Redsand Canyon that’ll teach you to be born

A wild hair under his ass, Stag hauled for new vistas. Redsand Canyon wasn't exactly a new continent, but it was a change of scenery enough the young boy was enraptured as he came across it. 

Primarily, Stag was hungry; that was his chief motive for heading to new digs. As a young buck himself, he also had what those gifted with age and experienced called "idiot teenager syndrome" -- wanting to experience new things and brand himself outside the influence of his family and/or peers, Stag made for his newest adventure. 

Only to realize, being on your own was not so fun as it seemed. He didn't mind the silence, but the lack of company to hunt for him or assure him that weird noise in the distance was not a monster was sorely missed. He ended up sleeping overnight in a dark and cold hollow by the canyon's most prominent ridge -- all the while sleeping fitfully as he heard the heavy tread of Boogeymen prowl by.

Eshe had kept to herself for the most part since she had given up her task of finding Breccan. It seemed to her now that it had been a foolish thing to think it would be so simple. Not even her brother had known where it was he was off to when he'd left their family. For Eshe to think that she--a mere adolescent with not even a year to her name--would be able to find him was just downright embarrassing in retrospect. She'd been an idiot.

So, she had moved on. Fortune had been on her side in one respect at least in that she had managed to scrape up enough food to keep herself alive thus far. That fact had done some good in re-building some of the confidence she'd lost, but something else had recently begun to chip it away again. Eshe was getting lonely, and very soon, it would be time for her to bolster her courage and seek acceptance in a pack's ranks again.

But that day was not today, or so she had decided as she slipped like a shadow beneath the light of the moon. She was on the hunt for marmot, which she had learned liked to dig burrows in rocky landscapes like these. She knew too that they were diurnal, and if she were lucky enough to come across an active den, she could simply wait until morning and try to snatch it when it emerged for the day.

When Eshe came across the crevice, she was immediately pessimistic about the chance of it being a home for what she sought. It was too large--marmots preferred smaller spaces that predators couldn't get into. She froze, though, when she realized that just because a marmot wouldn't like it didn't mean there wasn't something else lurking within it.

At least, she thought there was. It was hard to tell with the wind sweeping about her the way it was. Her tail stiffened as she peered into the darkness, her nostrils twitching furiously as she attempted to discern what it was she was smelling. She could've just run for it as was likely the smarter thing to do. But Eshe was curious to a fault, and she had confidence in her ability to be stealthy enough to not get caught during this inspection.

Stag slept, but not blissfully. While Eshe crept about outside like the very boogeyman he dreamed of, Stag dreamed of monsters and teeth and the void of a mountain falling away underneath his feet.

He awoke with a start, the blackness of his dreams gradually shifting to silvery sight.

What he saw horrified him. A shadow, no doubt the monsters he had heard hours before, was blocking the den. Its form was hulking and hideous, and threw a shadow to the back of him that climbed the cave-walls in lovecraftian distortion.

A shriek left the boy's lips, and he scrambled back until his spine was pressed against the cave wall. All the while he was fixated -- horribly so -- on those eyes which hung in the blackness like candles, looking more like angry spheres to another world than the soft honey hues they truly were.

The scent became clearer as she crept into the space, but she still hadn't quite grasped it even as she edged out of the worst of the wind. As she moved forward, an inexplicable anxiety began to tighten around her heart. Her eyes widened as she slowly tensed, her hackles standing on end as an anxious growl rumbled softly free of her chest. Little did she realize this simply made her appear all the larger, more lamp-eyed and threatening to whatever it was inside of the den, which is likely what lead to the sudden shriek that had Eshe yelping in fearful surprise and stumbling backwards.

She didn't get far. Her legs tangled into knots of spaghetti beneath her as she went, causing her to trip and land hard on her shoulder. She scrambled to get onto all fours, but apparently had lost her ability to get all of them beneath her and in the right spots to allow her to run. So in the end, she enlisted an awkward, flailing crawl to pull her out of the way and around to the other side of the rock wall, just out of sight of the inside of the den where she stopped and attempted to gain control again of her breathing. Her ears stayed pinned upright, still trying to listen for whatever the wailing beast was that lived there to determine whether or not it was after her.

