backdated to the 10th

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event: blood moon
skill: soothsayer

Something evil twisted the night sky's impressionable mold; what was usually only the moon's changing shapes was now a complete takeover. A blood moon hung in the sky, which was once only seen at night at the beginning of the week, then started to tread the lines between morning and night, then into the day, and up until now, where the sky was pitch black. The stars that made up their night sky had been swallowed by the void, leaving only the deathly glare of an unhappy divine presence. 

This was not the first time Aelia experienced a blood moon, as once she had in her youth, when her witch of an older sister dressed as a monster from the lake, and forced the Daystar's blood pressure through the roof. But after the first night of the blood moon, when it bled into the morning, she felt something wrong in her stomach — like she'd eaten something rotten. It stayed, like a rock, heavy, as the afternoon sun had scraped it away, yet the next day it almost overtook the afternoon sun. And she knew that it was time for her and her twin to return home — whether this was a sign from the Five or just a product of the curse, it was clear that their trip in the desert needed to come to an end. They'd found what they'd been looking for. Now all they needed to do was find the way back. The way back through an endless plain of dry grass and decrepit plants.

It was the middle of the week when she rallied her sibling to go through, where they would spend the next few days navigating using the stars. Though the deepening fog made it hard to sift through, the lingering night guided them where they needed to be: at the tunnel's entrance.

Aelia took a shaky breath as she felt the overbearing sight of the blood moon upon her, like a heat lamp on her, much unlike the daytime. She'd barely had any time with the sun, and it was starting to drive her a little up the wall. This wasn't like the times that it rained for days — no, because at least then, even the moon's presence was there, its light finding a way through the clouds. But the day... It had suffered this past week, and the lack of sheen in Aelia's fur was sure-fire evidence of her cracking from it.

Finally. She croaked, feeling as if she hadn't spoken in ages, her lunar gaze falling to Amaris. The tunnel that would lead them back to the Highlands offered reprieve from the high-hanging eye in the sky, and it was taking everything in her to wait for her twin to fall into step with her, so they did not part from one another. Are you ready to go home, Amaris? To leave what they had found here, and return to the life waiting for them at Elysium, to see if there was still life that existed there.

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Skill: —

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There was something greatly unsettling in the way that the shadows swallowed the sky. Too dark for their own good, and bound by nothing more than an endless stream of darkness. Amaris walked with an uneasy step fastened to his gait.

He felt watched. Seen. Hunted.

This was not the Moon he knew, like the other half of his soul. And no longer was it the world he had spent the past two years growing within. Something had shifted, and he worried that, despite everything that he and Aelia had found, it would do nothing to change the course of history—the course of their future, and the well-being of their world.

What if this—this endless darkness, cast beneath a crimson eye, was all that they would forever know? What if the world were never to return to the way it was before?

The thought alone was just as unsettling as the crisp air that caressed his shoulders as he walked beside his other half. His eyes would pass between either side of them, watching from his periphery, for any darker silhouettes to emerge from beneath the red moon’s glow.

He half expected them—something—to pop out.

When they finally reached the entrance of the tunnel that had brought them to the south, Amaris let out a sigh of relief—accompanied by the stolen words his twin uttered. Finally. He thought the same.

The moon-kissed boy, no longer feeling as sure as he had when he had first followed the guidance of the dream-visitor to the south, gave his sister a nod. Let’s get the hell out of here, he murmured to Aelia hastily, just as his ears would twitch and curve to a ghostly sound he swore crinkled in the darkness behind them. Something is wrong about this place.

skill: expert soothsayer

There was a quick agreement between them both, ready to return home. That was all it took for Aelia to trudge forth into the tunnel, unafraid of what it might hold, because it was surely better than being watched by the bleeding eye in the sky. A sense of relief fell over her as the bearings of the tunnel shielded her from it. The tufts of her hackles lowered; she hadn't even realized they'd been raised, along with her shoulders relaxing. I don't think it's just this place... There wasn't fear in her voice (now that the moon can't see them, it surely can't hear them, right?), but certainty. Maybe... It's a sign from the Five...? They'd never sent a sign this big before (unless not perceived by the twins).

A sign for us to go home? She mused, as she further walked the length of the cave, not distancing herself further than a shadow's pace away from her silver counterpart. Either way, we needed to get out of there... It's been too long since we've been home... Seen their mothers, triplet, and the rest of the pack. So much time had gone by... She hoped nothing too big had changed.

Lunar eyes cast back over her golden, wing-tipped shoulders towards the moon-soul, his aura a fuzzy mess, she could never get it to come into focus quite right. ...Have you had any visions lately? Usually, they shared these things, but they'd been living lives of their own in the South, not far from one another, but not incredibly close. The distance between their souls had closed long ago, the rift that had ripped a little gap in the lining of their souls had been resewn — but they were adults now, with lives that did separate from time to time... Dreams kept to themselves, as her own thoughts she did from him. A little part of her cast away, the parts of her spring and summer buried away.

