Atlas

Atlas could recall a time in his youth when he’d happened upon an older steed than he. His coat had been a patchwork of black and white, a coat he’d become infamous for, and still just skin and fur. The masses would gather to stare at him and to request a touch, a feel, which felt no different than the rest— until jealousy robbed the steed of his comforts and instilled fear in their place. In truth, the steed had been a creature just as Atlas, but somehow changed by the mounting hatred of his beauty. Now it seemed a rather indistinct tale with little to no meaning, except that it meant everything. Others would always be jealous of one another’s light and purity, no matter how it presented itself. Lena had been pieced away, her compassion ever waning, because of ignorance and intolerance for her light. Atlas had never fully understood what compelled others to condemn specialty as arrogance and success as a growing rift. He couldn’t imagine what others had done to Lena in spite of her endless compassion; it was an obvious soft spot that had finally been hardened.

Atlas was not like the rest however; he considered himself different as well. Of course, everyone lived within their own walls as best they could, never to attempt life outside. No one had to understand him after all. Perhaps that was why it was so easy for him to understand her… Since seeing that steed berated for his beauty, Atlas became a constant wave that fell over one back to the next, unable to rest until his seas had been tamed. It was all too simple, too overrated, and merely too textbook for him to truly grasp, but eventually the man was able to rest his tides against the shores of Helovia. Maybe it was that Atlas was searching for the kind of humble abode that welcomed differences and change, and he felt that he’d finally found such an existence… thought clearly not without its complications. Now he was faced with his desires—he had found shelter and thus was content to find family… a companion.

Quietly, the starry lad watched his fair maiden as she deliberated the only sanctuary she’d come to know in her lifetime. She’d been bound to this cruel world for far too long and he wanted nothing more than to see her fly among the stars. Lena had spent too much time looking down when she should have been reaching up.

”Why?”

It was such a heavy question, loaded with wonder, fear, and even hope if Atlas could guess correctly. It seemed as though Lena was looking for the answers that would put her heart at ease, though sadly ones that Atlas could never provide. He had not been the one to break her, even if he so badly wanted to fix her. Yet, that didn’t mean he’d ever given her a reason to fear him and the things he offered her. Atlas wasn’t seeking her promises or her vows, just her company until she was finally strong enough to again run toward that which was unknown to her. Once more she tried to hide against the earth that shielded her from the sky above and, though it was a beautiful sight to see, Atlas could stand it no longer.

His gaze never strayed as he moved, and the broad planes of his face dropped to address her head on as he dipped even lower until his muzzle had grazed her chin. He breathed in the subtle scent of the blooms and snorted against the tangle of leafy boughs before lifting Lena’s face away from them. “Because you deserve more than the earth— I want you to have the stars too,” he stated while gesturing toward the galaxy along his hide. “And because we are more alike than you know Lena.”

He listened then while his gaze trailed over her newly lit features and savored the warmth of her eyes. He hated it when she tried to hide in the darkness of this tree or that, or rather any darkness at all, because Lena was meant for the light. Yet, she hid from it as often as one could… Of course she took to her pleasures and her songs when she could, but what songs could bring her the happiness she lacked and the embrace she sought? She’d been left too many times as far as Atlas could tell and he could barely tolerate the words as they cascaded from her lips, a symphony of sadness or just the bones of her former visions. Surely even Lena had pictured a life much different from this.

He pressed into her again, this time providing the wind she would need to set sail with him, because she was finally giving him what he’d asked… even if the answers were just as broken as she was.

Abandoned. Useless. Not good enough.

Her past seemed to speak for itself now, a shredded black and white image split down the middle where love should have been. “You will no longer be any of those things, so long as I am here,” Atlas said with some conviction. He pressed the words against her neck as he spoke, his first promise to her that he intended to keep. Maybe one day he would finally restore the heart that had been shattered so clearly by the hands of another, but until then, he would give her the shoulder she would need to lean on to begin mending.

”What are you afraid of?”

Her next question was nothing more than a loaded gun and still somehow a chance to tell the truths that would give Lena the courage to bandage her own puckered scars. For a long time Atlas was unable to answer or really find the words that would make sense of his own insecurities. What frightened him, physically or emotionally? What existed in his heart that troubled his mind? He’d never loved, never been abandoned, and certainly never felt quite useless… but he had inflicted those pains unto others. “I’m just afraid… that I won’t be enough. For anyone. For you.” What if he hurt her too? What if he was only capable of being the liar?