Esk Tales {TWWM-ARPG Writings Collection}

Pan- Losing Their Way {Origin Prompt #2}

Losing Their Way

- Pan -
{Origin Prompt #2}

.:+:.

He didn't even really know what happened

The sun had gone away while they'd been walking, and the wind had gradually picked up- he could smell rain on the air, and a certain sort of charge appeared that made his fur prickle. His humans seemed to fidget, their walk suddenly halting as they tugged at the leash and pulled him the other way. He didn't want to go that way, the walk couldn't have been over, it was too early to go back- but the leash tugged again and he couldn't resist it.

They turned, his human's paces quickened as they started back the way they had come, and he was spurred into a small run just to keep up with them.

Why are we going so fast? Why have we gone back? We weren't done-

Water began to drop from the sky, bouncing against the rough road underneath his paws and against his fur. A particularly cold drop splashed against his nose and he sneezed at it, whilst his owners grumbled and groaned at the rain and jerked him forward faster. He stumbled, running ever faster now to keep up with them and heart beginning to pound, mind racing, and senses overloading.

Why are we running? It's raining, it's wet- why are my humans going so fast? Is something wrong? Is there something coming after us?

He didn't understand it, he didn't get it- it was raining, so already his senses were being bombarded with the scent of moisture and the slickness of the path underneath his paws. The wind was picking up and bringing with it new things to smell, unknown things and thrilling things- he wanted to pause and go to them, sniff them out and see- but the leash jerked against his neck harsher every time he tried to slow up.

He could sense the urgency in the humans, and the tone of their voices set him further and further on edge (though he did not understand the words)- something was wrong, it had to be, they were acting strange... but what was wrong?

He didn't understand-

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

The air cracked open with some ungodly, terrible noise- bright, blinding yellow-white light arcing across the sky and washing the whole world out. His ears rang, his heart leapt in fright and terror, and any sense of himself, his humans, or the incessant jerking on the leash was obliterated.

The only thing on his mind in the next instant was run

He was moving right away, bristling and shaking from head to toe, his tail tucked tight and paws tearing across the slick cement. There was a brief, fleeting moment of pressure on his neck- but it released near instantly, and he just kept going.

The rain fell with a fervor now, the sky rumbling and the lightning sparking through the depths of the clouds and blinding him. He could not see for the light and the water both in his eyes, and he could hear nothing outside the ringing of the thunder and the roar of the rain pounding against the earth.... above all that though, was the thundering of his own heart in his ears, and the blood rushing through him just as quickly as the terror running rampant in his soul. He could not think around the noise, his struggle to see only made the fear worse- and the fear did nothing but keep him running.... and he did not know, nor care where he was running to.
He never heard his humans voices behind him, panicked and pleading. He did not hear the familiar ring and tone of his name being called.

The terror wouldn't let him hear it- it wouldn't even let him think about it, or them, or what he was doing... It didn't let him think of how quickly he was gone and out of sight and with no idea where he was, or which direction would spell home.

He splashed through quickly deepening puddles, slid into a street and yelped in fear for the bright lights headed his way. He skittered to the other side and got drenched in the wave of water the metal machine churned up, sputtering and soaked through to the bone in icy cold- but he still kept running.
Get away from the lights, get away from the noise, get away from the machines and the-

BOOOOM!!

He was stumbling and sliding, the rough human road turning to mud and slick long before he realized it had- he fell hard and yelped, but still struggled up onto his paws again and kept going.

Run

He had no idea how far he went. He had no idea where he was when he finally stopped.... he didn't know what happened, and when he finally looked back to find his humans, he saw nothing he recognized, and no one there to call him... no one there to find him and lead him home.

This place was full of trees and thorny, grasping bushes and tendrils- the earth was unkempt and rough beneath his feet, and the air laced with a thick chill and curtain of moisture that reached all the way down to his bones. His body ached from the running, his paws stung with every step, torn and cut from hours of mindless fleeing and leaving specks of dark crimson behind on the moldy leaves.

His humans were gone.

His home was gone.

His collar and leash, gone.

The familiar streets and houses and fences... all gone.

He was..... lost....

He tried to find a way back, retrace his steps, willed his nose to catch a familiar scent that would guide him- but the trees were overpowering, and the rain had washed it all away. He wandered, picking his way through mud and over dead branches cast about, constantly looking, constantly hoping.... please just one thing, one familiar thing, one far-off call of his name, one whiff of his humans and their scent.

He wanted to go home, he never meant to go so far- he wanted them.
Find me, save me... bring me back.
They would surely find him, wouldn't they?

They had to

His stomach ached soon after along with his paws and legs, he scratched through the fallen debris, looking for food and finding little but foul smelling plants and dead things. They tasted as awful as they smelled, and soon after gulping them down his stomach churned and expelled the rot, leaving him all the hungrier, and all the more aching in his core.

He kept moving, kept looking, kept hoping... even as days went by and still nothing looked the same.

Find me

His stomach stopped hurting after the second week, he felt hollow, numb... the chill in his bones from the night of the storm had never gone away, only now it was starting to bite less. Now he was starting to feel heavy, every step a colossal feat, his head hanging low and his tail dragging along with his paws.
He found something at last, something old and messy and cold still... but it was a human thing, a place. For a small moment he thought- hoped- maybe there will be something here.

Maybe here... I'll find them.

But this place was empty, and quiet. What few hints of humans and their scents were stale and near faded to nothing. The structures looked wrong, they smelled wrong... filled with dirt and rust and trash and filth.

His paws could take him no further... what fleeting hope they might be here died as quickly as it was formed.

He found a building among the many, the walls mostly intact, the roof mostly too... the halls filled with dirt and invading plants, and old, dirty, blurry mirrors and things he couldn't even begin to understand.

He fell into a pile of musty earth and trailing green leaves and vines, his legs giving out on him and no strength left to even consider getting up again. His bones rattled as he fell, but he did not feel the pain nor the discomfort of it- he just felt a weight lifting, the struggle to stay standing vanishing as his eyes falling quickly too. His mind began teetering toward some place dark and so very, very empty.... the last thing swirling in his thoughts before oblivion claimed him, anguished, and hurt.

They never found me