the Rift


[OPEN] Sands of Fire

Nephele Posts: 82
Dragon's Throat Guardian atk: 4.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 7.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 16.3 :: 7 HP: 64.0 | Buff: NOVICE
Atreus :: Lammergeier :: None Nova
#1


Golden sands swirled beneath broad wing strokes, the specs of sand catching the wind in loosely crafted patterns and swirls. The mass of black and tarnished feathering taking their master back into the air with little effort, sending the Pegasus back to the elevated heights of her domain.

A thin veil of sweat had gathered over her shoulders and flanks, dappling the already dark pelt with a slick sheen — threatening to spread to her broad neck and chest. She had been soaring the air currents most of the morning, spiraling higher towards the suns splendor then drawing her wings in to arc gracefully into a plummeting decent, only in the last moments would she throw them back out to catch her in another updraft. Like Icarus towards the sun, only Nephele would not burn in the punishing rays, they basked her instead with warmth and light.

The Dragons Throat suited her well. No trees inhibited her wings from taking flight and no humid, dense air to soak her coat and lungs that lay like a warm blanket in dense forests to the north. For all the wandering she had ever done, how far had this warrior hearted pegasus roamed in search of a purpose and for a home? Home had been right underneath her, to the south where her father had once called his motherland. Home was warm sands and open sky.
The mare was hard pressed to find a reason as to why Vulcan had ever left in the first place, but without his departure from sun blessed sands she would never have been born. Her father would have never met the snow coated angel that was her mother.

Nephele hadn't met the other inhabitants of the Dragons Throat as of yet, a formal introduction was yet to be done, not that she held any ill will against those above her in rank. There was much to be done in maintaining a Herdland, and the family within it, that she was sure of — her time for proper introductions would come. Still, as a Warrior, it was her duty to keep an eye out on anything that looked mismatched against the golden hued landscape, she would rely on her gut instinct and the keen eyes she had been blessed with. Even as she soared with speed and dexerity which her muscular frame hid well, her odd coloured eyes scanned the dunes beneath her.

Once more she climbed, waterfalls of ash and embers billowing against the wind, long tail trailing behind her like train of ombre'd fabric. The wind whipped against her frame and rushed past her flattened ears, making hearing somewhat difficult — proven by the dulled caws and callings of a nearby flock of avians.  Tarnished gold feathers casting a luminous halo around her winged form as she weaved skyward, her back twirling to face the sun.
And then she fell.

Fell like a ball of smoking cinders once more to the ground, wings folded against her sweat covered bulk. Thick neck extending in a graceful arch to press her nose out diligently to the sand fast approaching her. Sometimes she did this out of boredom, other times she did it to further hone her already skilled aerial prowess...other times it was to clear her mind from all the unanswered questions she had carried like weights through her life.

Only in her last moments did she once again extend her wings. Great sails, except unlike the sails that hasten the speed of their ships, her sails fought against the wind to slow her amazonian body — beating hastily and gradually slowing as she leveled out mere inches from the whitened ground. Hooves barely scraping the surface, the tips dipped in the heat, Nephele hovered there for a couple of moments to allow her mind to clear, letting out a breath she didn't know she held with a flare of her velvet nostrils.


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Notes;; Notes go here!

text speech

“She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful: something to be admired from a distance, not up close.” 

― Terry Pratchett
Please tag Neph in all replies!
Force & violence permitted with the exception of maiming & death

Laedere Posts: 84
Hidden Account
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14.3hh :: 5 years old (Frostfall birthday)
Ardere :: Plain Dolphin Leviathan :: Boil Abba
#2
Laedere
Was she one of them? Was she accepted? Her mind still reeled after the herd meeting, and she couldn't help but to realize that she was still suffering from his god-forsaken illness that the black and blue mare had to have given her as punishment for even thinking of saying anything about it. So, she had jumped the border back and forth. Her mind reeling on whether she should stay or leave, until, finally, her heart gave in and she landed inside the border. The feeling of flying, of being one with the air again was too much to pass up - to give away when it was really all she had wanted again.

