Wapun Meadow i'll never forget that you showed me to make art

Set for early tomorrow after this thread, Aquillius’s injuries are bite wounds to the shoulder, back of thighs, ankles, and haunches, as well as two broken ribs on his right side and a fractured right front ankle

He was nearly killed.

It pinged in the back of his mind as he tried to continue going, put as many miles of distance between him and the non-wolf as he could manage before his body gave out. Limping down the mountain, through the shallow parts of the lake, desperate to just put space between him and that..thing.

But he was tired. And in horrible amounts of pain, and he hadn’t stopped moving long enough for the wounds to close, so blood coated his shoulder and his thighs. He was flagging by the time he cleared the mountains, and when he got to the grounds below, to the beginning of a meadow, he finally couldn’t move anymore. His muscles locked up, his head lowered towards the floor, he wheezed out a breath and began to tip. At least he managed to tip to his left, he thought distantly as he landed. At least he’d landed on grass, he thought as he let his head rest there. He didn’t have the time, couldn’t. He couldn’t stay here! He had to keep-!

He wheezed, faintly, at the thought of moving again. But he needed to keep going, to put an entire valley’s worth of distance between him and the creature. But he couldn’t get up.

nightcreature;

lain low, left to die. almalexia breathed in the scent of his suffering and prowled ever closer. she studied him. a youthful thing, healthy if one disregarded his wounded state. there was no sickness on him, and perhaps under the right care he would emerge whole again.

hm, she regarded him in the manner of one considering a particularly challenging trivia question. his crisis; her crossword puzzle.

to live is a privilege, the prophet said ponderously. is it not?

Something came close.

Another spindly creature, though he recognized this one as wolf. Unlike the non-wolf that had chased him like a demon from the mountains.

It didn’t mean he trusted a new face immediately. But, it wasn’t the non-wolf.

He didn’t raise his head, but his muscles tried to bunch as the spider of a wolf spoke to him.

He managed to lift his head with some effort, staring blank eyed at the creature speaking to him.

To live is to know that death wants you back. He answered, unsure of what else to say. It seemed as though death had been hungry for his soul ever since he’d taken off after the cat.

almalexia laughed.

death knows that it will have you in the end. we all go to death, even queens and gods. why should it bother itself with you, boy?

she circled him. his eyes were glazed and distant. her own were full of malevolent mirth.

you will suffer less if you accept that there is no force which seeks to destroy you.

there is no force which seeks you at all, the prophet drifted closer, looming over him now, daring him to strike at her. because you are nothing.

He recoiled as best he could, tucking his chin down towards his neck. The spider-wolf circled him like a blood seeking shark, and he couldn’t follow her. He tried, but without the vision in one eye, he couldn’t make her out on his blind side. He could see shapes, blurrily, but not enough to determine where she was.

What do you seek? He asked after a moment, taking in her words and knowing..they were somewhat right. He wasn’t being sought, not by anyone. His father was gone and hadn’t looked back. His siblings..were gone. The last one he’d had..Valiria, and he hadn’t been close to her at all. And it was his fault.

He licked his nose, glaring half heartedly. He needed to leave. His heart was pounding.

He needed to leave, but he couldn’t move. Not yet.

divinity, a hiss, breath in his face; the scents of blood and rot. the voidsent hovered, then turned away in a flurry of tattered black fur.

what to do. what to do...

do you want to live? her question was frank. she did not turn back to him. instead she stared out over the meadow at dying snows and contemplated what she might do with some foolish yearling boy.

irrelevant, if he did not possess the spine to withstand her volatile ways.

His heart rabbited in his chest.

She was moving away. The boy tucked his working leg beneath him, the now familiar feeling of adrenaline beginning to once again pump in his veins.

I will live. He answered, strong despite how unsteady he felt, getting ready to lunge to his feet and begin running again, even if it hurt, even if he couldn’t for long. He just needed to get away from this spider.

stupid boy.

she had no use for him.

almalexia lingered and drifted away. further, in hopes of luring the boy into a false sense of security. perhaps he would think she meant to depart.

then she turned on him with a terrible snarl and a flurry of snapping teeth. seeking to urge him to his feet and away, toward the place where ingram stayed with his woman and her children. perhaps the sight of him would stir her keeper. only blood would bring him to remember himself.