the Rift


[OPEN] For you, there's nothing in this world I wouldn't do

Kari Posts: 52
Outcast
Stallion :: Hybrid :: 15.0hh :: 3 years Buff: NOVICE
Wanderer
#1

The darkness was almost tangible. It pressed in on him like a cold embrace and stirred imperceptibly for every feeble step. It was like wading through inky waters - Kari believed himself able to feel how the blackness seeped into his lungs and escaped, again and again as he breathed in shallow gasps. It was unpleasant and exciting, like the thrill of doing something he really wanted to do yet knew he would get scolded for - Shadow definitely would have yelled at him if she saw him now, inching his way into the deepest, darkest cave he could find in the vast underground system.

Thinking about his mother was another unpleasant thing. Always when her image appeared in his thoughts it was accompanied by a flash of emotions sharp as glass or a freshly milled sword. He hated himself for playing around here in the Sanctuary when she was on the surface fighting for her life, running from - or even worse, maybe with those sick monsters the grown-ups called wraiths. If he'd had any say in the matter Kari would be up on the surface now, searching for the shadow-mare. But the grown-ups were pesky, annoying and impossible to persuade, and so he had escaped as far away from them as he could come. This inky well of dark had seemed the perfect place to disappear in - it wasn't like anyone would miss him anyway, since the only person that cared about him was being eaten alive by now.

As the frail looking little hybrid foal crept along the walls of the cavern, busy with his equally dark and sullen thoughts, he couldn't help but notice a strange sound. It was faint, almost inaudible at its origin but amplified until its echo reverberated through the chambers. It sounded almost like wind; a silly notion, because what wind would blow here in these depths? The colt stopped and looked around, straining his eyes in vain to try and pierce the darkness and find the source of the noise. As he stood still the echo slowly died down, little by little, until his own breaths were the only thing bouncing between the walls.

Odd. A slight frown settled around the eyes as overly large ears played back and forth atop the poll. For a moment he kept listening to the silence; then a shrug was followed by movement as the winged unicorn continued forward, returning to his adventure. But just as he changed topic in his mind, there it was again. A dragging sound, soft and silky like a faint breeze, like feathers slipping over other feathers, like... like sand running down a dune.

This time he froze in place, heart pounding frantically in the chest as Kari listened to the echo die down around him. The wings clutched his ribcage tightly as the long tail snaked around a leg, anxiously listening for further noises - breaths, footsteps, hissing... eyes in the dark.... Stop it, he thought to himself. There wasn't anything but him down there, him and his overheated imagination. There were no such thing as monsters... But just as he finished the thought the foal remembered the foul, rotting beast he had encountered a few days ago and changed his mind. There were were monsters, what if one had gotten down here? What if all the horses in the caves were just fooling themselves and there were no safe places at all?

Swallowing hard as his thoughts went round and round, gradually working itself up to a frenzy of 'what ifs' the foal took a few more steps. Immediately the sound was there, but this time he didn't stop. With a yelp of fright he lunged himself forward into the darkness and began to run, blindly charging ahead without knowing where he was going or what might be following him. Somewhere along the way he lost contact with the wall he had been holding on to, something that became painfully obvious when he ran headlong into another (or was it the same wall?) and knocked himself over. Just as quickly he was on his feet again with all the resilience a terrified foal could muster, only to bang himself into the wall again; and all the while the rustling sound accompanied him like snakes coiling over desert sand, haunting and ominous all at once.

Kari had had enough. With a whimper he wished himself to get out, away, anywhere but that place - and as if to grant his wish, suddenly he was on fire. This time the scream was loud enough to be heard all the way out into the outer caves as he struggled, trying in vain to jump out of the flames that rose up from the hooves and engulfed his body. For a second as the darkness was pushed away Kari was able to see the whole of the cave in its lonesome, barren beauty before he blinked...

and opened his eyes to discover himself just at the entrance to the stone room, legs spread wide and chest heaving in cold sweat as harmless flames died down around him. Shocked and shaken to the core he examined himself carefully, nosing the legs, the rump, each wing and the tufty tip of the tail before he realized that he was completely fine. Then, and only then, did the legs give in under him as he sank to the floor, exhausted.