Still, as she ventured in a little further into the Throat she couldn't help but to notice the dark speck upon the horizon. The way that it was dropping violently to the ground - and then at the last second hovering just above the sand. Aerial practice, no doubt. Laedere herself had once done that out of boredom, to better her flight skills in case someone had dared to attack the children. Now… Wait. She remembered doing that… for a specific reason. Her heart fluttered, eyes widening in a joy she hadn't realized she had been holding back. Memories. Memories were returning. They were ebbing in slowly, connecting awkward images and pulling them back across the grain without scratching at her. It didn't matter to her, right then, that she had the tar changing her vision. It didn't matter that the flying creature appeared to be a skeleton as she closed in on her. It didn't matter that Ardere was shooting off to greet the creature either.

All that mattered? It was the fact that now a missing piece of her puzzle was falling back into place.


@Nephele

Image Credit

Nephele Posts: 82
Dragon's Throat Guardian atk: 4.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 7.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 16.3 :: 7 HP: 64.0 | Buff: NOVICE
Atreus :: Lammergeier :: None Nova
#3


Nostrils flaring with labored breath, Neph finally touched down on the sands and let her wings hang loose at her sides — this time they could enjoy the wind through their feathers without carrying her muscular frame. Never one to be tired easily, Nephele knew even the most able bodied would break into sweats during rigorous aerial dances like the ones she had just performed and so the dull ache was a welcome sign she had worked well. Muscles rippling beneath salt drenched skin, she turned in a lazy pivot in time to catch a small leviathan making a beeline for her and the cremello and mint splashed mare she assumed was the creatures bonded.

Pulling her wings neatly back into their resting place at her sides, Neph took a couple of steps forward to close the distance a fair bit. She assumed the pair also called the island home, why else would they be roaming close to the borders if not to patrol? Or the creature bonded to the mare came at her with apparent eagerness to see who she was. Stopping to rest her feet still in the sand, the heat radiating up through her soles and into her bones and she made a mental note to seek somewhere to cool off soon.

"A nice day, is it not?" She greeted, dual coloured eyes regarding the unusual coloured mare with the same warmth her greeting had been said with. Neph had seen her fair share of coats and colour patterns, from earthy bays and Ssavannah buckskins to coats that looked like they had seized them from the very depths of the night sky herself in all her various hues. The large pegasus' warmth fading when her eyes landed on the familiar sap and tarlike substance she had seen on the little alabaster filly and the painted healer. It spread so fast it seemed, with little concern or sympathy for who or what it claimed. Did the throat have healers equipped for such a thing? It also sent an unpleasant notion through the dark pelted mare that there may be more terrible illnesses waiting in the wings for more unfortunates to claim.


______________
Notes;; Notes go here!

text speech

@Laedere

“She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful: something to be admired from a distance, not up close.” 

― Terry Pratchett
Please tag Neph in all replies!
Force & violence permitted with the exception of maiming & death

Laedere Posts: 84
Hidden Account
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14.3hh :: 5 years old (Frostfall birthday)
Ardere :: Plain Dolphin Leviathan :: Boil Abba
#4
Laedere
--- I laid beside you and pulled you close
And the two of us went up in smoke ---
Laedere carefully shuffled her weight, pulling herself onto her feet as the mare flew in closer. Aye, it appeared as though she was going to come to her, to speak. Sweat was frothing against her coat and her breathing was a tad bit labored, but in truth she looked no worse for the wear.

The darkened mare pulled her wings to her side,  and closed the distance a little bit as Ardere shot off to go and greet the new mare just as she commented on the nice day. Laedere gave a gentle nod, pulling her wings in tightly against her side to hide the gaping hole which only  seemed to make her feel even more alienated. Gently, her muzzle pressed up against the key which rested on her chest, and she allowed her eyes to linger ever so slightly below the other mare's gaze - not wishing to offend upon first meetings. "Tis lovely," she agreed, voice delicate - floating into the air and the small breeze that seemed to work its way into the lands.

Alas, as she spoke, the disease given to her by Ampere (or so she assumed) caused her vision to create the sight of the skeletons again. A shock, causing her to lean backwards for a moment before regaining her ground and resting her weight evenly. "Mineself hath the title of Laedere - that tis be Ardere beside ye," she offered her name and that of her bonded's before letting out a small breath. "Mineself assumes ye be another resident of thee Throat?" A gentle inquiry, as she tried to get her bearings on the situation.


@Nephele
Sorry for the wait!
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