Hasovir

Twilight was approaching steadily, insects making themselves known by humming lowly in branches along with the occasional chirps from crickets. The forest was thin when observed from bird’s eye, but in the midst it was a decent thicket. Surrounding that, a large meadow, which Hasovir had meandered the edge of for a few days; and now he emerged from the small woodlands to see the land had gotten firmer and less foliage covered the grounds. Deep sapphire orbs became perceptible with a faint auburn glow against them, his dull coat shimmering for once due to a great pit of flames. ‘What’s this?’ Hasovir unconsciously tipped his head to the side in inquisitiveness and continued to travel southbound. The heat from the fire became relevant; warming the stag’s pelt and it was nice, as there seemed to be a cooler undertow of wind coming from behind the pit. Hasovir stood still for moment and observed his environment – the atmosphere slowly becoming darker like a spot of ink in water, the crackling flames rising higher and embers that didn’t quite make it to the heavens settling along the earth beneath him. The fragrance of ash was filling his nostrils and he let out a loud snort while turning off to the left.

Hasovir’s pointing hips jutted out at the world as if to say, “fuck off”, like his facial expression so often did. He had only one encounter thus far in this queer world known as Helovia, and others that he had seen he would steer clear of or hide until their disappearance. He wrote most creatures off as illusions as he did not want to believe he was part of anyone’s world anymore. Just his own. By himself. Always. He rounded the corner of the immense fire pit and found himself entering the gaping mouth of rock. The shadows stretched their arms into the entrance of the cave and the temperature plummeted rapidly as Hasovir planted his daggers firmly amongst the loose gravel and dusted pebbles. His left leg gave in as he wandered down a steep turn, causing him to slide a few feet and ram his shoulder into the cave wall. A faint echo shook the creeping silence that engulfed the cave’s abyss and soon the stallion felt comfort in his surroundings, as if the noise was like company. Not like the company in his head. ‘Don’t even start thinking of that.” Hasovir’s auricles pricked upwards at the sound of his voice that expanded like the previous echo. Murmuring to himself was a habit he had developed as an adolescent; back when Tembovu was but a mere child, yet exactly Hasovir’s size. Memories rushed in of them and their friend, ‘what’shisname something with a K.’ romping and teasing and mischievously being typical boys.

Lost in his reminiscences and looking down to observe what he was stepping on, the scarred brute started seeing small pieces of glowing aquamarine substance until eventually he was staring at a whole new cave in itself. Continuing to enter, a dank smell of nectar hung in the air and in the distance Hasovir picked up a rushing cascade that made his mouth slightly tremble with thirst. Swinging his lean serpentine down his enamels gripped onto a moist patch of moss, its succulent roots bursting with flavors onto Hasovir’s tongue. His eyes were practically rolling into the back of his skull when he noticed the tops of the trees had a dim blue glow. Entranced by this Hasovir continued to walk into this room, the ground acting as a sponge against his daggers and the canopies getting brighter the further he wandered in. The glow that reflected off of his dark cerulean irises made his optics stand out, the white bandings and marks along his coat were now a dimmed shade of turquoise and as he reached up to lightly touch one of the glowing vines, his plush looked ever so soft, giving him a rather gentle look for once. He inhaled the fragrance from the small flowers that grew so spectacularly without sunlight and a hunger pang reminded him about that luscious moss.

A few hours passed, Hasovir was now lightly grazing after engorging his stomach full of the delectable greenswards that grew unrestrainedly over rocks and intertwined with the mosses and mushrooms. The stream nearby trickled endlessly along, its quiet natural song almost humming Hasovir into a dream like state. Overall at this moment, the stag was content. His vitals were up and his hunger and thirst satisfied. ‘Helovia is not so bad…at least underground.’ He muffled a chuckle and moved along closer to the crashing waterfall. His large and dense horns got tangled in some loose and low hanging vines and as Hasovir stepped passed them they tore from their canopy and stayed messily stuck onto the bongo antlers. The mist lazily drifted above the pool of water after being created by the falls; little beads of water glued themselves to Hasovir’s sun-bleached mane, speckling his patterned coat and mimicking diamonds under the blushing blue light. Oh what a sight he was! Although he would not know of it. Hasovir never believed he had the looks, although the maidens easily came, they usually got fed up with his egotism and insolence. Memories again, came rushing back; now it was him with a short, light chestnut fem, her hazel orbs glistening under a lively Dorobo moon. She was sweet to him and cruel to him. She would run her lyre shaped antlers slowly along his spine. Hasovir felt it now and a shiver jolted down his back. It was a lucid moment to his day dreaming and he swiftly snapped out of it once a thin, floral vine fell from his antler and into to his line of vision. He shook his cranium in an attempt to rid of them and his silly thoughts.