What, the heck, had that been all about?



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Mermaid Posts: 47
Hidden Account
Mare :: Equine :: 15.2hh :: 9 Years Buff: NOVICE
Tzarra
#2
LIKE A WAVE ON THE OCEAN

First there was water, sweet, life sustaining water…


The fall is a beautiful place, even hidden in the dark underground. It is not the ocean, doesn’t even measure up but it has its own charm and is likely as close to what I want as I will find in this place of confining caves and gaping caverns. I truly did not want to leave it but even with all the years I’ve seen I have never lost my propensity towards curiosity. As I meandered about the edges of the pool below the fall I found another tunnel and could not help but venture in.


Then there was sand, soft, comforting and homey…


The tunnel walls press inward narrowing the opening but I do not turn back, then I round a bend and all at once there is nothing but blackness before me. Every previous cavern I’ve visited had some meager light source. This one must be the end of the line, the bottom of the boat, the heart of the earth…


Hesitating on the threshold I wait to see how far my eyes will adjust and discover that it doesn't really make much difference. Oh well, I guess I will just have to move carefully. Slow, economic steps carry me further into the black near to rock wall. Now I am far enough from the entrance that I cannot hope to use even that faint illumination to my advantage.


All at once I find that my hooves, rather than clicking across solid rock, are sinking into soft, sandy ground. Sand! I haven’t walked on sand in ages, this is not beach sand of course but it certainly feels no different in the dark. I am perilously close to a trip down memory lane as my mind begins wandering to the Silver Shores.


To hold off that painful experience I take a few brave leaps forward then sink to my knees and flop on my side kicking my legs to roll myself on to my back. Once I am sure that I can roll from side to side without hitting anything I do so vigorously and repeatedly enjoying the feel of the gritty sand scratching my skin. Thoroughly sand rubbed I let out a great sigh of contentment and stretch my neck out until my nose brushes something… feathery…


A bird? What in the world is a bird doing down here? Or am I just imagining myself surrounded by sea gulls because I’m pretending to be a on my beloved beach? Better investigate…


In quick, fluid motion, not at all similar to the slow laboriousness of my decent to the sand, I climb back to my feet a move in what I believe to be the direction of the phantom feathers. Nose to the ground I sniff and snort, dog like, along until I catch the scent of sweat and dirt and yes… feathers. But it is not a bird, it smells like another horse; a young, male horse but there are other alien scents connected to it as well as the strange and very misplaced scent of feathers.


Deciding that I am probably close enough that I might step on the creature if I continue advancing I freeze in place and put forth a whispered question…


“Who are you?”


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Kari Posts: 52
Outcast
Stallion :: Hybrid :: 15.0hh :: 3 years Buff: NOVICE
Wanderer
#3

He only got to breathe for a second. Just as the rhythm of his throbbing heart had begun to steady itself, something stirred close to the colt. Skin tingling with fear he froze, feeling chill after chill run up and down the spine. Something touched him, a brief and fleeting nudge - but it was a touch nonetheless, from an unknown something in the black depths of the cave - the close proximity to the exit only provided the faintest trace of light, nowhere near enough to see who it was that had approached from the depths of the black pit...

Who are you?

He lost it then. Kari was a very brave and very intelligent boy, but too much had happened in the past few days and this was the last drop that finally made the contents of the chalice spill over. He didn't run, he didn't scream - instead the babe started to cry, a terrified splutter of tears and sobs, interrupted only by hiccups and half-choked pleas for the unknown something to leave him alone and not eat him.

