The darkness of a pupil expanded, exposing muddied teal irises that swam in the dusky forest cold in search of just one ray. The sky was clouded, and the moon (if there at all) was nowhere to be found. There wasn't a wind to push against him, to tell him to go back, to rip the wings from his sides and expose him of triteness. But the dark, it ever scoured his mind because it seemed to be here much too long now. Something else was eating him, and it tore away the instinctive desire to return by churning up a pit in his gut. He swallowed the urge to vomit. He stood still and turned his head back to where he came. He swallowed again, turned back to the new path and strode on.

His gait defined what he felt, he hurriedly walked while holding his head uncomfortably high and braced, tucking his cheeks into his neck so he could feel tree bark with his ears before clashing. He knew himself well, and realized that he'd forget his reasons and go back over that mountain if something as meager as bumping a tree scared the sanity away. But a flash of orange crossed the blue of his eye and he stopped, legs a fray to the first light in what felt like years. The light was hollow, guiding by a large oak whose roots unforgivably stepped out to trip a babbling fool. Gooce looked at his hooves, ensuring some sly creature of the dark hadn't come to retrieve his soul from his body. Curiosity bloomed a warm sensation in his heart, and he toppled over, lanky body collecting again naturally, to the gifted tree.

He was a moth, nearly foaming at the mouth for this ounce of daybreak when a platinum figure glinted beside him. Spiraled was a horn that connected to an undoubtedly pure and ancient definition of her race. She almost glowed as the light trickled onto her pristine entity. Teal eyes, contracting from the burst of hollow light almost widened to see her. Though much smaller than him, she shined much larger and in this moment she was as attractive as a glittering diamond. The goose drew aback, wondering if he was assuming too much of her space. He hadn't seen anyone quite literally in time elapses that seemed too long ago to recall. She spooked him, and his head thrashed upwards as his legs worked to scuttle away. He halted and drooped both his wings and his head. But unfazed, she let smooth words stream from her wise lips and the gelding remembered his manners. Cautiously, he let his head drooping flow into a dip of sorts, stiffening back to resume polite quietness while the feminine creature talked.

This way of approaching someone, he decided, was quite strange.

She told of the land, but the goose felt as though something else was tugging at him. A conscience perhaps, a voice daring to urge him back even further. His mind tumbled in confusion. The darkness that encased them was not gone. He knew at least that was true. But the way she handled the darkness was almost as if it was a momentary phase, as if some child stole the switch and in a mere number of seconds the morning would be up an running again. He glanced beyond her to find light bouncing around from the bare trees, dangling from limbs lit by some wielder of magical essence. The light bounced in a way that lit hoofprints below and he watched as the snow faded away from center of the path. She'd obviously come from that way and he could only guess of which act of torture they practiced or what dangerous beasts were locked in the ancient temples. But he didn't feel he had time to question her.

"Hellena," his voice croaked out, weak from misuse and hoarse from the cold. When he spoke he felt as though his voicebox had cracked open and blood trickled out. "where will we go?"