It had been much too long since he had set foot in the Veins. Some might find it peculiar that someone who so detested the gifts he had received would visit the home of the gods on a regular basis. Lace would answer them that it was the magic in his blood that he loathed, not the magic itself or the source of it. He respected the gods, revered them deeply for the things they represented. Life, light, time and oblivion; together they formed the essence of nature itself, and as such they deserved a regular visit.

The recent events had made it all the more urgent for the stallion to come here. The black island in the sea surrounded by the blue magma was a place of peace and thought to him. Even though the gods no longer came to answer their prayers in person it was soothing to wander around the shrines, let the thoughts run freely and lighten the load to an imagined listener. See, the perfect thing about this was that he knew they weren't here. And because of that he was free to imagine, free to let his mind go wild, imagine some great ever-patient listener that would consider his problems and mull them over for him, and then eventually spit out a sign or two when things were starting to go in the right direction.

It was all make belief of course. The Lords and Lady of Helovia had made it perfectly clear that they couldn't care less about the troubles of the mortals the day they toppled their own shrines. Why else would they leave, if not to put distance between themselves and the greedy visitors that came to selfishly unburden their sullied consciences and acquire power to solve the problems they were too lazy to take care of on their own? Lace had seen their 'generosity' up close, carried the sign of their so called mercy upon his very skin, and he had no illusions of any great, loving divine power that overlooked them all. They were simply a race among many to them, one slightly louder species of animal in the land they chose to protect that had caused them more headache than the others.

But still, he couldn't bring himself to hate them. The Earth God had been kind the day he had appeared before the grullo, the Lord of Sun had burned awe into the heart of the soldier despite the searing wound that left its golden scar upon the shoulders. He wore the token of the Time Lord's mercy entangled in the white mane, always brought along wherever he went despite the fact that he wasn't sure what exactly it could do, if anything... And up until a week ago he had been blessed to wield the very power of Lady Moon herself. Until he carelessly threw it away, along with the crown he had thrown in the face of his queen.

The stallion sighed and tore the eyes away from her dark, rune-inscribed shrine and raised the head towards the sky. The moon was but a sliver on the heaven, soon gone into her dark phase to remain hidden to the mortals who so long had depended on her for light and hope. Were she disappointed in him? A shudder set the hairs on his coat on edge, the thought of having drawn the ire of the Dark God more terrible than anything he could imagine.

"I just don't know what else I could have done" he murmured miserably to the cold, uncaring disc and let the neck fall again, muzzle hovering just above the ground in an image of tired shame. "I know why she did it - I even approve of what she did. I just.. How can I stand for the way she went through with it all? If she had marched with the entire herd to the gates of the Basin and told them to cease their mindless killing I would have stood by her side, ready to slay and die for her, for all of them. But she chose to sneak around in the shadows, to involve innocent children in her schemes, and didn't see fit to entrust the rest of us with her plans. It's not right, and I can't accept it."

"What to do now?" the dragon whispered softly from her perch on the Earth God's shrine, her white tail coiling around the rocks and the lush flora all while the pale blue eyes watched him intently. "Leave? Go back?"

"I don't know" he answered quietly, and closed his eyes.

@[Huyana]

Dim vales- and shadowy floods-
And cloudy-looking woods,
Whose forms we can't discover
For the tears that drip all over!
Huge moons there wax and wane-
Again- again- again-