4/7/2025, 5:32 PM
Just as Faeline, he had arrived with one, singular goal. To find his children. The pair had rested near the lake, near enough to absorb the odd scent that began to emanate from its surface overnight.
She peeled from his side. She hadn't been close enough to feel the bristles of her fur brush against his, but in his sleepy haze, he felt the absence of her quiet, slow breathing. A cold nose prodded his shoulder, and yet he remained restlessly aslumber.
That had been moments ago — or had it been hours?
Rhydian shuffled, blinking the fatigue from his eyes, finally rising to his paws with aching bones left to creak in protest. He gave one look around, then two, before realizing his companion had long since left the den.
She was so annoyingly stubborn. So independent.
"We must travel together, Faeline, at all times,"
He replayed their argument in his mind, reminded of her agreement and subsequent disobedience. The brute shook his head. If their roles had been reversed, he too would have left to explore the area. Or, better yet, the pungent scent of the lake. It was more acrid than before, he realized, as the weight of sleep relieved from his senses.
With a steady, determined lope, he pressed forward, following in the muddy pawprints she had left in her wake. Until - he heard her before he saw her.
The soft shift of paws over pebbled earth. The delicate whisper of fur brushing against low brush. Then, the unmistakable sound of water lapping from disturbance. Rippling not by wind, but by movement.
His breath caught.
She knelt at the water’s edge, her slender white form bowed as her muzzle dipped low. The rippling surface was no longer crystalline blue like the day prior, but murky and gray. As if decaying flesh rotted beneath its surface.
Drinking.
From that?
Now that he had gotten closer, the scent was unmistakably rancid. Disgusting. Pungent with the scent of something akin to blood. Even still, he couldn't deny the pull it had.
He moved. Not with grace, nor with stealth, but with urgency. A warning in his chest that pulsed louder than his own heartbeat.
"Faeline." His voice cracked, hoarse and raw. Words fell from his lips desperately, emitting in hot, rhythmic breaths.
He reached her side in three strides.
"Stop it. Don’t —" Air suddenly vacated his lungs, and he shook his head wordlessly. The male's large paw had already pressed against her shoulder insistently, attempting to anchor her away from the shore.
"What the hell are you doing? The water —"
He said tightly, his lips pressing in a tight line. He scanned the pallor of her gums, the way her breath shuddered. She was in pain.
"It’s not clean. It’s not... gods, it’s not water, Faeline!" He lowered his towering shoulders to meet her line of sight, attempting to shove her away with the force of his broad cranium.
What in the hells had gotten into her? Was she sleepwalking?
