The disease that wiped the earth of mankind has returned, and it's starting to change its hosts somehow. Reports of unearthly powers are arising all over Toren while more and more become infected.
updates
< 11 JULY 2017 > The staff auditions and OTMs are officially OVER. I'd like to welcome our two new staffers - Lutheus and Crowenth! There will be some new events soon, as well as a big announcement - so watch this space.
< 20 JUNE 2017 > ATTENTION! Staff auditions are up and running. Please click here if you are interested in helping me run Clash.
< 06 JUNE 2017 > It hasn't been too long since we've opened - but we've already got a fresh new look. If you find any bugs in our new skin, please let me know so that I can fix it. Old members might have to update their avatar links and profile info! x
< 07 MAY 2017 > CLASH has officially been reopened and is ready for action! The plot, rules and canons have been revised - read more about it here.
Treading through the frozen rocky lands, the sleek black she-wolf had one thing set in her mind: find shelter. Winter was never one of Whisper's favorite seasons. She would rather be hiding in the large forests of Toren under the flush foliage of one of the many leafy shrubs. They promise great protection and shield you from the powerful sun rays and unwanted attention. But in the winter, all plant life dies, leaving Whisper with few options of where to run away to.
White flecks of snow fell from the gray sky, settling themselves upon the small she-wolf. At their icy touch, she shivered. The frozen tendrils of the cold winter breeze nipped at her skin. As she slowly breathed out, her own warm air mingled with the chilly wind around her, creating the effect that she was blowing out smoke. Never has she been so cold in her short life. With the new season just starting, this light snowfall would promise a severe winter. She remembered her last snowy wintertide, with its dead lands and frigid temperatures. But her last winter she was also with him. That was the season that marked his death and killed her heart. She would always remember this season as the season of death-of her and Canto's deaths.
Whisper continued to breathe in and out, watching as puffs of smoke drifted up into the grey abyss of the winter sky. But with every breath out, new frozen oxygen came bellowing through her lungs, freezing them as the air painfully inflated her lungs. They faltered for a moment, resisting the urge to expand once more. Panicking, Whisper began coughing erratically. The coughs turned into desperate gulps for air until she could finally breathe normally once more.
After her hacking fit, the she-wolf continued on her trek up the large western mountains. A trail of small paw prints in the snow followed her as her only company. But the once perfect pads in the snow soon became irregular and scattered, with smudges here and there to mark where the she-wolf had lost her balance on the slippery surface. She had overheard some wolves while hiding in one of her favorite willow tree saying that there were some isolate caves near the top, unlike their much occupied small caves set nearer to the bottom. That was her destination. Of course, it was a dangerous journey, but it would be well worth it in the end. Away from the icy wind and icy snow that now completely covered her body.
The numbness set in then. It was a strange sensation—going from on the verge of freezing to feeling nothing at all. It scared her at first. Was she dead already? No. She could vaguely feel sharp rocks cutting into the bottom of her paws and feel the wind with no identified temperature. This was bad. She had to find a shelter and fast, before she froze to death. The rest of the trip was excruciating. She wanting nothing more than to fall into an unfeeling sleep, but doing so would be her demise.
A blackness in the field of white materialized in Whisper's vision. At first she thought it was an illusion and that her hike was never going to come to an end. But it did. As she neared the strange blackness, she saw it wasn't a black hole, but rather a large cave. She half-walked-half-dragged herself into the fissure and collapsed as soon as her entire body was engulfed in the dark chasm.
Last Edit: May 27, 2012 18:48:57 GMT -5 by Deleted
Layers reflected the cold as they were meant to, but it was only for the sake of this creature's northern blood. Morak remained insulated against even the harshest of snows, as they would never be as harsh as his own. Ice ran in those veins, and because of it the walls were heated so vibrantly that the wolf himself could not feel it. Yet he would easily relent that it was indeed freezing outside, and the winds helped naught in the escape from the nose biting chill. Never the less, heavy with his winter coat ruffled against the heavy gusts, Morak padded farther and farther from his home.
