"Eska"

She'd heard the voice clear as day. It called to her, telling her where to go. Begging her to come and find it. There was something familiar about the voice. Something... familial. It called to her and Eska honestly couldn't refuse it. She was compelled to follow the whispers wherever they might lead her. Not entirely out of her mind, the woman sent Avaset to tell Ulric where she was going. Baz was at her side as she loped across the land. An accompanying breeze seemed to be pulling her along even more quickly than she was running. It was an odd sensation, but she didn't mind it. Periodically, that whisper would sound in her ear again, reminding her that it was real and that this was no fools errand. Eska needed those reminders. Otherwise, she would think that she had gone batshit crazy.

In time, the brindle pelted fae arrived at a foggy, misty stretch of woods. The mist was illuminated by hundreds of brilliantly glowing mushrooms and spiky, crystalline growths that sat just below the rim of fog. It was as though Eska had stepped into another world. All the land held the blue glow now, but this... this was something different.

As Eska stood at the edge of the mist, trying to decide if she should turn back or go forward, the whisper came on a breeze. "Come find me," it said. An invisible body seemed to slide against Eska's side and she gasped lightly. Her canine companion released a soft whine, his dark ears pulling back against his skull as he shook his head. "I need to know," she responded. As though it knew her decision, the fog parted as if opening its arms to embrace the woman. Without another thought, Eska stepped forward.

The way the world had changed as winter progressed felt a bit like they were all trapped in some sort of nightmare. He felt like they were stuck in some kind of eternal night since the sky never fully lightened before plunging back into the dark of night again, but the moon was never as big and full as it was now. He was exhausted from not being able to sleep and worry, on edge as he struggled with his inner need to protect those around him from something he couldn't fight. There was no way to know where all of this was coming from or what was causing it so there was no enemy for him to go and fight. It was an unsettling feeling and reminded him a bit too much of the powerlessness he had felt through Lillith's illness except on a much more broad and all encompassing scale.

He had been out examining the crystals that had begun to form on the walls that surrounded the castle when Avaset ran up to him, his silver gaze turning to the dog worriedly when he noticed Eska wasn't with her companion. As soon as he heard where she had gone he abandoned the scouting he was doing to go find her. He was already so on edge that the thought of anything happening to Eska would fully break him. Whether he knew that he could protect her from whatever this was or not, he still needed to be with her just in case. He loped across the distance between the castle and the Wraith's Woods in a hard run, knowing that Eska probably already had a pretty far head start on him considering the time it would have taken for Avaset to get to him. Blue pin points of light wizzed by him as he ran, only slowing his steps once he was within the trees so he could follow her scent. The deeper he went the more common the glowing mushrooms and crystals became until he finally found her as she was beginning to step into an area that was heavily shrouded in mist. "Eska! Wait for-"

"Ulric."

A voice stopped him in his tracks and he quickly looked back over his shoulder as if he thought there might actually be someone behind him. He heard it again, the whisper repeating his name and it felt like it was right next to his ear. His hackles stood on end as he recognized the voice, a cold chill going over him. "Tell me you love me." The last words he had heard Aranea say to him whispered into his ear as if she was right beside him, but he knew that wasn't possible. He had killed and buried her himself. "Eksa..." he said uncertainly as he moved toward her, his eyes scanning the trees, tense and uneasy as he came to stand beside her. "What is this? Where are we?" he questioned, desperately trying to ignore the haunting voice following him.

Ulric Adravendi

"Eska"

Once she was within the mist, it closed its grasp behind her. Time seemed to stand still as Eska turned this way and that, catching snippets of voices, but no concrete words. Nothing like the voice that had told her to come find it. How long had she been searching for that voice? Either time had actually stood still, or Ulric had run really, really fast. Suddenly he was behind her and she spun, expecting to see nothing but mist, but there he stood. The silvered woman nearly jumped backwards in alarm, her sulfuric gaze widening. "Ulric," she spoke, her throat somewhat pinched and dry.

