They call him to war.

A light gleams in his mercury gazers, a feline who has caught the scent of a target that tries helplessly to hide from view like a coward. Like silent, unseen ghosts they invade, splitting apart and lining the borders like an impenetrable force, awaiting their fog counterparts. Tolio may not have lived within the misty reaches, but he remembers. Remembers the burns upon Mauja and Faelene, remembers Faelene’s crumpled face when she guided him to the Steppe instead of the Edge. He remembers, and even if the demon inside had not howled for blood, he would have wished to sink his teeth into the flesh of those who had put such weathered expressions upon his two beloved people. There is nobody within the dark trees who he loves, no death he will mourn or regret. Deep inside the scarred body, a hellish being is unleashed, a devil screeches and roars in triumph as the collar is undone and the leash dropped, fangs bloodied and eyes shot with blackness. Unaware, its prey lies within those misted trees, and the devil howls in delight and desire at the knowledge that they will fight today.

Beneath two bloody and two snowy hooves the earth is slop, but he does not falter. The air is crisp and icy off the ocean, even Birdsong refuses to warm it. Short mane is ruffled in its breeze, and in the pale lighting of the tainted land’s patron Goddess his teeth glint sickeningly as he grins sadistically. Already envisioning the crunch and snap of bone, the terrified eyes and fleeing forms, already imagining the hot rush of blood inside his mouth and the pound of adrenaline through his black sludge veins. Slip, slide, skid through the mud. Stand tall, glance about for prey, eyes crazed and shining with bloodlust. Whoever faces the stallion on this day of war will not face something sane. Death has long since befriended this bloodied bastard, and Tolio does not fear it. Nothing to lose and everything to gain, he is ready for battle. Pointing his rump towards the borders where they slip in, he stands firm between two trees, ensuring those who wish to attack him will have to do so head on, from above, or from behind. On his pale face, the manic grin remains, and he awaits his opponent.

They will reclaim what they had lost so long ago. The light would return to the faces of his loved ones. They would show the scum that had forced them into homelessness that they were not to be toyed with, that they were far more powerful, that they were beasts from the murk that all innocent souls avoided. The Aurora Basin was making its move, and Tolio knew with sick glee that even if they did not win, they would make their mark, show all the lesser species that whined and preached peace in their weakness that they were Lords, unbreakable. Long ago they had thought they had taken them down, but they would always regroup, always grow stronger, and they would always take their revenge.


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Word Count: 524
0/4 invasion duel system. Time frame window to start an invasion or defense is until 8/18.