[ P ] The Calm Before

The heat of summer was tempered by the promise of rain. Dark, ominous clouds were gathering in the northern skies, where the peaks of Tir Na Nog watched over the Highlands like silent sentinels: the kingdom’s crumbling towers and forts, vestiges of a bygone era, long since past. Villages and their inhabitants. Life had returned to how it was before the war – almost, anyway.

The angry sky was obscured by gnarled branches, scant light reaching the forest floor in a river valley, carved from the landscape by ions of flowing water. Ancient ferns decorated the riverside, verdant moss growing on grayish boulders. Everything existing in harmony, everything in its intended place…. except for one wretched creature who strayed along the pebbled bank of the winding river, alone.

The enormous dark beast moved with a lumbering gait, hindered by a noticeable limp. She wore a black pelt without a trace of light, riddled with battle scars from snout to tail. The latest round of wounds were fading into glossy, ugly pink scars. The behemoth had been forced by her abused body to take a break from the fighting, trying to recover following an especially brutal brawl and a particularly vicious shoulder wound that, even days later, still stung like hell. A single ear flicked. Crimson glare turned upward toward the sky, the wolf huffing.

A storm was looming, inevitably.

A crack of thunder caused the fighter to cringe, the sudden noise echoing like a rockslide. But above the smell of coming rain, another scent caught her attention. Rue tested the air, muscles taut beneath her ebony coat in preparation to defend. The warrior’s expression was muted anger, but sadness lurked behind those blood-red eyes as she awaited a possible attack… as if anyone was mad enough to fight the champion.

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

She could smell the storm well before it arrived. Before the first leaves turned over in rushed winds passing through sturdy trees. Petrichor danced across her nares yet it went as unnoticed as the growing thunder. The darkening of the world was perceived, but like all the other changes the Black Dragon did not heed them. In many cases a storm was something she didn’t mind. The water against her old scars soothed their constant dull ache for a time - but this storm felt different. The air was electrified enough to make her ebony fur stand on end. It was going to be a bad one. A storm that even Aleera wouldn’t consider standing out in for very long.

Yet the river held her attention. Citrine eyes were glued to the passing waters, wide with total disbelief. It was not the water itself that held the massive creature in a trance, but what was reflected upon its surface. Since the fire she had looked into the roaring waves of the sea as well as the still glass water of a pond - none of which revealed to her what this river did. She could see herself - but not as how she knew herself to appear these days. All of her scars were gone. She looked upon herself young and untouched by the kiss of fire…but it was hardly herself she cared so much about. No, what truly held Aleera still as stone was the image of those she lost there at her side. Her beloved Koh on one side, smiling as always. A young, obsidian black female with golden eyes on her opposite. ”Keeta…?”

She was so beautiful. Is this what her daughter would have looked like if she had been given a chance? In the moment she spoke her childs name a clap of thunder more powerful than the ones that came before rocked not only the earth, but the dark wolf herself. For only a split second the water flashed black with the form of a wolven figure who’s only trait Aleera could discern were cruel, spiteful blue eyes. As quickly as it came, the black figure and her loved ones vanished. The water returned to normal and all she saw was the ugly reality etched upon her visage and the all consuming grief besides.

Just as her own scent of smoke and dreadful fire smothered the onslaught of coming rain, another scent just as powerful finally registered in her nose. Mind no longer clouded, the great black beast rose her head to stand at her full imposing height. The smell of something earthy, a sort of particular tree that did not grow here. ”Hem.” The hum rumbled in her chest not entirely unlike that of the thunder that roared above as her head swung wide to peer a short distance down the river. She spied a dark frame. One far enough away that she was not so certain it was truly there. The smell she caught, whipped up in the growing wild wind told her someone was definitely there. Part of Aleera wanted to ignore the figure and go on about her day. Another part of her, the louder part, told her she had already been in this land for too long with no sign nor word that the creature she sought was even here. It would do her well enough to at least try and speak with this stranger. A sound between a growl and sigh left her lips, accompanied by a light shake of her great crown before finally turning from the water’s edge.

Monstrous paws closed the distance between herself and what was starting to appear more and more like some black brute. Aleera knew better than to assume, for she herself had little in the way of feminine allure - even before the fire. The taint in the air told a different story and for a solemn moment she wondered - was this another vision of Keeta? No. One look upon this female's eyes alone told all Aleera needed to know. The wind rushed over them, upsetting both pairs of dark fur and revealing the scars of lives hard lived. Of battles won and lost. Still, she could not help but notice the youth hidden under all those scars. Scars that had no place on one so young. Aleera caught herself before pity could set in properly. It was not her place to judge this girl. Even if some fiber of her being buried deep within felt the old urge to find the ones responsible for such scars and give them a few in kind. ”Have you a moment to talk, girl?”

