Despite the miles they traveled, past the trees and the river that often whispered their name, Amaris could not get the sloshing sound of dripping filth from his mind. It was a symphony behind his regular thoughts, tinkering of grime and dirt, slapping and dripping against his conscious mind. Evil, he thought, the words so carelessly thrown out into the chasm of his thoughts.

Evil, he mumbled, corrupt, vile, evil.

His gaze was cast toward his feet, his paws a mismatched collection of silver spotted fur that pleaded to be seen through the mounds of mud and muck that now peppered his legs and toes. The rain, although comforting to some smaller portion of his mind, went unnoticed as he blinked within his stupor.

Evil…evil…evil.

They were quite literally the only words the moon could mumble since their dance with death not long ago.

Not even the tension that rippled between him and his twin, singing softly down their blood-infused bond, could rip him from his twisting mind.

‘Amaris, drink.’

He startled, jerking spontaneously as his head whipped toward the red-rimmed gaze of her own. Huh? He choked out as his own gaze would widen and blink before turning to spot the puddle she spoke of.

Amaris could do nothing more than groan as the flipping of his belly all but gurgled in defiance. He didn’t wanna. Really, he didn’t want to. The mere thought of consuming anything made his head sing in nauseating silence.

But for Aelia, he would.

Reluctantly and accompanied by a disinterested groan, he forced himself to take the tiniest of laps, feeling the cooler water send shockwaves down his raw and burning throat. The water no longer tasted hydrating, its liquid shockingly not as crisp and tasty as the poisonous pool that lived within the respite. Odd how such things changed.

After the whopping two licks he had taken and the nausea that followed swiftly after, Amaris turned to Aelia with a quiet, bated breath that hung heavy between his lips. We are surrounded by evil, he murmured toward his twin, his gaze ricocheting across the dead and dying land around them. Evil, Aelia, He mumbled, It’s consuming…everything.