the Rift


[PRIVATE] Ouvertyr

Lace the Silverthorn Posts: 459
Deceased atk: 5 | def: 9 | dam: 5.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 15.3 hh :: 14 HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Fajira :: Plain White Dragon :: Fire Breath Chan
#1

The world was an orchestra, and he the audience struck back in his seat, overwhelmed, an ant standing in veneration of its magnificence. It was a wind like a thousand flutes, howling in wonderful discord amidst the violin of sharp-toothed rocks, all swirling to the rhythmic beat of the drumming waves and the cascading, torrential downpour. Emphasis struck by lightning cymbals made the stallion flinch where he stood, showered to the very skin by the hot curtain of summer rain, hooves digging deep into crystal pale sands as the storm raged around him, over him, through him, a hurricane of wind and rain and emotion that threatened to drown him for each breath. He wanted to run, to hide, to throw himself into the white foam and forget everything, die and be reborn in a new shape, a new shell, as a new soul much cleaner and purer than himself.

He wanted to fly like the dragon of his soul, a glittering pale gull tossed to and fro in the fury of the storm, screaming their pain and rage and anguish into the night. How he wished he could join her, become like her and take every day for what it was, without thinking and frowning and mulling over rules and pacts, promises lies and deceit. Ah, if only he could be as pure, as beautiful, as free.

A cry tore from the throat of the stallion as he reared in defiance of the waves, a silver knight battling the ocean itself as he danced on the shoreline, chest and legs battered by the high waves as they came thundering in towards the land. Again and again he threw himself into the fray, only to be thrown back onto the beach. Soaked, angry, fearful and foolish, the steed wanted to tear this agony, this savage lump of misery from his soul.

What had he done? What would he do now?

He didn't know, and the heavens refused to answer.

@[Mirage]


Dim vales- and shadowy floods-
And cloudy-looking woods,
Whose forms we can't discover
For the tears that drip all over!
Huge moons there wax and wane-
Again- again- again-
- bg - table - image -
BronzeHalo.deviantart.com
♦ Permission granted to use magic and violence on Lace and Fajira
♦ Only tag in new threads, spars and if it's urgent
The Store | The Warden

Mirage the DragonHeart Posts: 414
Deceased atk: 5.5 | def: 9 | dam: 6
Mare :: Equine :: 15.3 :: Eighteen HP: 68.5 | Buff: ENDURE
Akaith :: Royal Golden Dragon :: Fire Breath Whit
#2

Mirage the DragonHeart

Numb.

It was what happened when there was too much to process, too much to try and understand.. And it was all her fault. Why had she behaved the way she did? Was she justified? They had taken so much from her, two lives that were witnessed, and countless others missing, what else was she to do? The DragonHeart was not a warmonger, she was not one to take that which she did not need - she did not need any more lands to call her own, she did not need to dominate nor enslave those who would not willingly follow her lead. But she had to prove a point. She had to make a stand, an announcement that would get noticed by those who needed to heed it, but she wouldn't disadvantage her family, her kin, her followers, by sending them to an unknown realm, to fight on grounds they didn't know, to lose their lives and their home in one foul stroke. No, she had to do it the way she planned, she had to lure them south, to where she would have the upper hand, to where she and her family could win, triumph, succeed. And it had worked. Despite all odds, despite the Basin employing the Grey to boost their numbers, despite their attempts to overthrow two herds simultaneously, the Qian and the Tuuli had won.

It was bittersweet. Had she behaved shamefully? Without honour or nobility? Had she brought shame to her family for her actions, even though she had done them in order to protect them?

The mare stood on the shore. A dragon, her golden scales flashing brightly in the lightning that split the sky, darted above her, riding the storm like she was born to. She met with the white above the ocean, and they frolicked with careless abandon, immune to the woes their bonded's shared. The little shadow watched the stallion argue with the ocean, though her ears were barely able to discern his cries of anguish from the angry torrents of the tempest that raged above and around them. It was a replay of the second time they had ever met, and she had been drawn to him then too, soon after he had elected to travel a path of his own. He had warned her this time too, to leave him alone. That last time, she had called out to him, she had transformed, and then, she had pardoned him for crimes he had committed in Isilme, crimes that had not affected her directly but that he had pleaded for her opinion on nonetheless.

The tables had turned now. The mare was awaiting his judgement now.

