The Heartwood Secret destroyers hold you up to the flames

for @Tuvaq
forward dated 2 days to the early morning of 5/6

He hadn't been ready to return home after his visit to the mountains, and so instead of heading back to the river, he had continued east past home and farther than he had ever really traveled before. 

The place he found was strange but kind of pretty in a dark way. The colors were all muted and from what he could tell there was no green in sight. The ground was a mixture of dark soil and a weird, soft grey substance that stained his white feet. Not that he really cared; he was more concerned with exploring his new find, and walked slowly through the scorched, rotting tree trunks. He stopped often, nose busy as he inspected everything in his path that was different. It would take him most of the day to explore this way, but he wasn't much concerned with time at the moment. 

Wings flapping in the distance made him pause and lift his head to scan the area. A large black bird moved from somewhere in the distance to settle on the barren branches of a tree just ahead. They made eye contact for a few seconds, and then Acheron continued forward, unperturbed by his audience.