"Where brilliance is good and madness is better..."
Helovia Info
Helovia opened in February 2012! We are an active fantasy equine RPG
Where once the world narrowed into naught but gray dust and desolation, the gods called for life. Wielding the elements of fire and light, dark and wind, earth and water, spark and time, they have created Helovia. The realm is set within the mythical globe of Loorien, a planet rich with all variety of creatures and blessed with all manner of magic. Originally populated by nomadic, tribal characters, they've since grown into massive empires saturated with culture and history. Separated into four distinct segments of Helovia, called "The Regions," each band of horse strong enough and capable enough, took up the power and responsibility of leadership. Unicorns, old, wise and mysterious, took to the north, hidden in forests of mists and shadows and rarely making themselves known beyond their cliffs of the World's Edge. Equines, vast, organized and militaristic, split into two, one group went north to the Windtossed Foothills and the other group went south to the Dragon's Throat. Pegasus remained nomadic, making their homes in various parts of The Wilds in a migratory manner. For many generations, the land was peaceful and calm, but peace was never the way of the gods. With a clash of argument, war and bloodshed massacred Helovia, and in the aftermath, the realm was eerily quiet. Now, as newcomers sweep into this land, they are met with the lingering bitterness of the gods and the struggle to reclaim what was lost. Nothing remains safe or certain while sorcerers and soldiers alike brood and bide their time for revenge, honor and glory.
Site Wide Plots
Kaos :: The Beginning of the End ☼ - 6/2017 - Kaos placed Helovia in a time-bubble for a short period of time, but the Helovian gods are fighting back. But Kaos is powerful- far more powerful than anyone thought. This may be the beginning of the end of Helovia as we know it.
Kisamoa :: A New Kind of Kaos ☼ - 3/2017 - Kisamoa asks Helovians to help him restore the Spectral Marsh. Which side will you choose?
Invasions :: All Out War ☼ - 5/2/16 - New layout and the brand new invasion rules are up! Thank you for your patience and we look forward to getting started with this new adventure.
The Rift :: Gods Do Die ☼ - 8/2015 - Helovia Gods are saving the Rift from corrupt gods! Can Helovians band together against these foreign deities?
The Literal Ship ☼ - 2/8/15 - Oh no! You have to pair up for Valentine's day!
Sky Island :: Murder ☼ - 10/25/14 - Vesta has been found dead on the island, and the gods have called to you to solve the murder!
Sky Island :: Peace ☼ - 7/7/14 - An island has appeared in the sky! Clouds carry Helovians from the Veins to the sky.
Restoration :: We Welcome the Dawn ☼ - 9/21/13 - The sun has finally risen on this day, giving the land new light, but the Time God and the Sun God have yet to be seen.
Endless Night :: Broken Magic Plot ☼ - 8/30/13 - The earth god has returned and is walking across Helovia to heal the land. Every area can now be considered lush and prosperous, but the sun has still not risen.
☼ - 7/19/13 - The moon has risen in the sky, heralding the return of the Goddess of the moon. Lamp trees which light the paths have grown brighter, moon flowers which grow in dark places have begun to grow and prosper and the world is brighter, filled with a new hope.
Endless Night :: Dead Magic Plot ☼ - 6/22/13 - The gods of Helovia, in order to protect the world, have disappeared into the rift, leaving the world sunless, moonless and magic-less in their absence. Only the herdlands have a source of light, but lamp-trees with glowing leaves and branches sporadically line the popular roads and paths from place to place.
Doppleganger Plot ☼ - 6/20/13 - The God of Time is still struggling to close the rift though which the dopplegangers have come. He has requested that his brothers and sister assist in closing this hole, but without knowing why it opened, the task is proving difficult. Magic still remains faulty and hard to control, but the herdlands continue to be places of refuge for those who are fortunate enough to call these lands home.
ORANGEMOON cools off the lands with a a viscious force. Colder than normal, a sign of things to come during Frostfall, Helovia is bathed in a rich tropical lushness - albiet a cold one. The coastlines of the Dragon's Throat are pelted constantly by tidal waves, and the desert climate is humid but chilly. Ice begins to form early in the Aurora Basin leaving the winding trails slick and dangerous. The mists of the World's Edge coat everything in a glistening crystalline shine which encourages mould to grow everywhere. The Spectral Marsh is the only area which remains fertile, blissfully temperature and lush.
