Silvertip Mountain mercurial

the cold winds of change wrought over the valley had not left the spiderling untouched. as the pack prepared for their departure, and then finally departed, a new solemnity settled over asperas.
we leave.
the verdict of the bear, echoed in her own muted tones. the passage of time turned nebulous, miles of terrain liquefied to unending dreamscape, the journey from the 'claw shrouded in ruminations obscure even to the bearberry herself. in the endless labyrinthine spirals of her own mind, asperas began to understand something more; something shadow-swirled and shimmering sinister. occultism 101 in the privacy of her thoughts, courtesy of dad the cultist and mom the zealot and all that their early influences had warped their children.
half-present, when merrick flitted ahead with the manic devotion the unchild would one day understand to be his trademark. asperas followed, steps light as if reality only held half a claim to her body.
bones, shimmering; power; threat and promise.
the tenuous hold of here and now crumbled. merrick's thirdborn lingered where he turned away, drifting in place, fixated.
suddenly, asperas was no longer her own god.