the Rift


[OPEN] felix culpa

Ryuu Posts: 28
Outcast
Colt :: Unicorn :: 15.1hh :: 1 Year
Mali :: Rough Collie :: None Brit
#1
ryuu
You are a brick tied to me that's dragging me down / Strike a match and I'll burn you to the ground / We are the jack-o-lanterns in July / Setting fire to the sky

I don't know why I lingered in the North after Mali was born, after meeting Sikeax. It was a long journey, and I selfishly enjoyed the way my hooves were numbed by the cold when I walked in the snow for long hours. Though it splintered in shards of agony up my forelimbs nonetheless as time went on, I took the reprieve, the restfulness, as it came. Mali stayed by my side faithfully, not much more than a fluff ball with big, beady eyes. But her love was a constant current in my mind, keeping me far warmer, steadier, fuller than I ever had been in my young life. A part of me longed to return home, even as I drifted steadily north. It was so vast, so silent. All I'd known in my life was silence, but this was a tranquil brand and breed of solitude. There were no awkwardly averted eyes, affected by the malaise my presence purportedly brought. It was not silent due to discomfort. I liked it.

An echoing bark drew my attention away, and I flicked my eyes to where I'd last seen Mali, suddenly concerned. It was a far louder bark than her pathetic attempts, but the reasoning behind that was quickly unveiled as I traipsed after her on numb, aching legs. A cavernous system, swallowing up every errant noise and amplifying it beyond recognition. Each clatter and click of my hooves on the new, rocky earth seemed to resonate harshly within the depths of my ears. No wonder Mali had sounded like a fully grown mutt.

It's a mystical place, enchanting. It draws my attention, our combined curiosity. There are so many smaller caverns, varying sizes and shapes, with odd crystal and stone shapes that I have no hope of discerning or categorizing. But I enjoy their appearance nonetheless. At least I had something I could run home to Momma and ask about. Perhaps she would know the answer?

I poke my muzzle into another little cavern, but my numb hooves are useless in yet another fashion. I couldn't feel the ice below, the slick, slippery patches of the stone below. My hoof caught it and I crashed sideways, my barred shoulder slamming into the weird spikes next to me. I kicked forward with a pained cry, trying to catch up my forelimbs beneath my chest once more. I skid and crashed in an awful heap that I hadn't experienced since my embarrassing coltish moons, though Momma would argue I'm still quite well within them. I think she doesn't want me to grow up sometimes.

But that is neither here nor there, and Mali's accompanying bark of surprise at the sudden flare of pain in our bond puts a nail in the coffin I'd just fallen into. All the sounds came together, an orchestra, a symphony of disaster. The walls themselves seemed to shake, and suddenly loose ice was crashing down around me, sealing me in the cavern effectively, a few heavy pieces nailing me as they came shuddering down. I let out a cry, trying to bite it back as I skidded to the back of the cave, peering fearfully at the sudden blocked entrance. It was weird, opaque ice. I could see only the faintest of blurred outlines. And I began to panic.

I couldn't have disobeyed Momma just to die here, trapped and alone. Not when I had just gotten Mali. Not when I still had so much I wanted to do, to say. Or did I? I was only a child still, it felt like the only thing I was really afraid of in that moment was not being able to see Momma again. Dying was not a foreign thing for me, but it still seemed ever farther from my mind than that prospect. "Help!" I cried, trying not to be too loud lest I bring the cavern down upon me a second time. Outside, I could hear Mali whining and crying loudly, puppy vocals meant to draw attention and bring a mother running only amplified by the cavern she'd been left in. Distantly I realized I was hyperventilating, but none of it seemed to matter as I crumpled to the earth in a heap, attempting to keep my wits about me with the sudden claustrophobia I felt.

@[Erebos] quest!

image credits

Please only tag starting posts, spars, and threads collecting dust!
Plot with me here!