Cotm
Character of the Month for
June, 2017
WEAVER, Corporal of the Aurora Basin, is a relatively recent addition to Helovia and has taken it by storm. Branded with the seal of Death on her chest, intrigue and interest follow both her past and present. Though she is assuredly beautiful, her sometimes sharp personality reveals that there is more to this uni-peg hybrid than meets the eye. Proving herself able on the battlefield in the Basin’s warrior ranks, we can’t wait to see her test her mettle against the looming Kaos happenings! Congratulations!
Helovia RPG was created by Tamme and Blu and coded by Tamme also known as Schwartze. All coding, palettes and imagery are copyrighted to the website and are not for use outside of Helovia. Thank you to our ServerMaster for hosting Helovia. A special thanks goes to Neo for all of her coding help and fixing Tamme's errors, Boom, for her loyal service and creation of the Time God, and to Ali for her consistent contributions and dedication.
I HAVE BURNED MY TOMORROWS, AND I STAND INSIDE TODAY At the edge of the future, and my dreams all fade away
The waning light filtered through the dense leaves of the forest, casting speckled stars and dusty clouds in her path. Trees here were dense, close together, but the shade made the Tallsun heat bearable in the stifling narrowness. Once, long ago, she had a band of mercenaries used to meet here, plotting their intentions to take over a herd land, and they had succeeded. This forest held many memories, all of them talking to her left and right, whispering stories of the past in her mind. Cloven hooves carried her forward, wondering if any still remained here, hiding, wanting something more.
Her broken heart was looking for "more" - if it even existed. After seeing her deepest desires in that pool and knowing that they would never come to pass, something inside of her had broken, snapped. She could not even find the two, frayed ends anymore to attempt to tie them back together - the sinews had withered completely. Her father and mother had separated for some time, the Sun God no longer wanted anything to do with her, the Tides were destroyed, and peace was a petty thought, a dream for fools and a word of dreamers.
Few stars still sparkled on her horizon of endless night and the sun had not risen in years. She let out an exhale that did nothing to relieve the weight on her chest. The summer sun had started to slide faster down the horizon, bathing the leaves and grass in red, glinting in the dripping blood pattern on her silky tresses. The blood bath just before nightfall was where she belonged - between two times, two worlds and two bloods.
Tinek watched from a tree branch, having been hopping from limb to limb. He too was different, colder. When Ophelia was attacked, he had come to fully realize that the world was not a good place and that non one in it had good intentions. Even Osiris had broken her heart, and he had been a good man with a good companion. The God of the Sun had forced her to forget him, tainting the bond they shared until Ophelia had been brave enough to confront him, and he had hated her for it. What was there in this world for his bondmate? Why did even her good intentions turn so wrong?
The dragon spied something ahead, and he jumped ahead, wings stretch to allow him to glide while talons scarred the trees on which he ran. When he arrived at the scene, he felt his own soul go cold. Part of him wanted desperately for Ophelia to turn back, to force her to turn back, but the wiser half knew that she had to face this - just like she had everything else in her life. His only worry was that this would be what finally broke the Forsaken, the half of his soul he loved more than his own freedom.
Ophelia felt the change in Tinek, heard the warning, and approached with furrowed brows. Her step quickened, and she wished now that she could have savored every moment of naive bliss by slowing her pace. She stepped under the canopy of a small clearing of trees, and her heart shattered, the pieces too tiny to ever fit back together again.
Laying in the clearing, position strained, lay the half-decaying corpse of her mother. Soleil the Virtuous, fair ruler of the Tides and warrior queen of the Foothills. Soleil, the woman who birthed her and then served her when she lead the Grey. Soleil, the independent strength that inspired her actions. She was snuffed out. A blood gash still marred her chest where a horn had struck through, and her once blue eyes were shrunken, plastered in a white film.
Why had Ophelia not stayed close? Time wasted. Moments squandered. Lost in her solitude, she had ignored her family, family she had foolishly believed would always be here, ever a constant in the back of her mind, an immovable force.
Broken.
She stood, staring without seeing at the body, breaking down completely into nothing.
Image Credit: haiinee @ sxc.hu
@[Ktulu] , @[Torleik]
Undertow has come to take me. Guided by the blazing sun. Look at everything around us. Look at everything we've done.
