Memories of Ice

Pain and madness.

The last things he remembered before the yawning mouth of the abyss opened up and swallowed him whole. Eternity became a cacoon and he had almost settled there in that new and profound dreamscape, set his claws down in it. So close.... Only to be rudely awakened.

The breath that ripped from his chest was a gasp, the panicked lungful of a drowning man. Mentu found himself flailing, legs milling in the mud , the frantic contractions finally curling inward until he was but a quivering  mass smeared in muck and gods only knew what else. Instinctively he had pulled his body into a tight ball and lay there for a very long while. Dull sobs of futility punctuated foreign air until finally, some time later, he stopped shaking. At least in so much that he could put his legs beneath him and with slow deliberation he set at the task of just standing. One paw ahead and then the other, every part of his body felt as if on fire. He stumbled away from the lake shore and found himself looking upon a world that was not his own.
 

He began to walk, listless, in a random direction, each step shaking and uneven. Eventually the sun's light began to bake the mud on his ebony coat into heavy chunks along his flanks, chips of it marring his face where it clung around his cheeks, muzzle and brows. He could not even think. He just knew he needed to move onward. To what? He was not sure.

TAG- @Reign & @Sati

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She had awoken early to hunt. There was plenty of prey to catch, but she would hunt only a little, only as much as she, @Reign, and @Aerys would need. Sati had already gotten 4 large rabbits and was now hunting for more. 

Until she heard the slow, heavy steps of someone struggling to walk. She turned around and saw another wolf, covered in mud. Although he was covered in mud, she knew who he was immediately. 

"...Mentu? Is that you?" Sati stepped closer, taking in his appearance and how fatigued he was. "Oh my! It is! Stay here, I'm going to get Reign!" And with that, she rushed off. Thankfully Reign was close. 

"Reign! Come quick! I've found Mentu!"
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Under the weight of drying shingles of mud, Mentu's breathing had become a laboured thing. His tongue lolled out, trailing sticky strands of saliva, yet all of the panting could do little to fix the sheer heat building up in his body. The mud was keeping things in, creating a cacoon of sorts that recycled warmth and he had no means to dislodge it all. He'd hardly a mind to work with. Walking nearly blind, his entire body a terrifying terracotta mass there were finally sounds... Nay voices.

Distant voices, so far and familiar. The voice of comfort and of home, drawing closer and yet the sounds still were muted, mud having settled deeply into one of his ear cavities. When Sati strode to stand before him voicing her frantic worries all he could hear were angellic murmers. His eyelids weighed down by chips of mud all he could see was a smeared blur of white, the worried tones spilled over him and with a final grunt he collapsed to the ground. It was then that the white smear turned and disappeared from his view. 

'Sati.... Oh Sati..' The thoughts in his thirst and heat addled mind were ones of disjointed contemplation. 'Truely we all died then.. Truely this is my afterlife.'

The weight of his mudbrick armour was suddenly overwhelmingly sweet. He settled more into his laying form, completely unaware of the rest of the world around him. His breathing coming slower. 'Why do I breathe if I'm dead?'

A better predator's easy picking. Dying was so tiring.. Why oh why was it so tiring?

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Short post from me, sorry!

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Sati had found Mentu! But, he had looked so terrible... She hoped he would last till she got back to him with Reign. 

"Reign, come on! Mentu needs our help!" And with that, Sati rushed off once again, hoping Reign would follow.

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Reign was basking by the lake, the sun creating a nice warmth. She was taking the time to enjoy her semi alone time, her eyes lazily opening to flicker towards Aerys. It was a shame her sister hadn't taken the girl with her when she'd gone exploring or whatever it was she was off doing. But it didn't matter since Aerys didn't speak anymore.  So having her around was as quiet as when she was alone, and when she moved, Aerys was practically her shadow these days. 

She huffed and closed her eyes to nap. She wanted a nice warm nap before she planned to have Sati spar with her, it would be nice to have someone to train with again. She couldn't exactly spar with Aerys, that was unfair to waste her time in such a manner. But Sati, she was trained the way Reign was, had grown up with the spars too. She was someone Reign had sparred many times, but they were older now, and she wanted to test her sister. 

She had just begun to drift off into sleep when her sister burst through the bush. Reign opened her eyes slowly. "What the fuck Sati. Why are you so fucking loud?" She grumbled in annoyance.  But it was then that she heard why her sister was so loud and frantic. 

"Reign, come on! Mentu needs our help!"

Reign launched up, looking over at @Aerys. "Aerys lets go, and don't dwattle!" She snipped out before she took off after her sister.  She ran, with everything in her.  Mentu, Sati had found Mentu. Yet another of her siblings had appeared in this land. SHe needed to get to him, It was time to bring him home. 

She crashed through the brush after her sister and skitted to a stop. Her chest heaved, rising and falling rapidly as she began to breath normally. Her eyes looked at the mud covered form laying before her.  She Stepped forward taking in the state of her brother. "...Mentu" she spoke gently. More gentle than she'd spoken to anyone in a long time. 

