HERE'S A COMPLETE LIST, OF EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER BEEN AFRAID OF

Keter had been following the stuttering of their collar for some time now, exploring Tanglewood's territory just as much as they were hunting for clues. They had found themself at a farm, having traversed the wheat fields-- bounding in them in a sort of deep, instinctual glee. Their tail wagged, and they barked happily, chasing the mice and keeping an ear out for the sounds from their collar. Every now and then, it would hiccup, and they would pause, moving in different directions until the noise picked up again. They'd found themselves downhill, when it really started to sing, drawing them to the epicentre of the field. The stuttering had been the strongest they had heard yet, and it filled them with excitement, and a sort of anxiety.

Why? What was here?

As they reached the large buildings, it stopped again, and they growled softly in frustration. They supposed that it wouldn't hurt to explore, as this place didn't seem... entirely abandoned. There were animals here, but they did not seem to be up for a chat.

Even so, Keter chased down a rabbit for a quick meal, the flesh tender and the bones picked clean. They laid down in a pile of old hay, as the sun had begun to sink closer towards the horizon. They watched the clouds roll by from inside the barn, mystified that the sky itself was just the same as it was back home. If not a few miles to the left.

They weren't sure if what they had was even a home, anymore. They'd been welcomed very recently into Tanglewood, but...perhaps it was too soon, to call this a home as well. Perhaps home would be at the end of their journey, when they finally discovered what this damn thing was for. They groaned, as the sun shone through a hole in the barn just so, to hurt their eyes. They shuffled themself around, resting their head upon their paws. Keter'd had a lovely time exploring and fooling around with their doggish side, but perhaps it was time to head back into town.

But... Their mind still drifted back to that particularly strong sound that the contraption had made. It still made their ears ring. They had to know. This was the closest they'd been to finding what the cause of all of this was.

Keter continued trying to follow the sound, searching through the field for any direction that seemed to make the contraption respond, heading towards it until it went quiet, and starting again. The sun had begun to set as they finally reached... something. The earth was dark here, the grass in dark little patches, and everything seemed to slope [sub]downward.[/sub] There was a centre, where the ground was the darkest, where everything seemed to be... charred? Petrified? The trees didn't have any leaves. There were... things, creatures, frozen in time. A sort of dread came over them, as the walked slowly closer to the epicentre. The contraption had went from clicking to a horrible metallic screech, making their hackles raise. Keter wondered, if this really was what they had been looking for.

They slowly approached one of the burnt bodies, sniffing at it, feeling a sort of nausea come over them, setting in their stomach. They felt sick. Horrible. Had it been leading them to this evil place this whole time?

Why? Why this? Why them?

code by spacexual

The crater was an undeniable truth of Tanglewood, and not one that Aurum saw changing anytime soon. After all, the crater had been around for as long as he had ever been within Tanglewood, and he also knew that it had been around for a great deal of time before he had joined as well. It was a massive scar on the territory that would never heal, and one that Aurum was quick to warn most new joiners away from. After all, the meteor seemed to be the epicenter of the radiation that held Tanglewood in a stranglehold, and the proxy knew very well just what that radiation could do. It had mutated countless members of the group, including himself, and was most likely the damned culprit for why Leroy had ended up dying of cancer months ago, before his eventual return. Aurum didn't want anybody else suffering from mutations that they didn't want, and he certainly didn't want anybody else getting cancer, so he tried his best to keep an eye on the crater, especially when someone might be getting near it. He knew it was impossible to stop all of the radiation that was so deeply engrained within Tanglewood's territory, but it was still hardly necessary to bathe oneself in it by going to the bottom of the massive indent.

The lion had been doing one of his usual flies around the territory that day, his multicolored wings spread wide as he glided through the sky, his one blue eye focused downward. He tended to stay down low, just so that he would be able to effectively figure out what was going on down below. When he found himself flying low over the crater, he had expected to see the usual – nothing. That was, of course, the ideal. Unfortunately, today, things were not at the ideal. He saw both Crow and Vignere near the outside of the crater, with one watching from afar and one peering down from the lip, and then another face, right smack dab in the middle of the damn thing – Keter. Aurum's heart dropped down to his belly as he spotted them, both frustration and horror overtaking him. He knew it wasn't Keter's fault that he had wandered into such a dangerous place, but he still couldn't help the soft huff that left him. Despite this, he descended downwards, flapping his large wings a couple of times so that he could remain airborne just a little bit above Keter. He dared not step foot in the actual crater, even if he knew hovering above it wasn't much better. After all, it wasn't as if radiation was suddenly constricted to staying upon the ground. However, the false sense of safety helped the proxy stay calm, even as the shrill and unusual noise of the other's collar caused him to flatten his ears.

