| Aurora Basin Phantom atk: 7.5 | def: 10 | dam: 2.5 |
| Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16 hh :: 8 yrs HP: 60.0 | Buff: NOVICE |
| Glo |
Before him stretched foreign land, alien and unfamiliar, and Roland had no map with which to find his way, no guide to navigate uncharted territory. With a wrong step he might be dashed upon the rocks of her disbelief, fall into the jaws of abandonment and refusal. It only made him all the more desperate to hold onto her now that she was within his reach once more. The thought that he could lose her, so quickly after being reunited, had despair clawing at his insides. He took a deep breath to steady himself, tried not to let hysteria seep through the cracks of his resolve, just focused on the warmth of her skin, the whisper of wind through the trees, a blanket of cold air surrounding him.
He couldn't help but imagine her locked away, trapped, caged, helpless... Tangled and ensnared, at the mercy of the shadow's foul play. How she must have fought against its chains and barriers, hoping, waiting, perhaps praying for deliverance, for rescue. But Roland never came.
Instead he had turned his back, determined to hold onto a dispute that had strung itself out through many years, problems now forgotten by those that had transgressed, but he still suffered the inability to let go; in contrast the names and faces that had passed him by in all the years following had seemed so easily erased to a mind that lusted for vindication. Was this to be a curse he would live out for the rest of his life, dragging out a fleeting existence within every pocket of the realm, until he'd exhausted all territories, used and discarded every option he had, trespassed across every corner and crevice? Standing with Lena it all seemed so useless, so foolishly absurd. He wanted nothing more than to stay there, to have her at his side, forget old conquests, forget his magic. It was a curse given to him by the Gods, the key to his ruin, and he wanted to do away with it all.
He thought of her searching for him, perhaps wondering what she mind find, if anything: his corpse, a message, or nothing- for he had vanished, leaving behind no answers or hints, no heartening promises or resolutions. Shame sank into the pit of his stomach like a sickness, an acrid taste upon his tongue, and he closed his eyes against the force of his own frustration. His muscles stiffened with tension as the gravity of his failings washed over him and dragged him into the abyss. Seasons, she'd said. Not hours, nor days or weeks. So much of her time had been expended upon a fruitless expedition, so much of her energy wasted on him. He resolved to waste it no longer.
As much as it pained him to hear, Roland knew her doubt of his caring was well earned, that he'd done everything that proved the contrary, bartered with her life and then turned his back as if she were no more than the sand that served as the key to her cage. He'd been possessed by greed, by something he could no longer reckon with or understand, and that poisonous hunger had stolen from him what he had held most dear. When her words turned to his indifference he finally fractured, crumbled, shattered, and a heavy exhalation, abrupt and shaky, preceded the slide of hot tears down his cheeks. He blinked them away stubbornly, attempting to collect himself. After all he had put himself through, he was not weak.
For so many years she had served as his light within the shadows, the only beacon of warmth and radiance in the cold land he had once shared with her as their home. And if there was only some way to infuse the sentiment, the feeling and strength of his affection, into a revelation she might receive, if he was able to select the perfect words to explain it, he would carve them onto the very rocks if it could make her understand. But he had not the patience nor the ease of mind to ponder with care the assurances he gave her. He withdrew, carefully, from her hold around him, stepped back and distanced himself from her, and turned eyes- still wet with unwept tears- upon her face. He leaned towards her, until he was sure she would hold his gaze.
"If there is anything in this world that I want near me, it is you," he stated, and though his mind was awhirl with anguish and despair, his voice was confident and steady, firm and forceful with a determination behind it, a will to make her understand, to believe him. "No one else has taken the time to know me as you have... You made my time in the Basin much more bearable." Though he had the ability to lie his way through almost anything, as soon as the conversation turned to matters of the heart he stumbled, stuttered over his own tongue. In a different time he might have found humour in the irony of it, but in the moment all he knew was frustration.
He reached out then, tentatively, as if unsure she would allow him back into her space, hoping he could say with his actions what he failed to articulate in words, and moved to touch his muzzle to her cheek. "You deserve better. If you need time, I will understand. If you do not wish to see me again... I will accept it."
@Lena
Push your luck if it makes you a promise
that turns con men honest.
|
|
Image Credit
|
.svg/2000px-Google_Chrome_icon_(2011).svg.png){kind=icon}
