In the Still of the Forest... (Aurora)

Normal, Thoughts, "Spoken Words", "Other(s)"

Night had fallen long since but the restless female sat up through the earlier sunset and the rise of the half moon. Stars roamed about and twinkled merrily within the expanse of the inky black sky, casting their merry light upon the land of Einser. The moon and stars knew just how to brighten up Aurora’s night and a warm smile spread upon her kissers as she exhaled contently. Bright rosy eyes were closed in bliss as she breathed the fresh night air, listening to the faint sounds of the night. The Drei river sparkled in the moonlight and softly bubbled across rocks, creating a very calming sound. All in all this was the most serene place Aurora knew of and she could always count on it to make her peaceful, even after a heated fight with her mother. The words they had thrown at one another had all but been forgotten as Aurora opened her eyes to gaze longingly at the moon above her, propping herself down upon her belly as her eyes wavered. With the last rays of the moon Aurora fell into a peaceful sleep...

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Pure rays of sun woke the marble colored wolf from her sleep and she stretched and yawned, slowly rising and licking her lips as she gazed around her with a smile on her kissers. Ears pricked upright and her tail slowly flicked from side to side. She had had a few dreams through the night and all of them had been pleasant and she believed she was now cured of the sadness that had lurked in the back of her mind last night. With a new outlook and a fresh mind and body she set off towards the Einser Woods, a place she loved to explore even though she knew it wasn’t part of her pack’s territory. The secrecy made it all the more fun and after a few minutes she entered the dense forest at a brisk trot. Dried leaves cracked underneath her paws and skittered in all directions. She was definitely making a lot of noise. Sudden laughter resounded and Aurora froze in her tracks as a feminine gasp escaped her maw. Ears pricked up and she frantically gazed around her. //I knew I shouldn’t have come here!// she scolded herself. With a cold shiver her gaze fell upon a female wolf/ Her beauty was exquisite and she was in direct line of sight which meant she in turn had already seen Aurora. In turn Aurora seemed confused and scared and didn’t know where to go, gazing around her for an escape…

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Aurora noted the female as she came closer and found herself frozen into place. She couldn’t move no matter how hard she tried and her face looked distraught with a powerless fear. Her beauty was distorted by fear and she suddenly jerked into action and pounced away from the other, lifting her lips into a snarl and lowering her head. She was on edge and fear was starting to eat at her mind. She was in for it now. They were going to banish her of kill her or seriously maim her. She would finally pay for her transgressions and no matter how peaceful Aurora deemed herself she would not go down without a fight.

The other wolf stopped far away though and now confusion danced in Aurora’s eyes as the other replied in a melodically kind voice,

"Hello. Calm down, I am not going to hurt you. I'm not even going to chase you away. Unless you are up to no good that is, then I might."

Aurora suddenly lifted her delicate tiara from it’s lowered threatening position and stared at this other female with a frown. //So she’s not her to harm me?// the marble colored wolfess thought and a small smile crept its way to her satin kissers,

“Um… Hi…”

She took great care to remain upon an open patch of ground below her, dead sand rather than anything living and warily smiled up at the beautiful female. It seemed this other didn’t know about Aurora’s disease yet and how could she when it had happened only a fortnight ago. The memory still pained Aurora but she suppressed the thoughts and took care to avoid touching anything except the already dead sand beneath her paws. Luckily she had done her routine healing only the night before and her body didn’t show any decay as of yet.

“I don’t really know if I’m up to good or not… I was hoping to be alone…”

//Well now that didn’t sound suspicious, genius.// She thought to herself and cursed her inability to lie. Aurora merely left it at that and prayed this other female wouldn’t come to know of her disease. If she did find out she would surely chase her away. Hopefully she wouldn’t come too close either since Aurora’s skin and the air around her was icy cold, a dead give away, literally…

Normal, Thoughts, "Spoken Words", "Other(s)"

Aurora was starting to shiver. She could no longer keep it in and she had been plagued with this disease for only two days now and it scared her beyond belief. How she still kept her mind about her she didn’t know, but she knew she needed to get back home and the path through these woods was the fastest way. As she looked at the female before her the marble colored wolfess couldn’t wait for her to stop talking so she could dash home. Luckily she hadn’t come close yet and Aurora looked at River with evident fear in her eyes. She could feel the disease creeping into her right front leg and an inaudible curse left her maw. It had happened yesterday as well, she remembered the feeling and soon it would cause wretched decay upon her leg.

"Why alone? Why alone outside of your lands?"

