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I HAVE BURNED MY TOMORROWS, AND I STAND INSIDE TODAY
At the edge of the future, and my dreams all fade away
A dismal day began outside, uncharacteristic for the middle of Tallsun. The alabaster mare stood beneath a large, emerald fir, the glassy drops falling steadily as the thunderheads rolled overhead. The darkness was a comfort on her lightly colored eyes, and she felt as if the churning storm fit the unsteady waves in her heart. Dual colored eyes stared ahead of her at nothing, the movement and images flashing in her mind instead. Each steady drop, the repetitive motion of the perfect sequence lulled her into a trance. Voices, so familiar but distant rank in her ears. Memories moved by at speed faster than lightning, burning behind her eyes and then settling into another image.
Mauja yelling in her head as he fell into an abyss of darkness, conjured by her mind in her sleep. She shuddered a little, gritting her teeth and trying to pull herself out of her own thoughts. Somedays she believed that the God of the Sun was right; she was a masochist for wanting to keep her own memories. However, she would choose to suffer for those she loved; it was in her nature to put everyone else before herself and her own needs. Quietly she would accept her fate, the brief joy of watching other's smile masking the doubt and pain beneath. The deity she loved had left her to this world alone, and now alone she would venture into the future.
Ophelia had learned her lessons in the most difficult of ways. She learned not to let her heart choose for her, lest it be broken on sandy beaches with crashing waves. She learned not to trust those she believed were friends, and she grimaced at the memory of walking along the sands with Tor. Bitterness swept over her, making her stomach church and jaws clench tightly. She had never felt such a powerful swell of hatred before, not since that asshole of a stallion threatened Ktulu in the Threshold. Even then, that was a protective emotion, this was purely... self-preservation and darkness. In all honesty, the emotion scared her, but it soothed the ache and calmed the doubt. For now, she would allow the bitter hatred to linger and taint the taste in her mouth and the look in her strange, dual colored eyes.
A voice like grating cries came to her ears and the mare stiffened, her expression turning dangerous. The words fell upon a soul that was not receiving bullshit or giving a shit.
"I don't know what I'm doing anymore."
Ophelia snorted sarcastically. "Clearly." She replied with a grunt that was barely descriptive of the fury that roiled beneath, deep in her gut. Never before had she felt such a burning desire to destroy with words or actions, and she had to swallow down the urge to lunge in anger, her horn to feet flesh.
The mare finally could not contain her anger an longer. She whirled on Tor, turning on her haunches and coming face to face with her former friend. Ophelia's dual colored eyes flashed. "Promise to the Edge?!" she barked. "In what corner of your mind did you happen to hide the rule that the Grey allies with no one? In what wild fantasy did you believe that double crossing the Grey and fucking up our friendship would somehow turn out all right?" Ophelia bared her teeth as her words paused, breathing shallowly, tense.
"I could not care less if you fell for some brute and birthed the spawn of your indiscretion under whatever guise you call love. Already one of the mares in our own herd is with child but remained loyal. As long as she remains a part of our family, her actions are none of my concern, but you...." Ophelia growled out the last words with a dangerous fury, her tone going from violent to bitterly, darkly cold in a matter of seconds. "You lied; you squandered the Grey as your family and without notice left to make promises that defied us."
"You call yourself my friend and then tell me you've left our band and spat on our friendship in my weakest moment, when I had already been abandoned by the very light that had once guided my life." Ophelia grimaced through that last part, a rift in her heart opening, aching. The alabaster mare shook her head. "You left, the lives of your children hanging in the balance as you selfishly threw yourself into the Basin. What debt I owed you as friends was paid on that day."
Ophelia took two, solid steps back, her heart aching, battling with the anger that brought an uncharacteristic wetness to her eyes. "You are the most selfish mare I know, and I am a fool for believing that I could open myself to you as I did. So, thank you, for teaching me a valuable lesson." The alabaster mare stiffened again and took another solid step back. "Return to your family. The ruins of our friendship will not longer battle for their attention or your life."
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