Erebos Posts: 474
Aurora Basin General atk: 7.5 | def: 11.5 | dam: 6.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.1hh :: Four HP: 75.5 | Buff: DANCE
Orsino :: Plain Kitsune :: Dark Illusions & Enyo :: Common Griffon :: Draining Clutch Heather
#2


Erebos’ days had been spent in exuberant, wild joviality. The boy had been presented, gifted, granted, and anointed with a precious, everlasting friend, and triumph glowed in his heart every waking moment. It may have been a flow of arrogance, a trickle of audacity, a hint of boldness, but to suddenly find himself bestowed and proffered this priceless gift meant someone favored his tenacity, his grit, his determination, and he could continue to rise, to persevere, through each and every storm. Orsino was a fascinating creature, and together they hastened and collected too many foxy upheavals, derived mischief into deep corridors, unleashed seditious splendor upon the eaves of the wilds or the blossoming, lilting hums of Orangemoon, creeping and crawling their way through unlocked corridors and discovering molten treasures beyond their untamed ambitions and uncoordinated movements. The little beast helped the other cretin forget, or put aside, the tarnished fragments of disappearing or murdered friends, distracting, diverting, from the vengeful swings of violence or the villainous clenching of his jaw. Which one egged the other on was a quandary; they both followed in youthful accord, the black kitsune ambling on toddling, baby steps, the colt flourishing under the spark of power, the sizzle of vibrancy, encountering laughter and fervency in the wake of each other. It was a given they’d settle into a zealous, energetic routine, causing tribulation, exultation, and merriment wherever they wandered, crisscrossing over paths, raising hell across vibrant streams, merely enjoying one another’s company. Some hours the children merely sizzled in silence, connected by their new effervescent bond, coiled in scorching, idealistic, infidel regimes, grinning in murky precipices or staring across vast voids. This instance found them wandering the Arch, a favored haunt, stepping across thick shields of ice, subsequently giggling when either slid, stumbled, or shuffled their way along. Orsino’s chirps and chirrups were the highlight of the child’s day, and they continued returning and volleying their amusement until an eerie cry shattered the innocent diversion. The prince ceased all play for a moment, and the ebon kitsune’s ears swiveled back and forth, both caught and enticed by the rising calamity in an unknown voice, a rising bark, beckoning and prospering across the mountains, the glaciers, the walls and hidden pathways.

The colt’s heart froze, still, for a moment or two; the rest of his body clattered in the motionless fray in the same duel, his mind conjuring dangerous, treacherous images of a little golden child, bloodied, dead, slaughtered and destroyed…

Then they ran. Like a blue knight and a Stygian blackguard, they twisted and turned through the maze of ice and rime, following, lured by the sounds of panic, by the shirking, teasing, tumultuous lilt, breath billowing in warm, beleaguered puffs, long, lanky limbs trying to find security and footholds across the ardent wake. What seemed like ages lasted only a few instants, and tumbling bout of information overloaded their fallen composures – there was no game to be had any longer. A tiny dog, perhaps as young as Orsino, lingered outside a cavern, desperately conveying measures of importance and unease. His own kitsune tilted his head in rampant curiosity, but Erebos’ attention swerved towards the grotto itself, for echoing off its chambers, rattling its aperture, was a child’s voice, seeking help, assistance, from whatever dangers they’d found. Gallant and feral, the miniature demon stoked the finesse of his resolution and intended to launch himself into the labyrinthine proportions, but as he grew closer, noticed he was blocked in his attempts by a series of fallen ice. He frowned, muttered some combative gestures, then tried to peer through the opaque denizens, managing only to catch the faintest outline, the merest silhouette, of a figure trapped within its clutches. He bellowed across the snare, assuring, tangible supremacy locked within the confines of a machinating child. “Hang on! I can get you out!” The boy almost smirked at the opportunity, the chance, to unleash his power (for the good of rescuing another, of course, and not to feel the flare, the invocation, of the demonstrative potency), and maneuvered towards the ice until his maw touched a center block. Within a moment, the fire, the embers, the coal, the rapture and rupture of his abilities rose across the icy sector in ferocious, savage interludes, exotic and unconfined, reaching and licking and toiling through the melting sanction, his eyes glowing back in vehement, fierce convictions. He only ceased when the floor of the cave was entirely damp and soused, flooded with the unholy crescendo of his talents, and his demonic entity fulfilled.



