The adults were sick, her mother was not only covered in crystal growths, but also hiding away in her den all day because she was 'naked', whatever that meant. Her father was frightening and unhinged, prone to violence and filled with fear. There were few Armada wolves remaining who'd escaped the debilitating illness that plagued Boreas and as of yet, no one had any idea how to manage the disease nor how to cure it. Calypso was bored of remaining close to home, babysat by her father's companions who were some of the only creatures in her life who weren't sick in some way or another. She slunk from the den with a soft goodbye to her mother - who looked different then Calypso remembered her looking in her earliest days - and headed north, along the coast to the very tip of their territory. She was not stupid enough to leave, knowing that her father who seemed to grow crazier by the day would punish her for the transgression. A soft rumble could be heard as she walked, the telltale sign of Lilith stalking the faintly glowing pup and prepared to report a rule break to her master. Calypso reached the very edge of the beach and plunked her butt into the sand, turning her head and glowering toward the cat, who scaled a nearby tree unperturbed and watched. With the babysitter getting a birds eye view, Calypso sunk deeper into the sand and resigned herself to more boredom. Her bright paws dug into the sand absently, creating a gradual hole beneath her. Would it open up and swallow her whole, showing her a world uninfected and healthy? Calypso doubt it, but she dug regardless. Adults talked as if the world hadn't always been this way, and all she could hope was that one day it would return to 'normal', whatever that may be. A sharp thing poked at her paw and Calypso yelped, standing stiffly and drawing the curiosity of the treed leopard who watched. She turned, angling her body so the cat could not watch while she carefully excavated the thing from the sand. It was a crystal - not unlike the other hundred crystals that littered the world - but when she held it it gave her a strong feeling of... something missing from her. Calypso's glow pulsed rapidly, her heartrate accelerating in excitement although she couldn't quite put her paw on why. Carefully she rubbed her paw across the crystalline structure, turning it each way and observing her reflection in it's every wall. It fascinated her. Could this be an important clue to what was going on in the world? If Calypso could return home with some sort of cure she'd be a hero - beloved by her family, the world, and maybe placed upon a pedestal as high as her older brother. First she gave the crystal a lick, then a few hard rubs of her paw, turning her head to the sky suddenly and squinting up at the dark looking for... something. The streaky stars remained unphased, the moon hanging high and bright above her. What was she supposed to see if it did cure the world? Something called 'the sun', Calypso had been told, but what was the sun? She glared up at the sky, scrutinizing each star in turn as if one of them might be the 'sun', hiding from them all. Finally with a sigh, she tossed the crystal aside. Interacting with it had done nothing to cure the world and touching it only risked infecting herself with the crystal sickness that drove wolves mad. So far none of her siblings had caught the sickness, (and although something was wrong with her sister when she touched certain things, the healer's had determined it was not the same illness spreading through Boreas.) The crystal plopped into the adjacent ocean with a soft plop and Calypso watched it sink to the bottom, a cluster of faintly glowing fish scattering away as it settled into the sand. If only she could swim, then maybe she could find a healthy world where the sickness did not exist anymore and would never exist again. With a sigh the pup rose, casting a glance toward the companion that was beginning to climb back down the tree to follow. "Will the sun ever come back?" She asked the cat sadly, pausing as if giving time for Lilith to speak back. It was silly, Azure's companions did not speak and Calypso knew as much. Her head tilted back once more, giving a last look toward the darkened sky and praying that some delayed effect from the crystal would happen before her eyes. When nothing of the like happened, Calypso hung her head and started back toward home, kicking piles of sand angrily as she walked. Word Count: 805 "Speech"

Crystal of Knowing and Forgetting

Do you know now?

The crystal tastes sweet on your tongue and a while after licking it, you begin to see the vibrations in the air. You see all the roots of the plant below you intertwined, carrying water up the various plants around you. You see yourself age, and die as if in third person. You see the sun pass many times over. The vision lasts but a few moments and you feel like maybe you shouldn't lick the crystal again.

You gain:

• 22 skill points- Any skill of your choice! Post in Skill Claims to claim.
  

You lose:

• Crystal of Knowing and Forgetting- I guess you know what it tastes like now.