"Mentu, you gatta open your eyes and get up." her voice turned stern, like that of their mothers when they were young.  "You have to get up now, We will take you home" 
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Alone there now, the wolf known as Mentu had time to swim through a stream of memories made strange by his fevered mind. His siblings cavorting in full combat, laughing, sweating, bleeding and then finally dying. His mind's eye swept elsewhere then and he was presented with a set of jaws so large as to engulf his very being, dripping warm globs of saliva and a silken sweet male voice calling to him telling him that he was nothing.... oh so nothing. The teeth closed in with intent and a wild cackling filled his mind. 

'Mentu...'

The voice that crashed through the barriers in his mind wakened him ever so slightly, bolstering a reaction within. He began to move feebly, the ever-hardening mud that had solidified on him showing more cracks. But it was all so painful, the mud pulling at the roots of his fur and he was so thirsty and tired. When the voice asked him to open his eyes suddenly something of Mentu's former self snapped to the forefront. An indignant confidence. "I CAN'T!" he snarled. "I can't fuckin' see." The dried mud around his eyes had nearly sealed the lids together, he might as well have been blind.

The next words made his mind whiplash. The command of his mother. Mentu did all he could not to let out a whimper in response. She would not see his weakness, if she did he would be done. He tried to draw a breath, but it came in shallow and ragged.He rolled from his side onto his belly and began to set his quaking legs beneath him. "T-take me home," he stuttered. But then stumbled heavily against Reign.

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"Mentu, you gotta open your eyes and get up." Reign sounded stern, almost like their mother when they were younger. She noticed the effect it had on Mentu and was glad that he still had the strength to fight. 

"I can't! I can't fuckin see!" Mentu snarled. 

"You have to get up now, we will take you home." Home to their future empire. But the effect those words had on Mentu was... almost negative in a way. He tried to take a breath, but it came shallow and ragged. But he rolled onto his stomach and began to stand up with quaking legs. 

"T-Take me home." Mentu was stuttering now. He then stumbled heavily against Reign. 

"Yes, let's go home Mentu... Let's go home..." Sati soothingly murmured to him, then helped him stand up. "Ready, Reign?"

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"I CAN'T!" 

"I can't fuckin' see."

She let out a warning Snarl.  She didn't care what was wrong, it didn't warrant him to speak like that freely to her. Especially because she used to put him and Sati in their places. But she let it go... for now. Right now she cared more about getting mentu back to their make shift home. so he could get clean and rest before she makes him get his strength up.

"T-take me home,"

When he slumped against her, she tensed her muscles and looked at Sati. 

"Yes, let's go home Mentu... Let's go home..."

She shook her head at her sister, mentu responded to her when she acted as their mother. Coddling him wasn't ganna work. Besides no one ever coddled them. So it made sense that when she got aggressive he got up to go with them. 

"Ready, Reign?"

Reign looked at her brother before she met sati's eyes. "Yes Sati. We need to walk slowly and carefully till we get him back to the lake. Step together, and dont let him to fall" 

She took a careful step forward.
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Sorry for the late post! Feel free to skip Aerys unless she's needed

The girl never spoke anymore and sometimes she wondered if her voice was even still there. Regardless, she wasn't going to speak up in front of Reign and her family. She was sure that wouldn't end well. She had been resting when she heard Reign yell at her to come with and, diligently, she did. Standing up, the girl rushed to follow Reign, not because she wanted to, but because she was scared of the consequences. 

Quietly, she stood there, lowering herself to the ground as she watched everything that was happening. She didn't necessarily want to help, but even if she did, she didn't know how. Besides, the last thing she wanted was to do something that Reign thought was wrong and end up getting attacked again.

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Reign was like a wall of stone against him. Her growls of displeasure rumbling through her and into the mud and into his flesh, and yet she stood firm, taking his weight as if it was nothing. Oh sure she had staggered for but a moment but Mentu had neither seen nor sensed any of that. The only thing on his mind now, with the voices of both his sisters creating a pleasantly confusing echo in the chamber of his skull, was the idea of home. 

Of rest, of sleep. It felt like it was so long ago that he had last felt relief. Here his siblings were, leading him towards it and yet he could not hold trust. His weakness in these moments would be noted, catalogued, neatly placed in the memories of these witnesses to remind him of some sort of failure on his part. He knew this... It was just the way of the Inferos-Saxe. To shy away from it would be to deny even his self.

He'd exerted a lot in his shouting before and now his throat was dry and cracked. So he found himself held up by both his sisters and uncerimoneously walked with a sneering kindness towards his own demise. Sometimes life was just not fair.

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Reign held her brother up, supporting his weight properly so that he would not fall. It was like three puzzles pieces that fit perfectly together. With Sati on the other side of Mentu to help support and guide him. Reign looked back at Aerys who was silent as a shadow but still there before she spoke.

“We are one, while not entirely whole again, we will support each other. As my siblings and my pet, you shall be above the blood rites I want to establish within our empire. But that means I expect more from you all. I don’t take that exception lightly. And you will all still be subject to my laws”

She didn’t even look at them. She just stepped slowly so as not to drop her brother. Leading him home for good …
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