The last few months had been…

Murdock couldn’t think of how to describe them. They had been so many things. Dark, lonely, miserable, cold, frightening. Nothing pleasant or even remotely acceptable by his standards had occurred since the last days of summer. Before the wraiths had arrived in Helovia, spreading darkness like a plague across their sacred lands and chasing them into the depths of the earth, he had done little but wander the barren wasteland of the north and pine for his loss. He had felt empty, like the shell of a snail that had packed up and left. Lost, as though all his knowledge of the hills and forests of his home had been burned away like fog after the sun had risen.

He had been confined to the caves and trapped within their damp walls like a prison, forbidden from seeing the sunlight and too wary of his neighbors to venture far from his corner of the labyrinth. Until the threat of the wraiths had subsided, he had not glimpsed the sun once. He could hardly open his eyes when finally he stepped out into the daylight, though he reveled in feeling the warmth against his skin. Despite the fact that he was now free to travel wherever he pleased and return to the skies, something drew him back to the glowing room of the caves he had taken refuge in for more than a season.

He stood in the center of the vast room, his iridescent hooves sinking into the soft carpet of damp moss underfoot. The size of this particular cavern could not quite be determined, as there was no light to reflect against the ceiling and it seemed to stretch onward for several hundred feet. However, all throughout the cave were twisted and bent trees with shimmering leaves and vibrant mushrooms, dappling the dark walls with specks of light. He had grown to love this part of the caves most of all, and it was here that he had waited out the reign of the wraiths.

Murdock also felt that somehow, he was perfectly suited to this room. He amused himself by pressing his dark body against the black walls and imagining how he would look to a passerby. Would they see anything? Likely not. If not for his pale wings, all that could be seen were the glowing markings that ran across his body like trails of shooting stars. Otherwise, he was perfectly camouflaged. Curse his wings.

Despite the darkness, the labyrinth had become a place of comfort for him. The way the walls closed in around him made him feel as though he was being held by the earth, cradled in its grasp and sheltered from the world. He did not feel claustrophobic or trapped, but rather quite content beneath the curtains of vines and amongst the constellations of glowing fungus stretching up the walls. It made him feel as though he was not on this planet at all anymore, but up in the stars among all those he had lost and all those he had loved with all his heart.

He felt alone now, now that the structure of his herd had dissolved and he had been abandoned in the dark depths of the caves. He was no longer General of the Foothills, a title he had cherished as it was all he had to hold on to. He had not seen Roland, his companion of many years, since Tallsun, and even worse, he had not seen her for many months before that. His heart still ached when he thought about her and he would despair for many a dark hour over the fact that he would likely never see her again. How painful it was to know he would never see her face, hear her voice, for the rest of his existence.

He turned away from the center of the vast room now, sweeping his gaze across the glowing trees and sparkling waters. He extended his wings as he walked, brushing the tips of his feathers along the smooth stone wall as he picked his way over to his corner of the room. He had grown lonely in the dark, though his mind was far too overwhelmed to recognize the emotion for what it was. His heart was heavy and the flame of his usual exuberance had been burned out long ago. For now, all he had to do was look forward to the night, whenever he decided that was, when he could escape in his dreams. He settled in the corner, lowering himself to a cloud-like bed of moss. From here, he could observe the entryway to the cave and ponder over what his old friends might be doing at that moment.


"talk talk talk"

[Soooo rusty x.x]