the Rift


[OPEN] one : purification or decimation?

Cirrus Posts: 233
Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.1 :: 8 HP: 69 | Buff: SWIFT
Whit
#1
Sand moved beneath her hooves, much like it did at home. This sand was different - it seemed whiter, finer, battered by centuries of ocean swells. Cirrus' home was an island, but the sand was redder there, as if burning beneath the constant thrum of the Sun's radiant power - the sand here seemed finer, older, different in ways she could not define. I was born here, she thought randomly, unknowing that she was also conceived here, on these sands, from the love between her parents, the passion that brought them together. As she wandered, her thoughts wandered, stretching out over the time that had led her to this moment, to this time and place and purpose.

To kill, to improve herself.

The Earth Lord had been both specific and vague. She was to find ones suffering, and purify them. But the process of purification was then going to kill the creature.. And she had to collect a token from their body.

Well, at least she had done that before.

The dark feather of her father brushed against her nape, as it so often did when she summoned a light breeze to chill her. Frostfall was upon them, but the sands and sunny day spoke of a summer long forgotten. How long would it take for her to complete this monumental task? Swallowing the doubt that kept trying to rise up within her, the cloudmare walked on, shuffling her feathers, feeling the wooden handle of her father's spear move slightly in its spot amongst her feathers. She knew about washing wounds; her history as a healer taught her that much, but killing? Killing in self-defence was one thing, killing because a God asked you to was something she wasn't sure she was comfortable with.

Wasn't it just like the Moon Goddess making Gaucho kill all those innocents?



First quest thread for Cirrus' Earthy quest for @[Hawke] to NPC on, also Open for any who would like to interact/witness! My only request is that we keep the thread moving along, so post order might be a lie!

Cirrus the WindDancer

sxc.hu
larfsalot on deviantart
as changing as unforgiving as the wind, as bitter and chilling as the cold, as warm and deadly as the heat


  • I enjoy being tagged.


  • please do not feel pressured into mirroring the length of any of my posts
    I write what I feel at the time
    and hope everyone else does the same c:


    Official Posts: 847
    Administrator
    Stallion :: Equine :: ::
    Official
    #2
    unarchived per request

    NPC Posts: 298
    User-based Random Event
    Stallion :: Equine :: ::
    #3
    The migration pattern had changed and the pod had moved on without her, as ailed as she was by disease and old age. From within, her stomach fluttered in both pain and anguish, her heart slowing in defeat despite the fear that plagued her. She’d been beached, unable to summon the strength to return to the ocean’s depths after being abandoned by her family. It was not often that orcas severed their familial ties, but the old blackfish had strayed from the pod after suffering from an erupting stomach ulcer. The pain had been to great and too consuming for the whale to keep pace with her younger children and grandchildren… and she’d ended up there upon the beaches of Helovia.

    She recalled the days when she helmed the winter migration and hummed a deep sigh that reverberated across the sand. The orca was not so fragile as to be wary of land creatures, at least not yet, but her strength was ebbing and her tired eyes were closing. She needed rest, of that she was certain, and perhaps food, even if she’d find no such comforts above the ocean’s tide. Again the elder attempted to rock free of the sand-bed she’d made upon pushing up toward the shore, but with no luck or sign of her return to the sea.

    It was then that the whale spotted a creature, one with wings and icy blue eyes, and she wailed in panic and distress. She did not want to die this way, she did not want to die. “Come child,” she soothed, her vocals cracking until she was lulled into silence again. Upon her tongue was the faintest trace of blood, but of course the old hunter was unaware of her impending doom. She had fooled herself long ago that she would overcome any illness of the flesh, because her heart was in fact still strong, still beating. “-help me.

    @Cirrus

    Cirrus Posts: 233
    Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
    Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.1 :: 8 HP: 69 | Buff: SWIFT
    Whit
    #4
    "Have you ever flown under water, father?"

    No, child, there are creatures who fly beneath the waves already - the is no room for our great wings and feathers down there."


