09-18-2023, 08:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-18-2023, 08:10 PM by Merel. Edited 1 time in total.)
In the long stillness, Merel saw and heard nothing.
But she could still smell. Salt and brine, mingled with the faintest scent: a scent of home. She leaned towards it, willing her slow, sluggish feet to move. There was nothing for them to gain purchase on—only an emptiness that filled her mouth and chest.
It was so, so cold.
Cold.
On a mix of grey-gold sand and pebbles, a dark brown figure stirred to her feet. She gasped and flinched away from the chilly waters lapping at her paws.
Merel took a deep breath to steady herself. She could detect nothing under the pungent odor of rotting kelp and salt. Not even a hint of the scent that had brought her here, wherever here might be.
“Sister?” Merel half-whispered. Her words were drowned by the crashing of the waves. She slumped down onto her forelegs, jaws pulled tight. She had been so close.
And then for a moment, she smelt it again—home. It faded just as quickly as it had come.
She would not weep. She could not weep.
When she regained her composure, she stood up and shook the sand from her fur. However she had come to this strange beach, it seemed she had not been injured in the process. Her legs still worked. Her ears swiveled for the roar of metal sky-beasts, but there were only the cries of gulls.
The last time the world had been so silent was when she had been a pup. A cautious, tiny bubble of hope swelled in her chest.
Suddenly emboldened, Merel strode forward on long, lean limbs. She spotted a narrow rocky path leading up the side of cliff. In her rush to reach the top, she didn’t notice that she wasn’t alone.
But she could still smell. Salt and brine, mingled with the faintest scent: a scent of home. She leaned towards it, willing her slow, sluggish feet to move. There was nothing for them to gain purchase on—only an emptiness that filled her mouth and chest.
It was so, so cold.
Cold.
On a mix of grey-gold sand and pebbles, a dark brown figure stirred to her feet. She gasped and flinched away from the chilly waters lapping at her paws.
Merel took a deep breath to steady herself. She could detect nothing under the pungent odor of rotting kelp and salt. Not even a hint of the scent that had brought her here, wherever here might be.
“Sister?” Merel half-whispered. Her words were drowned by the crashing of the waves. She slumped down onto her forelegs, jaws pulled tight. She had been so close.
And then for a moment, she smelt it again—home. It faded just as quickly as it had come.
She would not weep. She could not weep.
When she regained her composure, she stood up and shook the sand from her fur. However she had come to this strange beach, it seemed she had not been injured in the process. Her legs still worked. Her ears swiveled for the roar of metal sky-beasts, but there were only the cries of gulls.
The last time the world had been so silent was when she had been a pup. A cautious, tiny bubble of hope swelled in her chest.
Suddenly emboldened, Merel strode forward on long, lean limbs. She spotted a narrow rocky path leading up the side of cliff. In her rush to reach the top, she didn’t notice that she wasn’t alone.
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