This place was some sort of bullshit. She had wandered into the wrong land at precisely the wrong time. She should have stayed at Rift…in Neverland. It was safe there. She had no enemies and most people left her alone. She didn’t have to deal with fire or smoke. Her lungs never burned as badly as they did now. Her vision was never this unpredictable. If she were honest with herself, she was scared. However, that was an emotion that Sloane refused to show. She refused to play into the weakness of emotions. Instead…she kept moving.
As she meandered the forest, trying to find her way to cleaner air, she could hear the crackling of branches as the fire consumed them. She could hear the cries of the fauna as they cried into their deaths. She could almost hear the please of a young soul, but surely it was just her mind playing tricks on her. She was in this forest alone and there wasn’t a single soul that was here to help her find some sort of safety.
That is until someone practically falls out of the sky, landing just a few paces in front of her. Eyes look upward, searching for where this stranger had come from. She can barely make out a ridge and she deduces that this mare had come from there. She makes no motion to say hello just yet. The female seems confused, perhaps she was just as confused as Sloane was.
But there is something else that catches her attention, something that normally wouldn’t. There’s a squirrel that seems to appear out of nowhere. Sloane hated those little beasts. They got up under one’s hooves and were just little nuisances as they threw acorns from the trees that seemed to always land dead center in Sloane’s forehead. It was a miracle the mare didn’t suffer any sort of brain damage. Something was different about this little pest, though. It made this ungodly noise that made her neck arch. She watched as a fire seemed to ignite along the squirrel’s back. Sloane is quiet as she watches the little thing scurry off, leaving a trail of embers that was slowly roaring to life. Was this the cause of the fires? Now she needed to follow it so she could kill the little bastard. It was ruining her day.
Slowly, she steps forward now, clearing her throat to announce her presence as well as try to breathe. She comes to a halt a little closer to the strange mare but she doesn’t get so close to impede on either one of their personal spaces. Then again, Sloane didn’t like to be close to anyone anyway…regardless if she even cared about their personal space. “Are those things responsible for this? Because...” She paused for a moment. “…they are truly ruining my day.” it didn’t matter that they might be ruining her day. It didn’t matter that they might be destroying someone’s home…her home. None of that mattered to Sloane.
It seemed that the mare didn’t see or hear her, or perhaps she simply chose to ignore her. The roaring of the fires was quite loud, so perhaps she really didn’t hear her. However, just as Sloane was about to ensure that she was being heard, the mare takes off at a full run. Sloane watches her for a moment before she sighs and decides to follow. Perhaps this mare knew the way out.
Never the one who liked to work up a sweat, Sloane groans as she puts her muscles to work, following as quickly as she can behind the fleeting form of the other. She had no idea how to navigate this land and she was the only one in this moment who knew more about these lands than she did. So she follows.
By now she’s on the heels of the mare, chasing her, trying to catch up to her. And just when she was just close enough to call out to her, she darts into the cave. Sloane follows, unable to comprehend just how stupid this decision would prove to be. Sloane was usually more calculating than this, but she had put her trust into someone who could not lead her to safety. In fact, she led her into a death trap. There was no way out and the flames only heated the air she was breathing, burning her lungs and making her wish she hadn’t followed.
As she went towards the back of the cave, she can see that the female has collapsed. She eases up to her, using her forelimb to tap at her form, trying to see if she’s even alive. “Another one bites the dust…” She doesn’t wait to see if there’s movement, she just assumes the mare is dead…or will be dead shortly. Instead, she steps over the body, heading further into the cave. She thinks she can see light. Perhaps it’s just her mind playing tricks on her. “I’m going to kill these fucking squirrels.” There is malicious intent in her words as they come forth like lava from a volcano. But after that, her voice grows silent and she continues to walk towards the light.
@Pavetta