Vessay was a wonderful place, there was no doubt about that. Free from the crueler side of male kind, the gelded canine held very fears within the confines of that marsh. At night the sun reflected off murky waters and turned what many would call disgusting into shifting fire. There was nothing that Morak regretted in the decision to brave those weedy places. Blue eyes narrowed against those vicious white crystals, and with a grunt the silent creature ducked his slim skull chest-ward in an effort to protect it. Not that anything would protect it. How horrendous this was. Snow never layered this thick or attacked with this much ferocity over the heated marshlands.
Perhaps taking a walk had been a bad idea, no matter how nice it had been until this had kicked up. With no children to care for the masked caretaker found his duties few and easy to complete, no matter their importance. Simple. Ears flat back and eyes just barely open the brute very nearly missed them, those half covered prints. It was with mild shock that the lad came to a standstill, almost immediately feeling the weight of snow piling upon his off-white withers. Dropping his head the relatively small Eurasian turned slightly, peering upwards as best he could in the storm created by the surrounding cliffs.
Had someone gone up there? Looking down for a second to place his for-paws on the path properly Morak looked back up almost instantly, the brown markings the only thing truly visible. My god was someone stuck up there? Jaws parting slightly to allow the heave of warm air forward, the slim lupe gave the angry sky one long look before hefting his scarred hind legs onto the shelf of slate containing those smeared trails atop the crusted snow. Sinking into the freshly fallen cold, the boy jerked his limbs free and hopped further upwards. Anxiety ran amok in Morak's head. It mattered not that his nose did not detect a familiar scent.
Those tracks smelt of ice and the freezing disease. Chocolate ears settled flat back within the thickness of fur behind them, Morak put more speed into his limbs. Weak as he often appeared the two year old was indeed a very fast runner, and that made for springy athletic muscles. Slim muscles indeed, bu a climbers muscles none the less. A swimmer's musculature. A runner's strength. Biting his tongue in concentration Morak forced his way higher, narrowed eyes forever jumping between the tracks and the trail. This wasn't safe. Fear was beginning to make it's way into the coward's heart, but that heart was pure and as the paw prints he followed began to grow tremulous his heart beat faster in terror for this poor creature.
Hypothermia was a nasty thing. Born a months walk north, Morak knew far too much of it. Southern creatures would often wander towards them, and the bodies turned black and purple. Blue with cold and death. A shudder ran through his bones, sending white hairs sticking up further in their usual hectic manor. Oh no. Not good at all. It took him far too long, the climbing. Rock grew slick under foot, and it took every ounce of balance the man had to stay mostly vertical. Muscles burning with the over release of ATP the wolf was half hobbling by the time the tracks began to peter out.
Darkness peered out form the otherwise unmarred canvas, and Morak stared at it wide eyed for a moment before approaching. That ebony nose twitched violently as he approached, belly shifting closer to the freezing soft ground the closer he came to that maw held within the earth. By the time Morak had crawled to the cave entrance his frame was held chest to the ground and haunches in their air with that large tail tucked firmly to his belly. Scared or not, however, there was someone sick in there, and it was his job to go in and see. Beside there was no smell of bear, only a single wolf thick with the slowing of their blood. Ears flat back the off-white gelding slid within, half twitching upon noticing the lack of snow falling to grip the hair's along his back.
He went stiff upon locking his eyes on the black lump sprawled across the ground. It was with a very large stockpile of distrust that Morak moved forward, eying his fellow canide for a long moment before he relaxed. Female. The sigh that gusted out of his lungs was heavy with relief. She would allow his help, or he hoped she would. A man would never allow Morak to provide them much needed warmth. Southern animals were very odd about such things. Not that Morak himself wouldn't have been extremely reluctant to help in the situation of this ebony woman being a brute. Giving one last tremble to get it out of his muscles the caretaker took on the role he was good at.