Fortunately, it didn't seem as though he was the only one less than pleased with the situation, considering Vignere's pleading words and the unsettled, almost sick look on Keter's face. Gritting his teeth a little as another shrill screech erupted from the strange neck device, Aurum rumbled above the noise, "K... Keter, shit. Vignere is right. This place isn't safe. It's full of radiation. We should get the hell out of here before something happens to you... or before that thing makes us all deaf." she could only hope that Keter would listen, and they weren't too focused on their collar to come with him.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #1B1B2F; font-size: 24px;"][color=#44437F]— AURUM

HERE'S A COMPLETE LIST, OF EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER BEEN AFRAID OF

The shrieking didn't stop, but the air was deathly still. Keter felt frozen in time, their ears ringing from the harsh noise. All they could do was stare at the charred figure before them, at the leafless trees, the dark center, the crater. Horror and fear and nausea filled them, and all they could do was just stand there. As trapped in time as these poor souls were, living a life that they no longer possessed.

They had not noticed the small crowd gathering in concern. They hear a voice, somewhere beyond the wailing, someone vague and familiar. Too far off to comprehend. Another voice, unfamiliar, but they aren't sure if it was them just hearing things in the screech, or if someone was calling to them. And then there was the fluttering of wings, soft, distant. Very close then, and Aurum's voice broke through the wailing, just above them. Keter looked up at him, in confusion, hearing his words but not fully understanding. Radiation? Danger.

Keter didn't need to be asked twice (or perhaps so, with Vigenere's pleading, but those words had not yet registered.), and they began to back up and away, from the crater, from the bodies, from whatever horror happened here. It wasn't until they were out of the crater that they felt safe enough to breathe again, their whole body trembling with the weight of this discovery. It was only then, that Keter noticed the crowd that had gathered, both familiar faces and those they had not yet met. Were they in trouble? What had been down there? What was this?

Keter's ears rang, and once they'd backed far enough away from the crater, the contraption gave out, finally, blissfully silent. Their legs looked as though they were about to give out as as well. They took a moment to lie down, shaken. They drew in a deep breath, looking at all the faces around them.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... I just wanted to know. It's never made that noise before, not that loud, not like that. Normally it just stutters... I don't. I don't understand."

Keter looked then to their paws, covered in the fine black earth. They smeared it over the grass at their feet, not even daring to lick it clean.

"What... happened here? What is all that... down there? Are those... bodies?"

Why would it bring them to such an evil place? What was the purpose? What was the connection? Was this their fault? They forced back tears, trembling.

"I didn't know."

code by spacexual

Relief flooded Aurum's body as he said that Keter seemed to understand his words – or rather, less understand his words than just hear them over the awful wailing emerging from their collar. As soon as Keter began to scramble out of the huge crater, the proxy followed after him, his large wings lifting him to where the others and now Keter were all gathered around. The fur on the back of his neck settled as soon as he was away from the center of the massive disaster area, settling beside Vignere and Alaric and sinking his claws into the ground. Not only was he glad for both Keter and himself getting away from the danger that the crater represented, but he was also quite glad that the shrieking from Keter's collar had stopped, the lion's ears still faintly ringing from the experience of gliding right next to him. That pretty much confirmed without a doubt the angel's theory that the device had to be reacting to the radiation that plagued Tanglewood. After all, why else would it start wailing in what seemed to be almost mechanical agony when Keter descended to the epicenter of the danger?

Hearing Keter's frantic words of apology, Aurum shook his head from side to side, following up on Vignere's words, "Don't... Don't apologize. We should really start telling new members about this place, just so that they know not to go in here." He scrubbed at his face a little, making a mental note to speak with Leroy about that later. Perhaps the general could make a little announcement alerting everyone to a new policy of bringing the crater up. At Keter's questioning about the origins of the crater, Aurum found himself wincing. Although he had obviously not been around for the events that had formed the massive concave, he could only imagine the abject terror of that moment, shown in the frozen forms locked in time down below. Slowly wrapping his tail around his paws, the lion rumbled dryly, one blue eye locked on the earth below, "As Vignere said... there was a tragedy down there, many years ago. Big enough to form this massive crater and kill so many. Tanglewood has survived even in its presence, but the radiation coming from the crater is so strong that it is extremely dangerous, and effects basically the whole of our group." It was a harsh reality to share with the already panicking other, but it was one that needed to be told. Hopefully, it wouldn't end up driving Keter away from the group entirely, however.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #1B1B2F; font-size: 24px;"][color=#44437F]— AURUM