@[Lace]
Sorry for the wait love
image credits
table by whit

Random Event Posts: 1,286
Helovian Ancient
Stallion :: Equine :: ::
#3

A pod of dolphins leaps from the sea, chirping and talking happily. They swim close to shore and wave their flukes in a "hello" before swimming away as a family.



Nothing else will happen with this RE.

Lace the Silverthorn Posts: 459
Deceased atk: 5 | def: 9 | dam: 5.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 15.3 hh :: 14 HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Fajira :: Plain White Dragon :: Fire Breath Chan
#4

As always he sensed her before gilded orbs were able to locate her inky form. A weight of eyes like cold fingers running down a spine, mere millimeters from the skin so that all that was felt was the presence of something else, a cold aura both frightening and enticing. The glitter of gold illuminated against the dark, overcast sky in a flash of light made the stallion turn his head in the midst of a leap, made him stumble and choke and a tall wave crashed into him from the side, enveloping his entire frame in frothing water for a fraction of a second. Then he emerged once more, soaked and trembling from shock and exhaustion. Legs shook beneath the bulk, he pulled himself up on the shore with the ocean rushing from a gilded back, glittering and gleaming even in this faint light.

He looked up, hesitating, almost reluctantly, golden eyes searching the gloom of the beach until he found it; the spot where the darkness appeared to have taken shape, a single solid point in this raging world of madness.

With the sea tugging at his heels the rover stood for a long time, simply facing the shadow mare. His expression mirrored hers in its empty facade, so closed and void of all emotion that it, in itself, became like a cry of agony in the wind. Ignoring the playful dragons, blind to the dolphins that came to frolic in the dangerous dance he remained, breathing, blinking, heart beating madly in the chest. Did he want this? Was he ready to face her, after all this time? Half the summer had passed without the two of them crossing paths, for he had avoided the misty home beneath the trees - and she hadn't come looking for him. Not until now.

Absent-minded a steel-colored neck, dampened and dark from the moisture of the rain, arched to let a sooted nose brush over the silver amulet that rested in the nape of the neck. A display if insecurity and discomfort that quickly had become habit, Lace had been unable to discard her gift to him despite the poor timing of its reception, reluctant to toss aside the only physical evidence he had of their bond. It was so frail, so brittle, like the first thin sheet of ice across streaming waters. Had it shattered after his thoughtless words, his foolishly reckless actions?

A deep breath initiated a slow march forward, where glistening black hooves pushed deep into damp sands - heavy, as though weighed down by a heavy burden. But he kept the head high, the neck arched and tail lifted like a pale banner, whipping and tossing in the fury of the storm. He went to face his queen, his friend, his beloved, and he wished himself a thousand miles away... but at the same time there were no other place on earth he would rather be.

Step by step he approached, proud and strong to the naked eye yet trembling like a chicken on the inside. Did she know how hard he found it to approach her this calmly, how difficult it was not to cower and give in to the urge that bade him throw around and run until he fell down dead? The silver knight felt his heart beat rapidly in the chest as he came to a halt, hoping that his face didn't reveal the chaos of thoughts that ran through the mind, slippery as salmons in a waterfall. For a moment he was quiet, took in her appearance with bated breath, repressing the desire to reach out for her soft maw, to close the distance and pull her tightly to his chest... He had a feeling it wouldn't be welcomed right now.

"Mirage..." he breathed, a whisper torn from the lips as soon as the word roll from the tongue and swept away - would she be able to hear him over the crashing waves? "We... need to talk."

May the gods be with him.

@[Mirage]

Dim vales- and shadowy floods-
And cloudy-looking woods,
Whose forms we can't discover
For the tears that drip all over!
Huge moons there wax and wane-
Again- again- again-
- bg - table - image -
BronzeHalo.deviantart.com
♦ Permission granted to use magic and violence on Lace and Fajira
♦ Only tag in new threads, spars and if it's urgent
The Store | The Warden

Mirage the DragonHeart Posts: 414
Deceased atk: 5.5 | def: 9 | dam: 6
Mare :: Equine :: 15.3 :: Eighteen HP: 68.5 | Buff: ENDURE
Akaith :: Royal Golden Dragon :: Fire Breath Whit
#5

Mirage the DragonHeart

Dismal, wet, broken, the mare stood before him, numb to the feelings of her own dragon, numb to the storm that thundered around them. He was the hue of lightning in this monotonous world of ocean, hail and tempest, her own golden eyes drained of all their colour to view him through seemingly platinum pools - the bracelet upon her foreleg stole the Sun away from them even if it did try to rise, the time of day was lost to her completely, it's platinum shine reflecting sharply in the flashes that danced across the ocean. It was as if she were naked, bare before him, as the rain stuck her pelt to her skin tightly, her mane plastered to her nape, her tail a thin, ropey memory of its former glory of long, silken tresses.