Tag:: @[Ryuu]
OOC::


Credits | Coding by Schwartze | Image

Ryuu Posts: 28
Outcast
Colt :: Unicorn :: 15.1hh :: 1 Year
Mali :: Rough Collie :: None Brit
#3
ryuu
You are a brick tied to me that's dragging me down / Strike a match and I'll burn you to the ground / We are the jack-o-lanterns in July / Setting fire to the sky

M A L I


I couldn't help him. I howled and scratched pitifully at the odd, cold structure that kept he and I apart. It was cold beneath my nails, colder still when I grew angry enough to try and bite it. This was no enemy I knew, nor could counter or combat. I had no words to calm him with, not language that we shared with which I could heal his panic. But he shared my heart, and I his, and I could feel his panic. I cried, to the heavens that had given me him, the lords that had conjured our bond. I cried for my fear, which resounded in a wall that kept me far apart from my bonded. I howled mournfully, feeling him descend into a miasma that I could not understand nor save him from. I felt hopeless, useless. What had I done?

My ears, sensitive - at least, more sensitive than my beloved's - catch the faintest noise. Approach. I whirl about, flying down the corridor towards the sound. The cadence of each footfall is familiar to me, with how I never stray from my beloved's side. It most be one of his kin, and I must save him. If I cannot do so alone, then I will make this newcomer do so. I can feel my bonded's momentary clarity, his fear over just who I am running to meet. Trepidation. I don't care, I would take that chance if it meant freeing him. Dispelling his fear.

The gangly unicorn I come across - oh who am I kidding I just see him as a vague shape from down here - is good enough. There is a creature at his side, more like me, and I bark in a frenzy at them to try and catch their attention (though surely I already have if I'd summoned them in the first place). Then I turn and race back to where I can still feel my bonded, whine and scratch and bark some more, twisting my head from the ice wall to where the newcomer approaches. Demanding. Why aren't you fixing this already?!

His garbled nonsense - the same stuff my beloved speaks - puts a tendril of hope in my breast. And I stand back, eyeing the black creature nearer to my stature with a mix of curiosity and wariness. I will not trust them, not until my beloved is free.



R Y U U


I lift my head from my breast at the sound of words, fighting through the panic, clinging to the bond that I can feel clearly between myself and Mali. I see little flashes of what she sees in my eyes, like a faded movie, flickering unsurely in front of me. Indecisive of whether I should be capable of seeing it or not. It is...a boy. Like myself. And I hear his words more clearly as I tremble there on the stone ground, ankle still throbbing painfully but less important with the prospect of a speedy release. How could I have been so lucky? I never had been before. Life had never given me a break such as this one, the cave crumbling in was more like what I received daily.

Skittering awkwardly to my ever-gangly legs, I backed up as far as I could, not sure how exactly this boy was going to pop me from my prison. I really would rather not be speared or exploded, and Mali's horrified emotions from sensing that train of thought made me feel regret - especially when she growled pitifully at the horned boy, as if daring him to try it. What little she could do I did not doubt she would, and it was touching, enough so that I could reclaim my mind and focus from the panic I'd slipped into. And I watched with narrow vision as the wall before me began to melt, shying back away from it just in case.

Only when I saw his grinning face, made absolutely sure that his magic was tucked away wherever it had come from, did I take a limping step forward. Mali was not nearly so hesitant, rushing to me in a chorus of whines. Clearly she'd learned her lesson regarding barking in the north. I cautiously moved forth towards my savior, eyeing him nervously. But still I dipped my tri-horned head, expressing my gratitude. "Thank you," I breathed quietly, eyes flickering from him to his companion to the nearest exit. "M-My name is Ryuu, this is Mali," was all else I could think to say. I winced as I placed weight on my sprained ankle. "Um, do you...do you know what I can do about this?"



@[Erebos] - for plot purposes, do you think you could whisk Ryuu to the Basin so that he can talk to Ophelia? :D Also trying out a new POV with Mali.

image credits

Please only tag starting posts, spars, and threads collecting dust!
Plot with me here!

