The times when he was surprised by the throws of life were few and far between. Ground and river, wind and rain; they told him where they had been, what they had been up to and all that had crossed them before he placed his tiny feet in their elements. Same with people, though the creatures that had reached out to brush a velvet nose against his slate-gray woolen coat weren't as many yet, and they were good at keeping their secrets. There was so much more to the lives of the winged and hoofed, so much that not even rock and root could reveal - and it made him curious.

Another thing that made him curious was that light that gleamed up ahead. It was unlike the steady, pale glow of the moon that shone down from the sky at night, different too from flickering flames he had seen consuming trees and shrubs in Shadow's memories. (He wasn't going to call her mother, because according to both of them a mother should be someone who loved. She never did, and they were both sorry for that.) Nor was it the flickering glow of blue lights he sometimes saw flicker over the bogs around the forest to the south, eerie and fickle and somehow more interesting.

No, this light was different. And as ever, despite the fervent protests of the shadow mare, whenever he became curious over something, Kari felt a need to touch it. So many interesting things was revealed to him when he did, and he never stopped wanting to know. It was second nature too him, even though it sometimes grew wearying and hard to keep up with the flashing visions, that always assaulted him seemingly without reason.

So, the frail colt had an eager smile spread over his lip as he slipped quietly from the side of his sleeping mother, rose onto spindly legs and walked away into the depth of the forest. She wouldn't care that he went. Not really, not with the heart. But making sure that he grew up and became strong and could take care of himself was a duty of hers, and Shadow was much more reliable when it came to duty than she was in matters of love. And as it was the duty of a mother to keep their foal by their side at all times, if she knew what he was up to she would definitely try to stop him.

That was why the foal kept his downy wings tucked tightly against the sides and the overly long tail wrapped securely around a leg as he moved, making sure that he didn't step on branches or stumble over roots as he made his way towards the light. For someone so fresh on his feet he was good at sneaking - it made sense, since his mother was the best of all the sneakers in the herd - and the shadow mare was sleeping soundly, tired from walking so far on her feet rather than flying. She hadn't told him what they were doing there, so far up north... and Kari never asked. Right now it didn't even feel important.

Coming closer to the source, the blue-eyed hybrid had to keep his eyes on the ground to see where he was walking, so bright was the shining object. The shadows it drew over the ground were sharp and black, so thick he thought he might stumble over them if he got careless. Small feet lifted higher from the ground, cloven hooves light and soundless as they stepped only on the illuminated soil where leaves and moss and grass had been transformed into a vibrant display of color; orange, yellow, red and green in a million hues, and all around them was black, black, black as the night when he closed his eyes.

Rapid heartbeats drummed in the chest as the foal squinted and raised the head, coming to a stop upon finding the light hovering just above him, eyes screwing shut when the light grew too bright to actually look at. It glowed and danced, flashed over the inside of the lids, and with held back breath Kari lifted his nose up, elegantly raising up to balance on wobbly rears as he tried to touch the thing with his nose...