It had only been mere hours since she left her precious Plague brethren in the bitter cold of the Frozen Arch. That place was once a solace to the young mare, but now her eyes drank up the vision of her home, splayed before her in all its frozen glory. The Time God had been a blessing where the Moon Goddess had been a betrayer. His hoof was still present in this place, keeping it fertile and livable even in the dastardly, dangerous northern realm of Helovia's reach. Crystalline eyes searched below her as she stood on a peak near the entrance to the land she swore to protect, and had. She followed the darkness, slaying the creatures of the night in her wake, leaving all those infected that crossed her path dead and dismembered in her wake. She managed, with no knowledge of her own, to keep herself from getting infected, despite the bruises, burns, bites, cuts and scrapes that littered her body from the ferocity of the wraiths. Her body was sore and tired, and dried blood painted her coat like that of the warmongers of her ancestry, and she felt relief as she looked down on her homeland.

Descending into the valley of her family, Aviya wondered where each of them were. She had just seen her father, leaned on his thickly muscled shoulder for support during the meeting with her like-minded comrades. Within her chest, the woman yearned for her father to follow her cloven steps and join her again, alone. Where was her mother? Kou had always been her silent guide, she learned how to live from the beautiful mare's side and teat, she learned that she was superior and one day their kind would inherit this earth. The nurse taught her daughter well the art of deception, cunning, seduction--all useful, feminine traits that made the smokey mare dangerous. She wondered where her siblings were: Nao, Sacre, Roux. Nao, the precious little idiot that she was, was probably running around and flinging her tail in ignorance. The twins, the boys, were probably exploring. Their hooves were restless, neither of them able to stay close to their mother's side like she had been forced to in her foalhood. Perhaps, now that they were young stallions of two years, they had left the Basin. Neither of her brothers, no her sister for that matter, had taken up the oath of the Plague. Perhaps they were all gone. Aviya could not say she would be surprised, or disappointed, if they were--none of them were as strong as she was, none of them as dedicated and deadly. They would crumble, she knew, if they did not make the right decisions.

The sun was high above her, shining down relentlessly, though she did not feel exasperated by the heat. Instead, she felt rather chilled. Her thinking had brought her to a shallow hot-spring pool, and she stepped her cloven hooves into the waters without second thought. Slowly, almost delicately, she plunged neck deep into the waters. A sharp, quick breath escaped her lips before they pursed. The water, while soothing on her sore muscles, stung her wounds. Blood, crimson and thick, swirled into the water, as well as the dark, inky poison of the wraiths. Aviya took her careful time, cleaning her body, rubbing against smooth stones to clean her matted coat. Slowly her sharp breathes turned to quick sighs of relief and pleasure.
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