Rain hunched his shoulders against the cold, keeping his head low as he walked along the cove, the waves breaking against the rocky shoreline and spraying his slate coat with alkaline mist. He had left his bags behind for this venture, traveling at night with his golden companion. There had been a curious string of crab shell pieces and claws at the border surrounding the garden along with a strange scent that just barely plucked at his memory although he could not exactly place how. He had tracked the sparse trail to the cove and now Rain wandered the coastline searching for answers. He had not told Malleus or anyone where he was going or why mostly because he did not feel he needed to. He was far from helpless, as he had proved to the empire countless times, and he was one of the smartest wolves among the Abraxas, which was on no unsure terms an achievement. Plus he had Faldur, what was the worst that could happen? A low raspy moan broke over the crashing of the waves and for a moment Rain halted in his tracks. He had expected to find someone or something, but the noise carried on the wind had been haunting and grotesque. He lowered his head slightly, unsure if he should continue or turn back to find someone to help him. He was startled by his companion’s black hand on his shoulder and turned his head to look at him. The primate looked off into the shadowy distance they had left behind and Rain knew in an instant what the baboon was trying to tell him. They had been followed. “Who’s there? Show yourself!” He demanded, his hackles raising in an attempt to look intimidating in spite of his small stature. He couldn’t help but feel relieved that he had at least some answer for the dreadful moan he had heard, although some part of his mind fired back that the sound had come from ahead of them, not behind. He brushed the thought aside. He wouldn’t think about it, not for now. Word Count: 350 speaking Thinking you

It had been some time since the girl had gone beyond pack lands in search of something to do. So when she spotted someone that she didn't personally know leaving pack lands, she just had to follow. The ghostly babe kept her distance to avoid being detected, and so far it seemed to work. She followed the smaller wolf all the way to the cove, and when they got there she noticed how misty and foggy it was. She had kept such a far distance from him that even she had started to have trouble following his trail when they arrived which in turn, forced her to keep her wits about her and her nose to the ground as she tried to pick his scent up again. She could hear the waves of the ocean not too far off, and it was likely that the male was at the beach. She hoped, anyway. It would save her the trouble of blindly wandering around in this heavy veil that surrounded her. Luckily for her, she blended in well enough with her surroundings. Her pale coat made it easy, but it still didn't fix her tracking situation. She wasn't the best tracker at the moment, either. Feeling frustrated, she continued forward until she made it to the edge of the coastline. Pale gaze searched the beach as she kept hidden within the foliage, and she spotted the male up ahead. A small grin creased her features as she hid, though when she heard a low moan on the wind, her fur bristled with apprehension. What was that? She didn't linger on that for long, however, when Rain called out. Ah, so he hadn't spotted her yet? Perfect! Maybe the sound she heard had been another animal. Maybe prey calling a warning or something. She quietly and delicately picked her way closer to the male while keeping herself under the cover of the bushes. She tried to circle towards his side, and when she felt she was close enough, her muscles twitched before she sprang out towards him and attempted to land just short of where he stood. "Boo!" She shouted. Whether or not her attempt at scaring him worked, she would have a good laugh about it. She rarely got to scare anyone else, and this had been the perfect setting to try it on an unsuspecting pack mate. Word count: 395 "Speech" <

He jumped as the girl leapt out to startle him, but refused to show that he was startled more than that. “What are you doing? Who are you?” He all but scolded. The girl wasn’t much younger than him, and may have in fact been older but her immature actions told him all he needed to know about her. “Jumping around scaring people like that…” He shook his head. “What if I had been a predator, or an enemy of the empire?” He could at least tell that she had come from the empire from her scent but he felt that he had seen her before as well. Possibly at a meeting. He opened his mouth for another rebuttal but was cut off as the deep moaning cycled through the air again. He stiffened then walked slowly to the rocky shore, glancing backwards to see if the girl followed him or not. Another moan and he crept closer, his head lowered as he approached the foreboding din that seemed to be echoing off the rocks. “Hello?” He called cautiously, his fur raised on end as he stepped closer to the source of the noise. He could smell blood amid the salt and tide and he felt oddly hollow as he stepped closer to a cove. “Hello?” He called again and this time received an even louder, raspier moan in response. He peered into one of the stony caves littering the shore and was met with a ghastly sight; a wolf, battered and bleeding laid on his side, his body being swarmed by crabs. Rain froze, mouth agape as from the pulsing horde of crustaceans a single blue eye rolled to meet his gaze. The man rose slowly, crabs falling off his body like grains of sand, some still clinging to his fur desperately trying to keep their holding on him. The creature huffed and wheezed then turned his head to regard something beyond the slate male. Rain could only gape in horror as the tattered creature dripped blood onto the sand from a horrendous series of scars on his face. The creature’s mouth worked but no sound escaped him save for faints puff of air. Then finally with a sound like metal scraping against metal he managed a single utterance, one word that may have saved his wretched life or whatever was left of it. From the depths of the broken man’s soul came a single word A name   “Proserpina” Word count: 410 speaking Thinking you