Terribly humiliating affair, overall. Yet when you're young and scared, appearances aren't nearly as important and right now Kari cared nothing for whether he appeared weak or not - he felt weak, and alone and scared and he wanted to get the heck away from the darkness and whoever it was that stood over him. But the legs wouldn't carry him as he tried to get up, only buckled and sent him to the ground with a small thud of flesh against soft, cool sand.

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Permission granted at all times to use magic and violence on Kari

Mermaid Posts: 47
Hidden Account
Mare :: Equine :: 15.2hh :: 9 Years Buff: NOVICE
Tzarra
#4
LIKE A WAVE ON THE OCEAN

My head snaps up as the creature at my feet begins to blubber very loudly. Apparently it really is exactly what it smells like, at least part of what it smells like… a child, a boy child and very, very young one. Momentarily flustered, I’ve never encountered anyone or anything that was genuinely frightened of me before and certainly not a child, I stand there stupidly for a moment until the babe’s hasty attempt to stand sends him crashing back to the ground. This failed attempt to run makes some sense of the half-choked words he’d been spluttering out earlier.


“I do not eat children and were I planning to I would not have asked who you are.”


I say it in as sensible, calm and soothing a voice as I can muster which is admittedly not as calm as it might have been in another situation. This endless black is beginning to give me the creeps as well.


“However, I am also not going to leave you alone. That would be a terribly irresponsible thing for me to do, don’t you think?”


I extend my muzzle again trying to determine from scent alone exactly how much space he is currently occupying. Shifting carefully I manage to get my bulk, not that I’ve much to speak of but compared to him it could be called bulk, maneuvered alongside him. This puts his small frame between me and the cave wall. With that done I lower myself to the ground again and attempt to curl around him while taking care not to crush those feathers I recall smelling in the process. He may attempt to flee again but I do not think he’ll have much luck getting around me if he does. I am hoping he will simply settle back and except my offer of warmth.


“There now, take it easy little lad; I won’t let anything hurt you, I promise.”

As I croon softly to him I wonder how on earth the tyke ended up in this dark cavern alone and where his mother could possibly have gotten to… after all he seems much too young to be surviving without milk and unfortunately there is nothing I can do to provide for that absence of nourishment. Pushing that thought aside I determine I will simply have to help him find his way back to the mare he belongs with just as soon as he is calm enough to listen to me. I will not watch another child die at my feet… I will not! Were it not so vastly black around me anyone looking at my face might see the determination shining in my eyes.


WE COULD DIE OF DEVOTION
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Circe Posts: 101
Deceased
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16hh :: 5 Buff: NOVICE
M.E.
#5
Circe


Bastards she had called her sons; it had been their very first affectionate nickname, given as they slid noisily and destructively from her womb. Looking back, Circe figured their birthing had been a spectacular allusion to the trouble her sons would give her. The shadowmere could feel the grey hairs sprouting from her neck; indeed, the relocation to subterranean vaults and chambers seemed to create more chaos than it alleviated. If one son stood safely at her hip, another would amble away, aimlessly challenging, wandering into the catacombs of confusion and colt-hood; if one settled down to sleep, the other would be huddled underneath a stalagmite or a huge, luminous mushroom or some other nonsensical location, a game of hide-and-stressful-seeking-for-mother. It was hilarious for them, and hilarious for Circe only if she ended up finding her unruly sons—which was not always the case.

In that moment, the shadowmere could feel her heart hammering hard in her chest, breaking in her ribcage, a fluttering hummingbird of panic and alarm as she looked for her wander-lusty eldest boy. Before her was a cavern like many others, but this one seemed to lead into oblivion itself, the hell gates of darkness and an endless abyss. And from the abyss came a noise that caused the shadowmere’s blood to freeze, a sound capable of rending the strongest of warrior hearts in shatters: the hiccup and wailing of a child.

