sound, her nose met something solid—solid and warm. A yelp of pain burst from her mouth as she jerked back, the sudden sting radiating from her snout to her cheeks. "Agh!" she hissed, anger flaring as quickly as the pain had entered her nervous system. Her fangs bared, she lashed out without thought, instinctively swatting at whatever had dared to get in her way.


"Ravana Seraphim Saxe"