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Skill: expert soothsayer

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The cool breeze awarded a sigh of relief from the moon-kissed boy as darkness suddenly surrounded them. Different, however, from the perpetual shadows that were felt above ground, accompanied and painfully paired with the crimson moon that hung in the sky. Not his moon, Amaris once more thought with distaste, as he noticed it was not just him who felt relieved to be out from the watchful eye in the sky.

Aelia, too, seemed grateful.

—A sign? His ears perked and twisted toward his twin, and though skepticism blurred his thoughts, he considered her words even so. It could’ve been a sign from those he had given himself and his faith to, but what of the rest of the world’s demise? Was that also the doing of the Five?

The last time he had angered the five, they exploded their world into a series of fires—but this time, Amaris hadn’t…done anything sinful that he could recall to gain such an ire from Houtu and the rest. And so why were they being punished?

His ears splayed atop his crown as they continued to move through the tunnels in silence. And though he grunted his consideration to his twin’s words, Amaris remained relatively quiet. He was thinking, and such thoughts felt especially traitorous as they slipped from the shadows of his thoughts.

But after minutes had passed, or had it been an hour? Amaris finally squeaked out a terrible, terrible thought. Do you think… He started, his voice a low whisper within the cavern walls, Have you thought about the possibility… A part of him felt disgusted by even the thought, a squeamish twisting of his gut, as he passed a citrine glance toward his twin. What if the Five have abandoned us, Aelia? --abandoned me, he thought.

Amaris shook his head, finally responding to the question she had asked not too long ago—or had it been a while? He could no longer be sure. I have felt disconnected for a long time, he admitted through a breath, his ears falling atop his crown as he angled his attention to the path ahead.

Even the shadows that have followed me since birth have been scarce, He shook his head. For the most part, Amaris felt he had been relying on pure intuition, and even that, he doubted at times. My dreams are no longer mine. They are filled with this cursed dream visitor, and while we continue to do their bidding, it feels like nothing is changing.

We are cursed, was the thought he kept to himself.

Where are the Five when we need them the most?

skill: expert soothsayer

The inlaid shadowed tunnels were lit by what felt like their very own presences: sun and moon. It didn't ward away the dark thoughts that swirled in either of their heads; the unsettling presence of a blood moon hanging in the sky had not dissipated. Both of them knew it was still out there, waiting, watching for them to pop out of the other end — unless they were lucky. Unless the Five let the Sun chase away the horrors of a red moon.

Her question was not answered by words but a grunt, Amaris' eyes casting anywhere but Aelia's frazzled form. Then silence, nothing but the sound of their in-step paws together, crunching against the dirt and dead leaves (cast away from trees outside the tunnel) that made up the tunnel's flooring.

Crunch.

Crunch. Crunch. 'Do you think...' 

Crunch. 'Have you thought about the possibility...' Crunch. Crunch.

'What if the Five have abandoned us, Aelia?' Cru—

Wait, what? Aelia's paws stopped moving, her lunar eyes examining her twin. He had always been one to doubt, but more in himself than the Five themselves. Before she could let her spitfire tongue get the best of her (and she would if it had been anyone else), she saw the hunch in her brother's shoulders. And she can vibrantly feel the way his unease flows through him, like a bright color that grays her too. But one of her strengths is becoming the light in the shadows of his darkness, showing him that the moon can glow too, if aided by its sun counterpart.

Though she stares, she listens, with her eyes not as intense as the full moon as they once had been, but now more kind, empathetic, a lunar source that wolves howl to on a lonely night. I have felt disconnected for a long time... Was it because they had not been with one another? Aelia, too, felt like a piece was missing from her, but she was still able to see the auras that danced around people if she focused hard enough. He continues, with a confession, shadows that had crept around him since birth had started to dissipate — was that not a good thing? She thought, even if the moon is rumored to have a dark side.

'Where are the Five when we need them the most?'

After a long pause, as if digesting all the information, Aelia took a pawstep forwards, moving again through the tunnel, no matter how hard it felt, how utterly confining it was; it was better than the alternative, alone, out in the blood moon, without answers. They have not abandoned us, Amaris. She says, now next to him, joining his side once more, letting her wing-tipped shoulder meld with her twin's silver lining, It is times like these where having faith is key. Had she ever had doubts that the Five had turned their eyes away from her — from them? No, the thought really hadn't crossed her mind, even when she wanted them to look away.

Maybe I am selfish for thinking this, She could often be, But maybe the reason you feel so disconnected is because... We haven't been so close. When the words came out, she hurried to fix them, Physically, I mean. Right? Like, that night behind the waterfall... We were close, and we saw something together, didn't we? She urged him to remember, That was real. The Five were there with us. They've been with us since we were born. They gifted us to our mothers. Right now, we have to forge our own path... We have to have faith and do what we can... If they were to fix it all, how would we know what miracles are? They could do it together, like they always had.

