| Deceased |
| Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.3 hh :: 15 Years Buff: DANCE |
| Tamme |
From the dawn of time, to the end of days
I will have to run, awayI want to feel the pain, and the bitter taste Of the blood on my lips, again
Valiance was a term reserved for the stallion he had once been, but now the darkness of the world had married the darkness in his soul. His body changed to match the union. Thick, black clouds of curling darkness seemed to fall from his body like heavy rains where he was the cloud. Unlike the undead, he was a wraith, infected by his own sins and the world around him. All of the planes of his muscular and fit figure were untainted by decay, leaving him appearing almost normal. Even the red, bloody color of his eyes remained, a reminder that he was always a demon, even at his best.
Paladin's hooves found there way through the shadows, for they were his friends now and his closest confidants. Emotion, love, family - all of these things were dead within is soul, buried beneath mountains of disappointment and pillars of apathy. As he breathed, the black dust blew from his nostrils in a slow, sensual way, curling up and around his bearded face. The silver hairs of his age were well concealed in this new, dark body, and the pains of arthritis were all but gone.
If he had the emotional capacity to like anything, he liked this new form he had taken. The pains of the world were dead completely, and he felt powerful once more. Powerful enough to challenge leadership where he could find it, but as he moved from land to land, he found them vacated. The emptiness of the world angered him, set a match to his rage. How dare they leave just as he assumed power once more?
So like a predator, he hunted them down, following every trail of hoofprints and every scent of life to near the center of the world. Come out come out and play.... Paladin narrowed his crimson gaze, feeling hunger gnaw at his stomach. He desired to taste blood on his lips once more and feel the pleasure of battle as his hooves danced and horn killed. The demon inside reveled. Finally, Paladin was free from himself and his guilt.
"Where are you...." he whispered to the darkness, lips curled upward in a sinister smile. Come play with me... All I want is just one bite, or maybe more....
DO YOU FEEL MY PAIN NOW?
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@[Soleil]
| Deceased |
| Mare :: Equine :: 17.1 :: 11 |
| ali |
 SOLEIL</style>
the virtuous</style>
She had searched the underground maze for several days without any luck of finding Paladin, though she was able to find three of her children alive and seemingly well. She should have been over the moon that they had made it safe and while she was happy she couldn't be completely. Two of her sons and one of her daughters had remained unaccounted for and so had Paladin. Though time and distance had separated them she still loved the bull headed stallion with all of her heart and wanted him safe. As her search came to an end she found herself standing at the opening of the sanctuary, staring at the path that lead out into the growing darkness. Apprehension gnawed at her insides, but she steeled herself and several minutes later she slipped quietly from the safe haven to find the stallion that had captured her heart so many years ago.
Soleil was unsure of how far she walked or where she was going. The darkness of the world was overwhelming, but she pushed herself on, her ears straining to listen for something, anything that might be Paladin. As she walked she chewed on her tongue so she wouldn't call out for Paladin. Fear was very real and tangible and the knowledge that something very dangerous could emerge from the shadows made that fear so much more real.
"Paladin..." The grey mare whispered when she could no longer fight the urge to say his name. Her ears strained forward and she continued walking. Against her better judgement she said his name again, this time louder and more noticeable. "Paladin...?" Where are you? Answer me. Please be okay. I need to see you again.
"."
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Credits
| Deceased |
| Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.3 hh :: 15 Years Buff: DANCE |
| Tamme |
From the dawn of time, to the end of days
I will have to run, awayI want to feel the pain, and the bitter taste Of the blood on my lips, again
Paladin....? The name rang somewhere in his decaying, malicious mind in a strange way. He recognized the way the sounds pushed together, and he even recognized the voice that uttered the syllables. But he could not place where it belonged, for he had taken a different name, a moniker so foul that it could not be physically uttered by the mortal tongue. Only his mind could speak the words. The recognition and the care to understand its meaning faded quickly to apathy. Why should he give a fuck that this name, this word, meant anything to him before?