"Madame? Madame you can't go to sleep, do you hear me?" Toenails clicked sharply against the age old stone as Morak hurried forward, dropping to lay beside this dark pelted bitch. Grimacing slightly in worry the pale creature thrust forward a wide comforting smile as he reached out to nose a shoulder. "Open your eyes please. Hypothermia is not a sleeping disease. how cold are you?" A paw reached out slowly, allowing for the unknown wolf to pull away at her pleasure, attempting to touch paw pads to the thickness of her ribcage. "What can you feel?"
Nothing. No feeling. A chilling numbness. It enveloped the delicate ebony wolf and covered her senses. Her thoughts began to revolve around it, around nothing in particular. It became her entire being. In her small world of nothingness, everything slowed down. Her breathing came in slow pants, her heart beat slackened, and her tense muscles relaxed.
Eyes open just a crack, Whisper stared out into the whiteness. The snowfall had now turned into a strong snowstorm. She tried to recall the word her brother had used to describe such a storm like this. Though her thoughts were thick with numb muck, a recognition crossed her slow mind. Blizzard. Yes, that was the word. The black she-wolf stared out of the shelter, her eyes dead and unfocused. As the hypothermia set in deeper and the winds howled harder, her weak orbs failed to see any single snowflake and instead she was watching a roaring wall of white.
One snowflake departed from its brothers and floated into the dark shelter. Whisper watched it with weary eyes as it danced across the cave wall. The performance didn’t last long, however, and the little fleck of ice drifted downwards and rested on the small muzzle of an ebony wolf.
Staring cross eyed at the speck of ice, Whisper blinked, willing herself to feel its cold ticklish touch. But her nerves couldn’t pick it up. The snowflake started to melt slowly, wetting the Eastern Wolf’s frozen snout. The newly formed water traveled down the natural curve of her nose, only to be absorbed by her black fur.
The world was getting harder to see clearly. Ice now caked her slim body, fur matted to her skin in an uncomfortable way. Water rimmed the she-wolf’s silvery eye, making them glisten in the dark abyss. In mere moments the water froze. It was hard to blink, hard to move, hard to think. Hard to do anything. So Whisper did the only thing she could do. She closed her eyes and waited for the world to dispose of her.
Then she heard a whisper. Foggy and very far away, the muddled words were a whisper and barely audible to the ebony wolf’s frosted ears. It sounded like a creature was speaking gibberish. Trying as hard as she could, the exhausted wolf zeroed in on the sounds.
"Madame? Madame you can’t go to sleep, can you hear me?" The creature sounded frantic. Whisper’s mutilated mind couldn’t make sense of the words, couldn’t find their meaning. Why couldn’t she go to sleep? She was awfully tired…. Did the animal care for her well-being? Wanted her rested up at all? She felt a small weight on her shoulder.
"Open your eyes please. Hypothermia is not a sleeping disease. How cold are you?" The wolf asked even more frantic. Whisper attempted to answer, but her tongue felt heavy and her throat dry. "What can you feel?"Nothing, she wanted to reply. She forced her eyelids open just a slit. Her silvery eyes landed on an off-white male wolf.
Last Edit: May 27, 2012 17:44:10 GMT -5 by Deleted
Morak shifted against the smooth stone under his body, feeling his double layered fur rumple oddly in response to the motion. Odd was a good thing, though, and feeling a better one. Even he in his insulation had begun to feel the cold upon reaching this alcove. Pebbled nose twitching away the ice, the brute turned his skull to look into those narrowed drowsy eyes dead center. "Please wake up." Pressing his ears back in a show of concern Morak couldn't help himself for the worry in his tone. Wolves died from the cold, and that was a very real fact. This poor woman was far too close to that cliff, but he was here now. He could help. Maybe.
Offering another watery smile the brute shifted closer once more, settling the warmth of his form against the woman. Hopefully she wouldn't move so he wouldn't have to chase her across the floor. So many animals just hated this process. Not that he could say much on that subject. Wide blue eyes flickered with nervousness upon the brush of fur and Morak could not help flinching despite his initiating the contact. It was not a forte of his; but Morak was the only one here, and his stupid phobias had nothing on this precious life.
