Thursday Prompt (Ruin)
#2 of Writing Prompts
Thursday_Prompt on FA
Chione rose from her perch on the cliff, surveying the damaged landscape below her. The land that her icy eyes rested on was razed by wildfires, leaving a handful of kindling that used to be gigantic trees and burnt patches of flowering fields. An abundance of flora and fauna used to make this place their home, but now all that remained were mercenaries like her and the random roving gangs. Most of the remaining population were locked behind tall walls. Chione closed her eyes, fluffed tail twitching, remembering when the place she stood had a powerful waterfall, and then began her descent down the side of the rock face.
She had to find some more supplies for the citystate that she was currently residing in, and she was confident enough in her own skills that she was one of the few brave enough to leave the walls. Her padded feet were silent on the rocks and she moved down toward the ground. There looked like a couple abandoned camps a mile up, they might have some leftover supplies. It wasn't probable, but it was best to look and be sure.
Chione reached the bottom without much effort; snow leopards were pretty comfortable with cliffs. She would have just an easy a time getting back up. It was one of the reasons why she was most often the citizen sent out of the walls. As her feet hit the burnt sand she immediately crouched. There might be a feral out here, and though she was armed, she'd rather not fight if she didn't have to. Chione silently picked her way across the desolate wasteland, eyes darting in all directions. Her paw rested heavily on a gun at her hip, but she was more likely to use the pole she had strapped to her back. Gunfire would draw other ferals.
The snow leopard made her way to the first camp, pausing just outside to listen for any sounds inside the ripped tents. Hearing none she slid the pole from her back and started to poke around. A napping feral snake would bit the pole before it bit her. As she poked around she returned once again to the events that brought The Ravage. War and overuse of resources lead to the ravaging of the land, between things being used faster than they could regrow and fires set to burn defeated villages... Chione sighed. She and her counterparts in the world were meant to be smarter than the ferals, but in the end, who was it who ruined their world? Chione found a smashed crate that contained a couple cans of food, likely a scavenger who couldn't carry the whole crate. She loaded up her pack with the cans. Maybe this time she could get back without having to fight. Then the wind changed, and Chione's ears and nose twitched. She quickly straightened. She could smell a feral wolf pack on the wind. She had to leave now. Shouldering her bag she crept back to the cliff wall. At least wolves couldn't climb well.