[img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/f948822d-bcd7-4833-9c2a-7dedc938cdf7/d5t2s7n-743e2118-181d-4072-a239-3f0a8a1be16a.jpg/v1/fill/w_1024,h_541,q_75,strp/frozen_wasteland_w_i_p__by_aintnothingbutme_d5t2s7n-fullview.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NTQxIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvZjk0ODgyMmQtYmNkNy00ODMzLTljMmEtN2RlZGM5MzhjZGY3XC9kNXQyczduLTc0M2UyMTE4LTE4MWQtNDA3Mi1hMjM5LTNmMGE4YTFiZTE2YS5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTAyNCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.N25XXQnYIu_uHuPnYvR1HTsI9BfQbCxyFukQDOSIa7g[/img] The wrath of the gods fell upon Fenris. As a star blazed down from the sky, a roaring scream across the heavens, countless eyes turned to regard it and felt only fear. A blazing baleful eye to those who beheld it, it was a sure a sign of any to most that the Time of Fire was upon them, the onset of the great floods of meltwater. It had come too soon, the twins seasons of Fenris measured in years not months, none would be prepared. The comet fell lower and lower in the sky, a great boom of force signaling the objects collission with the lower atmosphere, not that the tribesmen upon the savage world would know it to be so. To them, it was a thunderous warcry, loosed from the lips of a vengeful god. Many took up the cry, screaming savage chants back at the blazing light, seeking to show their cosmic foe there would be no easy victory. The sight carried on, however, regardless of their roars of battle. A blazing corona burst into life around it, the air itself igniting on contact with the streaking object, punching through from the outer atmosphere to the rich air of the habitable planet.The wrath of the planet did not rise up to contest the comet’s inferno, the great ice wreathed volcanos remaining dormant as they would for much time hence. Instead blazing form surged onwards, pulled towards the might of the greatest peak. It impacted The Fang with a force that rolled down from pinnacle to base, a cascade of rockfalls and avalanches that would eradicate countless settlements dwelling within the mountain’s shadow. The force was such that the sharp peak of the Fang shattered, the comet plunging within its volcanic depths. The frozen mountain gave way to the miasma of heat and sorcerous energies within it, the shining surface of the extraterrestrial object pushing deeper within the rock, until that rock gave way to something not of the material plane. With a shattering boom, the wrath of the heavens plunged into the realms of the Great Dark. —---- All she knew was cold. As she pulled herself free of the wreckage, a blazing but dying inferno around her, the wind howled in a biting torrent. She knew little, her mind racing to form the barest of thoughts. She felt as if she should hold memories, but instead all she could recall were these fleeting moments. She knew as well that the licking flames around her should have raged with heat, but they did not. The corona of orange barely punctured into the great depths of night. Only the cold white of the ground and the colder dark of the sky marked the landscape before her, even as she continued to drag herself along the ground, the landscape worked to remove the only interruption in its surface. The flames were dying, and the shattered remains of what she had arrived in steadily being covered, a creeping sheen taking hold of whatever it had been. Dragging herself along, she noted the very same about herself. The white of the ground began leeching up from her contact with it, a chill even greater than the cascade of the wind shuddering through her where ever the moisture seeemed to attach to her, then harden. [I]Frost[/I] The word came to her mind even as she began to brush herself down, ridding herself of a layer before in the next moment it began to form again. Stand, she had to stand. Another thought came to her without warning or precedence. How did she know to think this? To do this? This eluded her, but still she did it, wavering limbs that had never done so, but somehow could, pushing her first to her knees and then to stand. The frost still clung to her, the chill still leeched into her bones, but it had at least slowed the process. In the same manner as she knew these words and actions without knowing ‘how’ she too was aware that something was amiss. In her mind and heart she knew that such things as cold and chill should not matter to one such as her, For all the hidden knowledge she seemed to hold, she knew nothing of this place. The horizon, where frost met sky, was an unending and even line in the far distance. The only landmark was behind her, the disappearing shape of the pod behind her. [I]Pod[/I] Another word, but that one had less inherent meaning to her. Perhaps a name? For the first time the half-formed knowledge within her came into conflict. Information that had been granted to her to ensure survival and prosperity. No, it was more than that. To ensure victory. Yes, that was it. A word that meant little to her yet, another name? All the same, that knowledge spoke to her. In the absence of any notable features in an unknown landscape, venturing away from her one guide was incorrect. She should remain. Something more primal, however, raged in her head, pushing her on. [I]They are coming.