ORIGIN

Lost in the mist, a creature of the dark and a child left to wander alone. There is nothing like the immeasurable curiosity that drags down the heart and mind of any juvenile being. The rolling waves, dancing air that responded to the simplest of touches, had welcomed her into the world, it seemed fitting that she pay her own respects to the living mist. Her journey here was unknown, through winding tunnels where the wind would grasp at her fur, pull at her paws and tug at her tail, out into open land where freedom and independence seemed to nag at the corner of her cranium as if it was not truly genuine.

If one looked close enough, peered through the fog and let their mind travel out further than their body could go, they would see amongst the risen roots and bending branches a line of the night. Perhaps they too would see crimson eyes staring back at them, young and full of youth, locked in the centre of an abyss that the cave breathed around. If they let their mind wander, let it reach out to touch against her own, they would no that it was not them that she was looking at, but something beyond. If their ears were wide enough they would also notice the sound of rustling, against the backdrop of rumbling echos - coming from nowhere within the room for if you had watched her beforehand you would know she had walked around the edges, trying to find the origin of such a deep sound to no avail - there was something, perhaps many somethings, moving. Or maybe there wasn't. Was the child mixing up the patter of water cascading down, hitting hard against leaves and thumping their tears onto the fallen foliage, for the sound of animals? Or was she hearing beyond that?

She could not see, the mist was high, obscuring more than it should but how was she supposed to know such a thing? She could feel heavy drops fall uncaringly upon her form, drenching her down to the skin, the tree that towered above, its rough bark pressing hard into her side, was not helping keep the rain off. Yet she did not leave. Her body remained motionless, the only movement coming from her head which swivelled and snapped from side to side, eyes searching and scanning, trying to peer beyond the grey haze. Her eyes strained, narrowed as if that would help, constantly blinking as the water seemed to have no mercy and cling to her fur, dropping at the most inconvenient time, just when she might be able to see something moving ahead, into her eye to obscure her vision even more. She was growing frustrated, her stomach an angry participant in everything she did now, complaining at every movement, yet she could do nothing for it if she had no sight, no sound for everything was loud in her eyes: the rumbling behind the walls, the rain, the patter of something else; it was hard to distinguish between everything. Her paws were wet and heavy, but she could not see anywhere high to get out of the muck, her body was cold and the rain clung to her like a dear friend, the mist was a frigid hand that swept lovingly over her bodice and she just wanted to eat.

There was a whimper of aggravation, perhaps it was hers, perhaps it was not, and all she wanted was something to give her some help of where to go! Then there was a pressure. Was someone pushing against her head? Had she stumbled between to rocks? No, she had not moved. The pressure seemed to grow steadily as she began to grow more frustrated, was she feeding it? Yet, with the growing headache, there was also a pinprick of light right in front of her face, larger than a pinprick, the smallest rock, the size of a fingernail, then a grape, an apple. It seemed to stop. So did the pressure pushing out of her head. It was no more than a small ball, though it seemed more like fire yet no heat radiated off it, the rain fell straight through, not even causing it to bob up and down. The light was no more white than it was blue and it merely sat in front of her eyes. Had she done that? Nothing else was around her to do it, was there?

Had merely wishing for sight caused such an event? It did not better her vision or give her the ability to seek beyond the mist, but it gave her light. It was a beacon. Yet, Vargas's words echoed in her mind, her stone - as he had called it - and the spire is what caused this light, he hates being so connected to something else, though it was hard to disagree since the heatless wisp held the same blue, shimmering glow. Did that mean with every spell its energy would wane bit by bit, or did the magic feed it, make it stronger? Feed it. Food. That is what she was after. As if in answer there was a deep gurgle that opened up a chasm inside of her, as if mimicking that sound outside of the cave.

With a deep breath, eyes locked on the glowing wisp and ignoring the mud and water sinking deep in her paws and soaking her skin, she tried to figure out how to move it. Butting at it with her head merely caused her head to go straight through, the glow coming off it catching her eyes and causing the girl to shrink back and shake her head a few times to get the black dots away. It did not move. The rain could not move it either, each drop just passing straight through as if it was not there. Adélaide did not sit to think about it, she did not want the mud to cling to her behind as well, and she did not want to pace in case the rustling in the distance stopped or ran away. The frustration was growing again, her hunger was not helping. Why didn't it do as she wanted? She created it so she controlled it! She swiped out with her paws in her anger, trying to hit it, throw it away, do something! But it merely remained where it was in front of her, staring, mocking the girl who couldn't even control a wisp. Laughing at her.

"You useless piece of light! Move dammit!" It pained her to whisper, pained her even to talk to the thing. Was she going insane? Perhaps. She didn't know how long she had been in the part of the cave, getting drenched down to her soul, trying to stifle her hungry stomach and move as little as possible. It wasn't exactly dark, although the light wasn't piercing either, the mist, as she knew, seemed to swallow everything in its path and this mist was the strongest she had seen yet. It did not help that she was still small, it would be a while yet until she grew, and that her eyes were far from reaching the top of the mist, or even where it thinned out. That's why the little wisp was useful. When it wasn't being such a piece of floating stupid grrr! She had closed her eyes, trying to ignore it, hoping that if she couldn't see it she would not be angry with it. Yet, when her eyes opened again and it was merely hovering there, still laughing, she had had enough. Her mind screamed as her head reached out to try and bite it yet it flew away from her reach. As fast as a hummingbird, taking its light with it which she had found to be a comfort in the cave. "You...!" The sentence was left unfinished as she attempted to bound after it, her paws heavy with mud slowing her down and the splashing of the water below her feet which seemed to fill the entire room causing her to become a little self-conscious. She was here for a reason, what was it? The wisp had stopped far in front of her, she could see nothing in the haze other than its eery glow, it bobbed up and down as if impatient. How was she supposed to call it back, it did not like doing her bidding by the looks of it, but she controlled it, and not the other way around as the wisp seemed to think. Not that it could actually think. She tried calling out to it verbally, ordering it back, it dipped down slightly but came no closer. She tried again, but in her head this time, and slowly as if reluctantly, the wisp sailed in the air to stop beside her head. Casting its eery glow in a very small diameter around her.

