The Tangle the earth is littered with the ruins

technically the tangle touches rusalka's borders ...if you squint real close at the map so i'm going with it, lmao. for @Serem!

the first act of rebellion was like a mouth-watering delight that was a taste. a tease. like a stolen, decadent pastry that was as buttery and delicious as it looked. immediately, scarab knew he wanted more whether there were future reprimands awaiting him or not. the cold, hard truth that went down like a burst of sour powder was that he would not stop. not until he's pushed his limits too far, until the rebellion was quashed beneath the oppressing foot of those with much, much more power than him.

as the day wanes on, the morning sky blossoming to candyfloss blue of afternoon, gilded in gold of the sun that burns like a cursed doubloon in the sky, scarab teeters on the edge of blackguard and golden son. for a while he stays within the veil of safety that the scent markers of rusalka's borders offer just in case there is an adult trailing from behind but eventually temptation proves to be too much and he steals across the borders once more.

though he once thought of them as a fortress wall: immovable and impenetrable, it was horrendously easy to cross over them freely, as if the fortress and it's silent and stalwart sentries parted just for him. the territory he ventures into ( the tangle ) is immediately unpleasant despite that he is careful not to stray out of sight of the borders. the trees of the territory look as if they are cursed: limbs spindly, twisted and warped. sickly, almost. still, he is curious despite the spiny shrubs that look as wholly uninviting as the witchtrees.