Please. Anyone. I don't think I can save myself. I'm drowning.
Ktulu</style> when the sky turns gray and everything is screaming i will reach inside just to find my heart is beating</style>
All was right in the world. Or almost everything was right in the world. Ktulu and Ophelia were back on speaking terms after going seasons without seeing the other. Ktulu felt like the part of her soul that had broken off and drifted away had come back. She felt whole again. She felt peaceful. Couple that with the fact that she had secured a position as Captain of the World's Edge and was well on her way to making amends for her transgressions against them. There was, however, something amiss that she was having a hard time ignoring as time went on. Their parents were nowhere to be seen and had been missing since the Grey had taken over the Foothills some time ago. She couldn't and wouldn't forget the last time she had seen her father, walking away from her instead of congratulating her and Ophelia on their victory. She had been confused, thinking that he would have been proud to have raised two strong daughters.
A snort broke the silence that had enveloped the six of them. Six. Ophelia had surprised Ktulu by being in the presence of a stallion when they'd happened upon one another. Naturally, Ktulu didn't trust the stallion because she didn't know him or his companion. As they walked she would cast a glance in his direction, make sure he wasn't up to anything then she'd lose herself in her thoughts, reminiscing the Grey for a short time. Her memories took a turn away from the more recent events and she began to think about when she had been a crooked legged filly, leaning on Ophelia constantly for support. In more ways than one she owed her life to her sister because without her she would be nothing. The hardness of her face melted to tenderness as she looked at her pale sister. She would still do anything for her, she just wondered if Ophelia knew exactly how deep her loyalty ran. She wondered if her sister still felt that their relationship was fractured from foolish fighting and their combined stubbornness.
The Constrictor's head lifted as Tinek moved ahead of them in a manner that suggested that he had seen something they hadn't. Without waiting for her command, Eytan bounded ahead of the group. He could smell death in the air and as he happened upon the corpse he knew that the day was taking a turn for the worst. The grizzly turned and looked to his bonded, warning her against coming and even suggesting that she make the entire group turn back. Ktulu was stubborn and her step quickened as did Ophelia's.
She smelled her before she saw her. Ktulu had seen the dead body of their uncle, had burned his body and given him a true warrior's funeral. But this. This was her mother left to rot in the sun without anyone the wiser. Without anyone caring. She stopped short, snorting loudly at the sight. Anger and despair waged a terrible war in her heart. Where was Paladin? Hadn't he promised to protect her? Where was he when she had been killed? Why was his body not alongside hers? Didn't he love her enough to lay down his life for her or was his love for his mate as fickle as his love for his daughters?
She had wanted to be like him. All of her life she had wanted to be just like her father, but no more. She would not allow her mate to fall victim to murder (judging from her chest wound) like Paladin had allowed his. She would be stronger than he had ever been and she would succeed in every place that he failed.
To be told of Ophelia's sister mere hours before happening to meet her was...unsettling, to put it simply. Whereas Ophelia felt soft, calm and gentle to Torleik, Ktulu came on strong, rough, a sort of unpolished diamond. The sisters shared similar forms, though Ktulu, again, was the more...solid of the two. Her pelt was black, her mane pure white, a mark on her shoulder he couldn't quite make out - and didn't want to risk staring to discern it.
What concerned him the most was the gigantic bear that had suddenly been in their presence; the fact that it had been walking calmly alongside the dark mare had immediately alerted him to the fact that it was probably, somehow, gods knew how, a companion.
A bear.
Ophelia's family would never cease to surprise him, it seemed. Torleik had greeted Ktulu quietly, politely, offering his name and association as a friend to her sister, then took his place on Ophelia's right side so that he would not be between the sisters as they walked. While he could certainly admit to himself that he harbored some fledgling emotions for the lighter of the females, Torleik did not for a second think this entitled him to assume a place as a wedge between the sisters.
Their trip was made mostly in surprisingly comfortable silence that the stallion did not seek to break. If any conversation was to be made with him, he would allow the two women to initiate it. He was here because Ophelia had asked him to come with her on her search for family. They had found her sister. Now he assumed they would continue on for the white mare's daughter, or perhaps other siblings. Searching for parents didn't cross the rabicano's mind in part because he no longer had any family; "family" now meant Irelyn, or whatever children he might father - might have fathered with Brisa, he reminded himself bitterly.