What would she say now? That the Einser woods happened to be the only place where she could find Balta leaves, the cure to the decay upon her skin at least? She would ridicule her until the decay started to show that is. Then this lovely Riversong would run for her life. Aurora sighed and looked upon River,

“I thought I’d come to these majestic woods for a stroll…”

She knew her voice would betray her and the way her voice shook was a dead giveaway. Aurora could already hear the suspicion in her voice and she cursed herself for not being able to lie fluidly. Suddenly though River got up and walked even closer to Aurora, she started to panic and shied away from her as far as the sand patch would admit but she faltered and stumbled onto fresh earth and leaves. Within an instant everything she touched turned into rotten putrefaction and the decay seeped up her right leg as well, causing massive decay to her muscles and sinew. A loud gasp came from her own maw and tears of pain started to run down her cheeks in rivulets. An ominous voice came to her ears but Aurora refrained from making eye contact as she got up,

"What are you?"

By now her shoulders were shaking and sobs racked her body as tears fell from her eyes. With one last pleading look at the other wolf, Aurora turned and ran, hobbling on her right front ruined paw, setting everything to decay she touched as she finally broke out of the dense forest. She still kept going, through the pain and through the hurt as the decay caused one of the trees behind her to rot so extensively that it uprooted itself and fell over…

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Lungs burned, chest heaved and pain enveloped each and every nerve Aurora could possibly possess as she ran, limping much too obviously. The horror she had seen in River’s eyes was what drove her without rest, all she knew was she had to get away, no matter how much it hurt. River would surely tell her Alpha of her sickness and she would be killed without a second thought. A path of death haunted Aurora’s every step and sobs burst from her chest, tears streaming down her cheeks as her sight became blurry. She slowed as pain started to overwhelm her, decay spreading up her leg and into her chest, eating at the flesh until her very burning heart was laid bare. Still the decay crept up her neck, causing skin to fall from her in masses. She could run no longer and was merely limping onwards, sobbing painfully when suddenly the other wolfess jumped in front of her, causing a loud yelp from Aurora as she skid to a stop and cowered from River just as her throat was exposed,

"I am not going to harm you, but you are not going anywhere. Let me bandage your leg. Something is wrong. How can I help you? What is your name?”

Aurora cowered from the other, trying in vain to hide her decaying body from this other lupine as she folded her tail about the decay as far as it would go. Deathly cold hung about her and the earth beneath her paws withered and died as River kept her gaze away from this other wolf,

“A bandage won’t help, River. Please do not stay near me. I don’t want to see you die!”

Another bout of sobs racked Aurora’s ribcage and she softly continued,

“I am diseased. There is no permanent cure for the effects. I can only cure the decay for short periods of time with the Balta leaves of your woods… My name is…”

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The fear was obvious in the other’s eyes as she backed up at Aurora’s words, the horror hidden in her eyes becoming painfully obvious as Aurora heaved a sigh and left her name out of the conversation. Ultimately fear of death was an element present in all living beings, something that used to bother Aurora so much, something that consumed most of her thoughts, but now… Now she was death itself, cursed beyond belief to walk this earth for eternity in pain and misery. Ears were folded back in misery and her rosy eyes were dull and lifeless as she stared at the ground, tears splashing at the decayed earth beneath her. The wind softly ruffled her fur, the beauty that had been there before all but vanished in the sheer horror of the decaying skin that crept up her paw and neck. Even the soft incessant tugging of the wind caused her skin to crumble and drift away. Within the cavity in her chest her heart could clearly be seen, pumping away furiously as fear overcame it.

Riversong, as she had called herself, whimpered, drawing Aurora’s gaze upward. She didn’t know why this other wolf didn’t just leave. It was the smarter and safer option so why on Einser was she still standing there? Her next words were issued in an order and Aurora’s gulped as she spoke them,

"Stay here. Do NOT move. I will be right back. We will make it better."

Aurora was about to counter her order but before she could River was off, dashing into the woods as Aurora plopped herself down, rolling over on her side as her breathing became even more shallow. Absently she wondered if she would die or not as her eyes fluttered about above her. A shiver crept up her spine like a myriad of spiders and the exposed bone of her leg and neck glinted in the late afternoon filtering light of the sun. A sigh escaped her kissers as she let her eyes fall closed. As expected and as she had come to notice the past two days, ghostly apparitions appeared behind her closed eyes, clawing at her as she started to pant even faster, eyes shooting open with a start as she rolled over to her belly, rosy eyes wide with fear, but this time they didn’t go away. Demonic figured hovered eerily before her and clawed at her very soul, screaming incessantly into her sensitive ears as a whimper resounded from Aurora. She was the only one who could hear or see these apparitions and real and tight fear flooded her system as she buried her head beneath her decaying paws, whimpering.

