Thick mist rolled and curled around the earthen stag as he made his way towards the gap in the bright crystal wall. His dark hooves connected with the earth in a familiar almost intimate way, as if he were acknowledging the ground as it held solid beneath his confident steps. He huffed a sigh, breath escaping his nostrils in a white stream content that his passing was going unnoticed. Gaige wasn't a stallion of goodbyes and had he already spent way too much time here. He had only planned to stay the night and then move on, instead he had wondered around aimlessly not speaking to anyone, lost in the misery of his own wretched thoughts. But something about this night had told him to move on, a strange feeling to leave before it was too late. He felt a sudden stab of regret for not saying goodbye to Nato, during the short time they had spent together he had come to actually like the big guy. Demonic unicorn as he was, the earthen stag could somehow see a part of himself in the stallion and again he felt that stab of regret that they could have been good friends.


As Gaige neared the gap between the walls he felt a sudden chill in the air, the temperate drop was so sudden he looked up expecting to see the soft flakes of snow. But there was nothing and now that he was paying attention he noticed how still the air had gotten, almost stale. The sudden cold and silence put him on edge, hard muscles tensing with apprehension. His sharp blue eyes flashed into the growing mist seeking anything out of the ordinary. The landscape lay still and-

“Someone! Anyone! Help, please!”

Gaige blinked in surprise as a desperate voice ripped through the silence, shattering the stalled world. As soon as the cry ended, the feeling of wrongness deepened and the stag leaped forward with hardened grace searching for the source. It didn’t take long before his sharp pale blues landed on a prone figure in the snow just inside the crystal walls. At first he thought the unicorn was dead, the strange staleness had returned to the world taking with it the warmth of life as well. But as he neared the young mare he saw with relief the rapid rise and fall of breath.

"“What’s wrong? What happened!?” Gaige barked then berated himself for being so harsh; he softened his voice though his eyes still hard as glass searched the heavy mists that swirled into darkness.

“Little unicorn are you ok? What happened?” The earthen stag said more kindly. He noticed a moss covered bundle lying on the ground and wondered if that had been the cause of all the trouble. A shiver of apprehension ran through his dark brown body as he looked out with pale blue eyes through the wall, wondering with a grim feeling.

What was out there?


"TALK TALK TALK"

Table and pictures by the lovely Candy.