Within the wilds outside of Etzos
2nd Ymiden, 716
The darkness entered it's death throes as light crept slowly into the natural stone construction. The shadow retreated fearfully away from it's encroaching oppressor, and was forced to yield several feet before finally the unstoppable line of light conceded, standing guard in a solid, unbroken line; a border between the day and the night. Deeper within the gloomy setting lay a figure coated in the same blackness that surrounded him. He tossed and turned as his sleep finally came to an end, and blinked away tired eyes as they gazed upon the glorious intruder that was the sunlight. With an irritated sigh, Noth lazily displaced the blanket from his body, and arose away from the sleeping bag that eagerly beckoned for his return. The hybrid the color of twilight ran a hand through his feathers, scraping away loose dust and stone that had become entangled whilst he rested.
Ymiden had come only a trial previous, but now it seemed to have further solidified it's presence, and that meant that Noth needed to begin a work that he had held off for far too long. His home was a solid cave, and there was little to no danger in it ever collapsing, but that did not mean it was completely safe. It's entrance had only been kept blocked by a singular rotten log which had begun to be broken by opportunistic beasts as they lusted for prey. The cave mouth was massive, and there was no chance that he would ever be able to prevent the flying creatures that fluttered into it; usually bats. That did not mean that he could do nothing to prevent possible attack by other hostile animals, but any attempt at fortifying his position meant a massive amount of work.
He was at least fairly confident in his ability to craft together a set of spikes hewn from logs, though admittedly he had no experience with that manner of crafting. Before he could ever attempt to create his intended defenses, he would need to find a way to create a hatchet or wood ax of some manner. Noth grasped at the fur clothes he had taken previously in his life when he had been faced with the plight of his father's murder, and promptly dressed himself for outdoors work. He also withdrew one of the pair of knives he had set into his stores, and prepared to adventure into the woods for the sake of discovering adequate wood pieces for the creation of his desired tool.
The wind blew gently through the trees, providing a pleasant breeze as the loner stumbled hither, and thither. It wasn't just that the mixed blood could feel the wind caressing his blue tinted skin underneath his shadowy feathers, but he could also see the majesty of it as it bounced around throughout the forest. One of the reasons that Noth had chosen to live where he had was the simplistic calmness of the area; something that assisted in countering the fires of his hatred. He had almost become too preoccupied with the beauty of the wind to notice the large branch upon the ground. He gripped his hand around it, and felt it's significant weight. In it's current state, there was no doubt that the branch would be unusable, but if he were able to chip away at it with the knife over a long period of time, then the branch could have worked well for his project.
With his search outside completed, the hybrid began to make his way back towards his cave home, keeping a careful eye on his surroundings in the unlikely event of a sudden animal attack. There was no doubt in his mind that monsters roamed the lands, but for the most part he had managed to either avoid any possible encounters, or to hide away in the cave. There had been encounters before where he had been required to fire upon them with his trusty bow, but he had difficulty in scoring killing, or even clean shots upon those creatures when the time came. It wasn't fear that made his shooting inaccurate, but rather just a lack of skill. He wasn't nearly as accustomed to the weapon as he would have liked, and he began to make a mental note to-
Something stirred in the bushes to his immediate right. Noth spun about on his heel, casting a nervous glance about the place as if though expecting some hideous abomination to stir from it's resting place, and to devour him. If it came, he would gladly give it scars to remember him by with the knife at his side, but he wasn't foolish enough to believe that he could actually prevent something like that. His bird-like eyes locked upon the bushes, and time seemed to tick on impossibly slow. Finally, the creature burst from the bushes in a torrent of motion, leaping around with it's powerful hind legs. The sudden movement made the hybrid twitch slightly, but otherwise he found himself immediately calming at the sight of the pathetic rabbit. It was aggravating to be worried about being devoured by wild animals, and he began to consider ways that he might eliminate that threat, but none came to mind beyond simply exterminating every predator in the woods, and that simply wasn't happening.