Great Bear Wilderness under construction from conception to death

the two males collided like furious comets, their fiery orbit come to an infernal clash of fangs and snarls. arcturus felt the singing arc of pain as revui's teeth tore across his face; blood rising in heady goblets from his ruined skin.

he thrust hard against the leviathan with his forepaws, his jaws swinging again like a guillotine for an encore. to rip, to tear, to subdue if he had to.

there were very few things more horrifyingly destructive than two males fighting for breeding rights -- arcturus, clouded by a scarlet bloom of smoky wrath, did not see ying leave. his love for revui was bastardized into something simple and inescapable: a threat to be extinguished at any cost.

They were two rival forces colliding; one dark, one light, both so hungry they could not see that the true focus of their warring bodies had fled from them. Revui felt teeth against his skin; equally so, he tasted his brother's blood and experienced the jarring sensation of his fangs hitting bone or being deflected, and together the pair danced; feral, ageless, but utterly missing the point. A frenzy that lasted a fistful of moments—but which came to an end as one well aimed jab from Arcturus caught the leviathan across the cheek and ricochet his face away—leaving his shoulder jutting the opposite, exposing the throat.

If his brother truly wished to end him, he had the opportunity.

The blow dizzied Revui, and while he fought to focus and recover from it, he found his cheekbone immediately swelling. A tear to the flesh along the underside of his eye now bled freely, weeping crimson down a grizzled cheek. He very narrowly missed losing that eye; but he did not think about this yet. There was no time. Rather, he tried to swing his head back and bluntly force his opponent backwards with the carrying of momentum.

At that point, Revui took notice of their audience—the silence surrounding them, the grassy scent of springtime pollen in the air, deepened by metallic blood, but absent of the intoxicating scent of the woman.

blood (is it mine?) freckled the beta’s face, stinging as it coursed down his eyes and face. the mountaineer in that moment was reduced to a machine compelled by instinct; he ripped and tore, as he was ripped and torn into.

he did not see the opening of vulnerable throat — if he had, would he have taken it? would his family forgive him, for shedding blood over something as simple as a man’s folly?

the beast surged, connecting with revui’s shove with a throaty grunt. they were battering, fur flying and blood splattering. dimly arcturus was aware of profuse blood steeping into his dark fur, obscuring his vision as he fought and fought to remain upright. to remain victorious.

he was blasted aside by the powerful force of his brother, his wind knocked from him as revui plowed into his ribs. when he shook his head to clear his mind the matted fur stuck up on ends, crimson specks rising in a red mist around him. his breath was haggard and escaping him. eluding. his world closing.

the mountaineer fell back with a grunt as his breath — and consciousness — was stolen from him.

Revui was burning up inside; he felt the heat of his need, the terrible thrill that came with battle, and only tore himself away from the fray when he heard the satisfying thunk of the body hitting the dirt. His attention had already been drifting to the path Ying had taken in her flight away - and now he was hyper-vigilant of that path.

He did not even think to look back at his downed brother as he tore away from him. Arcturus had faded from brother to obstacle when the lust had overtaken him, and now lay prone against the dirt. He should have paused and thought about the ramifications of this brawl; but Revui was not a thoughtful creature, and the ferality that possessed him grew stronger with the win.

No decision was made because no thoughts passed through his mind. He reacted, as he had reacted to the smell of the woman and the sight of a rival laying claim to her. He reacted now, to the absence of that obstacle and the clear path that wound towards the northerly island - and so the boy lunged in to a run, leaving Arcturus to the mercy of the wilds.

how long did he remain there, under a violet sky? how long had the glade grown eerily silent, when just seconds before it had been roused to dreadful life by a cacophony of snarls and the noise of flesh ripping?

in.

he closed his eyes and blackness took him, his consciousness spiraling away in distant star-studded orbit.

out.

revui was long gone after ying's trail.

and still, one brother remained.