Blackfeather Woods deepest sympathies

He did not wish to live in the brightsun mesa as mother did. And yet, he could not leave her, oh not again.

So, he slunk from her side. But he did not go far. Between the Mesa and the lake, the darkling wood called to him, it tugged at his spirit and hissed in his ears. Pleaded, no, bade him to go.

To here.

Pelagius did not know the significance of this wood to his family line, nor would he ever. But he felt as though this was a homecoming of some kind. The background hum of the beetle choir grew quieter and quieter until…

Silence.

Pelagius was alone.

It disquieted him, made his skin prickle and his eyes bulge. He strained for the voices of the beetles, for their hissing wings, but found nothing.

He picked deeper.