Painful Expectations

the Rift

Painful Expectations | Zikar-Sin

Zikar-Sin Posts: 78

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Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16hh :: 8

M.E.

#11

01-22-2013, 10:03 PM

The cold was a little more bearable while the muscles moved. No snow fell from the sky, and yet as it set on the ground, frozen and packed with the tracks of many a wild creature, it still found its way into the tender frogs of Sin’s feet, burning them with the icy touch of miniscule crystal. The discomfort was lost on him. His eyes were wide and vacant saucers, as though they themselves were drinking in the tale that Tolio spun.

*”Mauja the Frostheart. He was King of this band, long before Psyche ruled. He was driven from his homelands by the Qian, and led his followers here to the Steppe…He was the best leader I’ve ever known, ever seen. I would throw away my pride for him; kneel for him loyally should he return. I would quite literally die for him.*

Tolio’s words washed over Sin as though it were a fantastic mist of enchantment, making the stallion react in many ways than one. He felt the same chill that had settled over his form mere minutes ago, though it didn’t come with the same phantom limb as before. It was a different shiver, brought on by certain events and evident facts—Sin had been right to assume this Lost King was a great man to behold, and Tolio’s fervent adoration only justified the hunch. It was actions like this “Mauja” that Sin could never fathom in his lifetime; they seemed inefficient and disadvantageous to the throne of a king; Sin had always supposed that the “throne” was that one place of perceived protection that many others would covet. Percieved because, as always, no one was safe from anything on Earth; as his studies with Myrddin had taught him, Ignorance is an absolute even in the best of minds. And yet this Mauja would throw away that inner sense of security and lay down at the feet of his subjects, breaking bread with them, marching with them to the front lines with his head held high. Sin couldn’t understand it--but the chill that ran down his spine sent shocks of respect to different parts of his psyche. He couldn’t understand it—but he could admire it.

Sin wished he could meet this awesome Frostheart, and witness that greatness firsthand….And yet.

Something else was twisting itself in Sin’s breast, something that clashed with the chill he was feeling from Tolio’s speech. It conflicted with every other confusing feeling Sin was feeling; the giddy happiness that branched from Lio’s giggles; the liking in his eyes when he beheld the stallion’s form; the swooping sensation he felt knowing that the pain was gone from the chestnut’s face and he was beginning to open up a can of genuine cheerfulness. This thing Sin was feeling—it was doubt, a curdled and disgusting pile of it, doubt and trepidation at Tolio’s passionate discourse. His doubts—and fears—were realized when the chestnut said the dreadful words:

*“Though I feel terrible saying this…this is for your ears only Sinny. But I will never accept Psyche as my Queen, not while I still have hope that he lives.”*

Treason, screamed the voice in Sin’s head, treason! It’s treason!

This was too painful to bear; the already awkward stirrings in Sin’s breast and his alarm at hearing blatant blasphemy were biting at each other, tearing their throats out and ripping their hides to shreds. Psyche was the Dark Empress; she was regent in this land and Queen of the Basin unicorns. There was no mistake on that fact. She was Queen when Sin was admitted a home in this twisted land with its twisted rules, and she remains Queen to this day. This…Mauja is nothing but a ghost and an annoying phantom in the corner of Sin’s mind. It was a colossal pressure in his lungs, and for a moment Sin’s breath hitched in his constricted throat. The Mind knew what needed to be said—but the Feelings that Sin was having was pulling them back, reeling them in and stuffing them back in his head. The Mind won out for the time being. “To…Tolio--” Sin started—and suddenly, he couldn’t speak anymore.

*“This is for your ears only Sinny.”*

He must keep Tolio happy.

Sin was surely going insane from this. If this was how normal beings lived on this gods-forsaken rock, then he suddenly understood every war he had witnessed in his short life. “He…sounds like an impressive stallion, Lio,” Sin finally said, the truth gushing out. It was so honest that he quite forgot that he totally wasn’t going to call Tolio by his made-up pet name.

It revealed too many of the confusing can of worms in his breast.

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