The shriek loosened by Stag's lips coursed out into the mountain air, seemingly stinging the beast of Gevaudan that lurked at the entrance. Stag watched in horror as the thing recoiled as if struck, retreating hastily backwards and allowing a flood of light into the den.

He blinked owlishly, still cowed -- the beast had crawled out of his vision, no doubt waiting in ambush for him to bolt from the den. He had used such tactics on hares and smaller creatures, and was now struck with terror (and a faint bit of morbid bitterness) that such a tactic was to be used on him.

Believing this beast to be a bear or worse, Stag kept his spine to the stone and snarled bitterly, the rumbling in his chest lent tremendous power by the cave's funneling accoustics. If he was to die, he would not do so pinned to the wall; let this monster hear his immutable roar, and know Stag would die fighting.

Eshe flexed her toes anxiously against the rock beneath her, her breath still coming in short, ragged huffs as she fought to calm down. She was beyond being able to discern what exactly it was inside of the den that she'd stumbled upon. Her panicked mind imagined some giant raptor-like eagle beast based on the shriek it had first pitched at her. That image changed, though, as she heard the snarl. Her eyes widened fearfully as it changed again, now looking more like a mountain lion. Actually, it looked exactly like a mountain lion. Oh my god, was it a mountain lion in there??

She knew she ought to run for it, but Eshe found herself frozen in place. She tucked her head into her paws, curled up into a tight ball and shut her eyes, trembling more from fear now than from the cold that dug into her fur. She knew too that she ought to keep quiet and try to fool it into thinking she'd left. But again, she could not stop the pitiful whimper that slid free of her throat that grew louder just as the monster's own roar heightened.

The shadow before him shifted. Stag felt his eyes close briefly, as his senses warred within. This is it, he thought to himself, pulling deep for the ironbound grittiness that lurked somewhere in his body, his spine, his mind: if you are to go, go out swinging.

Images of his mother and father swam in the forefront of his mind as he gathered his will and rose, limbs shaky at first. The shadow moved again, falling back and setting his heart aflutter. Deep breaths, deep breaths, the boy reminded himself. Steady. Steady now.

He charged, a bloodcurdling scream loosed into the sky. "EEUAAAAAAGH!!!!" Round the open den mouth, round the precipice, round the little bend he went, charging like a horse of war until his charge was arrested by the sight of not a bear or lion, but a wolf.

"Wha---" The boy never finished his words; the shock of seeing a wolf before him had caused him to mismanage a step -- where he had thought rock had been, there was only air. His eyes widened and met the would-be-terror's with a look of sheer shock, and slow dawning horror.

Suddenly, Stag's form disappeared over the cliff's edge, as if sucked under a gathering and all-consuming tide of brackish blackwater.

Eshe heard the charge before she saw the beast's form appear. With a cry, she shoved herself further backwards against the rock (not that she could physically get that much closer to it). Her eyes were wide and wild as she looked out in time to see the creature hurdle past. She didn't know what shape she expected to see at that point--her panic was too great. But in any event, she did not anticipate seeing a wolf, especially not one her own age.

At least, she thought he might be her age. She really didn't have much time to figure that out before he was suddenly gone. Eshe blinked owlishly at the space he had occupied last, her mind struggling to make sense of what she'd just seen. When it clicked, she was gripped with sudden concern. That had been a wolf! That guy had just fallen off the cliff!

With an anxious yelp of "Hey!", Eshe darted forward towards the edge of the precipice, fear clenching her insides over what she was about to look down and see. Would his body be broken and splattered across the ground below? Would he be dangling by his toes, gripping the cliffside for dear life TLK-style? I have no idea, so I'll just stop writing now.

Well, this was not how Stag planned to go. It was incredible how many thoughts a mind could have in a matter of split seconds - especially when that mind was faced with the insurmountable prospect of death.

I never got to kiss a girl, I never got my first kill, I never got this or that -- Stag's eyes closed as he fell through the air. He was so painfully aware of everything: the yell of the stranger above, the clatter of pebbles, the ice-cold fingers of the wind as it ripped through his rippling fur... and all of this would soon end forever... right?

He hit the ground with a sharp OOF - the wind knocked plain from his body. Luckily, the fall had not been too far -- he was young yet, his body oddly malleable; the last thing Stag was aware of as he fell unconscious was the swimming vision of Eshe looking over the cliff, and then everything went black.