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A dark stranger appeared like a phantom in the enigmatic woods. Even from a distance, the wolf smelled of smoke; beneath the wildfire stench were hints that the other was most certainly female. Rue remained in a defensive posture, but was silently grateful that whoever it was, it was not a man. Without hesitation, the unknown one traipsed over; Rue’s normally stoic expression melted into overt confusion.

Rue appraised this bold stranger in silence, a beast that rivaled her own gargantuan size — quite unusual for their gender. Blood red sights explored the other’s muscular frame with shameless interest, scarred lips pursing tightly. The unknown woman appeared strong, capable… But what the hell was wrong with her fur? It looked like she was meant to be all dressed in obsidian, but parts of her pelt had been peeled away, revealing gnarled rose-colored flesh. It was as if half her body was one enormous scar, marring her face, her form. If it was the result of a battle … shit, what kind of fighter must this be? Rue had never seen anything like this before; the behemoth made no effort to disguise her curious staring.

Before she could speak, the sort-of onyx stranger addressed her: ”Have you a moment to talk, girl?” Ebony brows quirked with bafflement before they were tensing into a harsh glare. A tattered ear flicked with irritation, dark lip curling back to reveal ivory canines as a rumbling voice echoed the other.
”Girl?” Rue was no child, and the fighter bristled at the suggestion — not to mention how distinctly brutish the brawler appeared. ”Who the fuck are you?” She wasn’t the same pathetic weakling she had been as a lost child left to fend for herself in a merciless world. The dark monster had worked too hard to be everything but that. Now she was ferocious. Powerful. No longer a victim to anyone. A champion fighter… or, at least, she had been before a recent spate of drunken losses. Thinking of the Playground did nothing to soothe her blossoming anger, and she grumbled incoherently under her breath.

Ominous garnets shifted away from the stranger, rolling toward the blackened skies. A hollow during heavy rains was a recipe for tragedy, when the creek would swell and wash away everything in its path. Her eyes returned to the amber-hued orbs of the unknown woman. ”Talk later. This’s no place ta be durin’ a storm. Keep goin’, eh?” Her speech was sloppy and slurring, a testament to the hard life she had lived, one void of privilege, education, or comforts. A voice more masculine than femme — if one couldn’t smell her, they would assuredly assume she was male.

As she had no intention of striking up conversation with this brazen stranger, Rue turned from the other, enormous paws dragging as they began to carry her up the steep slope, away from the creek that would soon become a raging river. It could begin to rain any moment. The dark warrior peered over her shoulder to see what the stranger would do. Not that Rue cared… probably.

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Curiosity. Disgust. Bewilderment. These were but a few of the ways in which Aleera was looked at and grew to expect these last few years. Some might consider such wide eyed staring a rude gesture. Seeing a wolf scarred up was not unusual and in many cultures these were the signs of the strongest, bravest warriors. Their old wounds were a badge of honor that should be regarded with respect by anyone willing to put their life on the line. But the burned woman was no fool. She knew exactly how extraordinarily grotesque she had become. Not in all her years or travel had she come across another wolf as marred in scars as she. To some this could be just the same sort of testament to her ability - but Aleera truthfully did not see it that way. These scars were no token of her endurance and prowess in battle. No. These were the scars of a failure.

When the young female regarded her with the same look she had seen a thousand times it pulled nothing to the surface of Aleera’s visage. These stares did not hurt her feelings because she did not care. Being bothered by the opinions of others who held no weight on her life would be an exercise in maddeningly unhelpful habits. At the same time, amber eyes watched the befuddlement evaporate - replaced by a hardened glare once addressed. Ah, another one that didn’t take kindly to the way she spoke. So be it. It wouldn’t change anything. ”Girl?” She repeated the word with pure disdain, a growl in her voice that might indicate threat - but it did nothing to change the emotionless, hardened stare with which Aleera regarded the whole of the world. Rather than answer the question presented, the girl offered up her own question with aggression practically seething out of her entire form. Demanding to know who Aleera was. ”Someone with very little patience.” Her voice was even, if not a bit stern. A rumbling voice like a quake in the earth laced with authority that didn’t just come out of nowhere.

The Black Dragon watched as the ruby orbs of the young girl looked to the river, the faint glimmer of worry therein. Concerned with the rising water level perhaps? Though Aleera made no effort to evaluate the rising waters herself, the guess seemed accurate as the girl announced that this was no place to be if they were going to talk. Quickly enough the ebony dame turned and began to climb the somewhat steep hill out of the dangerous path of rising tides. For a moment Aleera did little more than watch the girl go, though was surprised when the child looked back at her almost in expectation. ”Hem.” She sighed, a black ear flickering before sparing the river a final glance before turning herself and following the trail the girl had taken to get out of the river embankment.

