The battle rides on, the sound of screams growing in their need, their pitch, their volume; it is a God, I think to still the trembling of my heart, which hears their bellows of agony as they are thrown aside and pitched into the clutches of death and bids my stalwart mind to run, a fair cost for the life of an immortal.

My brother is steadfast alongside me, his dark figure dancing in step with mine, and he does not tremble; from the corner of my eye, I see the figure of a black coated equine colt, younger even than me, charging with the ferocity of a dragon warrior – and my heart steels itself, my lips curve into a smile, pinned ears hearing victory in the bellows of the bear and somehow managing to ignore the screaming of the wounded, of the dying.

It happens in a flash, the death of the beast.

My horn arcs, its tip like a razor as it breaks through the flesh of the bear’s hind leg, the tendon popping with a sickening vibration that rattles down the length of my blade and into my brow. No sooner is my horn free of the hold than the dark pelted colt is upon the weakened leg, his propelled force knocking the massive paw from its weakened hold on the earth; the sizzle of blood fills my ears from where it tries to corrode the onyx and aureate of my horn as that paw knocks me squarely in the shoulder and sends me twirling away in a dizzy haze of pain.

I hear the tremendous thud of the God falling, I hear the cries of victory and the rattle of its breath through its severed throat, but I see only the crimson leaves above me twirling and occasionally glimpse a figure or two before I land roughly in the water, the benevolent arms of the liquid embracing me and protecting me from the fall.

Sluggishly rising to my hooves, my whole chest aching from the ferocious impact of the God’s leg, I sputter and spit, shaking my head to send droplets of water flying through the air.

More aware of what’s happening now, I look around me to find Aithniel unscathed (blessedly), but am slightly more horrified to discover that Erebos has not been so lucky. The colt that had felled the God with me has been released from the weight of the colossal bear by its disappearance and now moves towards the figure of the girl who had doused Aithniel’s flames – immediately embittering my thoughts of the colt that had, previously, been ones of admiration.

He had, after all, knocked a God over.

His choice in company?

Kinda shitty.

I’m distracted midstep (as I’ve started to go stand alongside Erebos, to make sure he is okay) by the sound of the Time God’s voice, and immediately stop to turn and hear what he has to say now that the immediate threat of the bear has been removed.

Many gifts are given, of which I’m jealous, but then his eyes land on me, his words fill me with a rush of pride that I’m sure radiates about me in a visible haze, so pungent is the swell of emotion that takes me. I let my body lower in a bow as I had seen my mother do when addressing a God, though my golden eyes glitter savagely and do not tear themselves from his figure.

Yeah, Erebos could have a crystal.

I had won the approval of a God.

I’m still oozing with arrogance as the revelry about the Time God fades away and life again returns to the clearing that had been held in rapturous silence of the death of one immortal and the gifts of the immortal who had claimed victory over him. I feel so good inside that I almost don’t want today to end, bounding over to Erebos with as much vivacity as can be managed considering how bad my chest and shoulder hurt.

"Did you hear that?" I’m saying to him with a laugh and a playful swish of my long tail, the sound clashing with the wail of pain and fear that comes from a unicorn who had been casting ice magic about the field that stills my laughter and draws my eyes, my ears falling back.

He’s looking at a small blue shape which lies between his hooves, one that is soft and feathered, and he looks afraid, afraid and as if his heart is breaking into a thousand pieces.

Glancing over at Erebos and looking for Aithniel, I keep my eyes mostly on the stallion and his dead companion. I had heard about such things happening, but have never seen it – and while I feel sorry for the stag (who looks like Mauja, from my mother’s stories, a tall man with a strangely colored pelt saying the name aloud almost as I think it), I am mostly curious to see how it plays out.


[ OOC: Mentions Volterra, Erebos, Aithniel, Tembovu, Isopia, and Mauja. o_o I think that's it. Also SAVE IRMA OMG ]