04-18-2022, 11:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-18-2022, 11:58 PM by Vedette. Edited 1 time in total.)
Content Warning
This post contains content that may be unsettling to some readers, including:- Mild Gore
Smoke. Thick black hurls of it breathe from the evergreen forest in the mountains. Where snow once gripped tight and refused to let go is now cracked and black from being scorched. Orders from the army had been to evacuate anyone left on the outskirts of the town nearby, but Vedette had heard the case of two brothers playing near the woods. A screaming mother praying to the Moon Goddess for her sons' safe return. Vedette, without so much of a nod to her other cadets, darted towards the blazing evergreens. It didn't take her long to find one of the crying boys, standing in front of a tree that had crushed the other child. Plums of smoke rose near to them, the fire spreading faster and faster with the wind - which would have been a relief if they weren't so close to the fire. Vedette's eyes were emotionless as she watched the child wail for his brother to get up. But for him, he'd never see the light of day again, his lifeless body bent in ways that would not be possible to survive from. With little of a greeting, she swooped in, grasping the child by the scruff and turning sharply to run off. Unfortunately, another tree moaned in the distance and fell, its great height crashing down, blocking the path that had been her escape route. Vedette could feel the heat on her backside, and darted to the side, out of the way of the churning fire. She breathed through her nose, inhaling the black air and feeling her head dizzy. She remembered a scene like this from her youth, but her mouth does not emote. As soon as she saw a route, she ran after it with the screaming child in her maw. Creaking sounds came from the burning forest, trees falling because of the fire eating their cores. Vedette hadn't even seen the fallen branch in her way, and her cadets on the other side yelling for her to move faster. But there was no moving faster. She was bolting as fast as she could with her weight and the child's. With all her might, she tossed the child over the fallen bramble, watching a cadet run forward — but then it was black, heat crushing every atom of her.
"The child, Reinhart!" A shout came from her as if waking from a bad dream. The national guardswoman scrambled to her paws. Blood orange eyes peer around her, caught in the dark smog of mist. There was no Reinhart, no fire, no army waiting for her. But there was a churning, not far off, the smell of salt. Ocean. She was on a shoreline. The wind ruffles the edges of her tan fur, where there should have been burns, were now patches of full fur being ruffled. Her heart rammed as rapidly as her mind whirled; but her face held no such emotion, just blank, surveying. Vedette inhaled rapidly, as if needing to gasp for air, but all the oxygen she needed was already in her lungs. But how could that be? Wasn't she dead? Examining the surrounding fog, her nose twitched, trying to find a scent other than sea salt. Was this purgatory? Was she awaiting judgement from the Moon Goddess? Vedette's legs did not tremble nor did she cry out for someone. She just stood, waiting.
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