Horizon Ridge anathema [j]

don't feel the need to mirror my posts!! :'D i just have lots of muse

Her tail, thinned by malnutrition curled between her legs. The girl inched into the clearing, swallowing up the moonlight as it fell from the heavens and onto the rock and snow. All was light around her now, and only the edges of the clearing held the darkness of night. Shadows through which she could not see, through which she knew, surely, creatures were moving. Her ears pressed flat against her head and she began to lower herself in a crouch, perpetually slinking back as her gaze flitted around the edges of the glade. Watching, waiting; she was tempted to throw back her head and call a second time, urgently for another to come to save her from this nightmare. Her chin began to rise slightly, and her lips quivered. Somewhere beyond her vision, evil beasts roamed. She could see their eyes gleaming by the moonlight and hear their growls. Or was it just her imagination? Just memories replaying in her head, projected into the darkness like some twisted dream?

Without warning, he emerged from the twilight, as though made of the shadows themselves. It fell around him and he came towards her as a being of the darkness - Inkenoah sucked in a breath and tucked her chin again, taking a few rigid steps back. Was this the monster that had been chasing her? But he spoke. His words lit up the quiet atmosphere. Her eyes struggled to make details; they had fought to reach him, even, but once he broke the silence she flickered her gaze up to his face and watched. Each crease and subtle change in the landscaping of his expression, the reflection of moonlight in his eyes, blue as the sea, spoke of life. He was real, and suddenly, he was questioning what she had been running from.

Inkenoah caught herself for a couple seconds. Still some part of her accused him of running with the nightmarish hounds of her imagination, but she knew he existed, she could smell him and see him and hear him, all before her, and if she scooted in close enough, she could touch him. His breaths fell like liquid into the cold winter air, then to mist. And she wanted to crawl towards him and revel in his presence, but fear kept her rooted and she again averted her eyes. "I-I'm so sorry." She mumbled, dropping her gaze to her paws. "I thought. I thought I was being chased." In the recesses of her mind, in true honesty, Inkenoah knew that it was no more than figments of her memories. She had run from nothing to get here, yet the terror remained.

She hesitated again, trying desperately to come up with an answer. Something that was adequate; none of this bumbling and begging. Inkenoah furrowed her brow. She shook; her skin trembled, but she tried not to let it phase her. "Please don't hurt me. I didn't mean any harm. I was just - just running, I'm afraid, I've been alone for- for I don't know how long." If honesty never did anything for anybody, then all sincerity be damned. She had already gotten herself into a hole by running like a scaredy-cat into this territory, she supposed digging herself a little deeper would would either win his favor or have her killed. Swallowing, she tried to summon the courage to look at him, but found herself staring meekly at his paws. For as much as she hated the darkness, she was prepared to run again, should he decide that he would rather not have Inkenoah on his front lawn.