Ash shrouded the sky behind him, bellowing out from the Volcano still from it's fit a few days prior. It seemed restless, quietly rumbling just strong enough to be felt in the nearby ground every now and then. Legion could feel it in the Maw, having chosen to stay there even after his pack had left. It wasn't that he held any real attachment to it or anything, it's just that he had no idea where to move on quite yet. Everything he needed had been in those mountains; a training ground, prey, water, and shelter. His reign there was over now though, as the Volcano's evident threat to erupt caused his favorite prey to flee, the bighorn.

He followed the flock a bit late, thus lost knowledge of their whereabouts. At first, he checked the surrounding caves around the Maw in case they decided to huddle up and ride out the ash fall. He found nothing of relevant interest in any of the caves and decided to instead check for greater areas of vegetation. Perhaps they left to greener pastures, forfeiting their home but gaining plenty of food to keep their livelihood. His forest to the south was his first guess, and it wasn't long into his journey there when he found tracks from the sheep.

At the edge of Soulless Forest while the sun fell and dusk took over the sky, he found two things. Evidence of wolves and sheep both. Some of the scents of those wolves even smelled familiar, faintly reminding him of Ruina though he could put no names to the scents. He did his best to avoid the territory, but the bighorns were right on the perimeter. He didn't have much of a choice. Luckily, on flat land the sheep weren't very fast in comparison to the wolf; it didn't take him much effort to find a slower ewe and take her down, even with the males threatening with their horns. None of them wanted to fight a powerful wolf in his prime, not even for the sake of their dear Ewe. Legion started to rip into his kill as the rest of the flock fled, though he made sure to keep it intact enough to be carried.

Respectfully, he tried to put more distance in between himself and the pack border as he traveled away from it. He had no idea where to go, but he didn't want to get accused of trespassing or to run into another wolf and be forced to share the result of all his hard work. He picked up the sheep and started to head back toward the mountains, though the sound of low growling caused the black and gold wonder to stop in his tracks. His ruby eyes stayed ahead of him while his ears flicked, assessing the sound. It wasn't canine, it was utterly feral and feline. It was a cougar, and it seemed to be drawn to the scent of the sheep's blood.

He could tell the sound was coming from his left, through the pines. He wasn't sure of the distance entirely, but it sounded quite close. Perhaps less than six feet. He was afraid to move to look right away, but when he did exactly what he thought would happen... happened. His sight was immediately consumed by the great image of the cougar leaping out from the shadows of the pines. Its claws flashed in the twilight as they reached out for Legion and immediately, his power collected in his hindquarters to prepare him to leap out of the way. Teeth clenched tightly around his kill, refusing to let it go as he started to make his run- being forced to head back toward the pack territory.

The cougar missed its target but took only a flashing two seconds to get back on its feet and chase after Legion. The deeper Legion got into the pines, the closer he got to the pack's borders and this upset him. He needed to change his trajectory, but the density of the pines on either side of him made it hard for him to do at the current moment. He wasn't exactly a thin wolf, nor an agile one that could simply bob and weave through trunks and branches. He needed clearance. He was soon faced with a decision; trespass, or face the cat.

At the edge of Ero's borders, he dropped his kill and quickly spun around, the cat just a few feet behind him. His jaws immediately opened, snapping just in time to catch the paw coming for him. The cougar's claws tore through the flesh of his maw in searing pain, immediately spilling Legion's own blood on the ground and filling his mouth with the taste. Legion growled in frustrated anger but latched on to the ankle of the cat's paw without mercy. His thick muscles shook his skull left to right as he aimed to sever the paw from the cat's limb as much as possible. The cat's other forepaw hit his shoulders, creating fresh wounds there as well though it soon forfeited attacking as sheer pain and terror took it over.

The cat managed to get loose but its paw was severely damaged. Once free from the grasp of the wolf, it seemed to assess it's paw and continued to growl and cry. Legion took the opportunity to grab his kill and make a run for it, back toward the mountains once again. As he fled, the cat seemed reignited with intent to steal the prey once again and took off, slower and with a limp, after Legion once again. Legion rolled his eyes, his head lowering as he barrelled forward through the trees and tried to gain some distance.

Even with the cat injured, it was nearly just as fast as the heavy wolf. He had to think of another way to get rid of it, and soon thought of the quicksands he knew resided just outside of the volcano's territory. He decided to take his chances and headed for them immediately, keeping his eyes on the terrain for noticeable changes. It was risky at night, but he hoped that he could manage what he aimed to do. Paws favored stone and grass on the ground rather than soil, but it wasn't long before patches of soil and sand became harder and harder to avoid.

With the cat screaming behind him, Legion started to hop from patch of stone and grass to patch of stone and grass... hoping that the cat would not be as careful or recognize what Legion was trying to avoid. As he suspected the cat would, in its feverish attempt to get Legion and Legion's kill, it carelessly stepped right into quicksand. At first, the cat managed to pull himself out and take a leap forward, only to be met in an even deeper area of sand. Legion could feel the footing beneath him falling fast, as well, but took a sharp turn to his left back to grass. In his fear for getting stuck, his paws moved so quickly he wondered if they were even making contact with the earth or if he was simply levitating.

