It was the eerie red light that first made Lukina's stomach drop. It reminded her too much of the long night, of the eerie moon that lingered over them and the strange swirling lights in the sky like the stars were running together. The terrible illness. She'd been lucky not to suffer any serious damage from it. Would she be so lucky this time? Lukina stalked around the spires, the red light making her coat look almost a soft pink and her red eyes shine even brighter. This had to be connected some how, only in these lands had she seen such strange phenomena. Lukina pulled her eyes from the spires and glanced around, searching for the sign of any fireflies. While she did the wind began to slither through the openings in the spires, making a terrible groaning sound.

Although she should have heeded the strange whistling winds as a warning, Makara was too fascinated by the stone spires to allow terror to befall her. She'd been hunkered down here since the tremors had subsided, deciding this was as good a place as any to make a new home base. There was simply too much to be discovered. Most others would see this place for the dangerous zone it was, but plenty seemed to have been drawn here by the allure of the vibrant red glow above. It was intoxicating. There was nothing like a strange unexplored area that got her blood moving as hot as this.

Warnings, tremors... she'd heed her own call to action: the pursuit of knowledge! Makara was digging away at the base of one spire, its soil loosely compacted. It was begging to be explored. She'd noticed the beginnings of carvings peeking above the ground from some of them and she had begun to systematically dig downwards where she could. Occasionally they were too worn away to make much sense, but others showed an unknown creature in clear distress. Its features were twisted in a true mask of terror. Makara sat back and studied one such carving, panting from the exertion of unearthing it. She'd created quite a dust cloud, and she sat in a hole almost up to her shoulders. "Hmmm, I must compare it to the others..." Makara murmured, scrambling out of the pit she'd dug. Her eyes locked on to a white female a few yards away. "Hello!" she called brightly, a film of dust on the lenses of her goggles, "Have you seen these carvings yet?" Had she seen the face, twisted in terror? Oh, what could it mean?! If you could see her eyes behind the goggles, they were lit brightly with curiosity. Warning, shmarning. Terror? She hardly knew her.

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Strange things had happened overnight. First the light tremors that increased in intensity with each passing twilight hour. And then the blood red glow of the sky. Mother had spoken of the Long Night before. Of strange, sentient statues...but this? This was new. This was different. Was she afraid? No. If anything, she was curious. The skull masked girl ventured toward the stone spires that had erupted from the earth, and when she arrived, she was surprised to find that they looked like they had been here for eons. The stone was weathered and bleached. And they towered over the tallest trees that she had seen to date. She had passed through here many times, and not once had these been noticed, or even spoken about. Crimson gaze searched the horizon broken only by the spike stones. There were too many to count, their shadows cast across the ground like fingers reaching for her. Her ears perked when she heard an unfamiliar voice. The once still air now carried a breeze between the stone spires, creating what sounded like...moaning? Groaning? And not the good kind, either. A sense of foreboding and danger seemed to swallow the place. Warnings that she would ignore as the air carried that voice she heard. Moving forward, she spotted two albino figures. One being the newest Insomnia healer, and the other another she-wolf she'd never seen before. She dipped her head to her packmate as she approached, crimson gaze turning then to the other woman. "There are carvings? Have you been able to read them?" Jumping the gun, of course. Though now she was even more curious than ever. "Speak"

As Lukina checked her surroundings for fireflies she noticed a pale woman with red markings digging in the dirt not far off. She was digging at the base of the spire and asked the older woman if she'd seen the carvings. Lukina nodded and moved closer. "Yes, they look like screaming faces. Not a terribly encouraging omen. Have you found anything in your digging?" Her ears perked up as she spied her pack mate Rougarou. She shook her head. "I don't know what they mean but perhaps…" her voice drifted off as she looked to the wolf with goggles to see if she had an analysis to share.

"I know this seems an odd question but has anyone seen any fireflies about? It seems like every so often there are these strange events. I've been away from these lands for a bit but the last time I was…" She shuddered, swearing she could feel the ooze starting to drip from her nose.