He approached, his footsteps muted in the sand and wind that raged around them. And yet, when he met her eye, there was nothing to stop her ears from clutching to his words, her heart to skip a beat as he stared at the surface of her very soul, as he penetrated and invaded her very core. Had it always been this way? Or had her affection for him built up over time? The mare thought of all the others who held pieces of her heart, for they were truly the only reason she still walked this earth now. They were the reason she was who she was.. The reason why she had done her shameful act of involving children into this war, this ugly affair that children should really be protected from, not dragged into. But it had worked… she had secured peace for her home, however temporary it had been.

Rain trailed off her like it would a stone with vacant, chiselled edges, an unremarkable pebble on a riverbed, smooth and simple, and perhaps beautiful in its own way. The mare did not move except for breathing and blinking every now and then, and even that was subtle, quiet and unexceptional in presence.

"Mauja killed Torasin." The words were spoken after a few breaths of silence passed between them since he ceased talking. "I wanted them to feel what I felt when I saw his body broken and bleeding upon the ground in the depths of the Forest." The voice that presented the speech was foreign to her, thick with an accent years away from her homeland normally faded, but otherwise monotone and overall, tired, broken, sad. "I wanted them all to experience loss, to suffer, to die for what that monster has done to my family." She admitted to the feelings of savagery that were normally released only when she was in the form of a predator, a monster which could feast on blood and flesh and cure her of her need for revenge on the body of a fellow equine, unicorn or pegasus.

"So I took their children. I provoked them and I started a war." And I won, she wanted to add, she wanted to throw it in the face of all those who voiced their distaste for her methods. But she remained silent, simmering in her guilt, awaiting his judgement. A flash illuminated her eyes, startlingly bright and sharp, piercing into his very own, should he be able to hold her stare - of which she had no doubt.

An idea had just taken flight within her cranium, but silence swallowed her now, as she awaited the judgement from the one whose opinion she truly did care about, one whom held her heart, her very existence, in the depths of his own golden eyes.

@[Lace]
Sorry for the wait love
image credits
table by whit

Lace the Silverthorn Posts: 459
Deceased atk: 5 | def: 9 | dam: 5.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 15.3 hh :: 14 HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Fajira :: Plain White Dragon :: Fire Breath Chan
#6

Mauja killed Torasin.

The words struck him like a rear hoof in the chest and released a breath, a gasp that sounded more like a sob into the night. Provoked by the uttering of those names he found himself thrown back to that day, that place, the vision from a dragons eye of a golden stallion laying thrown in the snow, crimson staining the glittering ground and the long, slender legs, still gushing from the gaping hole in the chest. He remembered the remnants of icy spears on the ground, a glittering tree of frost standing over his dead brother like a silent memento...

"I didn't know" he whispered, the words a second away from tears. The mask of indifference cracked and fell off, in chunks and flakes as the inked face contorted in pain - he had never known Torasin well, but they had understood one another without words. They had been similar, like fruits off the same tree - different yet not that unlike one another. His loss had taken its toll on Lace, as it had on all of them. The death of Solstice not long after had been like a kick to someone already downed, it had been both easier and harder to take - because he had known her longer, had seen her with her family and ached for the now motherless children, and he knew the name of the stallion who murdered her. If he ever found himself face to face with the one carrying the name of d'Artagnan...

But that wasn't what made his heart ache like it had been stabbed by the very same icy lances that killed his friend. It was the look in Mirage's eyes, the pain in her voice, the fact that she had been carrying this burden of knowledge on her shoulders all alone.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, and the voice that blew towards her ears carried by raging winds was like an open wound, red and bleeding, dripping cardinal stains upon the sand. "Why Mirage? Don't you trust me? Don't you... Why did you carry it all by yourself?" He stared back at her and found himself no longer able to hold back the tears. They rolled down the black cheeks like burning rain, shed from unblinking eyes as the pain became too much to withhold.

