News of many wolves traveling south caught Scylla's attention quickly. Something something, new, strange land, something. She could wait until word came back; let others do the hard work for her. Oh... but what if there were things there? Beneficial things? Dammit...

Collecting Nero and whoever else wanted to investigate, the Sovereign made her way west. Wolves of all kinds filtered through the strange stone towers. She rather liked the hue of the sky. Reminded her of nice, rich blood. It was no secret that she was an evil little thing. She was an alpha though, a leader, a protector. "Keep your wits about you and don't do anything to put yourselves at risk," she spoke crisply, her words bridging no argument.

Small paws took her towards one of the towers and she gave it a sniff before thoroughly inspecting the strange markings upon them. Casting a mismatched gaze to Nero, she questioned him. "Ever see anything like this?" In a way, they reminded her of cave paintings, but they seemed to be coming out of the rock instead of being painted upon it.

"Scylla"

Nero was a beast who felt no fear. He had come face to face with his own mortality more times than he could count, the most recent of which had ended up in his servitude to Obscura. When there was no shortage of things that wanted you dead, you learned to stop feeling fear. So when the strange night passed into a crimson red day, Nero simply scowled and kept his guard up. Something was clearly amiss, but these were forces far beyond the reckoning of mortal creatures like themselves. Whatever was at play here, they were merely pawn moving on a board—maybe even less.

Scylla collected him early in the day and the Obscura wolves set out across Boreas to the land that had been rent apart to make room for something foreign and bizarre. Approaching the new territory, Nero was immediately struck by how quiet everything was. There were no songs of summer birds, no calls of prey or predator to be heard. It was as if all life had been petrified here in the blink of an eye. The odd stone spires that rose from the ground like pointed teeth towered over them, making Nero feel small—a feat that was extraordinarily rare for the ancient dire brute. Golden eyes looked around the red-tinted land and the bloody sky, feeling no unease or dread. He quite liked the hue, no matter how alien it was.

At the Sovereign's direction, Nero simply gave a huff of acknowledgement. He would do as he always did, which was whatever he pleased. Nothing had killed him yet and he didn't intend to start dying now. He followed the tiny fae toward the nearest spire, eyes scanning and studying the pillar. She asked if he had ever seen anything like it and the behemoth shook his head. "No. But whatever this is, it is old." Reaching a paw forward, Nero raked his claws against the stone's surface, testing its feel and coarseness. It was surprisingly smooth to the touch despite its weathered appearance. His claws moved down to trace the etched face of a screaming creature in the stone, tilting his head curiously to one side. "Very old."

"Scylla & Nero"