Horizon

Ash lifted his head.

He was sleeping, curled up in a snug snow bank not far from where the river opened into the lake. Though the morning light had already reached him over the edges of the basin, that wasn’t what had woken him up. He knew soon it would be time to get up, take a run, go hunting, continue prove his worth. But no - it definitely wasn’t his internal body clock that had awoken him.

It had been a rumble.

Ash sat up, frowning, and as he looked around ever hair on his back, tail and neck stood straight up in the air. Every single bird was silent - not one call, weird for the morning. It made him even more tense. Ash turned his head one way then the other, scanning the lake. Searching for clues. He sniffed the air.

And then he spotted ripple, that spread right across the lake. Ash went on high alert, leaping up to all fours, brown eyes narrowed. Nothing, but nothing he knew about could make a ripple that big in the lake water. Ash was a practical boy. He didn’t believe in monsters. He padded down to the mouth of the river where it entered the lake, looking for more clues, and then went still as he watched another ripple from way across the lake spread.

He felt the usual rush of energy, the desire to run, surging through his paws. But he didn’t yet understand what was happening, where it was safe to run to, and when his paws picked up on another rumble, a shudder in the very ground under him, it reinforced that there was danger, danger, DANGER. 

The ground started to shake noticeably, and to Ash’s dismay he saw the trees around the lake were shaking too, saw tiny rocks break free of the rock and tumble down the basin edges. Ash had never seen or felt anything like this, but he knew it wasn’t good. With a series of sharp barks he built into a howl, an unusually loud one at that.

Nights usually saw Rowan struggling with his heart affliction. Unable to sleep the one prior, he’d wandered northward from his usual place along the lake’s southern shore. On the eastern middling perimeter, and several paces into the pines, was where he’d finally managed to fall asleep at last, only a few hours before the sun broke over the tall walls of the basin.

The light of day was not the only thing it brought with it, however. What awoke Rowan was not brightness from beyond his closed eyes, but a rumbling beneath his bones.

He lifted his head to look upon a world silenced by the roaring beneath the stone.

Panic seized his chest. Not even a year had elapsed since he first entered the world, but he knew whatever was happening was unnatural. He was ungraceful as he scrambled to his paws upon snow-slicked mud, and the actions became all the messier when he heard his brother’s frenzied howl.

The instant four paws were touching the ground, stable or not, Rowan rushed toward the source of the call.

Whatever was happening was bad, bad, bad.

at least a few rounds away from ash!

Saya was exploring corners of the beautiful lake and woods around it. It was refreshing to have a new everything while keeping the best of the old place. She loved this place and wanted to discover everything about. A sudden wave she felt under her paws as she stood threw her off balance. What was that?

However it didn’t end there. After the initial wave the whole world around her started to shake. While she heard Ash she felt it was a bad idea to move when she had no idea what was happening. She was alone thus she needed to keep herself from panicking. There were a few small rocks rolling down towards her.

They missed her but she figured she needed to pay full attention to what was above her. There were lots of things falling or tumbling down. Saya had no idea where would be safe so she stayed put and concentrated on what was happening around her while trying not to panic.

Ash spotted a flash of white coming towards him. “Ro!” He barked urgently, lifting his low-pitched voice above the constant rumbling that seemed to emit from the ground itself. He tried to go towards his brother, but a jarring shudder of the ground pitched even sure-pawed Ash onto his chest. “Shit!” he panted and stubbornly shoved himself back up, not able to spot Saya with a band of trees in between him and her.

The sound of swift-rushing water caught Ash’s attention, though not as soon as it would have without the noise from the quake. He let out a yelp and jumped aside from the riverbank, but it was too late to avoid the surge that swept down the short river. It engulfed Ash almost up to his shoulders. For a few seconds he managed to stay where he was, claws dug into the ground, then the force of the water swept him clean off his paws and into the lake. 

Relief at the sight of his brother in the distance cooled the panic in his blood. Ro huffed a sigh from the top of his lungs, breathing shallowly on the inhale as he ran. His heart thundered in a combination of horror and exertion—a most off-putting sensation.

It rivaled the shaking of the ground under his paws, which worsened to a terrible swell in the moment. Slabs of rocks slid between his feet, enough to send him toppling onto a shoulder. Ro grunted, just barely keeping his skull from smacking the earth. With his face low to the ground, he watched as loose soil and snow slid away from him.

And then he thought of his sister.

