Welcome to Gaia! ::

A deep feeling of restless had settled over Quasar. The final days and weeks of foalhood had seemed to drag on forever. Quasar wanted to be out on his own, living his own life. No longer under the ministrations of his mother. Not that he didn't love her, but he just wanted to be able to live his own life. He was chafing in her little garden. He wanted his world to be bigger. He'd been surprised when she'd come to him, and told him she was sure he was old enough to go to Grandfather Tree. Every Noul knew that once you had your gift you were an adult. Your life was your own. Quasar had wanted to set off immediately, but she'd made sure they spent a few days preparing. They did have to go into the Barrens, after all. At first Quasar had resented this, but now that they were out under the burning sun, he was less resentful. He wasn't exactly sure why his mother had some with him, but he supposed he couldn't begrudge her this. After all, after today Quasar could go where ever he wanted, do anything he wanted. And he was so looking forward to it. Homewood was packed full of interesting places, and Quasar was determined to find the best hang outs. While considering what interesting location he'd explore first, Grandfather Tree broke the horizon. Quasar was surprised. It was bigger than he'd thought it would be. His mother's pace quickened, and he matched it. Before long, they were at the Tree. With no hesitation, Quasar approached his destiny.

Suddenly everything was perfectly quiet, and Grandfather Tree's roots seemed to reach towards him. And then there was blackness. But not for long.

No longer was it just black, now is was just dim. No sky stretched above his head, instead he stood in a box. Clearly this was no something that had been constructed by noulicorns. While Quasar himself hadn't been far from Homewood, he was quite sure he had to be in Ruins. His nose wrinkled. He didn't think he much liked being in something built by those who had destroyed their planet. Looking around the box, Quasar couldn't see anything of use to him. Just a bunch of litter, probably leaching crap into the ground below. He shook his head, and began looking for a way out. A dark hole in the far wall offered a way out. Perhaps there had been a door once, but it was long gone. He pushed through, making his way into a long corridor. Everything here smelled wrong. Quasar's hooves echoed on the floor, and he flattened his ears. He just wanted out of here.

Suddenly a new smell assaulted him. Smoke - burning. But it wasn't the clean scent of wood smoke. It was very, chemically, plastic-y. Disgusting. The smoke drifted ahead of him. Quasar prepared to turn around and find a different way out of this hole, but suddenly a sharp scream pierced his ears. His ears lay flat back against his head. As much as Quasar just wanted to get out of here, leaving someone else to burn to death in this place wasn't something he'd condone. He took a deep breath of the clearer air, and plunged forward into the smoke.

The thick, acrid smoke immediately made his eyes and nostrils burn. It hurt! Each step forward was harder and harder to handle, with thicker smoke and more and more heat. The smoke seemed to pouring out of another hole in the wall. Quasar barreled forward, not stopping to formulate any more of a plan. An orange-y glow lit the room. Flames were clearly licking up the further wall, consuming the other build trash, and belching out smoke. Quasar coughed, trying to get some baring on what was going on. The thick smoke made it almost impossible to make out what exactly had in this room, but he could make out what seemed to be a lump on the ground nearby. Quasar shuffled closer, flinching as a burning ember made contact with his shoulder. "s**t ..." The lump was clearly a noulicorn, who'd been overtaken by the smoke. "Double s**t ..."

All alone, and no plan in mind, Quasar could only act. He grabbed the fallen noulicorn by the scruff of its neck with his teeth and hauled. The creature barely moved. Another burning ember hit him. If he didn't get out of here, and get this other noul out of here, they were both going to be dead in a hurry. Then adrenaline finally kicked in. He hauled again, and this time made some progress. But more importantly, the other noulicorn stirred, perhaps jolted back to consciousness by Quasar's rough handling. "Get up!" He urged the other noul. He helped them scramble to their feet as best he could. "Now run!" He nudged the noul towards to hole, hoping he could get them both out in time.