the Rift


now we've got problems [knox]

Aylin Posts: 89
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Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.0 :: 3
ali
#1


You're not sure of just how long you've been wandering alone in the darkness. Days? Weeks? Months? Everything all seemed to blend together into this endless darkness that you couldn't escape. Even though he's the one that did this to you, the one that took your sight from you so mercilessly after he led you so far away from your home you still seek him out. Some part of you that you don't understand still cares for him and still desires his company. You don't understand why, but your instinct told you to go back to Helovia, to go back home and look for him there.

And then what? Beg him for your sight back?

The only reason you know, at first, that you've crossed the Threshold back into Helovia is by the smell. You've been in that particular forest enough times that you know it. There's also the faint, lingering scent of the stallion that you'd spent so much time with. "Knox..." His name is little more than an exhausted whisper on your lips. The second reason you know you've stumbled back into Helovia is because the moment you step into the Threshold the darkness that you'd become so accustomed to begins to fade. You blink in both shock and confusion as you gaze at a very blurry forest lit by the light of the moon.

You continued farther into the forest, your steps still slow and measured as they had been during your journey back. But as careful as you are the snow still covers obstacles and your blurred vision does nothing to warn you of the rock in your path. Your hoof hits it and you stumble, your shoulder hits the trunk of a tree and you stop and you stand there, but as you stand there you can feel how utterly exhausted you are. Thinking back you can't remember the last time you had a full night's rest and you want so badly to sleep. You know you can't but no matter how much you tell yourself to keep moving your body gives in and you slide to the ground with a tired grunt.

"Just a few minutes..." You think as your eyes drift closed. "Just a few....minutes..."

@[Knox]

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Knox Posts: 262
Outcast atk: 4 | def: 7.5 | dam: 6.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17hh :: 7 Years [Tallsun] HP: 67.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Jen
#2

The hunter wakes from a dream of a wicked vision and a ghost and knows exactly where to go. Manhattan is beside him, her body black, lean, and stoic as she stands guard over his fitful sleep in the wood. As soon as he wakes, she knows that he has changed. Something has happened in that sleep, something that has spurred him to rise and urge her forward.

Forward, to the Threshold.

She does not need to ask him why, why now in this dark night, or for whom they run. She knows because for once he has freed his mind completely, letting her experience his every thought and concern. And Manhattan knows, then, as his black hooves thunder through the wood and the pair kick up dirt and white-frosted pinecones together, that this is a mission that he has chosen to follow.

This is not the work of an ancestor, or at the urging of his mother's ghost. This is what Knox knows is right. And he has known ever since coming home without Aylin that he should have been seeking her, should have been turning back to follow the signs of his light that he had abandoned.

How foolish he has been to forget her, and how that dark night in the rain really occurred. With every step he remembers until his dark coat is dappled further by the shadows of the Threshold canopy. He remembers her until he can picture her so clearly as she was when he last saw her, and as he had forgotten her.

And then, as if he has willed her into existence, he enters a clearing and she is there.

He watches as she stumbles, lunging forward to break her fall, calling out her name in response to her murmur of his as if it is the only word he knows, the only thing he has ever exclaimed with such fervor:

"Aylin!"

He slides to a halt before her, kneeling over the rock, soaking himself in the white wet. At the edge of the clearing, Manhattan watches over as she once failed to do, vigilant and at peace in the presence of her master and his friend.

Aylin's eyes are drifting closed by the time Knox can find them with his own. But he sees there the faintest glimmer, the subtlest sign of silver, and he knows that her falling is his fault. From the point he left her in that Old Country rain, every harm that has come to her has been his fault.

And he will not forgive himself. He will spend as long as he must to make up for that sin, whether it was his or not. He must protect her, now. Even if it is all he can do for the rest of his days.

"I'm sorry..." he whispers, his own eyes forcing shut, brimming with tears so like the ones she first brought to his eyes so many years ago, now. "I'm sorry."

@[Aylin]
And I Will Laugh Until I'm Tired
I Will Battle With a Strange Desire
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Aylin Posts: 89
Hidden Account
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.0 :: 3
ali
#3


"Aylin!"

You hear his voice but you think that it must be a dream because you can't remember Knox ever calling your name like that. But your dreams don't jostle you like this. And your dreams don't make you shiver from the cold that seeps into your bones from the snow you lay on. You don't ache in your dreams like you do laying there on the ground. "Knox...?" You murmur his name again even as your eyes are still wanting to close and sleep is still wanting to take you.

"I'm sorry..."

You hear his voice again and it cuts through the haze that clouds your mind and that apology makes a memory surge to the forefront of your mind.

"My mother always said that forgiveness was freedom." You murmur into his neck. "Once you forgive you're free to love. That you're no longer bound by the chains of hatred to those that hurt you."

Your head jerks upward and you force your eyes open and in the silvery light of the moon you can see the blurry vision of Knox. You feel your heart skip a beat before it takes off, pounding mercilessly in your chest. What is it you feel? Relief? Fear? Happiness? Anxiety?

