F I N N</style>

to coax the darkness into light</style>

My journey in Helovia had just begun, but already I found myself growing ever interested in it. Where my gift of craft had wilted during my year of lost wandering, here, it seemed to have started to come back. I could feel it somewhere deep down within me, but whenever I would try to create something born of my mind, nothing happened as it usually had in Ossic Briar.

As I walked through the wide meadow, a deep frown creased my face as I thought long and hard on the matter at hand. If I was honest with myself, and I was, it was no huge loss if I was never able to create again; however, it was something I lived for and enjoyed immensely. I would keep living on as I was without it, of course, but I would forever be plagued with a vast emptiness. With a deep breath, I lifted my head at that final thought and gave it a shake. "Listen to yourself, Finn," I spoke aloud as if a mother scolding her child, but before I could go on convincing myself everything was okay when it was not, a repulsive smell wafted into my nose and sent it crinkling back. The smell was one I certainly recognized, and for a moment, instinct told me to turn and run far away. But I had been trained to keep going, to ignore such primal instincts as that, even if it was a little bit stupid in hindsight.

Moving on, the stench grew stronger and stronger, assuring me that I was indeed going the right way. 'Oh dear,' my mind began to race as I started to realize just how close I must be to whatever it was, 'What if it's another horse? Somebody I know? A... a foal?!' My mind assumed the worse, and should anybody be watching me, they would surely notice the brief flash of white in my eyes as I moved ever forward. What if it was a fallen child? Oh, God, please don't let it be that...

As my mind continued on at a million miles an hour, I nearly stepped right on the source of the atrocious smell. Startled, I wheeled away with half a scream, but when I realized that it wasn't some monster hell-bent on coming to get me and was instead dead, I exhaled a huge breath and stood still for a moment, only feet away, trying to calm myself as I looked the heap of tawny and white over. A dilapidated buck lay before me, the rack upon his head a grand, twisting display of points to represent the age of which he bore. From what I could see, he had been mostly untouched by the rest of the wildlife that resided here, but not entirely. If I had to guess, it had simply been his time, and now nature only need to take its course.

"You poor soul," I said, the words little more than a whisper upon my lips. I could only pray that I was right and no pain had come to him before his passing.

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[ooc - @[Archibald]

Typed and posted from my phone, I hope it looks alright XD]