[/I] The frustrating half truthes that her mind gave her were even more nebulous on this matter. She did not know who they were, just that it was not something she should seek out. Quite the opposite, in the first moments of her life she knew true dread. She pushed on. Even her fast racing mind, another thing she innately knew should be easy to her, could not calculate how far she had moved. Still, she did not stop. Her flesh cracked and bled, then froze again. She knew this would be the death of most, even when she didn’t know what ‘most’ could mean or be. She knew that it would kill even her eventually. However fast she moved, it was not fast enough. Soon the unbroken line of the horizons around her began to break with flicking shapes, the silouhettes of unknown beings flashing across her vision. Her mind raced for a means to prepare, to find anything, that might defend herself. Victory, Victory, Victory. The thought pulsed in her head, even more than the sense of dread at the approaching figures, but it was an ineffective pulse. She had nothing. Suddenly a new emotion was born within her. The heat that the fire had not provided her could not rival the sudden surge of fury. If she could not have this victory, she would not grant it to whatever followed her either. Her broken and cracked lips drew back, a motion she immediately knew to be one of hostility. A snarl. In response to her growl, howls beat back in the air around her. Not the howls of the wind, but a warbling, mocking cry, as they finally showed themselves. They were monsters, twisted things. She did not know what they had been twisted from, but the smoothness of their skin suddenly giving way to a coarse fur coat around their limbs and heads marked them as hybrid things. They howled and laughed at her, drawing closer, hunger in their eyes. She roared and howled back at them as they drew close, sounds which seemed to bring them further amusement, but for now the presence of ‘fight’ seemed to halt them. She knew that the moment she went quiet, they would strike. The cold was not helping, however, as more and more clung to her, her movement ceased to confront the encircling creatures, it leeched her strength, and already her voice wrasped with exhaustion. She was struck with the sudden sense of her impending doom, of potential not met, and the rage of that gave her strength for a few further moments, before she slumped to her knees, her defiance little more than a whisper. Her prediction had been correct, as she did so, they drew closer, the mocking howls growing louder and louder, a hideous noise that scraped at her mind. Then a new noise joined the cascade, a distant, continous… Buzzing? “Away, Away!” Another voice cut through the night, and suddenly before her was another figure. She knew, innately, as she had with everything else, that this was the form of a man. He was withered with age, but stood straight and defiant. Heavy robes clung to his form, decorated with strange other fibres. [I]Feathers[/I] It seemed ludicrous, the hybrid forms were much larger, more powerful, than this single man, yet he gave them pause. Their mocking howls became growls of anger and confusion. Much as she knew she was not of this place, she felt the same for this man, and the hybrids knew it to. “Away!” He snapped again. One of the hybrids attempted to bound for him, but the man raised one hand. There was a flash of baleful light, and suddenly the Hybird convulsed in mid air. The torrent of wind suddenly seem to bite so much more harshly at the figure, peeling flesh from bone. With a howl of pain, the hybird slumped to the frost, and never rose. That was enough for the others, with yelps of surprise and snarls of rage they bounded back into the darkness. The man approached her, stooping to lift her from the frost. For the first time she felt warmth, a sensation that washed over her from him, especially from his hands that were uncovered from his robes, a beating heat that she clung to. “..W…Who?” She rasped, burrying her face against the carpet of robes and feathers. “Sweet child, you may call me Crowfather. Come, let us get you to safety.”