Look down, the ground below is crumbling
Look up, the stars are all exploding
I had every reason, and a real need to begin again.

The deep and dank, though familiar cave I had sought asylum inside, lay far beneath the jagged cliff-line of the eastern border land. The narrow ledge which descended into a perilous path above crashing waves, I knew, could not easily be found by the average passer-by. And this place, knew few of those anyway.
Many, many moons ago I had come across this secret labyrinth of mossy tunnels and cool trickling spring water with a friend, though now that name is lost to me, buried deep below the sheets of mental scarring and memories brushed to the furthest extremities of my healing mind.

I have weathered what I can only presume to be many seasons, concealed from the horrors of that churning, unforgiving world above. My eyes have long found comfort in this everlasting darkness. That was how I left Helovia too, bathed in the eerie silence of a broken-down sun. Still I do not understand or know what happened when the light vanished, only that confusion began to grip the inhabitants, my kin, and life began sliding away like sand through an hourglass.
It was horrible. It was overwhelming.

My heart could bear no more so I ran away.

The dull roar of the angry, relentless ocean has become my reassurance. It is the second of two constants here, as I continue to piece myself back together. I notice as Silas and I work slowly and gradually back towards the cave's needle-hole opening that a thin thread of light is poking through. My eyes are unused to the brightness of day, and I pause, wince and turn away from it. Silas too is taken aback and shuffles by my hooves, stunned. Neither of us expected to see such again, I assume of course ignorantly, that it has only just returned.

A chirp, my soul mate’s sharp distinct aggravation, brings a smile to my softened, moist lips and we share a brief tender touch- beak to whiskered maw. Our bond has grown astoundingly; he is the heart which pulses with renewed life in my chest.
And I am his.
It is a blessing that we came to be, under such foul and abhorrent circumstances. But I care not to dabble in the waste of my past. That is all behind me now.

Curiosity has returned to me, rumbling aloud by the base of my throat. Perhaps had I been in a position to recognize my own hunger, basking in luxury with well nourished greed, I would have felt the pinch of starvation. But the abundance of velvety green moss lining the walls throughout this wonderland has served me well enough. With breath still billowing from my thriving lungs, I find no complaint. Life is finer now than that which I recall up there.

Again I turn towards the narrow slit which had swallowed me, shattered and rotting, back during mid-winter. Still the blinding light is like a barrage against my eyes, though this time I squint through tightly locked lashes, and begin forward with perfectly pricked ears.

There is a new story to tell; a fresh picture to paint. This is where it starts.