Scoria Scuttle 🔖

"The lava will come back to rule the land, so was prophesized long ago."

--

It was said that the greatest war was started when the earth raged after the moon who whispered sweet nothings to her before running off to be with the sun and the stars. Born of the earth's rage, the lava erupted from the earth, filled with that same hate for the moon, the sun, and the stars. Those three and their kind were known as the celestials, born from a creature more ancient than time itself, while the earth and her kind were known as the earthly spirits, young and brash and full of things never before seen by the celestials.

In the lava's earliest memories, he remembered making the lands fertile so that the moon, who had chosen to remain with their celestial lovers, would at least gaze upon the earth a little longer each month to soothe her pain and ease her fury. At times, the lava would try to reach up to the moon, bellowing smoke into their pale face, to choke out the sky that all of the celestials loved so dearly.

Back then the celestials hurled meteors at the earth, scarring her and causing the lava to come to her defense. In their rage, the ash and steam spewing forth coalesced into the earth's many rivers and oceans, soothing her wounds and making green things grow. When the first green thing appeared, the meteorites stopped scarring the earth, and the celestials began to look upon the earth, mesmerized by this new color.

It was said then that the first wolves appeared to frolic in those green things--they were said to be a gift of peace from one of the celestials, but no one really knew how they came to be. The lava took care of them by giving them more lands, stolen from his sisters, the ocean and rivers, though they were happy to provide.

They were less happy when the sky stole their water to throw onto the lava, who would burn away that water. The sky seemed to laugh and giggle and hide in that steam, and the lava felt his rage subside. They fell in love and had a daughter unknown to the celestials and other earthly spirits. To protect that daughter, they gave her mortal form so that they could watch her frolic amongst the mortal wolves.

When the celestials and earth found out about their children's love and entanglement, the lovers were torn apart. The lava was imprisoned by the earth, only allowed to leave his prison every few hundred years. The sky was harder to lock away, but the sun prevented their daughter from bearing witness to the wolves by making it dark for part of the day, tasking her to always move such that she could never see her daughter. The many years passed and their daughter, without her parents, settled near the prison where her father was entombed. There, she founded Red Ridge and stayed close to her father.

One day, when the lava was allowed out during the day time when the sky happened to be passing by, and finally after millennia, he and the sky were reunited. Unfortunately, their mortal daughter had passed long ago and her soul had been forgotten--there had been no one to call her home. In their sorrow, the lava erupted forth and took mortal form to avoid being reimprisoned--the sky, without the ability to create solid things, said she would look for him.

--

With molten rock solidifying into fur, pieces of obsidian fell from her coat as she shook herself free of the hardening rock. The lava was born again as a wolf to walk the Earth, though legends of times long past had said the lava would be male and lead Red Ridge as his first daughter did at the dawn of time. The lava exhaled, smoke turning to breath. Each step she took solidified the lava beneath her paws as if she took all of the heat and energy with her.

There at the peak of Red Ridge, she looked upon the land she made fertile with her rage for many seasons in a cycle that had continued until this very moment--instead of bringing forth the nurturing lava, the lava had become a wolf. The land was still bountiful and ready to spring forth the greenery that fed the prey that fed her children. Though as she emerged from the volcano, it seemed that the skies were darkened, her way obscured. Something did not belong in this land.

Far at the edges of the mountain, where the foothills became a bog, Scoria felt the weight of the many souls drenching the earth that she had made. Their souls clung to her fur, screaming in her ears, moaning that they wished to go home. Her heart ached as she remembered her and the sky's daughter.

At the highest ridge, Scoria met Lykaon Swiftflame, young and in the peak of his form. His sharp yellow gaze met hers, and Scoria could feel an uncertainty in his heart when he declared himself the reincarnation of the lava itself, meant to rule this land through the generations. It took all of the rage now solidified in her heart not to strike out after the Lykaon--he who sullied her name.