Now, he was powerful and in control. Even his desire for vengeance lost its meaning. Of course he wanted to rule, but who did he want to prove it to again? Faces and names faded out of his memories, and he cared not to chase their appearances through the rabbit hole that was his former psyche.
The movement of the gray was easy to catch; she did not exactly blend in. Her silver coat illuminated the darkness around her, and the fibers of pure gold along her back were painfully obvious in the natural surroundings. What a fool to travel so far into the darkness. Such fools deserved to die, and he was hungry... very hungry. Crimson orbs tracked her movement like the predator he was, lips curled back from white teeth that had pointed into fang-like structures.
Darkness and smoke plumed from his figure like the icy tendrils of death as he stepped in front of her, staring her down with apathetic, unseeing eyes. The Paladin he used to be strained against his mind, but he was ignored, forgotten and far too sick to be heard. Not even a flicker of his former self worked over his darker, gaunt face.
"You wander far. Dangerous." He said, his voice more of a growl that the deep tenor of his former tones. "I do hope you are prepared to die and have said your goodbye. Not that I much care one way or the other."
Please, no. Not her.
The stallion smirked lopsidedly, tilting his head to the side in a sinister way. Then, without warning, he lunged forward, serrated teeth bared and aimed for the fleshy, tender underside of her dappled neck. Hunger, thirst... finally something to sate the desire.
DO YOU FEEL MY PAIN NOW?
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| Deceased |
| Mare :: Equine :: 17.1 :: 11 |
| ali |
SOLEIL</style>
the virtuous</style>
Soleil froze as voice growled at her from the darkness about the dangers of wandering so far. She knew how dangerous it was, or so she had thought, but she needed to find the rest of her children and Paladin. She needed to know that they were safe and waiting in the cave for one of them to show up wasn't good enough for her. She had to find them for her own peace of mind and heart, but she was not expecting this. Her breath hitched in her throat as the stallion came into view, darkness rolling off of him in waves. She'd recognize that face anywhere, and those eyes. They were so cold now, but she knew the warmth they usually held as he looked at her and their children.
"Paladin..." Anguish laced her voice as she spoke his name. He was not the same. He was not the Paladin she remembered even if his body had remained the same. There was much more that she wanted to say, but he kept her from speaking, made her heart hammer against her ribs and her stomach twist into knots. She took note of his sharpened teeth as a sinister grin curved his mouth. No matter how much she told herself that he wasn't the same she couldn't grasp the change in him.
So dark. So evil.
Soleil threw her weight to the right in an attempt to dodge the wraith's bite that was aimed for her. Self preservation kicked into high gear as her magic began to weave itself together and attempt to work its way into the mind of the stallion that had once been known as the Valiant. She only needed it to work long enough that she could seek out the shelter of the caves again... But what was the point? She had come out to find him and save him if need be and running away certainly wasn't going to help him. "Paladin!" She shouted his name. "You're stronger than this! Fight it!"
"."
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Credits
| Deceased |
| Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.3 hh :: 15 Years Buff: DANCE |
| Tamme |
02-19-2014, 11:27 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-19-2014, 11:27 AM by Paladin.)
From the dawn of time, to the end of days
I will have to run, awayI want to feel the pain, and the bitter taste Of the blood on my lips, again
Unfortunately the irony of this moment passed him by. Soleil was now doing for them what he had done when they fled Anarore. He had stayed behind to battle the shadows, distressed that his family could have possibly not made it out. Despite the injuries, he had run from the beach of his home to the Oasis where Soleil had lived with Aera. Narrowly, he made it out alive, heart broken and worried that Soleil and her twin girls had not survived. The injuries he had sustained took almost a year to heal, and even now, he could feel them on cold, bitter days. Now, she was taking it upon herself to make sure that her family was safe.
And he had become the monster.
