Welcome to The Realm of Exos! You were once a wild wolf who roamed the lands, free Now you are an Anthropomorphic being, transformed when a mysterious Moon Flower appears in your forest and now you are enhanced. You are able to craft, hunt, speak the Language of Exos and do many other things. Still able to return to your natural state, you find that not all have been turned, and three factions were created: Citizen, Origin, Merchant. Learn more about us in the Guidebook! Hope to see you soon!
PROMOTIONS
• Horizon has been promoted to FOUNDER due to his great time and effort into the creation with TROE. All the changes and filling of holes never would have been possible without him :)
PACK UPDATES
Moonacre - We are in a freelance mode! Have at it!
Ashes slunk through the forest. Baby Spur Forest, Ashes thought, Baby Spur, how ridiculous. His footpads slowed as approached it before his limbs failed to move any longer. Just a little farther. Just have to go there.Just have to remember. Can't let her fade. Sheer willpower moved his feet again, step by step, paw by paw and, seemingly an eternity later, Ashes emerged into the clearing.
The sunlight streamed through the leaves and rested gently on the grass. The morning dew caresses the petals of the wildflowers growing sporadically through the small meadow. A butterfly flitted through the air before landing on a leaf. Ashes saw none of this. His eyes saw red splattered on the flowers where the dew set. Ashes saw wisps of fur drift through the sunbeams. Ashes smelled his sister's spicy scent on the strips of flesh scattered on the ground.
Legs failed and Ashes flopped to the ground. Why do I do this. Why do I come here.Has it been too long? Will the guilt be too overwhelming? Was it not long enough? Can I ever let her go? Tears streamed from his eyesas he struggled to his feet. Have to do this properly. He raised his snout to the sky and began to howl.
Post by Lark Easton on Jan 13, 2018 21:38:17 GMT -8
Lark had finished her errands with Midnight and now she was ready to relax for a change. She liked to visit baby spur forest on account that she found it also relaxing other than the lake. The female pawed through the leaves with easy amusement before catching the scent of another. Lark didn't think she remembered thus scent, and so she took care as she stepped as lightly as she could through the forest until she spotted a dark figure laying in the brambles. Pretty soon he was howling, a note so sad, it made her want to cry. The female couldn't resist; she joined him with a reassuring note of her own.
Ashes heard the voice join his at the same time as her scent reached his nose. His eyes snapped toward the source as he dropped into an attack stance, head down and fangs bared. Who dares to disrupt this? Who dares come here and disturb her rest!
His eyes locked on the dark wolf at the edge of the treeline. He had been ambushed in this clearing before and was ready to kill again if needed. After a moment her stance and scent made it obvious she wasn't aggressive. Taking a few steps towards her, head still down, a low growl escaped him. "You don't belong here," Ashes hissed in a gravely voice. Besides his best efforts his voice still carried the slightest break to it as a hint of mournful sadness escaped. "Leave."
Post by Lark Easton on Jan 13, 2018 22:06:31 GMT -8
Lark blinked at the males response to her promise but was even more...annoyed and dismayed by his attitude and demand that she leave. She lowered her head and growled right back, no fear, only insulted. "You do not own thus land, stranger. You are a long way from home if you mean to make thus ace yours." She snorted at him when he asked her to leave. "Especially when you don't have the baring of an alpha to begin with." She narrowed her eyes at him, taking in his form. "What's wrong with You?" She tried to seem concerned but she still felt insulted that this wolf would come to this place and tell her to get lost the way he did. She sighed and took a deep breath. "I didn't mean to intrude...I can't help it when people are sad." She pawed the ground delicately waiting to see what sort of snappy retort he would throw at her next.
Ashes could barely believe the words he as hearing. Not his land? Far from home? None of that mattered! Can't she see the blood? Can't she smell the death? No, of course not. The scars of that day weren't just on his body, they marred his mind as well. All she saw was a meadow, a failure of a wolf, and some sort of game she could play to feel good about herself.
Ashes retracted his fangs and dropped his head as if to smell the dirt and grass. In a voice soft and melancholy, almost a whisper, "Oh what's the point." His shoulders slumped and tail drooped. "I'm done here, do whatever you want." Limbs heavy again, he started to creep past her, beginning the long trek back to the village.