She silenced herself then, trying to hear some sort of prey, rats preferably since that was the only thing she knew. Not that she knew them, but she knew what they sounded like now. She would also have to find somewhere high, or at least higher, to get her paws out of the flooded floor. She was getting cold, her mind was frustrated and not in the best mood to hunt, her body would have moments where it would shake randomly, perhaps to get rid of the water which would just come back not even a second later, she was alone other than her floating wisp - although the alone part she didn't mind as much - and she was hungry. Vargas had said that she could lure prey out with her voice but she didn't know if she could make the rats squeaking with her voice well enough to cast it away from her and draw them out and she didn't know if they understood her language. This was perhaps going to be harder than she thought.

She was walking aimlessly now, the wisp following beside her head, its blue light not enough to help her see much. Down, down she went! Air knocked out of her lungs, her paws had fallen from below her. One front paw had walked on something not completely solid, collapsing underneath her weight and leaving her sprawled out on the floor. A stick was digging into her stomach, water and mud were up to her sides and her chin, refusing to open her mouth so nothing crawled in, and the leg that had fallen in the whole hurt where it joined with the rest of her body. She wanted to stay sprawled on the floor and cry. It's not like anyone would be able to see her tears, she was wet enough as it was and the rain was not letting up any time soon.

The water was being disturbed. Something small running through it. She dared not move, still as a statue (a wet, muddy, annoyed statue). There was squeaking, perhaps at the notion of getting wet, and then there was something dark and small sprinting through the mist in front of her. She could see the mist swirl around it, feel its body disturb the water as it ran. Food! She had to follow it, but it was faster than her. Her paws started to scramble all around her, slipping and sliding in the mud, but she didn't have to stand for as soon as the wisp had heard her thoughts it had shot after the rat, floating steadily above it and following its every move. Adèlaide grinned as she eventually got to her feet, not even taking the time to shake the water off her body, for it would be futile, the young pup ran after the eery blue glow that danced and weaved in the air. Keeping it always in her sight, although the rat was long gone from her vision - she could still hear the squeaks, although it no longer seemed to be in the water, but everywhere was water? - she could forget her pains for the moment, she was finally able to have fun!

The ground seemed to rise higher under her feet, get harder, rougher, she was no longer slipping with every step trying to keep her balance, and, other than the rain, her paws were not submerged underwater any longer. Where was she now? It would not matter for the wisp was no longer moving, it was right in front of her, although off to the side a little. Where was the rat?

Her eyes were desperately searching around, the wisp was not moving any more so that damned rat had to be around the young wolf somewhere. She edged slowly, gently, closer to the where the wisp was hovering, grateful for being on solid ground now, perhaps she had found some large rock. Nope. Nope. Not a rock. Her paws went out from under her again, this time the rest of her body remained standing, her paw had gone over the edge of whatever she was standing on and the girl scrambled back so not to fall over, she didn't care how close to the ground she was. For she hadn't felt the thing rise too high as she walked up it. Catching her breath, this day was not going well, the girl finally caught the sound of something promising. The had forgotten the wisp as it remained suspended in the air, her body now crouched low to the ground and she crawled closer to the edge again, this time stopping before going over, feeling around with her paws. The sound of scuttling and squeaking was obvious below.

The pup moved so she could see them by turning her head, still looking down, she was on some sort of overhang, a small and low one, and rats were milling about underneath; trying to remain dry from the rain. Lucky little critters. Her lips pulled up into a smile. "I'm here." She had gotten used to this spell a little more than the other one, although she was still lacking a lot. She wanted to direct it into a certain area, just in front of the rats. But nothing happened, her voice came out as normal, too loud in this area.

There were so many of them, even though she had just seen the one when she had begun to follow it, and her voice above the swarm was causing them to scatter. They couldn't see her, and to her they were just small blobs of darkness, not clear in the mist or her position, but the ran as if the could. No longer remaining in the big group that they were as she had arrived as if they knew that a large group of them would help her and not them, for it would have been a bigger target. She didn't know which to focus on and if she remained stock still the would have all scattered all over the room (even though it was full of rain and they evidently hated it) and she would not be able to catch one in time. Her head was snapping from side to side, her eyes moving from one to another in quick succession. There were only a few left, she had to move quickly now, their fearful squeals filling up her mind and being swallowed by the fog.

She moved as quickly as she could, back legs pushing her forward and front legs pushing off the edge of the rock then reaching out, her eyes locked on one of the fleeing rats. She hit the ground hard, inexperience not helping her at all in the situation, but she was able to grasp something under her two paws. More accurately, she had landed on something under her two paws. Her unceremonious landing, with her back paws slipping to the side, her hip hitting the muddy and water-filled ground hard, the rat was not happy under her paws. She could feel it squirming, feel the weight she was putting down on it, her grin had spread now, even as she clasped her jaws around her prey and felt its life disperse. Her first ever catch, although it did not go quite as planned, definitely did not go as planned.

With the rat limp in her mouth she walked back to under the overhand where the rats had previously made their home. Her meal was to be eaten in the dry, with her fur soaking wet, her hip aching from where she had landed on it, her head calling for sleep, and her body still cold and shivering. The wisp had slowly descended to join her again, a companion to her first-ever meal.