The valley is mesmerizing.

A trip across the mountains is what it took to run across such a beautiful gem, the world painted white and practically glowing as it stood out against the massive rock cliffs that surrounded it. Even winter could not steal the land's beauty.

It ensnares Ludivine when she took her first few steps into the valley and now, hours later, she lay in peace atop a large boulder. Eyes are half closed from rest, but her pink gaze watches lazily as a variety of creatures go about their lives in the valley. They seemingly have no knowledge of the danger that has entered their lives — but for the time being, she is content to merely stay in one place and enjoy the world go by. It is peaceful, for the first time in a long time.

A soft purr of delight, Ludivine rolls herself onto her back, snow falling from the boulder as she pushes it off. Limbs stretch into the air before curling up into her svelte frame, her eyes shutting as she enjoys the warmth of the sun on her belly.

Erudite Experience
+5 Study the natural world (1/2)

He is the blood-red leviathan against harsh, porcelain ice. A ghost, a revenant. The snow rests along his burly shoulders and muscled spine, drifting down his shoulderblades like anointed prayers. But even the chill of winter could do no more than soothe the fires of his heart. Amaroq is a lost man, a mad man, a fallen man, still clinging to the final dregs of love. Contempt, aggravation, madness has always consumed him; but with the shadows beneath his eyes (of all those sleepless nights) and gaunt cheeks bruised by malnourishment, by unending hunger, he somehow looks more lost, more wretched. Thus, he cannot smile towards the stranger. The taut line appearing along his lips is accentuated by sharp fangs that curl with thirst. His frigid blue eyes leap towards her feminine figure, curling below her slender throat, as @Ludivine cuts a graceful figure against the snow. His silence is as quiet and dark as a whisper. Amaroq is a ghost and he looks at the girl with cold, unwelcoming eyes.

don't fret precious i'm here
step away from the window

For a moment, she is too mesmerized by the fallen majesty of the frozen world to notice she has a guest. The way the icicles hang from the tree branches, almost as if floating in midair — the soft powdering of the snow that hides whatever gruesome crimes had existed before her arrival. It's vexing how the world can transform so much in just a few mere months — and yet, it does.

It is in her moment of wonder that another approaches, so soft upon the fluffy snow that she does not notice him until he is already upon her, a cold, hard gaze trained to her lithe figure — words, however, do not exist. He is a blot on the landscape, a bloodstain against a pure canvas. His very being demands respect in the way he holds himself, but it does not intimidate Ludivine. Intrigue is the best way to describe the experience as she slowly rolls herself onto her belly, clumps of snow sticking to the thick fur around her nape.

A queen's version of a crown.

“Has the cold frozen you solid?” she breaks the silence with a soft quip, amusement dancing in her salmon-coloured depths. “Or has the sight of me simply left you breathless?”

@Amaroq

Erudite Experience
+5 Study the natural world (2/2)

Shine down upon the severed



He feels cursed, condemned. The soldier's blood begs for chaos, for wrath, for ruin. There is that marked hunter's hunger, that shadows the hard edges of his blackened lips. Each of his fang glistens with the promises of blood, their pearly enamel resting like too-long blades in his thick, lupine mouth. Amaroq almost feels disturbed to be in the presence of another, disturbed, uncomfortable; but he remains silent and unwavering, a steady sword poised to swing forward at any gleaming moment given.

The girl's melodic voice pulls him from his momentary reverie, as he blinks back the shadows from his eyes. His gaze moves from her throat to her face, and with a comment uttered such as hers, he quietly concurs that she is indeed, very beautiful; but her remarks fall to a callous heart, a heathen, a fiend.

Beautiful, and yet that is all. That is all, and nothing more.

Frosty deluge settles against the soldier's flesh, covering the thick muscles of his shoulders in a blanket of porcelain. He remains still, unmoved, even by her beauty, even by the curling sight of slender @Ludivine, rolling over to expose for a moment such tender, exquisite flesh. His icy, blue eyes can only address her with their distant coldness, a reflection of his heart now, even as a fiery wrath devours him alive. Bereft of passion, bereft of emotions, Amaroq feels like a ghost who appears now only to observe the mortal realm. Haunting, lingering.

Forgotten.

Snow continues to envelope the earth, thick plumes of frost that wailed, hissed in their reverberating lull, accentuating the land in its celestial and tempered embrace. It felt like the call of the siren, the call of the wild, the call of her. His Avaneira. It almost felt like coming home, like falling back into the arms of his wife, but it is not fated to last - and just like the wind, the memory of his wife's face disappears from his mind, a kingdom lost to his heart, a broken thought in the temples of his mind.

"All beauty is temporary," He whispers darkly to the girl, his voice so low, it is scarsely heard above winter's harsh gale. The northern breeze touches his long lashes as he slowly drops his gaze and looks to the floor. Apart of him wants to say more, to do more, but he only stands, a tall sentinel against the towering strength of the mountains.

When Amaroq finally looks back at the girl, his icy and silent gaze seeking to pierce hers, it is with a smooth sharpness, and that same unrelenting, unemotional thirst. It is both threat and warning.

"And beautiful things, die."