Erebos Posts: 474
Aurora Basin General atk: 7.5 | def: 11.5 | dam: 6.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.1hh :: Four HP: 75.5 | Buff: DANCE
Orsino :: Plain Kitsune :: Dark Illusions & Enyo :: Common Griffon :: Draining Clutch Heather
#4


He fed every machination into the fire, into the pulsing, beating, molten crescendo of powers and infernos, until his eyes lost all their blue hue and only reflected the beautiful, brilliant flare of his might. The scion was nearly blinded by the awakening vestiges, by the maddening, unwinding, uncurling smoke and daggers, treating it like a king, like a crown, like a sword, marveling at its abilities, at its tactics, at the control festering and fuming from within. When it ceased, when he was forced to end its abominations, its curses, its methodical, Machiavellian appeal, he was slow to return from its bombardments – delving into a fiendish, licentious zeal, listening to it blister and absorb his mind, dreaming and fueling and sparking too many wicked, sinister things (the whisper of triumph, the glimmering of conquered villages – was it Orsino or himself who provided his membrane with these beautiful, haunting images?) – blinked it away rapidly as the form of the stranger came into view.

Valiant and gallant all over again, as if darkness hadn’t manifested deep in his mind and stole away pieces of his virtue one flame at a time, he stared at the shadowy fixtures of the boy before him, around the same age as himself, limping, hesitant, shy and distant. The prince grinned with an impish, eerie delight, too much boy still immersed in a growing youth’s paradigm, edging closer despite the other lad’s obvious nervousness; Erebos’ apprehension had been lost ages before, somewhere between true, unnerving fear and rapt, uncontrollable anger. Where this child quaked and shuddered and shivered, the cerulean lad stood tall and firm, lanky and drawn into confidence (after all, he had just saved this kid), into audacity, into conviction and credence, bolstering out exuberant tendencies when Ryuu finished. “You’re welcome! I’m Erebos!” Even with passing introductions, miniscule but still complete, his mouth couldn’t cease an enduring query, and he carried on in the swirling wind and the darkened attributes of the cavern; nay, prison. “How on earth did you end up in that mess?” He wanted to know, maybe so he could avoid his own pitfalls in the future, maybe so he didn’t awaken any invitations to icy shards puncturing his skin, ever the scholar, ever the learner, absorbing the flaws and faults of another so he didn’t act upon them himself. The tiny beast’s gaze flicked over the aperture, cast over the entryway, begging for the story behind the ineptitude and the follies, the trials and the tribulations.

Thereafter, however, the other poor child, still suffering from his mishaps, needed more assistance – the distracted demon required Orsino’s blunt chirp cast in his direction before acquiring a suitable response. He tilted his head a moment, brandishing a careful study, a monstrous scrutiny, lowering his skull to stare at the sprained limb – a remarkable pretense, for he was certainly no healer. The boy was too invested in battle hymns and dangerous exploits to ever fully regard mending as a potential vocation, unless he found a way to soothe and assuage his own bones, limbs, and flesh some day. Admitting he lacked the skills or knowledge was a brutal facet to the prince’s ego; he would have liked the ability to claim endless, vast whirls of wisdom and sagacity, he would have liked to have continued saving and proclaiming heroic venues, and not discovering obvious weaknesses in his existence. Erebos acquired his previous position, staring at the ebony Ryuu, with his anxious, pummeling unease, and truly felt disheartened he couldn’t do more for the creature, twisting his mouth into a feral frown, allowing bits and pieces of his self-possession to plummet. “I don’t have any healing powers. I’m sorry.” However, like a spark of ferocity, he gathered his wits back together, rushing back into the annals of vivacity all over again. “Oh! But I could bring you back to my home, the Aurora Basin!” He tossed his head in a gesture towards the world beyond the mountains and cliffs, immersed in more snow, more ice, more glaciers and potency, smiling, grinning. “We have a couple healers there that could take care of you.”


Tag:: @[Ryuu]
OOC::


Credits | Coding by Schwartze | Image


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