He was breathing so hard he couldn't hear much else other than himself and the noise of the cat's screams, but he could tell now the cat was no longer chasing him. He turned around, blood still running from the lacerations on his muzzle and watched the cat slowly sink and suffocate into the nothingness below. He grinned from around the body of the ewe, happily shaking it before he plopped his heavy ass down on the grass right there in the moonlight. He needed to rest, catch his breath, and then he would be on his way again.

He had caught the scent of his half-brother while patrolling his borders. It had been a long time since he last saw Legion, even after he had joined Ruina. He had been an odd boy when they were younger but the shared blood between them had always been noticeable. He walked easily along his border until he caught the distinct odor of cat and sheep shit. He lacked the seemingly otherworldly insight of his littermate to make out the full details of what had transpired but the wolf blood surrounding his border was concerning.

The blood left a clear trail he could follow away from his packlands and the lightning king, if for no other reason than their blood relation, followed it. The signs of a struggle were evident, and wisps of fleece clinging to shrub and fallen branches told him that a ram had been what attracted the cat in the first place. Perhaps he was better at tracking than he originally thought. From somewhere ahead of him he heard the furious and terrified scream of a mountain lion, and he paused to take in his surroundings. He was in the Pitfalls. Had Legion fallen victim to the quicksand along with his stalker? He doubted it, the demons would never allow one of their chosen to die so pathetically.

He turned his nose downward again and continued to follow Legion’s blood trail, mindful of his footing and the solidity of the ground beneath him. He was hardly surprised when the trail came to an end and he saw his gray and golden half brother resting on top of a long dead ram. He stood silent for a moment, looking over his exhausted state. Erövrare still didn’t have a healer that could attend to him, but a simple laceration was hardly anything he couldn’t handle himself.

“Legion.” He called softly, his ears pricked and his form at full height as he loomed over him. “You are injured.” He said rhetorically then gave a passing glance at his kill. “The meat’s gone cold by now.” He observed then moved closer to him.  " I could smell you at my borders. Why the hesitation to see me again brother?" He asked calmly although his eyes were narrowed with scrutiny. He didn't truly think of Legion as a brother any more than he thought of Dominus or Actea as his siblings. In his mind they were all more like cousins. After all hadn't he been the only one that had truly proven to be great? He had been the one to seize power not once but twice and he had amassed a pack of loyal followers who he had little doubt would join him in the spiritual awakening of  Erövrare  

""

As Tyranis called his name, Legion lifted his skull and his ruby gaze drifted toward the sound. His ears twitched as he tried to recall the name before he found his brother's visage, but failed. For some reason, Legion always had a really hard time remembering those that he encountered... unless, well.. they were useful to him in some way or another.

He did however remember his former leader and packmate once his eyes set on his features, though. A smile played on his black lips as he gave a respectful bow of his head. Although Legion had little concern for others, he wasn't disrespectful in the presence of known authority. In fact, quite the opposite... as he appreciated the recognition that could become of his mindfulness to his manners.

His shoulder harbored four large vales from the talons of the cougar, flesh torn and blood still spilling as he moved but the paladin didn't seem to mind. He lifted himself up to greet Tyranis regardless, a stream of red already drying in areas as it fell down his left leg. The right side of his snout had another four vales from the first initial swipe the cougar gave him, though they did not appear to be smacked with as much force and did not land nearly so deep. Still, they bled but the barbarian didn't seem to mind them any more than those on his shoulder.

His bloodied smile was still a smile as it broke his features, rubies alive with a glint of fondness.

"Tyranis." He finally came to a full stand, wide shoulders up in a proud disposition as he presented himself to Tyranis not in a challenging display, but of a way that would show the alpha that he stood at his attention.

"I thought I recognized something on those borders, it was you." He smirked, looking to the dead corpse at his side as Tyranis noted it's coldness. Legion didn't seem to mind, a meal was a meal.. and after the energy he'd just exhumed, he would still be partaking all the same.

"I wasn't sure who's door I ended up with how fast everything happened. Had I known, I might have stopped by sooner. I returned to the mountains some time ago, though it seems everyone else has abandoned them. Thought I'd wait around and see if anyone came back.. but.. I didn't find anyone. From the looks of it, everyone's moved on to better horizons, huh?" The pain in his shoulder was finally starting to bother him with the longer he stood upright, so the brute finally surrendered to it's nagging by sitting again and favoring his weight to his right side.

"What happened?" He wasn't sure if Tyranis knew anything more than he did, all he knew was that he left to hunt for a week and came back to an empty castle.