The woman took a step towards him, pressing her side into his as though to convince herself that he was real. She ducked her head under his chin for a moment, showing just how nervous this place made her. "I heard her, Ulric. I heard my mother. She wanted me to follow her here." There had been no way that she could deny the voice of her mother, right? Whatever the spirit wished to tell her, it had to be said in this place.

All around the pair, the world glowed blue. The mist bounced the light in odd, unnatural ways. Sometimes the scenery was beautiful. Other times it was haunting. It seemed to keep shifting back and forth, unable to decide if it wished to appear peaceful or menacing. Suddenly, Avaset snarled and Baz flew up beside her with a yip. Both hounds backs were bristled, but they wouldn't run. Instead, they back up to the pair of wolves, eyes in all directions. "The voices aren't just talking to us. What do you think is happening?"

Ulric leaned into Eska as they comforted each other, gently nuzzling the top of her head as she tucked it under his chin while his uncertain silver gaze continued to look around them at the misted forest that seemed to echo with voices of all sorts. Indistinct whispers that seemed to change every time he moved his head. His brow pulled together when she said that she heard Resin's voice and his ears flicked back against his head. So it wasn't just him that heard the voices. At least it wasn't just him that heard the voices and that gave him some solace in the fact that he wasn't losing his mind. He wasn't sure how much of a comfort that was if they were somewhere that they could hear the voices of the dead, but he tried to approach it one thing at a time. "I heard Aranea before I got to you," he admitted," desperately trying to block out the numerous voices and that just seemed to get louder and louder the longer they stood here. "But there's... there's so many voices."

He was eventually able to make out other voices—his mother and father among them and his heart broke as he thought he might have caught a whisper of Azariah and Everlyse—but something made his blood run cold and his hackles bristle more than they had before. Aranea's voice was the loudest of them, but even her voice was eventually drowned out by the distinctive squeaks and yips of young pups. It felt like he couldn't breathe as he listened to them, staring wide eyed out into the trees, frozen in place as they voices and puppy squeaks grew louder and louder until it was all he could hear.

Ulric was jolted out of the horrible trance by Eska's dogs reacted to the voices as well or perhaps just the ominous atmosphere of it all with a snarl and a yip, making him jump and blink as he brought his gaze down to Eska and the smaller canines with a shaky sigh. He gave a shake of his head to her question, replying, "I don't know, but I really don't want to find out." He glanced around at the glowing world around them, watching how the "fireflies" were creating floating motes of light among the mist that reflected the light into creating ghostly shapes all around them. "We should leave."

Ulric Adravendi

"Eska"

She remained pressed against Ulric but the voices didn't stop. Her mother's voice, or a voice that she assumed was her mother's, yammered incessantly in her ear. 'You were too late. You didn't make it in time. Did you even care?' Guilt clenched like a stone in Eska's throat and she closed her eyes tightly. She thought about how late she had been often. Had her legs moved faster. Had she not stopped here or there, then she would have been there in time to meet her mother before her passing. It was her fault that she hadn't been there. Her fault entirely.

The yip and movement of the dogs brought Eska back to the present. She barely heard Ulric say that he had heard Aranea's voice, but her lip curled back anyway. That woman had hurt him enough. She didn't need to continue doing so from the afterlife.

With Ulric wanting to leave, Eska nodded in agreement. She turned, thinking that she knew the way, but the fog was so thick. Had she spun about when the dogs moved? Which way was out? The acrid scent of woodsy moisture made it impossible to tell direction by nose. The brindled fae looked to the earthen man. "Do you remember the way?" The normally stoic fae had a worried expression on her face.

