12-19-2023, 02:02 PM
A wolf is a wolf.
Even in a cage,
Even dressed in silk.
Even in a cage,
Even dressed in silk.
Elowen, despite her best efforts, has become lost in the never-ending chaos of a broken world. She trips and stumbles upon one ruin and then another. It is a constant breath of stifled air. A reminder that everything, one day, will turn to dust. How this world has crumbled. It is a forgotten tapestry of what had once been. Elowen knew not what world she had been spat into but she knew that it was not one filled with life.
The forests back home were teaming with life. If you were quiet enough beneath the bow of ladened limbs, you could hear the soft call of doves, the rustling of rabbits running through thickets, and the babbling of a brook. It was a cacophony of gentle sounds that told you the world was alive. This place has no such noises. There were no hymns of existence sang upon the wind. The breeze was devoid of whispers as it ran against the shell of her ear. It is silence that sends a shiver down the girl's spine. For she knew that quiet was dangerous. In the woods, quiet meant that a predator was stalking just at the edge of your sight.
Elowen had only known such silence once before. That night, the moon shone silver light, which bled through sparse fall leaves. She had been out to collect the glowing mushrooms that could only be found sprouting from moss when the moon was at its fullest. That night, she had been wrapped in the serene knowledge that her home was safe. Their little cottage in the woods had always been a sanctuary. Nothing bad ever got through.
Yet, on this night, as Elowen moved silently along a well-trodden path, the world around her went silent. The air stood still, and the night birds refused to sing. All there that could be heard was the sound of her hooves digging into the slightly damp earth beneath her. She had been foolish then, lured into the sense of security that home afforded, and had not heeded the silence's warning.
Darkness had swallowed her, then. A snarling maw wrapped tight around her neck and shook. She could feel crimson mingle with silver saliva and knew she was dead. The shadows clung to her, then, like the hands of forsaken lovers. Ready to take her, to feed her to the fungi and moss of the ground so that she may live again through them. But the beast had not devoured her whole. No, it had simply dug its teeth into her - taken just a bite - and then raced back into the shadows. It left her there dazed and bleeding until Aspen found her. Her sister, the sun, did all she could to stitch her back together. But a physician's hand can only do so much to stave off a curse dug into flesh by enamel. That night, Elowen had become something other.
Even now, she can feel the beast clawing away at the cage within her chest. At home, they had calmed the beast. Had trapped it within her with no escape. It snarled against its entrapment - a ravenous and rabid thing. It was an ache she did not wish to claim, that loss of a piece of herself that she did not want. It gnawed and gnawed at her until her thoughts were jumbled, and she was no longer paying attention to where she was going. Mindlessly moving forward, not thinking of the silence and the danger offered.
The forests back home were teaming with life. If you were quiet enough beneath the bow of ladened limbs, you could hear the soft call of doves, the rustling of rabbits running through thickets, and the babbling of a brook. It was a cacophony of gentle sounds that told you the world was alive. This place has no such noises. There were no hymns of existence sang upon the wind. The breeze was devoid of whispers as it ran against the shell of her ear. It is silence that sends a shiver down the girl's spine. For she knew that quiet was dangerous. In the woods, quiet meant that a predator was stalking just at the edge of your sight.
Elowen had only known such silence once before. That night, the moon shone silver light, which bled through sparse fall leaves. She had been out to collect the glowing mushrooms that could only be found sprouting from moss when the moon was at its fullest. That night, she had been wrapped in the serene knowledge that her home was safe. Their little cottage in the woods had always been a sanctuary. Nothing bad ever got through.
Yet, on this night, as Elowen moved silently along a well-trodden path, the world around her went silent. The air stood still, and the night birds refused to sing. All there that could be heard was the sound of her hooves digging into the slightly damp earth beneath her. She had been foolish then, lured into the sense of security that home afforded, and had not heeded the silence's warning.
Darkness had swallowed her, then. A snarling maw wrapped tight around her neck and shook. She could feel crimson mingle with silver saliva and knew she was dead. The shadows clung to her, then, like the hands of forsaken lovers. Ready to take her, to feed her to the fungi and moss of the ground so that she may live again through them. But the beast had not devoured her whole. No, it had simply dug its teeth into her - taken just a bite - and then raced back into the shadows. It left her there dazed and bleeding until Aspen found her. Her sister, the sun, did all she could to stitch her back together. But a physician's hand can only do so much to stave off a curse dug into flesh by enamel. That night, Elowen had become something other.
Even now, she can feel the beast clawing away at the cage within her chest. At home, they had calmed the beast. Had trapped it within her with no escape. It snarled against its entrapment - a ravenous and rabid thing. It was an ache she did not wish to claim, that loss of a piece of herself that she did not want. It gnawed and gnawed at her until her thoughts were jumbled, and she was no longer paying attention to where she was going. Mindlessly moving forward, not thinking of the silence and the danger offered.