| INNOCENCE
You will never be mine
The tensions between Psyche, Deimos and her sister had left Ophelia with a sour taste in her mouth and a knot in her soul that she was still trying to work out. Should she leave? Was that the answer? The tired feeling that numbed her entire body seemed to only be growing worse, and she seemed to always stand upon a balance of turning cold and trying to hold onto the goodness and compassion that had been so far abused.
She was not happy with who she was becoming, not pleased with the choices that had been presented and how she had been forced to act in response. Ophelia did not blame Ktulu inherently for wanting to protect Midas - she knew she would have done the same. The white mare also did not like the fact that she was growing to resent her sister for pulling her into this murderous endeavor. As they battled, she had seen the expression on her father's face when he stood upon that hilltop, and it was filled with disappointment. Paladin had taught them honor, to justly battle, and while Ophelia had a different set of morals than her father, she had to believe that what he taught protected the soul.
With every contract, she felt emptied out, strung up and tumbled dry. She felt as if she was spitting on the precious beauty of life in exchange for what? Items? Corporeal things? Trinkets? Of what use did she have for these items and what made then worth another's life? Nothing, no price, could ever tip the scales into a balance between life and crafted things that would be forgotten in death.
Put simply, what they were doing was wrong. She had tried to spin herself a lie in which to found her desire to please her sister. Ophelia had told herself that their band would protect others, but so far? A god contracted them to take a flower, and the Basin, one of the largest herds, contracted them for warriors. In there very first action of gaining a homeland, they violated her lie - they took from the weak who had nothing with which to protect themselves, a broken herd.
Cloven toes crunched the snow as she drifted through the meadow. Normally, she would have gone north, but this blanket of white made anywhere she roamed feel like home. But something was wrong, on this day. A large, rippling surface of a lake seemed to sit in the middle of the land with the God of Time at it's front. She furrowed her brows, realizing that the situation was more grave than her initial impression.
The sky grew dark and storm clouds thundered overhead. She could not hear over the roaring of the wind, almost too loud to bear. Wind picked up and blew her pale and crimson hair around her face, catching in her long, slender legs and around her face. She felt her heart begin to beat fast as the other gods joined the fray. A pulsing energy kept her back, and she grit her teeth against its power. Ophelia was powerless in this moment. She watched as they one by one disappeared and reappeared only to be sucked into the void.
The God of Time was the last to fall, and the rift disappeared. The sun did not return to the sky, and shadows grew longer. An unnatural quiet settled over the area that had once been in such turmoil, and she felt fear creep into her soul. What had she just witnessed? Was this the end? Was this the end of the world? Ophelia could only stand and stare, paralyzed by what she witnessed, a hopelessness covering her soul. The great architects of their land had gone...
She could hear the sound of her own heart beating, every rustle of her hair through what was left of the breeze from the violent storms. The shards of stone that had once adorned her hair and made her almost glow was gone entirely, snuffed out like the flame of a life. She looked up as the flap of Tinek's wings caught her attention, and she felt him settle in her hair.
"Are we... alone?" he asked.
Ophelia stared at the empty horizon, wrapped in darkness. She inhaled once, sharply as tears rose to the brims of her eyes. "I can still hear you, Tinek..." she murmured quietly. "I... I believe this may be the end." Was the dream she shared with Mauja prophecy? Had they tumbled into the hole?
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