The waves begin to curl around the sand in a strange manner as the sun sets below the horizon. In front of the pair of sisters, darkness gathers along the sand in a strange pool. The dark material spreads deep into the ocean, a pathway leading down into the water. A glimmer of lavender lights along the edges of that strange pathway, and the water begins to part for the pair of mares. A calling comes from below the surface, beckoning them to follow.

Down the winding path, turning into a corridor of water, walled in on all sides, near the bottom of the great sea, is a lady sitting upon a rock. She is human, strange to the eyes of the equines likely, but she sits calmly, in a garb of black, with pale blonde hair and midnight eyes. A harp of lavender sits in her lap, her fingers lightly brushing the chords, though it makes no noise. From her harp dances stars, drifting upward toward the sky and out of the ocean.

"I heard you were coming," the voice says in the minds of the four in her company. "The lady of the moon told me so." Underneath her, the sand seems to be nothing but a dark well of black, a void - the source of darkness and the lady who embodies the element.

Memories of a great beast rising from the ocean stirred within Mirage's mind as the ocean seemed to quiver before them. But no beast rose from the depths, rather, the ocean parted before them. A human tale of biblical proportions might have crossed the equines' minds, however they were not learned of such things as Christianity, foreign to such Earthly restrictions they were. Akaith flew down to clutch her bonded's mane tightly, not scared so much as curious as to where this watery trail would lead them. Her multi-faceted eyes twirled with hints of oranges and blues as they trekked to the depths of the ocean, humid dampness causing sweat to warm their hides. With excitement thrumming between them, Mirage touched her sister's nape, blowing warm air out as the darkness closed around them. It seemed that they would find the source of the dark here, together. The lavender glow of the instrument was the first hint of something else laying ahead. The creature holding it was foreign, like a strange, slim bear with no thick fur to ward her from the elements, wearing sleek materials to cover the soft skin that grows blonde tendrils from her scalp. Mirage sought to meet the eyes of the creature as she spoke, her own golden gaze seemingly turning a deep, dark, fathomless black as they clutched to this Lady, for though Mirage knew not exactly what she was, she could tell she was a Lady. Chiselled features nodded first, then bowed lower, chin creeping beneath the plump pectoral muscles of her chest, nape curling, with the golden dragon making her own bow as her bonded's head ducked away to reveal her posture. As her sights rose again, she saw the well of blackness beneath her - but even traditional wells held something within them. Though it looks a void, a vast chamber of emptiness, there was something there. Darkness. The mare breathed quietly, ears pressed forward as honest tones conveyed a message of her heart. "We are honoured that you would allow us passage, I only hope we can live up to your, and the Lady Luna's expectations."

The sea churns and stretches, a flaw in the natural infrastructure coming to light as the bridge of darkness materializes before the pair. Unnatural and perhaps alarming to those unaware of their purpose, the sisters meet this anomaly with nothing but excited anticipation. They have journeyed far to find this, and now it would appear that their efforts paid off, that the persistence of their searching would indeed bear fruit before night had truly fallen. The spill of the waves away from the ocean floor is entrancing, and she steps forward almost unintentionally, dark gaze locked upon the colors that dance within the rising water, the sea life trapped by static waves. It takes a sharp tug at her dock to relieve her of her fascination, the pain of Kali leaping onto her rump and grabbing into flesh to steady herself. She arches to gaze at her curious companion, whickering affectionately and smiling when she is met with an outcry of excited chirps, muted in the face of this new adventure and surreal landscape. Even Kali is forced to be reverent, when the sea doth part.

The soft nudge of Mirage's shoulder against hers as they walk is a comfort, the warmth of her sister in this dark a source of familiarity and delight. She is glad that her little shadow is here, and indeed, she thinks she would not have it any other way; it seems right, that they have reached the final leg of this journey together. As the lavender light spills over them, she snorts gently in a curious equine greeting, peering forward to examine the beast that bore this contraption. It is unlike anything she has seen, naked and slender with odd cloth draped upon upright shoulders. Truly, though, what is most entrancing about this scene is the eruption of stars from her hands, the flight of light into a darkening sky. The dark beneath her seems infinite, the depth of quiet solitude stretching on below her feet. They made it.