Post by Lark Easton on Jan 14, 2018 5:22:36 GMT -8
Lark watched him. His manner faltered and lark saw a crippled wolf with a wound he was having trouble curing. His words were almost inaudible but she caught them, just barely. As the black male began to drag himself away from her, she stopped him at her side. "Wait, I didn't mean what I said." She murmured. "What's the matter?" She thought for a few seconds before sheasked. She knew he was one of them, but he also had an odor to him; an odor of suffering she didn't know anything about, but the first step to healing was letti g it all out, to speak up.
He had retreated into his thoughts, the place he hid from the pain, so he didn't notice she was in front of him until his nose bumped into her side. Anger flashed across his eyes, causing his tail to fluff up, trying to intimidate the other wolf. Unfortunately the breaks in his tail caused it to twitch at an odd angle that looked rather silly instead. Ashes let out a sigh of resignation and his tail returned to it's forlorn state of dragging on the ground.
Ashes tried to keep an annoyed edge to his words but they just came out flat, almost monotone. "You don't know when to leave well enough alone, do you? What's the matter? Everything. Everything." he repeated quieter and then the words began to pour out from he didn't know existed. "I bring myself here as often as I can muster, to see it again. I owe it to her, to remember my failure. I should have been with her, should have protected her, should have died with her because that would be easier than living this ... this" his voice trailed off as tears slipped down through his fur. "So maybe you're trying to help, or maybe you want to have a laugh at the broken wolf, either way I can't let anyone close again. I'd just fail you too. So save me the heartache and just leave me be. It's safer for everyone."
The torrent of words and emotions subsided and Ashes flopped to the ground. He closed his eyes and wished the world would just disappear.
Post by Lark Easton on Jan 15, 2018 8:18:27 GMT -8
Lark listened as the male spoke. She knew that Origins had been sighted near the village before and in some cases, murder did happen. Was he the victim of a family member who was murdered by an origin? Lark didn't like them. She always had something to say about them, even though she was a gentle soul. The black male explained, briefly, that he had been seeing hallucinations. She sighed. There were no words for her. Things like thus should be left alone but his carelessness bothered her and she wouldn't have that. Once he dropped to the ground after a pathetic attempt to shoo her away, Lark pounced on his head and stood over him, front paws remaining on his head. "Listen. You see these visions because you blame yourself. It's not your fault, stuff like that is difficult to avoid. Everybody knows that. So get on your feet. You disgrace her by wasting away. She would want you to live a good life, not sap over hers." She remained. Stuff like this was so annoying. "What's your name?" She asked, more softly that the tone she had before.
Eyes closed, Ashes tried to recenter himself. He retreated back into the one place nothing could ruin, nothing could touch, the first hunt. There she was, her jet black fur glistening as she glided through the undergrowth silently. He tried to keep up but was never as graceful as she was. They both caught the smell together, a rabbit and it was close. Head down he crept quietly toward the smell. There it was, sitting in the bush, a large brown rabbit with big floppy ears and a small twitching nose. It wouldn't know anything was happening until it was too late. She crouched next to him, and gestured with her nose, allowing Ashes this kill. She can easily get another, this one was his. As he prepared to spring forward and grasp his prey, the world shattered. Something was touching him.
His body tensed as he felt the strange female's paws on his head. He wanted to strike out, to get angry, but something about being touched felt comforting. He slowly relaxed and nuzzled into the paws planted between his ears. Is this what it felt like to be connected to someone, however briefly? He barely heard her words, but one phrase snapped him out of his thoughts; not his fault.
Ashes sighed and pulled his head out from under her paws. He looked up at the now towering she-wolf and replied, "Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do but you're wrong. I was the one that wanted to show her that I didn't need her. I was the one that pushed her away. So when she needed me for a change, when it really would have mattered, I wasn't there." Ashes sat up straight, looking this dark female in the eyes and stated pointedly, "This is my fault. She's dead, and there's nothing I can do to change that." As almost an afterthought he turned his head away and mumbled "My name is Ashes because that is all that is left in the world."