A displeased snort released itself from his nostrils and he glared to the side, away from the sisters. Irelyn, who had been following Tinek, settled herself amongst his horns and took up lounging. Such an interesting personality is little owl-griffin had. She was both nocturnal due to her owlish nature, and lazy due to the feline within her, apt to take naps at any time.
Torleik supposed a nap was warranted as the sun was beginning to sit low on the horizon, bathing the world in a ruddy crimson. Such lighting complimented both siblings in their own unique ways. Ophelia looked somehow more tragically pure, as if such purity was against her will; Ktulu became the juxtaposition of her sister, the darkness and quiet rage of a roughly hewn, barely hemmed in violence.
What he would have given for the opportunity to sit and listen to their lives' tales.
Without warning, the mares suddenly picked up the pace, startling Torleik. What had happened? Was there a threat? Shaking Irelyn off, he tensed his muscles, ready for a fight, to defend these women if necessary (though he doubted they actually needed him for that). But there was no threat. No formidable foe in the clearing, waiting to rend them to pieces, no angry figure ready to challenge them to spill blood.
Only death, waiting like an open maw, rotting teeth and putrid breath biding its time for the opportunity to suck them in, steal their terra firma and plunge them into drowning blackness in which there was no purchase for their hooves.
The Bloodskald had no notion of who this decaying figure might be purely by sight - he'd never seen her before; but the life in the air around them was sucked clean out and the temperature seemed to drop. As his eyes darted between both women, the rigidity in their spines, the droop in their tails, the shock splashed like a sudden scream all over their faces, he knew that this figure, this dead corpse meant something to both of them. To ask would be an unforgivable offense, to break the moment and the silence with a question purely meant for himself was unacceptable.
There had been no one there for him when he'd lost everything, no one to comfort him, to give him words of empathy, to offer a shoulder to lean on when he was not strong. Torleik could offer this for both of them, but Ophelia was his first concern. Was this her daughter, this bloodied, decaying form on the ground? Neither sister had uttered a word, a name, anything to give him any hint as to who this might be.
Quietly, softly, the stallion drew alongside Ophelia, saying nothing as he let his shoulder touch hers. Irelyn alighted on her bonded and cautiously, with the utmost gentleness, stepped across him to the white mare's back, flattening herself against the pale woman's form and purring strongly. It was all she knew to comfort anyone, and the owl-griffin was deeply distressed by the pain she felt coming from this unicorn like her bonded.
I HAVE BURNED MY TOMORROWS, AND I STAND INSIDE TODAY At the edge of the future, and my dreams all fade away
Her heart was a dark place. Tiny pieces of bloodied glass lay scattered on the frosted grass, leaving nothing but a white chasm quickly fading into sunless night. She felt not the dull and pointless beat of the organ in her chest. The breath from her lungs were shallow, acrid, and necessary. Beneath the ache and the pain was a pervading numbness that took over her body like the first snowfall of winter, enveloping even the smallest of senses in a blanket of nothingness.
Hush, feel no longer...
The breeze of the night moved past her, but she was frozen in time, staring at the corpse, the shell, of someone she once loved. Ophelia had seen bodies many times, but she had never once seen a body she loved in such a state. Those blue eyes had once held such life and advice, and now, they were nothing but shriveled raisins, white and staring lifelessly at the great beyond. Skin clung to bones with a stench that was the only sense keeping Ophelia grounded. Maybe, just maybe, she could not believe her eyes, but she would never forget and could never ignore that smell.
She could feel Ktulu tense at her side, the atoms shivering in the air, but Ophelia withdrew, deep within herself. The life within her eyes snuffed out to cold, her expression as vast and pale as the Frostbreath Steppe in the middle of Frostfall. What did this world offer to her now? Everything she loved had been taken from her, discarded, gone... She wanted to feel angry. She wanted to feel indignation over the unfairness of it all.
But she felt nothing.
Tinek pushed against the snowfall of her mind, but his shouts rang out through the mountains and over the white plains, reaching no one. The dragon cried out mournfully from where he stood next to the dead mare, exhaling snow. A soft, warm body found her back and purred, but it was little comfort now. She felt his shoulder touch her own, grounding her further, and she stared, unable to speak.