“SAYA!”

His head whipped around, but he couldn’t see her. The sight of Ash had been a comfort to him, but Saya… her pale figure was nowhere to be seen from his position. Rowan clambered to his paws and sucked in a breath, desperate for her scent.

There was no way to be certain, but she smelled close. Maybe somewhere in the trees nearby. Hopefully, it wasn’t all a trick of the basin, where their family scent was beginning to settle into the place.

He heard an ominous creaking, followed by a thud from the forest. Somewhere, an old tree was falling, and Rowan’s stomach pitched up in fear.

“SAYA?” he screamed, running back toward the woods from where he’d come.

While the last bits of the heavy shaking was going on. Saya managed to notice a large amount of water going down river. But what made it much more terrifying was seeing Ash in front of it only for moment before she lost him. There were too many trees to allow her to keep track. It was a shock to have witnessed it but before she could cry out an old tree snapped very close by.

Fortunately it fell in the opposite direction but it caused her to panic. The trees could break?! But she was around a lot of trees! Seeing Ash disappear and a tree fall was too much. She forgot that since the shaking stopped it wouldn’t cause more trees to fall. Instead she ran down towards the lake.

She heard Rowan calling her name, he was along the way. “Run Ro! Run!” She said in her panicked tone. She kept running towards the lake without slowing down.

Ash had taken several winter swims in the lake, though admittedly not many since it started snowing. The cold now was tremendous, and he surfaced spluttering, still being borne by the surge from the river away from the bank. Choppy little waves had surfaced from the quake, making him feel like he was back at the ocean.

Grimly, Ash struck out with all four paws, trying ti ignore how they tingled - along with his nose and ears. There was far too much water in his face to see what had become of his siblings and for now, the boy had his paws full with his own survival.

Had Rowan been facing the lake, he might have seen the river strike his brother and carry him to the water below. He might have seen Saya breach the tree line, unharmed, and rush to their brother’s aid. Maybe he would have been relieved.

Instead, he was running further and further into the forest. His heart slammed against his ribs, the beginnings of breathlessness taking hold. His tongue flailed wildly from parted jaws, much like his paws upon the shifting ground.

Whatever was happening was bad.

Saya’s voice, when she shouted, sounded distant. Rowan’s throat tightened around a whimper. Either the rumbling veiled her words, or he was running away from her. He didn’t know. He only hoped she was safe.

He entered the trees in earnest, and the lack of sunlight inspired in him a fear somehow worse than the one which had already taken over. Snow slid past him as before, crumbling away quickly from the incline of the basin’s walls. He hadn’t meant to approach them, but a quick glance up allowed him to recognize the jagged borders of the Covenant’s home. They were no more than several sprints away.

And the snow and rocks upon the sloping walls were falling down in a flurry, tumbling against the ground toward him. The surge broke lesser trees into pieces and carried their trunks, like dead bodies, along with it.

Whatever was happening was bad.

Rowan shoved against the ground to stop. The pads of his paws stung, but if he’d scraped them, he didn’t know and didn’t care. He spun around and hurried in the direction he thought the lake had been, wheezing sharply, leaping over undergrowth to avoid the wave of loose soil crashing down from the walls.

He wasn’t fast enough.

The surge slammed into him. The power of it forced a yelp from his lungs. He tumbled blindly through the forest, helpless to stop the might of the quake.

His only thought in the moment was that whatever was happening was bad, bad, bad.

//This is looking more chaotic than I imagined lol Maybe they should have been more descriptive on the strength of the quake.

Saya felt like she ran ahead of Rowan but little did she know he didn’t go in the same direction as her. Her only focus was to reach the lake where it was open. That area screamed safe to her. After reaching she could calm down a bit. At edge she started to look around to get an idea of what was going on.

The whole world moved, that’s for sure but more importantly where was Rowan and Ash?

((Different areas are free to experience different strengths of the quake, staff aren’t going to restrict anything unless it’s unrealistic and there haven’t been any problems yet))

Ash was getting pretty splashed in the lake, but he could hear the roar of rocks falling over that. He wasn’t being pushed out into the lake anymore, just coping with the unexpectedness of waves, but thankfully they were dying down.

Cold. Cold was the main issue. Ash turned himself around and struck for the shore, making his movements as big as he possible could. He winced when his head, neck and shoulders rose out of the water and the breeze and snow chilled him further.

