"'Can I track someone who can move faster than hell? Sure, why not, I love a challenge!'" Praxis mocked his own thoughts from the previous day before aloud as he walked along the ground for the longest amount of time he could remember doing so in such a normal fashion -- he had lost both sight and sound of Aruna at this point, and could only rely on his sense of smell. [i]Just like old times...[/i] he told himself dramatically. Praxis had already decided he would abandon his search if he couldn't find a sign of her soon, but even the tracks she left when she darted around were starting to become less frequent, as if she had slowed down. Maybe he'd missed her turn off somewhere? He [i]had[/i] been talking out loud in a sarcastic tone quite a bit lately... after he realized his 'prey' was too far away to hear him for once, he started to enjoy actually being able to make noise and thought he'd try walking around like a normal person instead of using higher ground and leaves as usual. He only passed a few people, all who seemed puzzled by a lone Wolfen or wary of him being a Wolfen at all, but he paid them no mind.... realizing only later he probably could've asked at least one if they had seen a girl in red moving irritatingly fast. 

Moving forward only on the last shreds of his own patience, a town's gate soon came into view. He soon thanked a higher power who seemed to have forsaken him long ago for this luck, because he was just beginning to question why the search for this girl was so important, and he still had no real answer for that question. "Is that where you went? Look's promising enough," Praxis said, again aloud although he was alone. With a sigh of relief he approached the gate and walked through without hesitation. The first order of business would be to... "...what.. the.." he looked around, partially astonished at the creatures he was seeing. Most of them were vibrant, and he wanted to say they were almost beautiful. Could Aruna really be in a place like this? They all seemed to be of the same breed, without noticeable exception, and Aruna certainly was not. She looked better than this anyway... these people were kind of creeping him out a little. However, it was comforting to see that he seemed to have the same effect on them, as most who saw him simply stared on in complete shock and awe. Most Wolfen were used to being despised, but no one seemed scared, just... well, he couldn't tell. He hadn't spent enough social time lately to pick up on many social cues, so it took a few mind readings to realize they were all more confused at his presence than his breed. Oh well, it was pretty much the same as them being frightened to Praxis, so he shrugged it off with relative ease. 

Although he didn't feel the feeling alienation the population was clearly trying to give off, he did begin to feel rather irked by all the gawking. Catching one particular individual looking at him straight in the eye, Praxis stopped and turned toward them, irritated, making them tense up instantly. "Oh, for the love of-- If you're going to stare, can you be helpful? Looking for a girl that goes by Aruna Zeaxanthin. Ring a bell? Red cloak, annoyingly fast, kinda mouthy?" Before the sentences were fully spouted, the individual was rudely on their way, but not before Praxis was able to penetrate the barrier of his mind. The cloak and surname seemed to trigger some recognition in his mind of an old house very nearby. The memory seemed fresh enough; had Aruna just arrived? It was hard to believe this place slowed down someone with such intense quickness, but even Praxis was freaked out so he wasn't all that surprised. Turning toward the one who unknowingly helped him, Praxis continued and threw his arms up, still irritated. "Uh, 'kay then. Glad we could GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER." His voice raised in irritation to make sure they had heard him, but it only made them speed up and drew further vibrant and shocked eyes his direction. With an aggravated sigh, he threw his arms back down to his side and stormed off toward the house. "Yeah, okay, [i]I'm[/i] the freak. Clearly this place has no mirrors... weirdos." He grumbled. The truth was, he was mostly aggravated at himself. People hated Wolfen with relative ease, so their collective attitude was an easy one to shrug off, but his own was not: He had just exhausted quite a bit of energy to dig so far into that person mind as to find out how recent the memory was, and he had done it right away so it caused a ton of strain. Finding Aruna shouldn't be this important to him if he didn't even know why...

"Oh." Praxis said so quietly he practically mouthed it. He was lucky Aruna didn't hear him, as she was now standing within earshot of even a human of her turned back. He almost had passed right over her, as she was not wearing the cloak he had been searching for. She was standing in front of the house he recognized, not seeming eager to knock on the door, but when she did Praxis immediately began walking off out of sight. Whoever answered the door would have a pretty clear sight of him and would probably react as the rest of the town had... he should probably let her conduct her business before approaching her... at least, that's what he told himself. Truthfully, he had no idea if he was even going to make such a move, and what he would do if he did. It wasn't long before he heard the door creak open, but his keen senses picked up nothing more. Taking a quick look behind him, their seemed to be just... tense silence. He wanted to listen in passed the greeting but... it didn't feel right. Since when did he have morals? This is the second time Aruna, a girl he knew nothing about, sparked morality from him that was out of character, and it was already two too many. Clearly, he needed to leave: his state of living depended on it, or it could change drastically... and Praxis wasn't ready for another life-altering event in his life. So, it was decided, and as soon as he picked up on the sound of the door closing he turned toward the gates exit and swiftly made an exit on all four limbs, feeling that the faster he got out of here, the better, for whatever reason. Ignoring the even more shocked stares of those around him now, he passed through the gate and continued the way he came from, not even bothering to take an upper route again. He continued straight, feeling like taking a long route home might help him clear his head, but a few minutes of running brought him to an unbelievable sight, and a skidding halt. When his traction finally stopped him, his heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest. Mere feet in front of him was the largest hole he had ever seen in his life, and a quick look down made it seem bottomless. He would most certainly have died had he not stopped. He was in awe for another few seconds before realizing there were people of all kinds surrounding the hole, which appeared to be about 600 meters in diameter. "A sinkhole...?"

"Actually, I don't think so." An old woman nearby him answered him, startling him slightly. She was very short and appeared to have a hunched back and grey skin. He didn't recognize her race, but was also very uninterested in it. 
"Uhhh. Okay... was kinda talking to myself but sure." Praxis responded sarcastically, only looking at her from the corner of his eyes. After a moment of silence, he sighed. "Fine, I'll bite. What do you mean, old one?" He said, turning toward her. She never took her eyes off of the hole as she addressed him even though she was about ten feet away. 
"You can't see it? The chasm goes down into Yggdrasil's bark itself; you can see the glow a little ways down that shows the bark was broken. Have you ever heard of Yggdrasil's bark actually sinking on it's own?" Others around her seemed to be agreeing with her, all studying the hole in awe as Praxis was himself. 
"The glow? How the hell was I supposed to know that? I've not been around as long as you, so I've not exactly seen a lot of..." the Wolfen's voice slowed to a halt as his ears perked up at a familiar sound coming from directly behind him. He'd heard that sound nonstop lately: Aruna was zipping this way... straight at this chasm. "...uhhh-okay-thanks-bye!" He spat out quickly toward the woman as he moved toward the sound as fast as he could. She was moving fast. Really fast. Was she even paying attention? How would he stop something like that? As soon as she came within his eye line, time seemed to stop as he sighed. [i]This is probably really going to hurt.[/i] She was now coming directly for him, but he was a small target compared to the hole. There was no time to yell to her, she'd never hear it in time anyway once she was close enough. It would take all of his focus but he'd have to get into her head at a vast distance to let her know. 

[i]"ARUNA, STOP!"[/i] He hadn't used his magic to communicate with someone this way since he had been in a pack, so he only hoped that he could still do it with precision to someone whose mind he'd only been inside of once or twice. With his only card played, he braced his body to be hit by the missile of emotions that was Aruna right now. He wanted to move, knowing very well that if she didn't stop she could easily throw them both in the hole, and he didn't like gambling with his life, so why was he? The only answer he got as he closed his eyes and thought the quickest prayer he'd ever thought in his life was that he'd rather be hit by the fastest thing he'd ever seen than consider his own emotional state.