What words could she say now? What words did she have left? She was powerless in this world, a pawn at the god's whims, and nothing she could ever say or do would change that fact.
Her breath hitched despite herself, and she stared into the void, resting her head silently against Torleik's neck. She wished she could feel, in this moment. Anything at all. But nothing could break through the ice.
Image Credit: haiinee @ sxc.hu
Undertow has come to take me. Guided by the blazing sun. Look at everything around us. Look at everything we've done.
Please. Anyone. I don't think I can save myself. I'm drowning.
Ktulu</style> when the sky turns gray and everything is screaming i will reach inside just to find my heart is beating</style>
Anger was easy. Anger was familiar and, oddly enough, it was comforting. It hid the despair and sadness that was hiding in the darkest recesses of her being, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. It was easier to be angry than to be distraught. If she was angry she could lend some strength to her sister, despite Torleik being there. Tears clouded her vision and she turned her head away from Ophelia and Torleik and blinked fiercely to try and keep them at bay. 'Okay to cry.' Eytan murmured as he looked to his bonded. 'Not make you weak.' But she couldn't cry. Not there. Not in front of her sister. She had a feeling that if she fell apart in front of Ophelia that her sister would shatter as well. She had to be strong.
She stepped forward, her head dropping and her muzzle brushing against her mother's ears. "You deserved better." The Constrictor whispered. Her throat burned with the desire to scream until she could scream no more. Instead she clenched her teeth together, lifted her head, and turned to look at her sister and the Torleik. What was there to say? No apologies could make it better. No apologies could erase the sight of their mother nor the smell of death and decay that had already taken over her body. This was something that Ktulu would never forget and she knew her sister would never forget either.
"We can't leave her like this." Her voice was strained as she spoke. "This... Mother deserves better than this." At the very least they could give her a final farewell, one befitting of a warrior queen. "Can either of you make fire?" She would get the same burial that Donovan had gotten, then they could remember her going out in a blaze of glory. Still, that offered very little comfort.
The smell wasn't that of the death Torleik knew. This smell was putrid and wet, like an infected pustule oozing from beneath the skin eliciting a very distinct kind of nausea. But it was something he could handle, for those around him.
For Ophelia.
He did not know Ktulu other than what her sister had told him of her, but he respected her. She was cherished by Ophelia and Torleik knew that if he cared for the pale sister at all, he would make sure he gave both daughters of Paladin what they needed. Gaze locked on the malformed body on the ground, his skin felt as though electric ants were crawling just beneath the surface, pooling in the sensitive parts of him: the tips of his ears, his gut and loins, his tail.
What did he do? The worst death he'd faced, he'd run from, powerless to do anything about it. Torleik had seen gore, seen horses ripped apart, their guts spilled all over the ground, faces half-missing, destroyed by horns or hooves or vicious predators.
This was somehow worse, to have this body that was recognizable but still...wrong.
He felt Ophelia's head rest on his neck and he leaned into her, curling around to embrace her with care. Ktulu had approached the body, her words drifting to them, and his stomach utterly plummeted.
Mother.
This was their mother.
Gods, why, his thoughts raced. Who would do this?? Why? Her body was just...left here to rot, in the middle of the Deep Forest. Where no one might ever find it. The acidic, sour taste of bile swam in the back of his senses. This looked like murder, a murder that the perpetrator had committed and fled from. And that made it so much worse.
"Ophelia I'm...so sorry..." he rumbled softly into one of her velvety ears, embracing her more tightly. Torleik knew what it was to lose family, but he was grateful Phi had not had to watch her mother die, to see her in her last moments and realize her utter inability to change the course of fate. This moment was kind in that way, if only that singular aspect.
The dark sister was being the strong one, the rabicano saw that. It was noble of her but he also knew how much it must be draining her inside. Torleik couldn't let her take that burden alone, not when she was hurting just as much as Ophelia. He was the only one who had no direct tie to this slain mare - Soleil, if he remembered Phi correctly - and he could bear their burdens for them. As much as they might allow, at least. Ktulu wanted fire, and though he could not give it to her, Irelyn could.