    The words were well remembered as the cloudmare approached the massive carcass, wonderment filling her gaze as she beheld the floundering water-mammal. The orca's groans could be felt through the sands that shifted beneath her feet, the great gusts of air that burst from her blowhole mingled with the ocean breeze that peeled off the peaks of the waves and caused Cirrus' nostrils to wrinkle. There was something rotten about the creature, something diseased - she's dying, Cirrus knew, with a sudden sad realisation.

    The beast's resonant voice beckoned the cloudmare closer, and obediently she approached, though she was sure to stay out of reach of the orca's massive, powerful tail and even her thick, black fins. Help me, she asked, and oh, Cirrus wanted to. She wished she was powerful enough to lift her and place her back in the ocean, or else to heal whatever disease ailed the creature.

    "Why? Why did you come ashore?" Cirrus had to know, had to find out if the beast knew she was dying - she was already dead, for she was speaking to the reluctant Grim Reaper of Helovia, the one assigned by the Earth God to take the lives of those she deemed as suffering.

    The sad little cloudmare approached the great eye of the orca then, bowing her tiara to it, before meeting its gaze with her own icy stare. "Tell me how I can help you," she pleaded, desperate to know if there was a way to save this magnificent, great beast,

    @Essetia thank you so much <3

    Cirrus the WindDancer

    sxc.hu
    larfsalot on deviantart
    as changing as unforgiving as the wind, as bitter and chilling as the cold, as warm and deadly as the heat


  • I enjoy being tagged.


  • please do not feel pressured into mirroring the length of any of my posts
    I write what I feel at the time
    and hope everyone else does the same c:


    NPC Posts: 298
    User-based Random Event
    Stallion :: Equine :: ::
    #5
    She shifted, her eyes turning against the foul stench of coppery blood and decaying fish, and faced the stranger. The mare was vibrant and beautiful, a creature crafted by the gods themselves, but she reminded the dying orca of days long passed. Oh the night she’d spent surfing beneath the very stars and the moonlight that cast a ghostly shadow along her spine. She’d been young then… young and beautiful.

    But the winged one wanted to know why… Wasn’t that always the case? Weren’t the young always curious to have their questions answered? The old blackfish forced a bloodied smile and nearly laughed. “The pain was too great little one.The pain was always too great.

    The whale lifted her face, her sides raked with teeth marks from scuffles over the past few weeks, and she sang her last song. She’d fought hard to maintain command, but the pressure had become too much… The orca was an old matriarch and her pod was due to replace her… Younger, more viable alternatives were at hand and the elder had only to bow and accept her retirement, but this… she hadn’t expected this.

    The little land girl wanted to know how she could help and the wasting hunter decided that returning to sea was her only option, no matter how it was done. She knew that once the waters carrier her away she would ultimately give up the last threads of life she’d ever know. Would the winged equine oblige her? “I need to go back… Help me return,” she breathed deeply against the sand. Beyond them the waves rushed up against the shore threatening to overtake them both.
    @Cirrus

    Cirrus Posts: 233
    Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
    Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.1 :: 8 HP: 69 | Buff: SWIFT
    Whit
    #6
    "What goes on beneath the sea father? What lives under there?

    "Oh, a great many things, I suppose. Whales and dolphins, sharks and squids - even hippocampi, curious creatures with the crown and hooves of an equine yet the tail of a sea creature."

    "What?! You're joking!"

    "Ah my dear, would I ever do that?"


    The orca was black, with white splashes across her - white, marred by red gashes which could only have been caused by something similar in size and viciousness, surely. Her reasoning only confused Cirrus further, but the cloudmare could not beg another answer from her - it was too great and painful an effort for the pseudowhale - she did not want her to suffer any further.

    But when posed with the task of trying to return the whale to sea, the mare wasn't sure what was expected of her. Did the orca think her strong enough to be able to pick the mare up off the sands and simply place her back in the sea? Or did she want Cirrus to drag her?

    Spray from the nearby waves tickled against her cheek, as the mare realised just how near the tide was rising. "Okay," she said with a nod, before plucking her spear from her plumage and using the wooden end to dig a shallow trench behind the orca's tail, leading towards the waves which would fill it and vacate almost immediately after - it helped to soften the sand at least, and the trench helped bring the water closer to the whale.