He had to get out of this water. Was that Rowan yelping? He couldn’t be sure and simply continued to make haste to the shore, his heart hammering out of adrenaline and fear.

He tumbled for a long time, ushered down the stone wall by the flurry of snow and rock and branches, horrified by the scathing chill of snow on his face and in his mouth. Salvation came in the form of one old, sturdy evergreen. It stood tall amid the chaos, an anchor in a churning, white sea. Stretching forth his paws, Rowan grasped for purchase on its bark, and found success.

With the quake dying out, the land began to still, but its aftereffects did not.

The surge of debris rushed past, tugging mercilessly at his ruff and pelt. He fought to keep his torso above the destructive force, curling his toes until his claws threatened to bleed with exertion.

Whatever was happening was bad, bad, bad.

With his chest pressed against the pine, he was dimly aware of his own frenetic pants as air wheezed in and out of his parted jaws. The threat of tears stung his eyes. Wherever Ash and Saya were, Rowan hoped they were safe. He wished he could see them.

What he couldn’t see was a felled tree as it rolled in the snowy deluge.

But he felt it.

The solid trunk slammed into his side. Whether the cracking he heard belonged to the tree or his ribs, Rowan didn’t know. But the force of the collision crushed something that could not be forgiven, and pain blossomed across his side. He could not even howl.

Whatever was happening was bad, bad, bad.

His glistening blue eyes peeled wide. His gasps came in quicker intervals. But air couldn’t make it past the top of his lungs, taunting him with the promise of one more breath. Red began to halo the edges of his vision, until the halo collapsed and his sight went dark.

And it was scary.

Whatever was happening was bad, bad, bad.

He’d only ever wanted to be good.

Exit via death.
Rowan has fallen irreversibly unconscious and will succumb to his injuries.
I will be wrapping up threads he is still involved in.
My baby boy.. ;___;

It took a while to realize Rowan didn’t follow her, He was just there right? He was going to show up right? Each second made her worry much. At least the chaos was over for now. While Rowan may be missing, Ash was nearby. The water, the lake?

Saya turned to looking at the shores. She noticed Ash at least and was relieved to see him moving. “Ash!” She called out. “Are you okay?!” She did see him get taken away. It would have been a nightmare if he had disappeared forever. Now if only Rowan would show up.

Ash hauled himself out of the water and wasted no time in shaking himself. Vigorously. The wind cutting into his wet fur felt like teeth slicing through him. “Fucking freezing.” He replied gruffly to Saya, but he was in one piece, she seemed to be as well. He gingerly tested every limb. There were a few small cuts and scrapes littering his mostly pale fur, bumps from being pushed into a rock here and scored by a passing jagged tree branch there.

Everything became ominously still, except for the thump of his heart in his ears. Ash frowned, and scanned the area for a second flash of white.

“Where’s Rowan?” He questioned Saya. Hadn’t they been together? Or within earshot while he was getting out of the damn lake?

((*sobs forever*))

Ash seemed fine, besides the fact he was in freezing water. Worse things could have happened but it didn’t. However Rowan still didn’t show up and Ash was asking for him. “I-I don’t know. I told him to run but I don’t think he followed me.” She said worriedly. They should go look for him but.. “Is the shaking really over?” She asked while glancing at the forest. It felt so dangerous in there. She hoped Rowan was okay.

Ash shook himself again as the snow settled on his coat, chilling him further. He bounced in place, impatient, knowing he had to keep moving to keep warm. He rolled his eyes a bit at Saya when she revealed they had been together but she wasn’t sure which way Rowan had run. Rowan wasn’t as strong or fast as him and Saya, she should have stayed beside him.

“Seems like.” Ash replied, frowning when he gaze caught sight of the destruction where the edge of the basin had caved in. “Fucking hell.” He muttered, his ears going straight up. Still nothing. No yelp or call from their brother. His feeling of unease grew.

Uncharacteristically, he called out loud. “ROOOOOOOOOWAAAAAAN.”

And echo of the name bounced over the water and off the sides of the basin, then another, quieter, all going unanswered.

It was rare to hear Ash be loud, but Saya was equally as worried as he was. She was afraid of going back in the woods. It would probably be better to find Rowan before something like this happens again. Without any answer that could only mean Rowan went really far. “He might have ran far. We have to find him before everything shakes again. I last saw him over there when I told him to run.”

‘Just stay calm Saya’ she told herself. She began to move at a quick pace back into the woods going towards the place she last saw him.