"Irelyn can, in a fashion," he returned. "I will help you build the pyre." Torleik instinctively knew what Ktulu desired with the flames; they were both warriors. This was the best way to honor the fallen, to cleanse their body of any of the foulness in this world and confer their purified spirit into the afterlife. "Stay with Ophelia," he verbally instructed his owl-griffin, who immediately nuzzled her head more into the white mare's mane. "I will return," was his quiet murmur to Phi as he gently moved from her to gather fallen sticks and brush on the forest floor. The viking knew Ktulu would do the same to build a makeshift pyre for their fallen mother.
While her bondmate worked, the small owl-griffin clung to this pretty white mare, able to sense acutely how much she was hurting. Purring more forcefully to try to sooth her, Irelyn wasn't sure what to do to help. She could not talk to this one, not like she could talk to Torleik, and she hooted softly, sadly. He cared for her very much, and though the tiny creature thought caring for another white mare was rather foolish, she rather liked Ophelia - and Tinek, of course. Torleik was hurting because this one was hurting, and Irelyn didn't like that.
When the pyre was completed, and the flowers he'd also gathered lain on Soleil's fallen form, the stallion quietly walked back to Phi, resuming his position as a bolster for her both physically and emotionally. "Irelyn, go stand by the sticks."
"What? By the...dead one?" Her shock and discomfort were palpable.
"Yes. You need to do this. We need to do this, for them. I will tell you when to light it on fire. Now go," he urged, and the owl-griffin gently removed herself from Ophelia's back to comply, looking back expectantly at her bonded. He gazed at Ktulu for the signal to ignite the pyre and begin the funeral.
08-28-2014, 01:46 AM (This post was last modified: 09-09-2014, 10:46 AM by Tamme.)
I HAVE BURNED MY TOMORROWS, AND I STAND INSIDE TODAY At the edge of the future, and my dreams all fade away
Ophelia was already shattered, numb. The water glass holding the flowers had broken, spilled over the countertop leaving only time to let the blooms die. There was no putting this back together again. There was no ‘time will heal all things’. There was no getting her mother back. She stared, unmoved when Ktulu’s lips brushed her dead ear, and she wondered what it smelled like from up close. The fumes had to be burning the inside of Ktulu’s nose such was the level of decay, but she said nothing, staring vacantly into the nothingness this day had become. The fact that this was a murder did not go unnoticed, not at all. She saw the single stab wound through the chest – the fatal blow to her life as she knew it and the destruction of her family.
Torleik’s words brushed past her ears, tickling the hairs. Maybe, before, she would have been moved by this, but now, she simply nodded, her head lifting and lowering as if of its own accord. Sorry. He’s sorry. For what? He did not ask for this. He did not do this. His two horns could not have killed her mother. So, what was sorry? Sympathy? Empathy? Was sorry supposed to make her feel better?
Ktulu’s words yanked her back, and she nodded again, the bobbing head movement so familiar and yet so foreign. Fire? Burning was so final. Soleil would be nothing but ash, but that would be better. Perhaps, if they had found her sooner, she could have been preserved for eternity on ice. But, in this state, the corpse was too foul. The pale princess of nothingness had to agree, but she could not make fire. “I can’t. Neither can Tinek,” she whispered, the sound unnaturally calm. The calm before the break down.
Ophelia was grateful in an absent way that Irelyn could make fire, and she felt the soft, warm feathers press into her neck. The purring sounded like desperation, a sound to sooth pain and distract. Tinek followed the large stallion, casting a backward, red-eyed glance at Ophelia before gathering sticks in his talons and retuning. The dragon placed them carefully around her body, mimicking the actions of the large, black male. When all was done, he sat next to Eytan, looking at the fallen mare and understanding from Ophelia’s broken heart that his should be broken too. Soleil was important to Ophelia, more important than he knew she would even admit to herself, and he mourned her passing for the agony it caused his bondmate.
The griffin left her shoulder and went to stand by the sticks, and she stared at the flowers on her body, wondering why this even mattered. What would the flowers represent? A sentiment she could never understand? What gift could she possibly give to the corpse of her mother. She could read minds, protect her own, and erase memories. The greatest gift she could give was to erase another’s pain entirely, but here she was staring death in the face and knowing she was powerless against its commands. Ophelia had nothing to give, nothing that Soleil could carry on to whatever afterlife she faced, so she stared.