Post by Lark Easton on Jan 15, 2018 19:39:24 GMT -8
Lark stared down as the male when he sighed. She could feel him lifting his head as though to press into her paws. She chuckled to herself. This male was strange. He had his bearings, and yet he didn't. It was strange to meet a wolf so far down in a rabbits hole and yet...Why was she caring? Even as he sat up and looked her in the eyes and refused her help again, refused reality, she wouldn't give up. Something had always compelled Lark to do the right thing. She hated depression; she hated death; she hated a males refused to see the truth.
As he announced a name, Ashes, Lark nodded, matching his straight face. "Pleased to meet you." She replied seriously. "Now wipe that look away." She snapped. "Death is never to be shamed." She thought for a moment. "Perhaps you should see a healer in the village." She suggested. "They will make you well." She was growing tiresome of this depression. It was making her impatient. She had sat down. She felt rather bored too and her willingness to keep herself upbeat was draining quickly. Why had she even bother with him again?
"Healers?" Ashes scoffs quickly baring his fangs. "They're no help." Ashes subconsciously glanced at his shoulder and tail, his ear with a chunk missing twitched. He recalled the time spent in the Sleeping Tunnels after the incident. His body had healed quickly, at least into the broken state it now was. The months that followed were the more excruciating part. Long talks with these so called healers trying to fix him, trying to get him to move on. They even tried their magic. All he could feel during the ritual was his sister being pulled from his mind. He fought. He resisted. Forgetting her, no matter how much it would make him feel better, wasn't worth losing her forever. That night, he had fled the tunnels, refusing help ever since.
He surveyed the wolf in from of him. He could sense the irritation flowing from her. It was common for many people to try to "fix" him but they all gave up pretty quickly. Why was this wolf different? Why was she trying so hard? For the first time in a long time it felt like someone was earnestly reaching out to him. And for the first time in a long time, Ashes wanted that help. In a voice cracked with an edge of desperation, "Why do you care?"
Post by Lark Easton on Jan 15, 2018 20:12:35 GMT -8
Her reply was so quick and automatic, she didn't have time to stop the question that she threw at him. "Why do you push people away?" She glared at him. "For all those who tried to help you, you hurt yourself by pushing them away and a cure that could make it all better." She snorted. "You disgrace yourself as a Citizen of Zodiac." She snarled at him. Her patience was gone. If he didn't want her help, then so be it, she would show him a reason to be helped. She bared her fangs. "Leave! Perhaps the Rogues would take you in. Seems that is where you belong." She had to push him. Kindness wasn't an option for him.
This anger caught him off guard. It wasn't the response he had expected at all. Ashes took a few steps back in shock before recomposing himself. "Pity." He let the word hang in the air a moment. "I push people away because the only thing they can ever see is something to be pitied." He bared his fangs back at her. A hardness had crept into his voice. "I was a Zodiac warrior. I still am a Zodiac warrior. I killed an Origin in this very field."
This wolf's challenge had stirred something deep within him, a drive he hadn't felt in a long time. His stance changed, shoulders strong, haunch muscles flexed. "You insult my place again and you will see my ferocity." His eyes flashed with an inner determination. "I come here to remember because as much as it hurts, it reignites my fire. I am going to avenge my sister. So either give me your name and your assistance or stop wasting my time."
Post by Lark Easton on Jan 15, 2018 20:41:50 GMT -8
Lark growled in response to his change in stature. She saw a spark in him and that was something that she wanted to see, proof that he wasn't truly gone from reality. She stood and lowered her head to level with her back. "My name is Lark Easton. I'm a citizen of Zodiac Village, warrior to my people. I demand you set yourself free, even if i have to beat it out of you."She snarled. If he truly wanted atonement, perhaps he needed something to remember who he was. Perhaps a sparring match would help with that. She lowered, preparing to leave, searching for an opening to strike.
So that's how it was going to be. It had been over a year since Ashes had sparred with anyone but the memories and sensations flooded back through him. Maybe this was it? Maybe this wolf was the missing link he needed to anchor himself back to his mission. The fire inside him bellowed into an inferno.
His voice came out with a sinister hiss, "Lark the warrior? Okay then, let's see what you've got." With a blur of speed he lunged at the smaller wolf, his good shoulder barrelling into her chest, sending her sprawling. His fangs bared and a growl escaped his throat. "Show me what you can do!"