You're the monster - Into the Mist [Freyr event]

The swirling mist had fascinated Harlow since he first laid his pink orbs on it, jaw agape with wonder and amazement that something as big as this could have been hiding on the planet for so very long. His rest with the group was fitful, tossing and turning with the itch in his paws to explore and learn. Deciding he couldn't sleep he paced the border of the mist in the opposite direction of the Judge, his swirling pelt striking him as similar to the mysteries of the wall. His pacing would continue until a figure emerged and spoke to his Alpha, frame turning to jog lightly towards the group with a glance over his shoulder. What his gaze landed upon caused him to stop cold, fur bristling. The blue eyes that stood out from the dark clouds burned into his pelt, and the figures that lined behind them made his throat tighten... But when he looked away and back again they were gone. Shaking the feeling from his pelt he took a cautious few steps into the gathering lions, pelt slightly bristled as he followed their guide into the darkness. Harlow could never imagine what wonders and... Horrors he would lay his eyes on in the mist, though something caused his pawsteps to fall heavy as he moved, unsure and uneasy.

The mist was silent for the most part, until a shape distracted Harlow. His paws fell still, gaze scanning over the darkness while the group members behind him paused. With his movements paused the group members behind him gave a few grumbles, causing him to offer a small sigh and a side step to head to the back of the line. His gaze shifted from the mist to the stone at his paws, though this didn't stop him from stepping on a particularly sharp bit of stone hidden in the swirls around his feet. With a hiss he paused, rear thumping to the ground and paw flipping for him to inspect the damage. It wasn't much, just a stone stuck inside of the center pad. Nothing he couldn't fix quickly, tugging the stone from his pad to watch the wound heal with the life pulsing through his body. By the time he looked back up the group was gone, panic shooting through his veins and tail whipping behind him while he looked frantically for the group. He took a few steps in the direction he thought they left in, only to nearly run into the haunting blue gaze that burned into him before he ran into the mists.

With a hitch in his breath his ears pinned to his skull, the deepened chuckle that surrounded him causing him to stumble back a bit. With the eyes came the swirling of a dark figure, a set of dripping fangs gleaming to life before his eyes. Once the figure was done manifesting from the mist it sat, a scowl on his face and his tail thumping against the stone angrily. "Oh Harlow... You've always been a wimp. So scared and always skittering away, preaching about our 'great mother cosmos'. Where's your great mother now?" It was Acramos. That murdering traitor that left Harlow alone to try and heal those poor lions. He hadn't been able to save them... Or stop his brother. The purple pelted male dug his claws into the stone, unable to speak while his gaze instinctively shot to the sky- the empty swirling mist of a sky that held no stars. Acramos gave a soft laugh, standing to circle his brother slowly.

Tears welled hot in Harlow's eyes, his head shaking slowly. "I'm not weak. I never have been, you're the-" Acramos's hiss cut him off, causing him to flinch softly. "The weak one, Harlow? The one that cried whenever our dads left us alone, the one that sat with Pops to learn about some mystical being in the sky? The one that couldn't. Save. Them?" Acramos gave another cold laugh, flicking his tail to the mist where other figures began to emerge. All of them wounded in some major way, all of them with their gazes locked on Harlow. "Why didn't you save us? We could have done wonderful things for the planet..." Their voices were soft whispers, all saying some variation of the same thing. Why hadn't he saved them? They had families too. A strangled cry left Harlow's lips, his head shaking violently and his shoulders heaving in a heavy sob. "I couldn't, you were too far gone by the time he let me up, I'm so sorry." Harlow's voice was an incredibly soft whisper, the tears that spilled from his eyes falling to the cold stone in a stream. Acramos continued to laugh, sitting behind him with that burning gaze.

"I told you dear brother. You've always been weak. Pathetic." Acramos spit his words, head snapping to the side and a cruel smirk slipping to his muzzle. He gave a tap of his paw, gaze growing bored before he raised a claw to pick at his teeth. "Are you just going to lay there, Harlow? Lay there and watch while they die again?" Acramos had watched as his brother fell to the stone beneath him, paws moving to cover his ears and his eyes closing tightly while his body shook with silent sobs. Those words lit a fire in Harlow, his frame shakily rising before he turned to face his brother with a cold gaze. He was fed up, their deaths weren't on his paws, they were on his brother's. With a soft snarl he began to stalk towards the figure, coming almost nose to nose with him. Curling his lip Harlow let out a fairly loud roar, tail lashing and claws digging into the ground. "I'm not a monster. It's not my fault they died, it's YOURS. You killed them, senselessly ending lives that could have flourished and brought nothing but good to our homeland. YOU are the monster, YOU are weak, IT'S YOUR FAULT." Harlow's words progressively got louder as he spoke, eventually ending in a near scream while Acramos sat there and laughed.

It wasn't until Harlow raised a paw to swipe that smirk off of his brother's face that Momus emerged from the mist, startling the younger male but offering a sense of calm nonetheless. "Harlow are you alright? I heard you yelling and figured I'd come check. We hadn't realized you for seperated, come on.* The mohawked male gingerly rested his tail over Harlow's shaking shoulders, guiding him back to the group while the dark figure with those burning blue eyes faded into nothing.