He shifted slightly as Legion came to attention, momentarily worried now that he could see the full state of his injuries. To date Tyranis had no scars to speak of other than the small crescent of fang marks on his forehead where a coyote had bitten him. Legion however didn’t seem to mind his injuries, and so Tyranis saw little reason to call attention to them. “The demon mother vanished, and in her absence our father was at the full mercy of the demons. He fled in search of her but could find no trace of her.” He explained, calling forth everything he had learned on Mount Vulcan. “He has joined my ranks now and is slowly recovering from the mind-blight.” It was a term he had never heard or used before but it seemed appropriate for the condition his father and his brother suffered from. He had reason to believe it flowed heavily in the Praetor bloodline but none of Elias’s recent get had showed any signs of it. “I called for anyone that remained in Ruina to join me, but no one but Korinna answered.” He ignored that Legion had been among those absent and instead focused on his true enemy. “Acere, Elias’s brother took his children to Abaven against their will, and now he plots against us.” His eyes narrowed slightly as he spoke of his uncle, unable to help the curl in his lip or the bristling in his hackles that seemed to come naturally whenever he spoke of the white wolf. speaking Thinking

His look became more serious as Tyranis started to feed him information. For a moment, he felt a pang of guilt as Tyranis mentioned that no one came to his call other than Korinna. He remembered Kori from the meeting before his disappearance, she had scars on her face...

'Still hot, though.' He thought, a smirk inescapable as it breached through his features.

He tried to focus, his attention given fully to Tyranis once again as he noticed the growing sense of aggression in his brother. He narrowed his own eyes as he thought of this, ears flicking again as he continued to stare. Acere kidnapped the imps? He didn't blame Tyranis for his signs of aggression, as Legion's own smoothed over into stone.

"Sounds like the prelude to war, if you ask me." He lifted his freshly marred maw, bloodied teeth flashing to his brother for just a moment as he couldn't help but grin.

"You're gonna count me in, right?" He chuckled, standing up again regardless of the pain. Excitement fueled him as he shook his pelt free of wet blood.

"What is our new kingdom, Tyranis? In what name do we march?" His golden centered ears turned toward Ty, listening carefully as he awaited the answer. His hackles prickled, though it was simply from the coursing sense of pride rolling through him.

He grinned and for the first time truly felt that Legion was his brother, emboldened by the other wolf’s steeled gaze and call to action. In that moment he forgave Legion’s absence when he had called to be met by Ruina. He was here now, that was all that mattered, and more importantly, he was itching to fight. When the other male asked him what banner they flew under Tyranis’s chest swelled with pride. “We are Erövrare. We are conquerors.” He said with a deep rumble of satisfaction. He was tempted in that instant to place the gunmetal wolf as his Chancellor if only to beat down the ever active Hannibal, but he resisted before he could give in totally. No, he would have to prove himself he supposed, but he had no intention of keeping him in the rank of Court Member while the woman who carried his current litter had fucked her way into the rank of sister. No, he would be placed as infantry until he displayed to the rest of the pack what Tyranis already saw in the burning embers of his eyes. Speaking  Thinking You

Tyranis seemed incredibly interested in him as Legion rose to action, his muscles twitching beneath the dark black of his shoulders as he thought of the glory of battle. Legion started to calm, captivated by the way Tyranis' gaze flickered over him in appreciation. Legion's teeth couldn't help but flash in a bit of a smile, as the recognition staked right through his own heart. He never really felt an attachment toward Elias, perhaps because the Apollyon was so wrapped up in his own world.. but the way Tyranis was looking at him right now gave Legion a feeling he'd never felt before.

A sense of fellowship, a sense of respect, and a desire to actually follow and impress this man.

He had followed Tyranis before in the past, but Legion was much less concerned with pack life back then and not quite ready to be a part of something great. Now, he couldn't say he had too many attachments in this world to anything.. but he was ready to start being a part of something. He was at that age, where maturity set in and the strive for success was festering.

He grinned as Tyranis' revealed the name of their flag and his thick jaw lifted up in the sense of the same pride.

"Erovrare!" Bulky brute's weight was lifted only for a moment as his heavy paws then slammed back down onto the ground ahead of him in exclamation. A glorious chuckle ran through the brute's incredible baritones, and he simply held the same grin.

"A strong name, Acere will do well to remember it." A flashing memory of the white wolf's image flashed through his mind. He remembered him from both of their previous packs, but his uncle only ever presented himself in a quiet.. brooding.. manner. His gaze had always been scrutinizing, though it was hard to get through the thick skin of Legion and offend him.. that sort of 'greater than thou' behavior was something that always annoyed him. Uncle or not, he was an enemy now.. and Legion had no qualms over taking the giant down. A shiver of excitement caused him to began shaking his hide, tail thrashing as he aired his pelt and finished riding out the feeling. He laughed again.

"I hope the rest of your army is as ready as I am, brother. This will be fun. Sparring, training, restless nights.. aaahh! Take me to them! Let's begin!" He wasn't sure what plans Tyranis had in mind for him, where he wanted to place him quite yet, but he knew it would be suited for battle and that thrilled him. He was ready to get started, ready to push his body to the limits of what it was capable of. He only prayed the women of Erovrare were ready for him, too.