D R A C H E N

I’m only as wise as the years I’ve lived. The blue roan replied. Though a simple and humble response, Drachen caught the almost double meaning of it. The dame couldn’t be much older than him, maybe two or three years at the most, but the way she said it… She must have gained her knowledge through her experiences. He could now tell it just by the way she held herself, the depths in her cyan blue eyes, and the thin jagged claw marks that ran across her body.

The brute was then reminded of his own scars, his own past. The memories were scattered in his brain, now only glimpses here and there from the many years he had fought to forget them. Though they were from his foal days, the few images in his mind that were left were still vivid and left his heart stinging with fresh hurt each time. He could almost feel the pain of the wolf’s attack that had cost him one of his eyes….

He forced himself to stop thinking at that moment, afraid to delve too deep into the past. Instead he focused on the dame standing in front of him, his cupped ears flicking in the Oracle’s direction to better listen to what she was saying.

She welcomed him to the new land, of which was named Helovia, before dipping her head. When her head rose once more, the smile on her lips was gone, yet her face still held that strange warm friendliness that seemed to radiate off of her. "You have traveled far. Do you seek the protection of a herd?" The bi-chrome stallion hadn’t been expecting that. Once he made his decision to leave his previous herd, he’d thought he’d live as an outcast for the rest of his life—a nomad with nowhere to call home.

He had to admit the offer was quite tempting, especially if all of the dame’s herdmates were as kind as she. "I’d be honored to belong to a herd such as yours, Cassiopeia." A single sapphire eye locked with her cyan pair. "Though hopefully your lands are more open than this forest. A Pegasus has to have room to spread their wings." He replied, adding a slight smile after he finished speaking as to not offend the winged mare if the herd she spoke of lived around this area.

Drac preferred the open space of the desert, where he could spread his massive wings to their full extent. In this wilderness, however, he could barely untuck one of the feathery appendages from his sides without bumping it against the hard trunk of a tree. It was nice to have shade from the sun, and the cool breeze that weaved through the trees, but to the stallion, it felt too crowded. Like he was cut off from the rest of the world.