The faults in my story are adding up, causing a miserable whirlpool of thoughts and actions combined in my short life. My past is lonely and frightening -though I may not act like it- and haunts my every choice. Windows of opportunity have opened up for me from that of my welcoming, delusional family that thrives in the deep, gnarled forest of the marshes; but I have had yet to take one. A few months worth of running around these hostile lands has made me realize one thing only: I am not as welcome as I had hoped.

My family before me was gruesome, vulgar, and rather mentally disturbed. Thankfully, I had given myself the choice to leave and -hopefully- never return. Lonely days of traveling allowed my empty mind to wander, to believe that I was truly accepted anywhere I have gone. Sure, Eris and I had a playful bickering now and then, and I like to believe that Seele finds something useful about me.. but what do they see me doing for us? For the herd? I am no longer muscularly inclined like I had been, and my sparring is surely rusty by now. I need to get back in the game, I need to prove my righteousness to the despicably insane mares.

Despise how much thinking I have been doing, how much I have been telling myself to get back into the swing of my old ways, I have once more procrastinated and decided to wander. From the deadly mountain sides that I attempted to scale, back to mourning the white, bloated, yet perfectly preserved bodies that stalk the underside of the marsh waters, now I have found myself to the east of home; the fiery pits of hell that is called the Heart of Helovia.

Fire seeps from the center of the earth, bubbling and hissing from beneath the core. Though I cannot see it, the heat radiating from the pit creates an evil image in my empty head: boiling, churning chunks of rock and earth alike attempting to withstand the passion of the magma that stirs beneath our feet. Tallsun has just ended, but in this region it seems to last forever: the grasses are tall and withered as dried out to what seems physical possibilities, each step taken is followed by the hard thud of cry clay and a small dust cloud that slowly roll away in the lifeless air.

Wandering, I begin to push through the belly-tall sea of grass, my bright tail lashing back and forth against the dead vegetation as each pricks me on my underside. The desolation seems to stretch on forever, the air full of a dry, unpleasant smog that continuously seeps from every which way. Purple pools squint hard, attempting to lubricate the inside of my eyelids before they are stuck open, the action is somewhat painful, but eventually wets the strange muscles once more. While not paying attention to my surroundings and rather to my eyeballs, my right shoulder drops unexpectedly, making a small squeal escape from my dry throat.

Below me is a slit in the earth, one that I would have never noticed if I hadn't nearly walked directly into it. The part in the dry grasses is narrow, but wide enough to fit a body through comfortably. Frozen in my tracks, I dip my lace-printed skull to the gape, nares flaring to draw in deep breaths. The air change is vulgar, sickening enough to make my ears snap back with an unpleasant snort. Muggy air seems to be pouring upward from the earth; this is very strange. Curiosity grabs the best of me, pulling me into the hole like a mime and their invisible lasso around an actress. Dark hooves tap the dark rock cautiously as I carefully make my way closer to the mouth of what seems to be an underground cavern.

"Speak." Walk walk