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”Someone with very little patience.” The stranger wore a mask of cold indifference on her tattered facade. But she would soon find that she was not the only impatient monster to roam these woods. The fur along Rue’s nape began to stand on end with ire – and because the electricity in the air was intensifying. ”Aye,” the dark brute seethed through clenched teeth. ”’nd someone who needs ta fuck right off.” Her husky syllables were tinged with an overt threat, scarlet sights dangerous. This stranger is lucky, thought Rue, that the storm had arrived just in time to interrupt their lovely little chat.


Black tail swished behind Rue as she hurtled up that hill, no longer sparing a glance to see how the other would fare. An ear pinned back against her skull with annoyance, fury still simmering, aggression causing through her veins — it was her life’s blood, that which sustained her. Violence was the path she tread. The anger fueled her trajectory as she lurched forward until she had reached the top of a tree-lined overlook. Now, the valley below was obscured by hazy mist and clouds as the winds became more furious, whipping the fighter’s onyx-hued fur wildly.


Nature. It was a force fiercer than any mighty warrior, more powerful than any king who ever reigned over the lands. Rue was not one prone to fearfulness, but even she could sense that this tempest was destined to be a fierce one. Then, the sky lit up, brighter than daytime, and instantly, a deafening crack of thunder shook the dark woods like a temblor, and everything within it; the sound was so severe that it alarmed Rue, though she would be loathe to admit that it set her heart to racing as she loudly exclaimed, ”Fuck!”


Tree limbs and foliage fell down from the sky, causing the dark warrior to retreat before she was crushed. Eyes wide with surprise, Rue’s focus turned upward. A towering tree had been struck by the bolt of lightning, splitting the trunk nearly in half. Within moments, the tree had burst into flames, with fire licking at the cruel dark skies. Embers fell like rain beneath the doomed tree. Under her breath, Rue would mutter, ”Well, shit.” Unconsciously, the ebony warrior’s gaze fell from the burning timber to the forest floor in search of the scarred stranger.




@Aleera

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

This one was ready and willing to brawl. If the scars didn’t prove it then the acrimony in her words certainly did. Disrespectful and deliberate. In some, they might be enough to draw out further aggression which would ultimately culminate into a fight. For Aleera, the words went unanswered in any meaningful way. She saw that addressing the girl’s insults any further would warrant them only broken flesh - a waste of both their times. Fighting would not yield the answers Aleera wanted without due exertion. While it was true the burned woman had ripped the answers she needed out of her foes before, she was old enough to know now that doing so at every obstacle that sat her in path was stupid. All it would grant her was more scars before the final battle. On that day…In that fight…Her own life would be the price. Until then she would, at times, have to exercise restraint.

Without a word Aleera followed the other dame out of the riverbed while the sky above them roiled with the coming storm. What was left of her obsidian fur was whipped up in the wind just the same as the leaves and other debris being picked up in the gale. Ember eyes cast themselves upward for a moment to gauge the sturdiness of the incoming trees and their branches. At times like this the timber was known to fall in parts or entirely. The larger or more rotten the tree appeared the more likely this was to happen. It was some small comfort that the foliage here didn’t appear to be unhealthy. So without talking Aleera allowed herself to be led closer to this tree line just as the first few drops of rain began to pelt her back.

Then it happened. The flash of light followed by the ear splitting crack of thunder that could make any creature feel small. The ground beneath her feet trembled with the sheer power of mother nature - but the thunder was not the only frightful crack that sounded off near them. Lightning had hit the tree nearest them in a grand display of awesome strength. The trunk was split nearly in half, sending bark and other debris high into the air while the great branches of the old oak came falling to the earth. The girl she’d be following was quick to run before anything fell on her. Aleera did move, but it wasn’t as quickly at the younger girl and instead hunkered herself down close to the ground - her blackened form vanishing among a pile of branches, embers, and a dust cloud.

For a moment the debris pile laid still. Some of the branches glowing bright in the lack of sunlight while the trunk above burned with an open flame. Thunder sounded off again before any movement could be seen from the branches, leaves and broken branches thrown out of the way as the hulking beast forced her way out of the trap she found herself in. For her efforts she was reminded of the biting sting of fire as embers came to rest on her pelt and skin both - annoying like the bite of an insect. Once Aleera had freed her body from the trap she was quick to shake herself off, grateful only for the fact that rain had started to come down and cool her off after such an event. Looking up to the tree one could hear her sigh before giving a smaller shake of her head, mild irritation quite evident upon her scarred features. ”It would seem the forest isn’t safe either.”

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