The monster he was now was a manifestation of what was already there - what he had struggled to keep down since he ran away from his homeland mid-battle. Every sinister grin and wicked desire had already been living inside, and it was amplified by the disease that forced his carefully constructed conscience down into the bottom of his hooves, squishing the real Paladin beneath the weight of his own evil. The mare uttered that name again, that word that made no sense, and irritation rose.
"STOP SAYING THAT WORD!" he roared, ears pinned against his skull as if the utterance of his true name pained the monster.
Paladin growled when she dodged to the side, avoiding the fangs in her throat. He tucked his hips under his body, stopping his movement before he spun around again, relentlessly trying to bring her down. The stallion was a warrior from birth, and the muscle memory was still there. Every fluid movement of his body came naturally, turning murder into an art form with the dancing of his solid hooves.
He opened his jaws again as he spun, trying to catch her along her withers, spine or hips depending on how far she had run in that time. Something then began to tear at his mind, digging its fingernails in and pulling apart the darkness. The stallion screamed again. She had to be doing this to him; it had to be her actions tearing at his mind, trying to bring up his old self. Paladin spent his entire life fighting the wickedness in his own soul, and even though he tried, he could not fight both the darkness at the feverish illness at once.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD, BITCH!" He bellowed, trying more fervently to get her down as quickly as possible, to get her OUT.
DO YOU FEEL MY PAIN NOW?
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| Deceased |
| Mare :: Equine :: 17.1 :: 11 |
| ali |
SOLEIL</style>
the virtuous</style>
"STOP SAYING THAT WORD!"
"PALADIN!" She screamed his name defiantly, her blue eyes flashing angrily. How many times would they be subjected to such ruthless evil in the world before it was finally enough? Hadn't they been through enough with the hatred directed at them in Isilme? Wasn't it enough that they had been attacked by the shades and run from their previous home? Hadn't they suffered enough thinking that their girls hadn't made it out and had died? Why was this necessary?
As she dodged to the side to avoid the bite from his sharpened teeth, Soleil circled around. Her refusal to run away to safety would probably be her downfall, but if she was able to save Paladin she would risk her own health. She just wanted her family back. She wanted them all to be whole and healthy. He spun around, his movement quicker than she remembered, and she was not fast enough to avoid his bite completely. His teeth scraped across her withers, easily breaking skin and drawing blood to the surface. Her own teeth ground against one another and her ears slammed back against her head. The mare planted her forehooves and swung her hind end around to kick at Paladin.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD, BITCH!"
"NO!" She bucked blindly at Paladin and the moment her hooves touched the ground she was moving again. Still, the mare stubbornly refused to give up and leave. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" And she charged Paladin, hoping and praying that he would break through whatever evil had possessed him and would allow her to help him.
"."
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Credits
| Deceased |
| Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.3 hh :: 15 Years Buff: DANCE |
| Tamme |
From the dawn of time, to the end of days
I will have to run, awayI want to feel the pain, and the bitter taste Of the blood on my lips, again
That name again. That Paladin name. That name meant nothing. That name was nothing. Whoever he was was dead. The man beneath the monster struggled to push the black weight from his mind, but he could not. As the battle wore on, he grew tired, curling up in the corner of his mind to which he had been sequestered. It was all a bad dream. Everything was all just a bad dream. Soon, he would open his eyes and everything would be whole again.
Right?
Blood pooled in his mouth and squished between the ivory pillars of his fangs, turning silver and gold to copper and iron. The taste of blood was so familiar and so beautiful, euphoric, almost. Memories of old came forth. The smell of smoke from burning down trees, the guttural commands of his father, rubbing shoulders with his brother as they prepared for war. Acid burned the back of his throat, and the clash brought the blood to his lips, the taste so sweet and pitiful.
The stallion watched the larger mare's back raise, and he backed quickly, falling onto his haunches which were temporarily healed of their arthritis by this evil, dark disease. Paladin felt the edges of her hooves collide with his chest, pulling the hair in patches but not breaking skin. A bruise would form, for sure. The stallion put distance between them, watching her with his calculating crimson eyes, feeling nothing. Paladin was weeping and praying to wake up, beaten into the cage.