A thud resounded accompanied by a rustling and Aurora pounced to her boney paws and stared at the heap of Balta leaves that lay at her feet. Her eyes fluttered to the female who gave another step back for good measure and set herself down to behold what she must have thought to be an entertaining spectacle. For some reason the demonic ghosts had vanished and bloodshot eyes dropped to the leaves again as Aurora set off to work, lying down and covering her infected leg with the soft dewy leaves. Lowering her skull she realized she couldn’t treat her neck by herself and a whimper resounded from her maw but she decided against asking for help and struggled onwards…

Normal, Thoughts, "Spoken Words", "Other(s)"

Aurora could literally feel the other female’s strong stare upon her as she applied the healing leaves but she kept at it, not bothering herself with his other female for the time being. A warm glow radiated from the leaves as they made contact with the decayed parts of her body and this glow spread up her legs and down her back, causing a warm tingle to radiate through her as the decay was slowly drawn back, leaving healthy skin and flesh in its place. Aurora sighed a sigh of relief as the pain also dimmed exceedingly and her head fell to the ground, eyes closed and breath deep and fast. Every breath was still ice cold as well as the air about her, but for now Aurora was thankful to be rid of the embarrassment and most of the pain. She struggled within herself as her mind begged her to believe she had been completely cured but she knew this wasn’t true.

Riversong came closer and Aurora’s ears pricked up first, alerting her of this and soon the female’s neck and dainty head followed as well. Scrutinizing the other female as she worked Aurora decided to let go of her fear. This female was brave, she had to admit but Aurora was exceptionally thankful for her help since she couldn’t reach all the decayed places. She was very calm and she worked with perfection as Aurora breathed yet another sigh of relief as more pain dulled. She knew though that it would return soon with a vengeance but for now the minimal pain was bliss.

When Aurora looked up into River’s eyes she could see the heightened curiosity looming within her expressive orbs and instantly Aurora’s rosy gaze fell to the ground. River sat up a little space away and searched Aurora’s gaze and spoke with that unguarded curiosity,

"I am not sure what you think I am going to do to you, but I assure you I will not hurt you in any way. Will you please tell me your name?"

Aurora nodded to her as she slowly got up from her lying position. The leaves stuck to her for the time being and much resembled bandages. Clearing her throat Aurora mustered the courage to look directly into River’s eyes,

“I am not normal, it is obvious that I am cursed. Not many wolves I know would let an impurity like me live. I guess that was why I was running… My name is Aurora.”

It was obvious that this was hard on Aurora and tears welled within her large expressive rosy eyes, starting to drop to the grund,

“I haven’t even been home since this… this death I have! I haven’t seen my parents or my pack and it hurts so much!! I don’t know what they’ll do when they see me like this…”

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Aurora felt utterly and completely helpless as she broke down before her new found friend. She had been a little skeptic but now she let go of all her suspicions as she laid bare a side of herself that few saw. She was truly scared and her body ached for a friendly hug or just a brush from another living being. It had been not too long, some would say since she had contracted the disease, but to her it felt like ages. She was such a loving creature and now she wasn’t able to touch any living thing without causing excruciating pain or maybe even death. Why had this happened to her? What had she ever done in her life to deserve such severe punishment? She wanted nothing but to be rid of this disease but a dread in her heart told her she would have it for much longer than she wanted.

Aurora’s ears flicked up, warning her of the other female who got dangerously close and the marble colored female gazed longingly at Riversong as tears streamed down her face, followed by a soft sniff and whine. Aurora started to worry but sat stock still and as River came closer Aurora could feel a sliver of warmth caress her skin and relief flooded her entire system. She ached for that heat and t comforted her like nothing ever had. Her tears lessened and Aurora smiled a genuine smile at River. This was truly a friend in one million and Aurora softly thanked her stars for having come across this soft hearted female. Her soothing voice caressed Aurora’s ears and the words were truly genuine,

"I can not possibly understand what it is like to carry this burden around. But you can talk to me. Tell me what is wrong and we will try and figure it out. Together. You do not have to be alone Aurora."

Aurora nodded and let her gaze fall to her paws as her own voice came out soft and weak,

“I do not understand this, Riversong. I am a Heaven wolf and I have served my pack my whole life long, doing all the good that I can and now I am cursed with this awful disease. What have I ever done to deserve it?”

Immediately guilt flooded Aurora and she gazed softly at River,

“Please forgive my incessant whining. Please, tell me more about yourself?”