Skin stretched and shifted over my shoulder blades like a barbed coat of thorns. Each step caused my muscles to jar as they sought relief from the dull ache that had developed along my spine in the absence of native bone. As a youth, I had shamed myself many times for having been born with deformities beyond my control. I had condemned myself to a life of guilt and belittlement in the name of easing into differences that the world had thought awful and unnatural. Age had brought knowledge and respite that had been denied to me as a child, but at times it was still unsettling to shine beneath a light colored only by alien curiosity. Some proffered pity, others surprise, and still more, within those black globes that saw but could not see, I’d witnessed fear. “Glad it wasn’t me…” and“Poor thing. ” they’d whisper.

Well, now they’d have nothing to ogle anymore. The piece of me that allowed me both humility and humiliation had been taken. But life was still unchanged for me.

I would never touch the skies or drift through the dreamy clouds as I’d once imagined. Instead, I would bear the mark of my past upon my flesh like a monument for my own tumultuous memories. But with the passing of my childhood went my time with Tamira. With the passing of my childhood went my guilt for Essetia. With the passing of my childhood… went all of my regrets. I was freed.

I’d spirited away from the Edge early in the day, though I had no particular destination in mind upon which I planned on heading. Instead, I meandered through various regions of Helovia, only pausing from time to time to drink or rest my weary body. Just a few days before I had lost my fragile set of wings to an unknown illness and though I would miss the parts of myself that died along with them, I could only embrace the present and my new future. What said future would bring, I was uncertain… but I wished for something good, for something better than I’d had.

Upon reaching the meadow I paused to admire the purpled carpet still retaining its spring color despite the cold brutality of winter. I hadn’t imagined that any place in Helovia would be left untouched by the ice and snow, but since the land was nothing if not touched by the Gods, I did not marvel long. Instead, I sought the healthy stream that broke through the wide heart of the meadow and sped away into the distance. I’d never been sure where it led, but then again the mystery was enough to occupy my thoughts when the idea came up. Besides, with the growing pain smarting in my shoulders, I felt it as good a time as any to relax and rest before heading back to the World’s Edge.

However, as most of my recent travels had revealed, I was not alone in my sentiments. At a slight bend in the river a winged mare stood over the bank’s lip, peering into the waters as if they might reach up and allow her conversation. Without my usual enthusiasm, I approached both the mare and the stream with my head bent low. Before finding my own voice, I lipped at the waters to wet my parched throat, then added curtly, “Hello.”

She was most certainly an iridescent creature made from the earth and his finest brushes, but I was no longer intrigued by beauty in a world so indifferent. There were many-a-pretty face in Helovia and this mare was certainly not the first to strike my fancy… however, as attraction went she was not unlike many I’d seen before. That’s not to say that she’d find any one thing in me that drew her attention to the stallion I’d grown into either. We were all pawns in the merciless war of life anyhow. “I’m Thor.” I supplied whilst gazing into eyes of vibrant fuchsia. This would be the first of the last few times I’d have to witness the horror in one’s eyes upon revealing to them the sensitive skin of my shame… then the nightmare would finally end.