Precious life... Morak settled stiffly, prepared to follow after should this still unknown wolf start trying to run away. As if she could, her very muscles seemed frozen, every twitch Morak felt was slow. Weak. Silent as the dead Morak set about doing what he had been taught. Woman's work, that daddy was always upset by. The thought set a grim smile on the little lad's lips, curling the dark edges up into white fur. Stupid little chores like this that were only stupid until they saved lives. Ah this wasn't about moping though, or silly internal dilemmas. A curiously saintly expression was put back in place, worry clogging up pale eyes.
Pressing himself close, and ignoring the inkling of fears at the edges of his mind, the Eurasian settled more completely. It would seem odd, he conceded after a moment, if he lay in silence. The vow was not worth frightening this ebony creature; whomever she was. Sucking in a quick breath Morak leaned his slim muzzle forward to sniff lightly at the air about the slightly larger woman's muzzle. "I am giving you warmth, okay? It's very important that you stay awake though." Heavy pelt pressed into her side, the beast lifted his skull and looked around quickly.
"If you sleep, Madame the cold will kill your mind. You must wake. Please." Though not quiet as frantic as previously Morak did sound rather harassed. If she died it would be his fault, after all. Having found her footsteps the lad had taken on full responsibility, and his fears of such things brought out a token of anxiousness that weighed more then he did. Laying his jaw across the back of that onyx neck, Morak positioned himself to give her as much heat as possible, wile maintaining a certain amount of distancing. His side to her side, no paws touching no chest or stomach. He was not the kind to present a stranger with ways to kill him, and though he did not think this way truly his subconscious presented itself in this manor. Closing his eyes and thinking warm thoughts Morak went silent once more.
Her light colored weary eyes followed the larger Eurasian wolf's moves, then shifted to somewhere on the other side of the dank cave. Water slowly trickled down out of a tiny crevice in the blacked stone. Either the water was a melted snowflake or liquid from an unseen water source somewhere behind the thick walls.
Whisper tried to distract herself from the urge to close her eyes and avoid the burst of exhaustion that was pulling her ever so slowly into unconsciousness. Her eyelids drooped in surrender for a second before she remembered that the other wolf had told her to stay awake. She exhaled slowly and deeply. It was so hard not to just give in, to go under and never come back. But her wolf mind did not take death lightly. Her instincts were strong and forced her to remain conscious.
For a moment, she drifted off into space, her mind bringing her to any place but the wet black cave. Then his voice pulled her out of it. "Please wake up." The ebony wolf blinked her silver eyes. Once. Twice. Three times. She was suddenly aware of how close the brute was to her. She strained her muscles to move, to run, to do anything. But all they did was flinch under the pressure. She remained still, despite her wanting.
He's touching me. He's touching me. It was all her mind could think of, all the she-wolf was aware of. She could feel a dead weight against her back as the off-white wolf lay by her, his head lightly resting on her shoulder. It terrified her that the creature was so close, but even more that she could feel no temperature from his heavy pelt.
"I am giving you warmth, okay? It's very important that you stay awake though." It wasn’t warmth she felt. She felt nothing but the weight of his creamy coat. She waited for a moment, her glassy eyes watching the brute left his skull from her side and look around, and then she felt it.
Pain. Not a wrenching pain like you’d get from a fight, but a tickling pain. Needles prodded her in the side and crawled up her shoulder. The she-wolf shifted uncomfortably under the hurtful sensation. She winced slightly. The needles were starting to overwhelm her;she was starting to like the numb nothingness better. "If you sleep, Madame the cold will kill your mind. You must wake. Please.” His voice was much clearer than normal; instead of the sound being far away, it sounded very close to her small ears. She listened to the wolf who belonged to the voice, keeping her eyes open no matter the pain. Ever so slowly, the itching tingling reseeded from where the beast’s body rested beside her and was replaced by the warmth of his fur.
Whisper coughed quietly, clearing her dry throat. "Thank you, sir." Her voice came out raspy and very slurred because of her heavy tongue, but it was a thanks all the same. The strange pain was still running through her legs and paws, but the terrifying numbness was gone.
Last Edit: Jun 3, 2012 15:16:12 GMT -5 by Deleted
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