Instead, Scoria deferred to the current ruler of the lands that her daughter of long ago founded and cared for in the name of the lava. She bowed, letting her coal black eyes skirt Lykaon Swiftflame's paws, as was customary among the mortal wolves of that region. The Lykaon, satisfied, brought Scoria to central Red Ridge, then still small and beginning to reach out into the lands surrounding the territory. Lykaon Swiftflame had imposed laws to dispose of pups he deemed too weak to bare names, burying those pups in the boglands to the south.

Welcomed into Red Ridge, Scoria bided her time, hunting and fighting for the Lykaon--understanding the mortal wolf and trying to understand why he would sacrifice so many lives if the lands were able to support them all. Although the stories of long ago described the lava as harsh and quick to anger, those stories were based on the young lava's hotheaded nature. Through the time that had passed and the love he had known for the sky, the lava had become cooler and more forgiving. Scoria had learned patience.

--

The lava integrated into the pack, proved her ability to hunt, and learned of Swiftflame's rise to power and how he claimed it was his birthright. He used his power to turn the pups of the lands into warriors and discard countless souls who were deemed weak. He stripped pups of their names if they could not pass his trials. He waged war on his neighbors and subjugated his pack members, but strangely, despite all of this being true, the youngest of his pack adored him and followed his lead without question--they had great pride to be "chosen."

Scoria remembered back to the beginning of time before the first Lykaon was born, back to the time of the clashes between the elements of the universe, before even the lava was born. In those times, immortal spirits of the world were born and were killed in countless wars--souls that became fragmented and were later recycled to make the souls of the mortal wolves. And still, though so many centuries and millennia had gone by, Scoria felt the sting of those losses as if they were new.

Mistrustful of the Lykaon who sullied her name, Scoria confronted him. Her rage clear, burning the ground where she stepped. "I am the lava of the land--father of the first Lykaon!" she growled. She and Lykaon Swiftflame fought, and her mortal body, robbed of its spiritual power--a punishment from the earth?--fell before the Lykaon. So the lava ran away from Red Ridge, pursued relentlessly through the ever growing lands of Red Ridge.

Years passed--years that felt strangely long to the immortal--until Scoria finally found safehaven in the desert far to the west of Red Ridge, far away from even the largest that Red Ridge ever became in Swiftflame's reign. In all of those years, she hadn't forgotten the sky and the sky's promise to find her, that promise the only thing that kept her mortal body going.

--

One day, when Scoria felt the clinging oldness of her mortal body weighing her down and doubt creep into slowly aging mind, a wolf appeared in her small territory. It was the sky in mortal form--having taken a wolf's body and merged into one being. It was like no time at all had passed and they renewed their bonds of love.

The sky's mortal body gave way, and the sky's spirit returned once more to the celestial realm, but Scoria clung on, caring for their litter with care. In the sky's last mortal breath, she breathed into one of their children strength to stand against Lykaon Swiftflame, so that they might all be able to reclaim the home their daughter from long ago had founded.

Not long after, Scoria's own body went back to the earth, and once again the lava was embraced by the earth, who forgave the lava for leaving. Why be like the celestials who knew only the vastness of sameness, when they, the earthly spirits, could just be everchanging?

--

The lava cleansed the land and set free all of the spirits of the bog, so that the sky could receive his gift and so their mortal daughter could begin to heal the lands of Lykaon Swiftflame's misdeeds.

Scoria is remembered by Red Ridge as an untrustworthy rogue who attempted to assassinate Lykaon Swiftflame in his youth and failed. She was pursued through her life through ever province of Red Ridge until she was said to have disappeared.

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Level 01: (282) 282 - 57/58/58/52/57 @ 1y 1.5m
Level 05: (310) 313 - 65/72/64/52/60
Level 10: (390) -Missed-
Level 12: 470 + 1000 (Sparkfire) Litter (6 between 420-433)
Level 15: (520) 587 - 100/164/155/78/90
Level 20: (700) 837 - 124/242/249/103/119