She did not cry. No tears left her glassy eyes, for the pain that she felt was too deep and too tragic to be expressed through any emotion but vacancy or fury. Rage would not bring her mother back, so she was left to withdraw and let the agony corrupt her from the inside. Ophelia lifted her face to stare at Torleik and Ktulu, waiting for the signal to set her aflame and put her to rest. She had no words to say but one.
“Mother.”
Image Credit: haiinee @ sxc.hu
@[Ktulu]
Undertow has come to take me. Guided by the blazing sun. Look at everything around us. Look at everything we've done.
Please. Anyone. I don't think I can save myself. I'm drowning.
Ktulu</style> when the sky turns gray and everything is screaming i will reach inside just to find my heart is beating</style>
Of course Ophelia could not create fire, that much did not surprise Ktulu. Nothing about her pale sister reminded the darker mare of fire. No. No, everything about Ophelia alluded to winter, snow, and ice as did everything about Tinek. Sometimes she thought that Ophelia was the personification of ice. There were times when she was so very cold and distant, beautiful, yet deadly in a quiet way that was not threatening at first. And so she thought of herself as the fire to Ophelia's ice. Violent and raging, barely containable, deadly, threatening, always smoldering just beneath the surface. It was why they did not always see eye to eye, but being so different was also what drew them together. They were fire and ice.
Yin and Yang.
Ophelia and Ktulu.
But at that moment they were both cut from the same cloth. They were both hurting in ways that had before been thought unimaginable. Their hearts shattered into a million different shards, worlds turned upside down in an instant. Her eyes shifted to Torleik and she watched him as he said that he could not create fire but his companion could. She nodded her head then turned to begin gathering sticks and small branches along with Eytan to build the pyre. Her movements were slow as she gathered the materials she needed because each stick meant that she was getting closer to saying a final goodbye to her mother. She had taken for granted that Soleil would always be there when they needed her. Death had been the farthest thing from her mind whenever she thought about her mother, but it seemed that even death could snuff out the sun.
Ktulu placed the last of the sticks that she had gathered and stepped back several paces, ears tilting forward as Torleik placed flowers with her. Why had she not thought of that? Eytan came to sit next to her and Tinek next to him. Torleik's companion was already on the pyre, waiting for the signal that Ktulu found herself hesitating to give. The Constrictor took in a deep breath then nodded her head that it was time. "I'll find him."She whispered as the flames began to lick at the dried sticks and branches.
The stallion watched the flames begin to lick at the dried sticks and leaves, the heat traveling and catching on quickly, embracing and consuming the death that was its tinder. Torleik's chest felt tight and he struggled not to slip into that corner of his mind that lacked logic and reason, to get his hooves caught in the mire of irrational fear and panic. The fire would not reach here. It would not harm him. It was commending the spirit of Ophelia's fallen mother to Valhallr.
Ktulu murmured something that the rabicano couldn't hear over the snap and spack of the flames, the crackling hunger that spoke to the element's voracious appetite, and Torleik felt he should do...something. Something to honor this slain soul. His memories drifted back to the time he'd spent in his home and the funerals held amongst his people, how they were solemn celebrations of life and death, of legacy left behind. This would be no celebration, for these sisters did not view death as he did, but he could euologize their mother's passing in the manner of his ancestors.
As the feeling welled up within him, his chest felt tight and Torliek took a small step foward. With a low timbre, the large stallion began to sing in his native tongue, hearing the music and drums of the song in his head.
The silence seemed deafening as his singing ceased, broken only by the chatter of the flames on the glorious pyre. Nothing was left to put to tune, but words still needed to be spoken to end the commendation as it should be. In a chant, Torliek offered two final stanzas of verse.
As his chant died away, the Bloodskald gazed upon the voracious flames, seeing how they'd consumed the sticks and leaves and were turning to ash the body of Soleil. The bones would be left, that he knew, but her soft, vulnerable flesh would be forever gone. Her life and the vibrancy of it would be forever missed. With a low bow of his head, the warrior paid his respects to this fallen matriarch and stepped back, resuming his place near Ophelia.
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OOC: Translation for the song is up there if you hover your pointer over the lyrics. Here's the song itself, how it should sound.