Azag’s memories of where he had been these past few months were scattered, broken things, but he knew pain well. He had come to know pain early, and had been broken accordingly. He recalled distantly how his captors had reveled in his anguish, how they mocked his godly heritage, and how they laughed at his futile attempts to assert himself. He could no longer remember the faces of his captors but knew that when he had become too large for their continued torment that they had sold him. He remembered distantly life as a servant, the humiliation and the anger that followed him to sleep in his miserable shelter every night. He remembered his stocky build being admired despite his mistreatment and how it had earned him a place in the fighting pits. He remembered the clashing fangs of wolves and being pitted against other creatures like mountain cats, and boars , for the entertainment of his captors, but this he remembered from a distance, as if he had witnessed it, rather than lived it. In truth he couldn’t say what was real and what was dream, but he remembered the black mouth o the man who came to see him one day. “Well…At least it’s something.” A voice in the darkness had said contemplatively. He remembered seeing a great bulking beast with white streaks in his fur pushing him roughly and urging him forward while he looked back nervously to see if he was being followed. But there was no one. He had been forced into a boat and the boat had been pushed off a dock and into the darkness. “Don’t fall in!” The man had tittered as he drifted into the darkness. He suspected he was meant to die, but the boat had been supplied with water and dried meat. It was strange, an odd act of kindness that he couldn’t fathom. The sea was mild but birds continually tried to steal his supplies and instead became supplies themselves. He remembered those days at sea, drifting listlessly in the wind and baking under the hot sun, his scars aching and stinking with pus and infection. He cleaned his wounds as best as he could with salt water but it stung terribly and burned enough to make him tremble, yet he hadn’t died. He remembered his boat crashing against the rocks of a shore and being too weak to do anything other than lay in the sand for a time and eat the crabs that ventured too close to him. How long had it been? Weeks? Months? A season? He couldn’t say, but it was by mere chance that one day a scent carried on the wind that brought him to a castle. It was a familiar scent, one he had smelled on the man, one that made his heart ache with longing. Abraxas. The scent whispered in his mind and he felt his spirits lift. But no, he told himself, it wasn’t safe, they wouldn’t know him, they wouldn’t recognize him. And so he turned away, and made his way back to the coast, back to be consumed and eaten by carrion feeders until nothing of his miserable existence remained. He would simply disappear. But the fallen god it seemed had other plans for him, and as the wolf approached him a single name came to him from the recesses of his mind, he spoke it like a prayer, his voice rough and cracked from disuse. Proserpina… Word count: 579 Speaking  Thinking You

She was rather amused by his reaction, "What are you doing? Who are you?” Laughter bubbled from her lips, pale blue eyes dancing with amusement that was incredibly rare to see from her. Her whole life she had been super serious, but that was mainly because of the loneliness and confusion she felt after her mother's abandonment. But after having spent some time with Malleus' pups and Kasdeya's, she had managed to find the time to have some fun once in a while, and of course, the mortal Male had been an easy target. There was no way she could have passed that up! "Proserpina Abraxas, and what does it look like?" She flashed a grin at him before he spoke up again, "What if I had been a predator, or an enemy of the empire?” Her smile fell away to be replaced by a slightly more serious look. "Well, depending on the odds and thr situation, I'd fight. Worst case scenario, I'd run." She looked him over for a moment, "And what about you? A mortal not paying attention to his surroundings? You're pretty small, would you run?" She easy curious as to what he might do had it not been her. Maybe if it had been someone more dangerous, or something more dangerous. She wouldn't harm him of course. She didn't know him, but she knew he was part of the pack. Before she could get a response from him or speak again herself, that same moan she heard earlier had sounded. Her demeanor grew serious and even a bit apprehensive. Her fur bristled along her spine, the pale ghost wondering what on earth that was. As if things weren't creepy enough around here... Her gaze found Rain as he took the lead in this search. Honestly...she didn't think she'd be able to take the lead on this one. Cautiously she followed Rain towards the rocky shore, ears swiveling each direction as that sound continued. "What do you think it is?" She would whisper. But it seemed that the answer would be clear rather soon. Already she could smell the metallic tang of blood mixed with saltwater, the scent making her wrinkle her nose with disgust. They approached the cave, the smell and sound growing stronger. Inside, a sight she wasn't prepared for. She spotted a wolf lying there, beaten and bleeding and looking as if it were being devoured by crabs. At first, she didn't know what to make of the scene as she stood there. But when the creature started to stand and uttered a single word, her entire body froze. Pale blue optics widened and fixed on the scene before them, her fur standing on end and she felt like her blood had run cold. She struggled to find her voice. She wondered if she was dreaming. Not yet knowing Rain's name, she whined at him, her eyes not daring to leave the other. "Speech" <