White Beast : The Awakening (Draft)

Chapter 3

The unpleasant, choking stench was stronger now. The charred black grounds were not too far away, close enough to where I could see it from where I was. Snow went from a pure, pearl-like white to a sludgy, black mush consisting of ashes and dirt traveling from the untouched forest into the dark, red glowing depths of blackened wood. Tracks and clumps of snow, presumably from rodents and critters of any sort, grew more and more in abundance as I neared it. The strong smell of fear and wildlife muddled the smoke-filled air along with the reek of burnt flesh and wood. No musical melodies came from within the throats of birds and what replaced it was the wind's hushed shriek of agony for the forest's lost limbs. The smoke: an almost translucent, foggy barrier that stung at my eyes, making them watery and causing me to only open them halfway. It irritated my nostrils,  burning them with its suffocating smoke as I neared the distorted boundary, separating white from black.
Just as I took the first few steps into the charred forest, the scents were overwhelming. The smell of burning flesh was pungent, a sickly sweet malodor that caused me to suddenly become queasy and an lightheaded in the slightest. Small clumps of blackened skin and singed fur were visible underneath ashes and glowing red and black wood. The rugged wind blew all kinds of scents at me. Other than the smell of burning dead critter, smoke, and wood, something else was there.
I hopped over bits of smoldering sticks and logs to cut through the forest. To go around it would take longer. Not days longer, but a couple hours longer at most which I, physically, was not up for. Going through here would be quick. Even though smoke overlaid this gloomy, scorched part of the forest it provided some warmth from the cold. It not only gave me that, but it handed me cover from unwanted animals that might be watching me. Like that fox...
A small pang of guilt and loneliness hit me as I flew over a crackling log, barely grazing my underbelly against it. But it was rational, thinking he might be trying to lead me into a trap. It's irrational to trust someone a you've just met. Anyone who does that without concern will have learned their lesson. Most likely in a horrible way and perhaps in an inescapable situation.
As I went further into the lifeless enclosure, a new smell greeted me. It was faint and clouded by the overlapping odor of the smoke. I stopped in my tracks to really make sure of it by inhaling deeply with a choking, sputtering cough afterward. Something was off. It didn't smell natural, it smelled strange. It was alien, not right, unnatural. I treaded carefully now, with my nose twitching at the ground and air, testing to see where it was strongest. I hovered it over the ground for the almost unnoticeable smell was more distinct there. I kept a cautious step as I followed the foreign scent, pondering what it was and why it was here. It was something that didn't belong. As I followed the scent I walked into a small clearing with a pile of barely glowing logs in the middle. Surrounding it was two piles of ashes with metal poles sticking out of it in the shape of a triangular prism. This was once a campsite. As I grew closer to what I presumed was the campfire there was a shape to the scent on the ground next to it. A dedicated place for it that flowed from a stream to puddles and more streams that were once there. In fact, it even smelled... chemical. The scent was formed into splatter marks and sloppy sloshes littering the area. I raised my head from the ground and looked around, realizing, from where I was, that this was in the middle of the crackling forest. The place where the fire originated. Where the fire started and spread violently sending its ocean of destruction and streams of blazing flames flooding through the forest. But what stopped it? The wind? There were strong gusts of wind at times, sometimes for long intervals. Perhaps, unexpectedly, the wind overpowered the fire, taking back its rule over the forest. It was possible, not the most expected, but in a place like this -- likely.
But why was it started at all? Who started it? Unfortunately, all traces and clues to that were already wiped away. In the fire; in the freshly fallen snow. The only thing that was left was the presence of the forest's dead trees and embers. And it was still hot. It was recent. This happened at most three to two days ago. And based on the pattern and location of the scent, this wasn't an accident. It was intended.
I gave out a sudden hard cough. I had to leave this place soon for the smoke was hurting my lungs with every breath I took. I took one last look at the spot where the strange, chemical-like scent came from and I padded away with a steady fast pace. Just as I reached the end of the dead, black forest, I came out covered in soot and with a barrel of throat-scratching coughs. Until I was clear of the smoke, I stopped walking for a moment to recover for a bit, taking heavy gulps of icy fresh air with a weak cough every now and then. I shook myself, causing ashes and dirt to fly off my back and onto the ground. My fur and paws were painted with soot, covering me in gray and black patches. The sky was turning from a milky, light pink to a soft, darkening blue purple with white speckles. Thick clouds swam through it and the day was coming to an end. Then wind suddenly changed from its calm blows to a hard, startling gust, baffling me. And then it became calm once more, but then another harsh gust came back and it continued.
      I was exhausted, tired from trekking in the snow for those few days, tired from the bitter wind, and tired from the cold. Snow had started to fall once again as I plodded along, my eyes searching for a reasonable place I could call shelter. The frequent, harsh gusts of wind became a consistent torrent and the snow fell more heavily as I went. It wasn't long before I saw an outcrop of rock, sprouting from the ground and then hovering over it. It would provide minimum cover from the blasting winds, but it would do. The smallest amount would even satisfy me. I padded over to the covering, relieved as soon I went under it. It blocked most of the frigid wind, yet it was still, of course, bitterly cold. I could finally see my breath billow out in front of me, once again, barely warming myself. I pushed and dug snow out of the way making a large, shallow groove for me to lie in. I finished quickly with the result of a short wall of snow surrounding me and a hard patch of frozen ground to rest in. With a tired sigh, I got down in the shallow and laid down in it.
I faced the entrance leading to outside, and I stared at the snow that fell diagonally to the ground. The wind gave out a hollow, high-pitched scream as it battered the trees. My body became warmer and my eyelids grew heavier with the exhaustion that continued to pile on me every waking minute. Slowly my eyes formed into slits as I continued to gaze at the snow storm. And then they shut, a soft darkness coming over me.