Shimmering Sands you're just an animal in a cage, no more than that, no better than that

winds tore violently across the sands, kicking up dust devils and carrying a splendid sea of shimmering gold across the beach with a wicked delight. the trees that were close enough to this portion of the sea were almost bent with the frustration of trying to hold themselves against the onslaught. the leaves had been stripped away. several of the older pieces of stock had been completely removed from the earth; their roots reached out with threatening claws – an omen to any who should pass beside them. just when it seemed that the winds carrying the storm would cease, their howls would sound against the lashed trunks and scattered boulders. it carried the sound of death on its back and seemed to have little reserve in its reminder of just how savage the hand of fate could be.
 
the ghost passed in the center of the beachfront. the waves that battered the shores had only threatened to topple him a small handful of times. he had not seemed to care whether he was swept away or left to continue his aimless voyage. the echo of the wind did not leave his mind. the sound of the howling seemed to cling to him. it was suckling away at whatever life force was left inside his thin and haggard frame. not even a man of two years, but he carried the weight of several lifetimes on his back, and there was no way to hide such a burden.
 
home was not a concept that felt at all familiar. there could be no home for a beast like him. even if there were, illidan did not know that he would recognize it. it had been three months since he had been removed from his position within the pack. three months since he had left the sound in search of his mother, or answers, or a reason to keep rising when morning would shine its pale light on him. ninety days, but the boy had found none of what he had sought. even cadeau had disappeared from his side, though he would hardly blame her. the young healer would not suffer out there, for she had enough warmth to share with any who came in contact with her. she was better without him.
 
the sea surged and forced a torrential wave onto the shore. it did not taper before meeting his frame, but instead threw him from his slow pace and tossed him like a ragdoll against the portion of the shore that turned to forest. he coughed, sputtering saline water and expelling it from the back of his throat. gagging and drenched, the lean ghost found shaky footing once more and turned his haunting gold gaze to the distant storm clouds. all those days that they had traveled alongside kierkegaard and caiaphas, and how weary he had watched them become. illidan had never understood the gravity of what that had done to his parents. he had never understood why his father had seemed so starved of substance, of soul. 
 
standing on the edge of the world – the wayfaring son, returned home – he believed that he finally knew just how his father had felt…
 
… and it was hell to know it.

she had travelled to the end of the world.

literally.

for it seemed as if she had walked to the earth's edge to witness it's very end, fitting right? after spending a regretfully large amount of time wallowing in what had become of her, the ghost had done what she always did; simply continued on. in the end it was all they could do, right? well- until this very moment. so she'd chosen to simply travel north as it had been the direction she'd travelled just over a year ago /it seemed like lifetimes ago/ and had ended up in the teekon wilds, in blackfeather. yet as she'd always suspected, that kinda fate shit was all a fucking joke because rather than some stupid gods guiding her home with subtle prompts such as the north would always guide her in the right direction, she'd ended up here. a literal dead end. unless 'they' were asking her to continue forward, finish what they'd tried to do by dropping a rockslide on her head. a snort slips forth from pale jaws. 

she knew where she was, she'd heard the tales of how despite the world stretching further than the mind could ever imagine; you could and would eventually reach the edge where dark, treacherous water rolled warningly to ward off those that belonged on the land. you couldn't even drink it, the sea - a poisonous barrier. she'd heard too about the beaches, the strange substance that shifted position with each step and tickled at your pads and the air. she'd heard of how the air was entirely different here, crisp and fresh in a way that it could never be anywhere else and how wolves who'd been exposed to it would forever find the inland territories suffocating in comparison. she could now confirm that not one of those stories had been exaggerated, this indeed was an ethereal place. yet tundra didn't particularly love it, of course it was breath taking and she felt awed with a hint of dizziness at what lay out before her but she also felt exposed and it only made her feel more homesick for the dark woods.

yet she was improving, she was nothing if not used to adapting to the shit life decided to throw your way. still, from what she looked out on now it seemed life was prepared to throw the largest and final lump of methaphorical shit on everyone. for if the earth itself beginning to fall apart was concerning, the fact that the sea was also beginning to eat it was even more so. why now? it's a hollow thought, not accompanied by sadness or regret; just a dull curiosity as to why was it now that the world decided to fall apart. eyes water against the sharp winds and pale fur whips about the place; this place had completely fallen victim to the elements it was no place for a wolf- yet there was one right there. dark eyes lose their faraway look, sharpening to focus in on the canine stumbling along the shore and jumped as the large body of water threw him as if he were as light as a feather. she leans forward, searching anxiously before falling back with a sharp exhale as he becomes visible once more.

he doesn't retreat though and she watches on with idle fascination as he simply looks out to- what? who knew, he could be seeing anything in that rolling uncertainty beyond. straightening she raises her voice above the wind; "i'm no sea wolf but i have the feeling that you're not in the safest vantage spot" technically neither was she but she still remained a few metres behind him so found she had right to the statement anyway.