    It would take more than that to see the creature back in the ocean, however, though her efforts had definitely helped. With the wooden butt of her spear once more, Cirrus thrust it deep into the sand at the whale's side, just near her mighty flipper. "Let's try pushing together," she said to the beast, praying that it didn't change its mind and decide to crush her beneath its weight rather than use its remaining strength returning to sea.


    @Essetia thank you so much <3

    Cirrus the WindDancer

    sxc.hu
    larfsalot on deviantart
    as changing as unforgiving as the wind, as bitter and chilling as the cold, as warm and deadly as the heat


  • I enjoy being tagged.


  • please do not feel pressured into mirroring the length of any of my posts
    I write what I feel at the time
    and hope everyone else does the same c:


    NPC Posts: 298
    User-based Random Event
    Stallion :: Equine :: ::
    #7
    It was a miracle, a blessing, a prayer whispered despite her dying breath. She’d only needed a helping hand, a heart kind enough to see her off into the last of the worlds in which all souls went to celebrate the lives they’d lived.

    Okay.

    It was all that the old orca needed and certainly more than she’d been expecting. The waters of the sea were rising up behind her, the waves finally strong enough to lend her aid if she could just push. It would be the final leg in her race of life and once she was returned to the roaring of the ocean, the great whale would again be at peace.

    The young mare was clever, and after digging up a trench around the decaying blackfish, she rounded the orca’s head in order to help her heave. With the very last of her essence, the whale began to push as well, throwing her weight back into the sea until, inch by careful inch, she began to move.

    The elder sang a joyous song that erupted across the sands once again, and for a moment onlookers could see the obvious beauty of such a creature, before the tide came crashing back upon them both. “Thank you!” she proclaimed, her voice shuttering with emotion. “Thank you...

    When at last the elder was folded back into the cool embrace of the sea, she breathed long and hard. For a time she simply drifted, her eyes capturing the stare of the young Pegasus on the beach. The orca wanted to see one last time the friendly face willing to give her rest… the one willing to help her into the next life.

    @Cirrus

    Cirrus Posts: 233
    Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 6
    Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.1 :: 8 HP: 69 | Buff: SWIFT
    Whit
    #8
    What happens when you die? It was perhaps a question only Cirrus could answer, for she had once held a bond so magnificent, so powerful that only death could break it - and death had indeed broken it. But even before then, death had tempered it - the tragic departure of her father had only strengthened the bond that she and Sitka had shared, making it nigh unbreakable, except -

    Death, what is death? The question echoed over and over within the cloudmare's mind, even as she helped this dying whale return to its ocean home. Is it just a departure, a movement from one destination onto the next? she wondered, as her weight leaned against the shaft of her spear, and she felt the sands shifted beneath her hard hooves, felt the whale strain with her. It wasn't a fast process, or smooth, but progress happened, painfully slowly.

    Or is death truly, completely, the end? She didn't want to believe it, she wanted to believe that Sitka and her father had just gone somewhere else (-but then why couldn't she feel him, why couldn't she find him, Sitka--)

    She sobbed even as she farewelled the orca, hearing the creature's final song as its body returned to the depths, knowing that once again, she was playing the part of the grim reaper; once again, she was responsible for another living thing to stop living. Cirrus stood knee-deep in the waves, her wings held aloft, her sights cast out to watch the orca swim her last swim, dance her last dance with the waves, and be carried away into the abyss, the unknown, death.

    What is death, anyway?

    The cloudmare didn't know how long she stood there, letting the waves pull and tug at her legs, farewelling the great black orca. A patch of skin remained in the trench left behind by the orca's body, which the cloudmare collects, before moving on to the next step, the next stage, of her irritatingly long and miserable life.

    Is this what I am now? A Reaper, a decider of fate and death?

    Is this what I have become?



    @Essetia no need for more replies, just wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH <333
    Cirrus the WindDancer

    sxc.hu
    larfsalot on deviantart
    as changing as unforgiving as the wind, as bitter and chilling as the cold, as warm and deadly as the heat


  • I enjoy being tagged.


  • please do not feel pressured into mirroring the length of any of my posts
    I write what I feel at the time
    and hope everyone else does the same c:



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