If the Five imbued me with you, then like me, I don't think they could ever leave you behind. She whispered to her twin, nudging his cheek with her nose, wanting to see him smile...

Sacred Wolf Mother, how long had it been since she'd seen that?

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Skill: expert soothsayer

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It would be a lie to say that a part of him did not wish to have reeled back his thoughts—his words—before they had slipped like a sin between his teeth. But now they were out, their string of sounds discordant with the very belief that the pair of them had been raised with. He knew better than to let such things be uttered in the wind, to be carried into flight and allowed to grow limbs of their own. And yet, he had not been able to keep such treasonous worries to himself any longer. The very thought like a searing burn across his flesh.

However, still, he could not deny the absence he felt. The abandonment and the emptiness that lingered where once he felt warmth, trust and faith.

Where had the Five gone? And why would they send such misery to the world they supposedly protected?

His ears flickered backward, lowering against the weight of his twin’s gaze as he too paused in their trek. Now, he stood before her, head lowered and ears drawn back as a tail sat limp between his legs. Ashamed and yet unconvinced in both the argument of their existence or the lack there of.

Amaris dragged his gaze away as his words flickered into the deadened space between them. He cannot find the strength to look at her, not when his admittance of his lack of sight and intuition already felt like a weakness he could no longer carry.

It is only at the sound of her following words, as her shoulder melted against his own, that he inhaled a shuddering breath. She is so convinced, and Amaris found himself envious of her conviction, in that moment. He had lost his far too long ago. Now he felt cast aside, astray in the vast waters of dwindling hope, as the Five (or the world) looked down at him and laughed.

An ear twisted at the sound of her words, listening as his eyes remained glued to his paws, his breathing unsteady as he willed his own anxiety to simmer and sleep.

He gave a half-confident nod.

He remembered the waterfall. But back then, the world was…normal.

Now, their world was nothing more than a festering wound. Sick, ill, and dying.

Amaris tried to muster up a smile, although the grin did not quite reach his eyes as he bobbed his head into a slow, accepting nod. He realized then as his own attention searched the moonlit gaze of his twin that her belief is what kept her going. It empowered her and offered her hope.

And while it may no longer be the same for him, he was not yet ready to rip away that promise wrapped in faith or trust from his other half so soon—if ever at all.

So instead, he swallowed those quiet insecurities, the uncertainties and the doubt and did his best to acknowledge Aelia’s words. Maybe you’re right, He said after a breath, his heart still hammering like a drum behind his ribs. We have drifted apart for so long that maybe its time we reconnected…and tap into our intuition together. As a team. Like before.

It sounded nice, in theory, and yet, it was still too difficult for Amaris to fully believe his own words that echoed in the air.

Maybe I’ve just been exhausted, he tried to rationalize, We’ve been traveling for so long, running for so long… the monster by the water, the dream visitor’s cryptic messages, that pulsing rock…maybe I just… He shook his head, uttering an exhausted sigh as he turned his stare toward the darkness of the tunnel. Maybe I’ve just been tired.

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A part of her tugs away; she knows of it as Amaris' soul that intertwines with hers, but she does not let it go. She wouldn't ever let it go. She remembers the only way to lead him through the dark is to become the light herself. And she will, even if she can feel the pit of doubt, sometimes it is infectious... Or maybe that is just a side-effect of the rotten meat she'd eaten.

'Maybe... Maybe... Maybe...' Each time he speaks, the word begins the sentences, trying to make some sense of it all, because right now, it is all one jumbled puzzle that not only they are trying to figure out but the rest of Mythris... Losing parts of themselves along the way.

The dark tunnel lies ahead, shadows dancing in the distance, hovering over her twin's shoulders and aiming to press further down on him. Aelia furthered herself by hopping a few steps forward, then stopping right in front of him, her head aiming to butt with his. Amaris, She says, trying to pull him back to her, and not let him fall further into the uncertainty of his mind... Maybe you are right. Maybe you have been tired, exhausted, and away from home for too long... But we are going back. Together. Let reality hit him, let the Five show him that not all is lost. No matter how far they venture, they are always watched over.

Can I ask something of you? She lets her head pull back now, so she can gaze at him in those golden eyes that reflect what light evades him, but whisks in her fur.

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Skill: —

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His mind is a never-ending swirl of darkness, an ouroboros eating its tail as it turns endlessly in the dark. He rationalizes, he dismisses, and he lies to himself as the words echo off the cavern walls. It is only when Aelia, his light, his twin, his other half, aims her body into the center of his steps does Amaris pause.

Not just in his thoughts but in his movement as well.

He levels a gaze with hers, his name like a call to action atop her lips. She repeats what he has said, and for a moment, he questions the purpose behind her words. Shouldn’t she be offering different strands of advice? Something uplifting rather than outright agreeable?

Then again, what did Amaris really know?

Together, he repeats softly, as if repeating the word would give it more power than he failed to feel. His gaze faltered for a moment before returning toward his twin. Anything, He murmured in return.