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In the sweltering heat of a late summer afternoon no reprieve can be found in cool breezes or soothing droplets of rain. The sun has burned away every trace of cloud until even the last remaining moisture in the air threaten to evaporate. A singular breath is like inhaling red-hot embers. More, rapid, tired breaths is like setting the lungs on fire and adding a bottle of fine liquor - just waiting for the explosion.
The air beneath a canopy of faded greenery is as stagnant and unmoving as the water of the shallow pond. An infestation of algae slowly choke the life out of a few remaining carps, make the waves sluggish and thick and cover his long legs in a sheet of mottled vegetation as he hurriedly wade across.

Maybe it will bother him later once the slimy cells dry into an itching crust from hoof to knee. Maybe he will regret not lowering inky lips to sip the murky liquid as they later begin crack and bleed from thirst.

But right now his mind is occupied by a white shadow that flit from tree to tree somewhere above his head. Pale wings rise and fall with increasing certainty, the milky membrane oddly silent against the cacophony of chirping cicadas, trilling birds and the soft ring of the bells in his hair. His own breath add to the noise, strained and graceless as he struggle to keep up. The legs are burning too, searing with internal heat that has nothing to do with the embers that continue to fall from charcoal curtains with each step. Heaving himself up the bank of cracked mud on the other side requires more effort than he wants to spend. Picking up the pace once securely on dry land - well, that's just impossible. The trees grow too densely for more than a hasty trot, zigzag until walking a straight line becomes a ridiculous dream too far removed from reality. He dislikes not being able to run freely, resents the entirety of the forest for blocking his view.

Yet the youth grit his teeth and push on, stalking the dragon onwards, further and deeper into the wild woodlands, until suddenly a feeling like being doused in bone-chilling waters break over his skin. No, not only the skin but deeper, it is a shudder that rattle his very soul.

Cathun gasp for breath and dig his feet deep into pine needles and moss, forcing a sudden stop that leave a trail of bare scraped earth and winking sparks in his wake. Above him the dragon let off a clear, ringing tone that reverberated throughout the forest, a sound that make the equine shudder yet again - but for different reasons, deeper reasons. It seem to him to be such triumphant relief in her voice, yet an echoing sorrow too, as if a bittersweet memory has been evoked. The dragon dipped a wing and cut a wide circle through the air as she turn, the draft of her passing a welcome kiss of cooling sweat against his neck. Bark rattle to the ground as sharp claws make contact with a branch, and as he catch his breath Cathun watch warily as the lizard find her balance, turning her pale eyes upon him with determination.

"What, is this it?" The colt glances around himself, eying row upon row of trees with mounting apprehension. "You cannot be serious, there's nothing here!"

The White one snort sharply and flex her wings, feet impatiently shifting their grip on the branch. She turn her head in the direction they were heading, then look back at him, before rolling her eyes when his face remain scrunched up in a discontent grimace. Teeth glimmer pearly white as she part her maw and let out another soul-shattering cry; and then, before Cathun can do anything she spread her wings again and take off. Back, in the opposite direction.

"Wait! Hey, where are you going!? Fajira!"

But the dragon just keep going without so much as glancing back. Cathun stare after her in disbelief until the last glimmer of alabaster scales disappear, then start cursing as he glance about once more. Low, searing words, of a decidedly foul nature by the sound of it though the language was foreign, the accent most unusual.

"Great. Wonderful! Left in the middle of nowhere. Fucking dragons, fucking insufficient directions, overall fuck everything!"

Still, that sensation just then had... been strange. The equine glanced back along the minimal path with ears thoughtfully pricked. Slowly, hesitantly he brought himself around, long legs stepping carefully as he retreated back, step by step until... there it was again. A cool, foreign sensation, really not at all unlike water but not quite that either. There was a flavor of air, like a rush of wind and zapping lightning and... but no, he was unable to explain it in words. Whatever it was the anomaly appeared local, limited to a more or less straight line running straight across the path he had been traveling. The young horse experimented with it for a while, walked back and forth between this invisible line, but ended up none the wiser as to the purpose of this peculiar phenomenon. It was strange, it teased his curiosity something dreadful, but the day was passing and he already hated the forest to death.

It wasn't until he reluctantly turned to leave that something caught his attention and made the pale hairs along his back stand on edge.

On the outside of the line a spark from his tail had landed on a patch of dried grass, it's searing heat enough to ignite the yellowed strands. Small flames licked the fuel with growing hunger, smoke coiled up in the still air and he could feel the familiar warmth as he hurried over to stomp the embers out before it grew out of hand.

But on the inside of the line... even though sparks cracked and jumped from his mane and tail like always, not a single fire had started. He could see the embers gleam and glow on the ground, felt the heat of them too as he passed, but every single one, without fail, winked out without setting anything ablaze.

"Oh. So that's what he meant..."

A slow, icy finger of quiet dread dragged along the spine, drying his throat more effectively than the summer sun had been able to do all day. As soon as the budding forest fire had been put out Cathun turned on his heels and hurried away, cursing the dragon with increasing fervor for leaving him in such a creepy, messed up place.


@[Amaris], @[Reynier], open to everyone! :D