ANOTHER PATH - open; joining

[cavalrychoir]

[align=center][div style="border-width:0px; width: 60%; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 140%;word-spacing:-1px;"]The headache had only gotten more intense. Now instead of the occasional uncommon strong pulse turned into a constant throbbing. Focusing on anything before was a challenge but now it was almost impossible. Everything was suddenly too bright, too loud... His whiskers quivered from the vibrations of fluttering wings. Sharp claws were now constantly unsheathed as the demon roamed, tightly gripping the earth beneath him to prevent himself from doubling over in pain or just losing his balance. The world around him was so vivid and terribly loud - painfully loud. Maybe losing Delilah had more of an effect that he thought. Since he joined, the pastel feline had never been too far from him and without knowing it, he must have grew to depend on her. So much so, her absence affected his health. Was that possible? Is that a thing that could happen? Or was he actually ill and needed medical treatment? Delilah's still needed for either one of those options regardless since she is the medic. Lifting his front paws, he placed them over his eyes to block out the world, pointed ears flattened against his skull in attempt to hear a little less. It helped a little bit, but what really gave him relief was leaving camp and the busy hum that congregated there. Leaning against a tree, his broad shoulders were tense as his short tail twitched anxiously. The pain started to migrate downwards, leaving a numb feeling in its wake unlike the agonizing pain in his head. As time progressed, he started to think it wouldn't be a bad idea to bang his head against a rock in the hopes of either knocking himself unconscious or adding more pain to override the one he already feels. Neither was a good plan, but he was growing desperate.

Just when he thought he's suffered enough, a loud voice sliced through the air before suddenly going quiet as if they lowered it to a whisper mid-sentence. Ren flinched in response, squeezing his eyes shut as paws reflexively removed themselves from his face. He bit down hard on the inside of his mouth to stop himself from snapping at them, scared his own voice may cause his ears to bleed and his headache worsen. Even the low growl that rumbled in his throat buzzed loudly in his ears. Inhaling slowly, the large feline slowly rose to his paws and stalked towards the voice that unbeknownst to him, was merely a casual call and not an overbearing shout like he perceived it to be. Extended claws dug into the soft undergrowth as stoic dark red eyes blinked every so often in attempt to steady his vision and hopefully reduce the brightness; was the sun always this bright? It didn't take long before his eyes were locked onto the individual who announced his presence. Drawing in a shaky breath, Ren closed the distance between them as he kept his body language professional- dominating too, but that was accidental. A habit he was trying to break out of. "You are on Tanglewood t-" a surge of pain shot through his skull like electricity, forcing the demon to stop for a second. Quickly regaining control of himself, he continued. "-territory. What is your name and business with us?" He finished, his heavily scarred form reverting to a sitting position. That last surge of pain took all his strength to remain upright and he was feeling quite drained.