The Bracken Woods The difference between here and there

His lengthy departure from the montane north took many suns, but at long last he left behind the desolation of the tundra and entered taiga instead. The difference was stark. His homeland knew few if any trees, and now for several turns of the sun he had walked among them, towering giants smushed together like upright sardines in a tin. The tundra wolf felt claustrophobic just thinking about their nearness, and so his thoughts were turned elsewhere as he wound through the expansive forest in search of a clearing.

Deep within the bracken wood there would be no clearing, though, only thickening as permafrost disappeared and true soil presented itself. Prophet soon found himself cast in a deepening darkness the further he traveled. The sun was still burning high above, veiled by a thin layer of cloud, but its light couldn't reach through the conifers and he therefore was alert. Being of a crepuscular sort of creature, the black-haired wolf had nothing to fear—his eyesight unimpeded and his senses razor sharp—but still he felt the oppressive press of the forest, the hush that fell over everything, and felt uneasy.