Almost against her will, the shadowmere was pulled into the depths of the cave, her steps slow and careful, deliberate in the perfect darkness even if her mind buzzed incessantly with her own worry. This cry, it is too small to belong to Reginald, she whispered in her mind, trying to calm her nerves, failing as she realized that it only meant she still had not found her eldest child, I cannot ignore this, though. There is still a child who needs to be guided out of the darkness, and I will not leave them.

As she stalked carefully through the darkness, the child’s sobbing becoming louder with every step, Circe began to hear the murmur of another, a deeper voice that suggested age—a lightness to the syllable that indicated femininity. The child’s mother? she presumed, wondering why any lady would take their small child into the blackness of this wretched cavern. It didn’t sit well with the shadowmere, for her to leave these two to their own devices, when their devices seemed so suspiciously arranged. “Hello?” Circe called out in a mild manner, her throaty tones bouncing gently off of the unseen walls around her, reverberating in ringing tones all throughout the cave despite her warm vocals. “Do you need assistance? I offer myself in aid.” She spoke in the voice she often adopted to comfort her haughty little boys, though they frequently denied their need for motherly comfort.

Every nerve on the dark, sinewy body of the shadowmere remained taut, every sense strained as she navigated blindly in this place, seeking the salvation of mere strangers. She could not leave a child’s cry, though—her blood burned shamefully at the thought, her heart ached painfully with every tear she imagined falling from those tiny eyes, whatever they looked like. Motherhood had her hold well and truly on the shadowmere’s breast, it seemed.







Kari Posts: 52
Outcast
Stallion :: Hybrid :: 15.0hh :: 3 years Buff: NOVICE
Wanderer
#6

Kari didn't really listen to the feminine voice that sang in the dark. Words meant little in his panicked state - he had heard sweet syllables roll from a poisoned tongue before, listened to the acidic breath of a monster as it promised to gently devour him... There was no way he would believe anything this whispering ghoul had to say, not before it had proved beyond doubt that it wasn't actually scary.

As a large body lowered to the ground and curled around him the dainty foal sniveled in horror and made another fruitless effort to stand, hindered this time by the limited space as he found himself trapped between a stone wall and a huge, warm, disgusting presence from which he automatically shrank away. Why his reaction was so violent he didn't know, nor did he care to stop and thing - he was just too scared, too wound up to be reasonable. Comfort could no longer be offered by sweet words alone when his mind had been made up that the other was evil and dangerous and foul... and then it could be however false it wanted.

Indeed, it wasn't until his hicks and wails drew the attention of another and made a different voice cut through the gloom and the echoing murmurs that the foal felt better. Before he could be stopped he made a motion towards the new speaker, willing himself over to that person; as if beckoned a wall of fire burst up around his small frame, for a moment illuminating the scene as the shadows pulled away in disgust of the flaring light. A pale mare curled around a struggling foal, a black mother standing a few yards away with a concerned look on her face...

... then the foal appeared by her side and stumbled over to press a tear-streamed face against her shoulder, desperately wanting to hide away against someone who hadn't been a source of fear. Flames died down around him, startling yet harmless as they once again buried the cave in black. Kari didn't welcome the return of them - if anything it only made the sobs more intense.

"..dark and..and something moving and then sand.. and, and trying to eat me and then.. I.. I want my ma.. mama!" the young child hiccuped with the liontail tucked between the hocks and feathered wings drooping from the shoulders - the epitome of misery, if anyone would have been able to see him.

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@[Mermaid]

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Helovia Hard Mode
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Circe Posts: 101
Deceased
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16hh :: 5 Buff: NOVICE
M.E.
#7
Circe


[Skipping as per 48 hour rule]


The flash of light sent volts of jilted electricity running through the shadowmere’s blood; she started violently, her eyes and senses assaulted by the flash of flame, and suddenly the scene before her was garishly painted in her pupil: A white mare who spoke words of kindness stood in the heated shadow of the child who burst into flame, a frail creature who sported the graceful, dignified wings and horns of greater creatures while exhibiting none of their inherited poise. Indeed, the child bolted for Circe’s breast, lodging its face and body as close to her heart as its horns would allow—and though the shadowmere’s instinct to bolt from the blast of flames threatened to overpower her, she stood quite still as the babe sobbed into her coat, thinking it was best to reign in her own terror in order to sooth this child.