I HAVE BURNED MY TOMORROWS, AND I STAND INSIDE TODAY At the edge of the future, and my dreams all fade away
The heat from the flames seemed wrong, like a sickness that threatened to melt the ice holding the pieces of her heart together. She watched on as the hues of orange and red overtook what was left of her mother, glad that she was at least no longer rotting alone, undiscovered for who knows how long. For as hurt and broken as she was for her mother's death, she could not cry. Not amount of pain or want could draw the glassy moisture from the beautiful, two toned orbs, not because she did not love but because she could not let herself love so much and lose even more. In the face of this tragedy, how could she let herself grow close again?
Ophelia had expected to stand silently, listening to the crackle of flames and the snap of drying bones. So, when Torleik began to sing, she furrowed her brows, looking over at the massive, well-corded stallion in confusion. His deep baritone and cadence of his voice as he sang was hypnotic and reverent, and she realized that she was not offended by his intrusion of the silence because it was not an intrusion at all. He was honoring the memory of her mother in a language she did not need to understand to appreciate the meaning.
When he finished his song and returned to her side, she felt empowered. She was broken, yes, beaten down, abandoned, but there were still few who rallied at her side, who respected her enough to respect what broke her heart. Ophelia inhaled a deep breath as her mother was reduced to ash and stepped forward to bow her head as well in deference to the single being who could never be replaced: mother.
Tinek watched the fire, understanding to a degree what was going on. Mostly, he was interested in Ophelia's change of mood, and he sat at her side, leaning his scaled body against one of her slender forelegs. She was sad yes, but at least now she was a little better. She realized that she had friends, and that maybe, she was not as alone as she thought she was.
Ophelia stood in the still and quiet for moments more until the flames died down and looked to Torleik. In her eyes was the weight of the world but also a sliver of hope, hope that maybe the future would diverge from the patterns of the past. "Thank you, Torleik, she said softly. He did not know her well, especially after the tension of their first meeting, and yet he had been the one to give her mother the proper resolution to her glorious and full life. The stallion had a good heart, one that was whole, beautiful and deserving of something much more than herself.
All of these thoughts she could not begin to articulate, but the expression on her face spoke volumes of her emotions. Ophelia leaned against his shoulder as the final embers disappeared and she looked at the stars overhead and then to her sister. "We did right by her, Ktulu," she said firmly. "And we can honor her with our choices."
Both of them would know what that meant. Soleil was loyal but a warrior, a queen in arms. She would follow her moral code, unhindered by guilt of a fallen enemy and fiercely protective of her family. Both of them would be better creatures if they would just follow a single chapter of her life.
Image Credit: haiinee @ sxc.hu
Undertow has come to take me. Guided by the blazing sun. Look at everything around us. Look at everything we've done.
Please. Anyone. I don't think I can save myself. I'm drowning.
Ktulu</style> when the sky turns gray and everything is screaming i will reach inside just to find my heart is beating</style>
Ktulu stared in silence as the flames slowly came to life and began to consume what was left of her mother's body. The stench of decay and burning hair was sour and burned her nose and she found that she wanted nothing more to turn and run away as fast as she could. She wanted to find some way to purge the sight of her mother's corpse from her memory, but it would never happen. Not for her and certainly not for Ophelia. They would be stuck with the memory of finding Soleil's body. She could only hope that the burial they were giving her would be enough to ease the pain the memory would bring back.
Her ears twitched and she turned her head to look at Torleik as he began to sing in a language that was unknown to her. Crimson eyes never left him as he sang, and she found that his voice soothed some of the pain that was tearing her heart apart. As his song ended and the crackle of the flame became more audible Ktulu turned her head back to the dwindling pyre. It would be gone soon and in its place would be the charred bones of her mother. No one would know who it was that died there; she would probably just be considered another pile of bones to anyone who happened upon her. There was such a lack of respect among everyone in Helovia that it was only a matter of time until her gravesite was was defaced and her bones vandalized. It inspired rage within the dark mare that was only sedated when her sister spoke.
"We did right by her, Ktulu."
"Did we?" Ktulu's voice was uncharacteristically soft. Had they really done right by their mother? Was it not their choices that had driven a wedge between Paladin and Soleil that left the mare alone in her last years?
"And we can honor her with our choices."
The Constrictor looked to her sister then nodded her head in understanding. "We can only aspire to be more like her." She shifted her gaze to Torleik and nodded her head to the stallion. "Thank you for what you've done."
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![[Image: 531c0b471919e]](http://images.helovia.net/index.php/view/531c0b471919e)