She nods with Mirage's words, fathomless eyes pursuing every movement of the strange creature before them. A half-step forward is taken, her eager and curious mind drawing her to this, an answer to some of the riddles that plagued her so. "I am Rishima, and my sister Mirage; these are Kali and Akaith, our bonded. We have traveled far to reach you -" a wry smile, but no resentment, not for an instant "- and learn of the source of darkness. Who are you, Pale One, and are you here to teach us, tonight?"

Dark eyes peer from behind the palest of lashes as the lady watches you, the glimmer of stars lighting strange reflections on her face and figure as they dance their way through the seas and toward the sky. She smiles at your words, but continues her silent song of bringing the stars to meet the lady of the moon as she casts night upon the land of Helovia. "I go by many names," the lady murmurs in response to Rishima's question, even as her harp disappears from her hands in a swirl of starlight and dark shadows.

The woman stands, hovering above the void of dark, her hand calling upward the familiar shape of a steed by her side. The horse is simply black, but his edges seem ill-defined in the dark light of the lavender glow and last remanants of starlight. Apt eyes would not that his chest does not rise with breath, nor does the creature seem to have visible features. "You may call me Nótt," she says, her voice curling over the old Nordic name even as it passed from pale pink lips.

"I am the Keeper of Darkness," she says, her voice a small whisper. "The well of black you see beneath me is the power that feeds all wielders, by the grace of the divine lady you call Luna." A small smile tugged on emotionless lips, a mysterious, veiled expression, not unlike the one worn by the Goddess of the Moon. Graceful hands of milky white slip upward to grab the withers of her stead of night, lifting herself effortlessly to sit upon his back. From her vantage point above the mares now, she speaks: "Follow me."

Her stead carries her swiftly from the ocean tunnel, hoof falls carrying no sound with them. They are expelled onto the now calm, peaceful beach in the night, the stars above them twinkling happily. When the pair of sisters are free of the water, the tunnel collapses, the darkness retreating beneath the water again. "Seekers of the darkness, I was instructed to give you one more lesson of the element before the Moon will grant the wishes in your heart."

"The potential to wield such a power exists in all, but few can truly master the element and all of its implications. What makes them so different?" A hard look from unwavering eyes looks toward the mares, a glint of steel beneath the surface.

Rishima speaks of introductions and Mirage nods in assent, forgetting to give her own name under the assumption that such a goddess-like Lady would already know of it - it felt a bit redundant, and yet, also fitting that they should proffer their names… the charred maiden did not linger upon the thoughts for long, she would undoubtedly end up in a circular paradox of repetitive, pointless ramblings. Nótt, she called herself, this Keeper of Darkness. Eyes were drawn once more to the well of black that swirled neverending below her, the source of the Dark magic that some were so blessed with in these Lands. The little shadow took a deep breath, as if trying to draw a scent, something, anything, from the Darkness; but she did not yet wield such powers. Mirage's were blessed of Light, from another land, a magic that had always been within her. Suddenly a stallion steps forth, he is made of darkness, seemingly even darker so than Mirage and Rishima were. Surprise, and slightly startled the mare watches as the human drapes her elegant legs over his shoulders, how easily they fit into place behind the scapula. Muscles twitch with the contained surprise, a soft snort rupturing the silence as she takes a second to absorb the strange sight before her, of a human sitting atop a horse. She wondered how she would have perceived it if viewing them from afar, without the knowledge of this creature's identity or intentions. They would look like a demon, for sure, with two sets of eyes watching over the world.. But they were not demons, but creatures of Darkness. The sisters followed, arriving at the beach, absently watching the ocean fold in on itself once more. The question brought a small, unsure glance to the surface of Mirage's visage, she shared the look with her sister, wanting to know more, willing the knowledge to form in her cranium. The thought of learning more was appealing to her, appealing moreso than this supposed 'granting of wishes in their hearts'. Mirage wasn't here to have any wishes granted - the only wish she wanted fulfilled at the moment was one that would give her people a home.. Already she had sought advice for that, already she knew the steps that would need to be taken. Knowledge was reward enough for her, here, knowledge that she could be useful to her sister, that she could be given the opportunity to learn more… She refocussed on the matter at hand, swallowing before her soft voice dared to put forth the thoughts that floated about her cranium. "The knowledge of how to wield such power is useless if one does not possess the determination to rise to their full potential." The mare breathed quietly, unsure of what exactly made a wielder different. What more could be needed except the determination to unlock one's own potential? If one had the potential, they needed to simply learn how to access it, to have the grit and determination to access it… didn't they?

