Home

Vitare

The predawn sun hadn't yet risen above the horizon, but the gray-pink sky was quickly brightening. Vitare's dark, lithe frame was slipping through the forest in search of a suitable place to rest for the day. His nocturnal pattern suited him well, and he had no intent to change it. Lost in thought and lulled into a trance by his weary plodding he didn't notice the thinning trees and rocky ground until he was almost over the edge of an enormous ravine.

Looking left and right he saw no way to travel around the maw, but he did spy a thin path leading down into it. He sat at the edge and looked down into the darkness, mulling over his options. "Travel down an unknown path into an unknown place with unknown variables and an unknown amount of shelter with unknown routes of escape? Or sit here in the sun and try to sleep in the open forest?" He knew that the reasonable, rational choice was to sleep in the roots of a nearby tree and go around the next night but the thought of being so exposed appalled him. So he chose the trench. He slowly walked to a spot roughly 20 feet over. He had spotted the small outcropping earlier and looking down he couldn't help but marvel at the evenness of the descending shelf.

Shaking his head he started down carefully placing his steps on a surface only a foot and a half wide. Soon his paw accidentally strayed to the outside and knocked off a small rock. Straining his ears, he listened for the sharp crack that the paw sized stone was sure to produce, but to his dismay he heard nothing. Staring down into the depths of the hole, he wasn't sure if there was a bottom, but took comfort in imagining there was.

Continuing on for half an hour, he began to hear rushing water, and before long was walking along the narrow bank of a swift stream, a thin ribbon of sky splitting the heavens in two. The world was dark but visible, and he navigated the rocky terrain looking for a suitable place to rest. He found it in the form of a small cave, tucked away behind a fallen boulder. It's entrance was a foot or so taller and wider than himself but grew gradually as it moved towards the back of the cave, some 30 feet inward. A small pool collected in the back right corner, fueled by a cold wellspring. The floor was covered in a thin layer of dirt that looked as if it hadn't been disturbed in many years. The back wall contained a small alcove close too the floor, and this is where Vitare chose to bed.

He wearily grabbed a drink of water, circled his chosen spot and laid down to sleep. But. Somehow he felt that rest was a long way off...