Desperate Waters (Ace)

[Anvil]

Marrok shrugged. "Why not? I'll be healing anytime now. This is probably the best chance to go. The best time, for that matter. Yeah, I'll come along." Marrok looked at the long bridge. He was not entirely sure if his body could make it, but it was worth a try. "You better lead the way, though. You seem to know more about what you are talking about than I do." He waited for the black wolf to lead the way as Marrok suggested.

[Ace]

The black wolf did not try to stop the other wolf. He merely pushed forward allowing his paws to prance against the thin sand of the eternal bridge. "Why are you going this way? There is no hope for wolves ahead. Whatever you seek... it isn't there." He tried not to let his own feelings get in the way, and he was not. However, he did not want to have deal with some traumatized wolf. He had more important things to worry about presently.

[Anvil]

Marrok thought for a moment. "Listen, I haven't been around wolves that much. My life has been spent around humans. I don't remember any wolf I've seen besides you since I was born. This seems to be one of my only chances. I want to come. My family, my human family, I mean, is the only family I've had and now they're gone. Don't ask me if I have to reassure myself I want to tag along. I'm coming. That's the end of the story. So walk."

[Ace]

The black wolf smirked for a moment. This other wolf was rather full of himself. Something needed to be done about that. He sighed inwardly. Perhaps, the other wolf would learn sooner rather than later. "Can you run?" The bridge would be long, and he did not have time to wait for some injured wolf. Without waiting for a clear response, he charged forward against the salty breeze. The waters around them seemed so dark and dismal, ready to swallow them if they fell into them.

[Anvil]

Marrok walked a few steps, testing if his leg was fine. The test told him that he was good, as suspected. "Yeah, I can run," he told himself. "I think my leg has healed for the most part. The water honestly did good for me. Thanks for asking." He ran after the black wolf, hoping to catch up to him. It took about a minute to do so. "I hope you don't mind me asking again," Marrok yelled across to the wolf, "but may you tell me your name?"

[Ace]

The black wolf growled unpleasantly at the repeated question, but he decided to answer it anyways. If this annoying wolf was going to tag along, it probably could not hurt that much to refer to each other by their actual names. "Your leg heals quickly? What happened to you back there anyhow?" This other wolf was so strange to him. "The name's Ace."

[Anvil]

Marrok gave a deep breath before starting his story. "Ace, my name is Marrok, if I did not mention before, and this is my story. All my life I have lived with the humans, the Marines. They go off to war to fight in the ocean. I am a really good swimmer. So, I joined them. In battle, I helped the people heal. I don't exactly know how I can make these medications. I know that I would go underwater and fight different types of seaweeds and plants. I crush the plants together. The people had different liquids and I mixed the plants and liquids together to make a medicine." He paused for a brief moment, looking back to what happened. "One day, there a large ship, larger than what mine was. It destroyed the my entire ship. Some men drowned underwater. I would think that Marines would know how to swim," Marrok said to himself. "Luckily, we land at the beach of the ocean. So, I was able to come out alive. The bad part about that is the fact that the ship crashed entirely on the ground. It would have sunk if land was nowhere near. I'm not really sure which would have been better. Either way, I would have lived. I know how to swim. I don't exactly know how my leg has healed so quickly. I was shot there. Part of the ship landed a bit lower on my leg where my gash is. I don't know where I'm going, Ace. I don't know where I want to go. I'm just determined to get somewhere where there is a future for me."

[Ace]

Quite easily, that was one of the most boring stories that he had ever heard. "Marrok, is it?" He turned his head while he ran. "Ahead, there is no future for you. None. I mean it. If a future is what you are looking for, then you should turn around now. You're wasting my time and yours." In all honesty, Ace did not care. He was merely honest. He had not asked to hear his whole life story, and now that he knew, he felt that Marrok was certainly going the wrong way.

[Anvil]

Marrok abruptly stopped, making him almost fall, but he did not. "No future?" He looked into the distance, into the past, but not a specific moment. "If there's no future out there for me or you, then what you doing? Where are you going? If there is no future, what is there? Can you answer that for me? Apparently I do not understand who you are and what your plans are."

[Ace]

Ace kept his cool and slowed to a light walk. "I don't believe I have a future..." His head lowered in shame but not self-pity. "I fight for someone else's future." He turned his head to let his blue eyes fall on Marrok. "I fight to open a Paradise for the humans." Every wolf found it in them to seek Paradise, but Ace knew that he could never enter a place. He wanted to give Paradise to the humans, an act that most wolves would frown upon. "If you come with me, you're going to the wrong place."

[Anvil]

Marrok thought about it for a moment. Helping the humans would be the best thing he could ever ask for. Then, a question occurred to him. "What is Paradise? I'm not exactly sure if I've ever heard of this thing or place before." As he asked his questions these questions to Ace, flashbacks of the past occurred to him. He remembered when he was only a wolf pup with his parents in the forest. One day, they were all gone. As quickly as the flashback came to him, it felt. "I want to come."

[Ace]

"Fine, come on," was Ace's reply. He ran, then. He was not a wolf to dwell on the past, and he was not a wolf to care what other people thought of him. If this other wolf was somehow better than the others, then maybe he could tag along. Maybe, he would learn sooner rather than later why Ace was the way he was. Maybe, he would never know. Regardless of the outcome, they were running together now. The sand went up in clouds with every bound of his prideful step, and the wind whispered around him sharply. Speed was of the essence: There were things that lived in the sea, and soon, the water would rise so that the sand bridge would be gone.

[Anvil]

Marrok ran by Ace's side, feeling the wind blow through his fur. As he ran, sand blew everything, leaving storms to blur his view, but not blind him. He noticed that the water intended to rise as they ran. Assuming that Ace's plan was to run faster, Marrok decided to run fast as well. He did not particularly hate that he had to forced the speed upon his legs: running was a great joy to him. Marrok also did not want to make Ace angry. He seemed to be a tough wolf with little patience. The wolf was also eager to see what was on the other side of the bridge even if he did not have a future. He loved to explore places and he loved humans. Even if he did not have a future, he still had a journey ahead of him.

[Ace]

The beast raised its eyes to the top of the water and watched two of them--wolves--running across the land bridge. His jaws opened to reveal several rows of sharp teeth. With a devilish grin, he lowered his head back into the water, and even the triangular fin disappeared beneath the surface. With the dark coming, in this night, he was invisible.

Ace kept running, ignoring what little ache his paws felt and relishing the salty breeze that licked at his face. Stars were becoming visible now, and he knew the tide would rise soon. It would probably only rise to the tops of their legs, but that would still make running nearly impossible. He had learned to swim back home, but he was not as sure that Marrok had. Very few wolves could do it, and even fewer could do it well. Nevertheless, he pushed onward. Where were they going? Maybe, it truly was to nowhere. Ace knew what lay ahead for him: a dangerous journey that would end in his death. Surprisingly, he was okay with that. He did not live life like other wolves. He was better than them in his mind. At the same time, though, he knew he had his secrets. That's what made him the way he was.

[Anvil]

Marrok still ran as fast as he could. His legs were already tiring him, but he had to keep going. The water was rising very high. He knew that the two wolves would have to swim very soon. He was not entirely sure if Ace knew how to swim or not. Marrok could swim very well: he grew up learning how to swim by himself. He preferred to swim than to walk. It happened to be their only choice, though. He looked over to Ace and asked, "Can you swim?"