Ulric was relieved when Eska agreed to leave, wanting to put distance between himself and the sounds of the wolves he had lost. His parents, Azariah, Everlyse, Aranea... even the children he hadn't been able to save from the destruction Aranea caused them. It was all too much and it was difficult to shake the panic that kept trying to strangle him. He turned to leave with her, but noticed the same issue she did where the path he had taken to get to her was thickly covered with mist and fog. Any scent trail there might have been was difficult to pick out with the damp smell of the forest filling his nose and a frown creased his face as his eyes searched the trees. When Eska spoke he looked down to her unusually worried expression and wished he had words to give her to reassure her. He kept encountering things he couldn't fight and couldn't protect her from and it shook him more than he wanted to admit.

"Ulric... This way, Ulric..."

His ears perked as his mother's voice managed to reach over the clamorous sounds of all the others and he looked toward the trees again as if he really expected Roza to be standing there. He had buried her himself, he knew she wouldn't be there, but her soft voice sounded so real. He caught a glimpse of where the mist began to break as a cold breeze came through and even though it was eerie and unsettling just like anything else it felt like the only thing he had to go on. "Lets try this way," he said, glancing down at Eska again with a hint of a reassuring smile, forcing himself to stay calm as he started to lead her and her companions through the mist.

Ulric Adravendi

Eska

The pair of you try to navigate through the trees when a thick fog suddenly rolls in, or rather a thicker fog seems to seep in from the shadows. It swirls around you, you can feel it brushing against your ankles like it's more alive than just mist. It's so thick you feel it clogging the air, making it hard to breathe.

Maybe you shouldn't have done that...

Ulric

The air around you feels cold suddenly, cloying and wet. You feel a shiver run down your spine. A soft breathy laugh, sinister and distinctly unlike any voice you've ever heard before, breathes in your ear, and it feels physically wet with breath you know couldn't be there.

Maybe you shouldn't have done that...

Everything was so strange. It was as though the forest itself had pulled apart and remolded itself to block their path. Eska tried to stay calm but it was getting harder and harder to do so. And, as though being lost in the mist wasn't bad enough, the silver streaked woman felt the strange mist press into her, like snakes undulating around her paws. A little gasp pulled from her and she looked down, the action plunging her muzzle into the carpet of mist. Big mistake.

The air became thick and suddenly she couldn't breathe. Eska gasped, sulfuric eyes going wide. She couldn't get enough oxygen and now she did begin to panic. The woman's stance widened just to keep herself aloft and she continued to gasp, her maw open wide. They needed to get out of here! She pushed Ulric with her forehead, urging him to choose a direction. Eska didn't how how long she would be able to stay conscious without being able to breathe.
"Eska"

Ulric was about to start making an attempt to get out of the forest when he heard Eska give a startled gasp, making him freeze and look back at her worriedly. "Eska?" he questioned, turning to face her again despite the overwhelming urge to get out of this forest as quickly as possible. Everything around them felt strangely cold and thick and somehow he wasn't even all that surprised that she was having trouble breathing in all this. It felt like the air was far more damp than it ever should be and it made his skin crawl. With her head nudging and pushing him onward he nodded with a frown. He understood her intention, trying to get them moving down some sort of path, but with the way she was barely keeping herself upright they weren't going to be getting anywhere quickly and the last thing he wanted was for her to pass out here because of it.

He shifted and scooped his mate onto his back, slipping under her to pick her up so he could carry her out of the forest, not waiting to see if there would be any displeasure or protest at the action. They needed to get out of here and they needed to do it quickly. She wasn't as easy to carry as someone like Lillith, but that didn't really matter right now. He'd move mountains to keep Eska safe. He turned to follow the slight gap in the mist he had spotted, but as he took one step toward it a breathy, sinister chuckle met his ears, sending a chill over him, and he stopped again. No, whatever it was couldn't be trusted and his gut told him that wasn't the path to take. Looking around again, he saw another gap between the trees and even though he couldn't really see through the mist to the other side he decided that was as good a path as any and went off that direction instead.

Ulric Adravendi

It Continues for Eska...

Huh? It doesn't seem like anything happened... Well, maybe that's for the best...

It Continues for Ulric...

Huh? It doesn't seem like anything happened... Well, maybe that's for the best...