It didn't matter anymore what she had and hadn't done. It was in the past, there was nothing about it that could be changed - the dice had been cast and now they would have to deal with the consequences. What pained him wasn't her underhanded methods or the cruel determination to get her will through no matter what the cost would be. Maybe it never had been. Lace was an idealist but he knew to separate reality from dreams, he knew that you couldn't walk through life without staining your hooves in some way. It was inevitable, and he was far from innocent himself.
No, the bitter taste on the tongue and the hurt feelings came from being left out. She had been grieving, they all had, but instead of sharing with them she had closed herself in and taken revenge all upon her own shoulders.

All those words of trusting him, of counting on him... Had they ever been true? How could he believe them when she in the most crucial moments chose to walk alone without giving him a chance to where she was heading, or why.

She should know that he wasn't one to follow her trail silently without question. Never was, and never would be...


Dim vales- and shadowy floods-
And cloudy-looking woods,
Whose forms we can't discover
For the tears that drip all over!
Huge moons there wax and wane-
Again- again- again-
- bg - table - image -
BronzeHalo.deviantart.com
♦ Permission granted to use magic and violence on Lace and Fajira
♦ Only tag in new threads, spars and if it's urgent
The Store | The Warden

Mirage the DragonHeart Posts: 414
Deceased atk: 5.5 | def: 9 | dam: 6
Mare :: Equine :: 15.3 :: Eighteen HP: 68.5 | Buff: ENDURE
Akaith :: Royal Golden Dragon :: Fire Breath Whit
#7

Mirage the DragonHeart

In silence, she watched him. The news hit him hard, it struck his very core, and even as she observed it, she felt the pain of the loss swallow her whole once more too. The little mare was but a shadow, from the time of her birth to the time she bonded with Akaith, to the time she travelled the world and finally settled upon Helovia. Always she had been a shadow, reclusive, solitary, sharing her mind and heart and soul with only Akaith. It was natural for her to return to that comfort zone of complete aloneness when something troubled her. It was difficult for her to admit her feelings, more difficult especially for her to acknowledge the love that resided within her breast for a great many souls that she shared her home with. But none understood that, except perhaps, her siblings - but even they had each other. Not bound by blood, her sister Rishima and her brothers had found their bond consummated truly at last, and Mirage was jealous. Jealous and saddened that she wasn't a part of it, that she could not embrace them - but then, they could never embrace her the way Vikram did. The dragon steed was a noble beast, one who held her heart truly - but he did not hold it alone, he never had and she doubted that he ever would. She loved him, but she loved many, and it was becoming increasingly hard not to act upon that deeply passionate, longing feeling.

Why, why, why, the word seemed to echo in her crown, Lace's voice pleading with her to know why she wouldn't, whys he couldn't possibly extend the burden unto someone other than herself. Mirage had told one other, she had confided her knowledge in Kri, and perhaps her daughter Amaris had riddled it out as well, but who would have understood exactly what the mare was going through, without her revealing just how weak and mortal she was? Mirage lived on the feeling of always having those around her never knew who she truly was, never figure out the selfish past she once lived, never see the weak, sad, depressed child that resided within her. Why must I love when all it does is tear me apart? Her own voice questioned Akaith in a foreign language long forgotten by all but they. It was what the mare resorted to when she was particularly insecure and troubled, and Lace's query had brought on a wave of doubt that shook her to the bone.

"I told no-one, save for Kri and Akaith." The little shadowmare spoke deliberately now, honestly and openly. He wanted the truth? He would hear it, then. "I could not tell anyone else. I could not run the risk of our enemy stealing truth from the lips of those I love through magic, or torture. It was better for the majority to be ignorant, for ignorance in this case would be their shield." It was a hypocritical statement, she knew, for she was a firm believer in the power of knowledge. But such knowledge as this was delicate and needed to be treated as such… Would he have done anything different, she wondered? "I don't trust just any creature who happens to wander into my life." An edge had returned to her voice, remnants of a lost attitude, and the mare curved her neck as she peered at Lace through each of her eyes, tilting her façade slightly, as if viewing him from multiple angles would enable to her see him better.

"Nor do I love many as deeply as I did Torasin, as I do Vikram… and you." It was a whisper, and the mare almost hoped that it would be drowned out in the weather that still thrashed about them. A yearning had awoken within her, a deep and ancient call, one that she did not want to hear but still it cried out to her. The mare stepped closer to him, steam rising from her back. "Lace… fly with me," sooty lips lifted as her words were aimed for his silver ears, her breath steamy in the night air. The little shadowmare had denied herself intimacies with Torasin.. And now that he was lost to her forever, she felt a regret, one that she did not wish to feel again…

The question remained.. Would he fly with her?

@[Lace]
image credits
table by whit


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