*"..dark and..and something moving and then sand.. and, and trying to eat me and then.. I.. I want my ma.. mama!"*

Circe’s eyes still stung with the afterimage of that ferocious fireball, yet her heart well and truly broke upon listening to the youngling’s sobs and hiccupping phrases. She didn’t think—there was no time to. Instead, the dark mare affected a voice that she hadn’t used in a long, long while—not since her own sons had found within themselves the wanderlust to drift further and further away from her milk and her shadowing embrace. “Shh-shhhh-shhhhh….” She crooned softly, a throaty, breathy litany of warm, balmy tones, lowering her head slowly to gently touch the child on his shoulder, the line of his spine. “Hussssh, now, little one, you are safe. You are…” She moved with an intrinsic tenderness that had ingrained itself upon her psyche whenever she handled fragility such as this--she attempted to crane her neck over the child and press them into her a little bit closely, for maybe proximity would finally convince the child of its safety.

“What is your name, little one?” she asked mildly, her words burying themselves into the down of their wings; she hoped her questions would distract the fledgling from greater terror. “How did you find yourself in such a place? Where is your mother?” The grey mare that she had glimpsed was certainly not forgotten—the shadowmere kept an ear carefully trained in her direction, looking out for her movement—but for now, she was a slave to this child and their misplaced comfort and happiness.







Mermaid Posts: 47
Hidden Account
Mare :: Equine :: 15.2hh :: 9 Years Buff: NOVICE
Tzarra
#8
LIKE A WAVE ON THE OCEAN

My soft, calming tone falls on deaf and disbelieving ears. The bird-child is too far gone in his terror to consider trusting the “thing” that forced itself into his presence unbidden. I feel the slap of rejection and it stings, a less than mature reaction I suppose but I do not like the thought that I am found frightening by this child… me of all things.


Sighing I draw back slightly holding on to the slim hope that he might still accept my offer of warmth if I am not crowding him quite so much.


Another voice drifts out of the shadows and I stiffen without consideration for how such a reaction might further frighten the colt. Luckily he doesn’t seem to notice. The disembodied voice offers aid in a concerned but firm tone and I find that it sounds sincere. Were I alone I would likely trust it immediately but with the boy at my side I think twice…


Then the choice is taken from me completely. In a blinding flash of light and fire the sobbing child is gone. My eyes snap closed in pain and a cold suspicion creeps into my mind. Did the owner of that voice that I thought so trustworthy do something to the boy? I listen hard trying to discern the situation…


The blubbering resumes, though this time not so close to my own ears. Apparently he was the source of that light and used it to remove himself entirely from my flimsy protection. I am both awed and frightened by this show of power in one so young. But I’ve more important things to worry about just now. I hope I did not misjudge this new stranger.


Climbing back to my own feet I turn towards where I know the pair to be.


“Yes, it seems we do need your help. I hope the lad’s trust is not misplaced, lady.”


I can not keep an undertone of warning from slipping among my last words but I do hope that she might be able to provide what I can not. Maybe she even knows who his mother is should he offer the name.


“Get him away from here while you can…”


Before he decides that you are out to make a meal of him too.

@[Kari] , @[Circe]

OOC: Sorry for vanishing, I left in a bit of a rush and totally forgot to post that I would be gone. Anyway, there is a wrap-up post unless you want to continue.


WE COULD DIE OF DEVOTION
HTML BY SARAHROO
[Image: 52ebd2e176c2b]
[Image: 525f791c057b6]HP: 60/60
"she came from the sea..."
Global permission granted to do anything at any time with/to Mermaid so long as it is survivable!
Tagging preferences: tag away! | Contact Preferences: PM please!
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