The mare lunged at him, and Paladin widened his stance, prepared to put to test a movement he learned long ago. As she came at him, he stood his ground until the last moment. He leapt to the left and tilted his horn downward and then upward in one, swift, powerful movement of his black neck. The intent was to have her skewer herself upon the white spiral as the movement of her legs brought her chest cascading like a wave. He had butchered more than one opponent this way, the horn going straight through the heart.
A lifetime spent of begging others to believe he was not a monster, and now this.
DO YOU FEEL MY PAIN NOW?
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| Deceased |
| Mare :: Equine :: 17.1 :: 11 |
| ali |
SOLEIL</style>
the virtuous</style>
Large hooves thundered against the ground as she raced through the darkness, a pale beacon of hope in a world cloaked in despair. She would break Paladin free of the chains that bound him to this world. He would come back to her whole and new and they would be together again as a family. They had sparred before and she had charged him before like she was now. He had not done anything then to hurt her and she had faith that there would be enough of him present in the beast that she faced now that he wouldn't hurt her. Even when he widened his stance and waited for her she still had faith because Paladin loved her.
He leapt to the side and there was a split second of relief that Paladin was present followed by immense pain as his horn punctured her side. Her movement was clumsy as she slowed to a stop and when she did she stood for only a few seconds before she crumpled to the ground. Her sides heaved with each labored breath she took and with each beat of her heart the red puddle grew. Had Paladin's aim been more accurate and he punctured her heart she would have died instantly and been spared any real pain. Instead he severed an artery and she was left to bleed out. Though it took only seconds for it to happen it was in those seconds that she knew pain that far exceeded anything that she had experienced physically.
"Pal..adin." His name was the last whisper of a dying mare who's only goal was to bring her family back together. Her sightless eyes stared into the darkness, her frame void of any motion. No breath stirred the grass that she had collapsed upon. The darkness had claimed yet another victim, but there was no saving this one.
"."
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Credits
| Deceased |
| Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.3 hh :: 15 Years Buff: DANCE |
| Tamme |
From the dawn of time, to the end of days
I will have to run, awayI want to feel the pain, and the bitter taste Of the blood on my lips, again
The wraithed Paladin felt he familiar weight of a body collide onto the point of his horn, blinking away the blood that dripped down his white lashes and poured over his face. He watched as she stumbled, having landed from his leap, hooves gathering beneath his body as his lifeless, crimson eyes tracked her movement. The red stained her white skin as blood gushed from a torn artery, liters tumbling at a fast rate. He stood still, waiting, watching, knowing what was going to happen.
Only seconds passed before her body fell to the ground with a sudden and heavy finality. The stallion watched, shifting closer and leaning his head down to eye the wound, a self satisfied smirk on his face. She suffered, whispered her final words of that name. That wretched, horrible name that awakened the pathetic, weak fool inside. As she slipped into the a realm from which she would not return, he blinked, immune to the loss of life in this moment, in this diseased state.
Deep, deep down on the inside, Paladin was sure that he would wake from this nightmare to the dawn, sure that this was all just a terrible dream. He was not capable of this. He would wake up, and he would find her. He would make sure that she was okay and never leave her side again. If only he could gain control of his body again, but no matter how hard he struggled against the disease in his mind, he could not win.
He leaned down, lapping at the blood that pooled against her still sides, enjoying that sweet, bitter taste of victory and death. The stallion cast a sideways glance at the body, disinterested now that he had succeeded and walked away, leaving her there, unceremoniously and irreverently dead. The shadow stepped from the gray angel, the felled creature by his wrath.
Paladin would never be able to wake from this nightmare. Reality had become much darker than his dreams. He was the monster. He was his father's son, and he would never be able to escape the violence and horror of his destiny.
DO YOU FEEL MY PAIN NOW?
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