There is an abyssal space that lies empty behind her reflective gaze, a curling chasm that could never be filled within the brief flicker of her meaningless lifetime. She is a blight on the face of the earth, she thinks, an empty canvas never to be fully illustrated. She has no purpose but the accumulation of knowledge, to penetrate even unto the greatest depths of understanding, yet she knows that unless she gained omnipotence and immortality, the secrets of the world will remain ever elusive, ever growing, ever unknown and impenetrable by her dark mind.

Knowing this, however, she has decided to ignore it, to allow herself no corner for insecurity or despair. The excitement she feels at this, the conclusion of her journey, is a cold and thrilling thing, something so immensely intense as to send her into a state of relaxation rather than agitation, to overwhelm her other senses and heighten only curiosity and satisfaction. She rolls into the mode of pupil with comfort and ease, letting the words of this one called 'Nótt' fill and fulfill her, the motions, the implications; all is part of her wondrous purpose. The dark steed materializes before herself and her companions; Kali is startled, and Mirage jumps, but the mind of Rishima is somehow left unscathed. To her, it seems natural. Nótt holds control over the wealth of dark that stretches below them, and that she might conjure up either horse or man from the depths is a mere thread in the fabric of her ability, her control over the element of night.

The mare offers a comforting touch to her smaller sister, calming and protective; shoulders brushing one another in a practiced motion, even as her gaze remains fixed on the pair before them. That the pale Nótt rides on the back of this spectral beast is strange to her, especially the apparent comfort in her seat atop the stallion's back. At an earlier time she would have found this partnership incredibly strange; but now, with the pale gryphon perched atop her own shoulders and a golden dragon slung comfortable atop Mirage, she cannot make any such judgements on what borders upon the realm of bizarre.

She follows the pair, her sister close beside, trailing in silence until they step onto the beach. Night has fallen in their time between the walls of the sea, and now they stand beneath an endless array of stars, silver light catching in her mane and bouncing off Kali's pale feathers, soaking into Mirage's ebon hide. She listens to the question of Nótt, flutes picking up the cold tones, the challenge in her voice and eyes. I catch my sister's gaze and smile at her, confidence matching her uncertainty, determination in the night. Mirage replies first, her light vocals hesitant and quiet; I nicker softly to her, a call of reassurance and approval even as I reflect on what the Lady had told me, that fateful evening upon the roof of the world. The validity of my sister's statement could not be discredited, but I had a different answer, a parroting of what the moon had told me. "Those who truly wield the darkness understand that, as an element, it is not as evil as the stigma that surrounds it; they do not fear it, but embrace it, and can understand the wealth and expanse of its mystery."

"Determination," the lady says, her dark eyes looking out over the ocean without meeting the mare's gaze. "Yes, this is an important skill, but it does not make for prodigious feats." The wind curls and tugs at the black cloth, swirling the dress to reveal a milky white shoulder, as well as most of her pale legs stradling the stallion composed of a dark abyssal substance.

The answer of Rishima's is closer, and it brings a smile to slowly conquer her lips, like fresh pink roses, in response. "You have listened well to the Moon," she says, her voice not surprised, but pleased. "Yet it goes further than accepting the mysterious expanse of darkness." Her eyes dance back toward the mare, looking with interest at her silver framed face and abyssal eyes that match her own.

"Darkness is nothing but a tool for the wielder. If one wishes evil for it, then it will oblige. If one wishes to do good, then it will also concede," her voice echoes, deep and true, through the night that surround them. "Those who reach for the potential of the element have a clear idea of what they wish from the limitless night. The Lady of the Moon carries such a heavy control because her goal is defined and clear."

"You must find your purpose for seeking darkness. Once you find it, you will excell."

[ This isn't so much as quest as it is just something to think about. You may post in the Veins if you want to see the Moon Goddess now, or we can set up another meeting thread. ]