He apologizes again and you reach tiredly toward him, your thin neck stretching as your muzzle seeks to touch any part of him. "Its okay..." You whisper to him because how can you tell him that forgiveness is the answer to his problems if you held his actions against him, no matter how foul they may have been. "Its okay..." You whisper again. "I'm okay now..."

@[Knox]

"."

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Knox Posts: 262
Outcast atk: 4 | def: 7.5 | dam: 6.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17hh :: 7 Years [Tallsun] HP: 67.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Jen
#4

Even now, she forgives the hunter. His blue eyes are shut, his vision flickering in silver as he hides from the sight of his failures. How had he let this happen? How, as he lies here beside the one who cares for him so, can he feel nothing but guilt?

His heavy body falls beside hers, covering sheets of white and shadow in the scatter of long black hair that twists and curls about itself. His cheek reaches for hers, matching in black, and he feels the heat of her body against the cold of the world underneath them. This is a winter he will remember: this is a winter he will have to be held accountable for something in his life--for once.

Manhattan draws closer, her silken fur brushing against her master's, her sharp blue eyes surveying the embrace on the earth. She scents exhaustion, sees the slump of Knox's shoulders, the giving up. Does he think he can lie here like this and die beside her, without consequence?

She is not angry, Manhattan has long struggled to feel such an emotion. But she knows this scene cannot stay as it is. She butts her head against Knox's broad neck, balking from Aylin's thin one as it extends. That touch, it is not meant for her.

And the hunter receives the message. They must stand, they must walk, they must go on. In the face of failure, they must persevere. "Aylin, get up," he says softly, his lids lifted, his gaze surveying the cold. "We can't stay here. Let me help you," he goes on, each word wavering as he struggles with its weight. He must guide her now, with every step, even if the journey is to be his walk of shame. Aylin is more important than his pride.

For once, someone else, someone weaker, is more important.


@[Aylin]
And I Will Laugh Until I'm Tired
I Will Battle With a Strange Desire
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Aylin Posts: 89
Hidden Account
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.0 :: 3
ali
#5



He tells you to get up but you don't want to. Ever fiber of your being screams with exhaustion and all you want to do is sleep just for a few minutes. "I'm tired." You whisper to your friend and your eyes are drifting shut again, your lids too heavy for you to keep them open. "..just a few minutes." You murmured and you heave a heavy sigh and you lay your head down in the snow. Even the coldness of it against your cheek doesn't shock you into a wakeful state.

"We can't stay here. Let me help you."

Knox's voice sounds muffled and far away, but your ear is still tilted toward him as you listen to the sound of his voice. The only thing that lifts you from the sleep you were sinking in to is Knox standing because he takes his warmth with him. It makes you lift your head, stretch out your neck as your muzzle searches for him. "Knox..." You want to tell him to lay back down, that you're cold and you can't sleep when you're cold. You hold your tongue, though, because you remember how stubborn Knox can be once he's made a decision. If he wants to leave you can only assume that he won't allow you to sleep until he's found a place that he feels comfortable.

"Where are we going?" You ask reluctantly and you clamber to your hooves, your body swaying with exhaustion. "Is it close?" You find yourself praying to whatever gods Helovia still has that you won't be walking for another couple of hours because you know that you won't make it without being able to rest.


@Knox

"."

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Knox Posts: 262
Outcast atk: 4 | def: 7.5 | dam: 6.5
Stallion :: Equine :: 17hh :: 7 Years [Tallsun] HP: 67.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Jen
#6

Is it close?

He can't tell her no. But it's not close. It's far, very far, and it is true she might not have it in her. But this place isn't safe anymore, he can feel it in the tightening of his chest and the rising of shadow and cold. He has to get her out of here, and he has to get her someplace warm. Aylin doesn't have to know that it's the site of his mother's murder, not now. She doesn't have to know how long it will take to get there, and how many horrors they might find along the way.

"It doesn't matter," he tells her, voice shaking when he turned back to watch her slowly rise. Knox is beginning to lose focus and control--his bridle feels tight, like a prison and cage upon his features. He wants to be rid of it and all other burdens. He wants to be someone else, with Aylin at his side as the one he has for so long wanted to be with, the one he has for so long denied himself.

He doesn't think he deserves her. But he remembers the night now, when all this came about. And he remembers saying Dovev's lie, his confession of love. And he remembers screaming from inside his shut-door mind that it was truth, for him.

Manhattan is circling them, a watchful protector over this pair of two innocents, two somehow lovers after so long apart and in pain. "I'm going to take care of you," Knox goes on, forgetting about all else. "And when we get there, I'm going to tell you everything I should have said before."

Manhattan has started to move ahead, but she hears this and stops.

What is he going to tell Aylin that his companion doesn't know? What does he know now that he didn't know before? And what is this burning in the black dog's breast, this jealous hurt, this betrayal, at having had a secret like this kept?
And I Will Laugh Until I'm Tired
I Will Battle With a Strange Desire
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Aylin Posts: 89
Hidden Account
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.0 :: 3
ali
#7



He says it doesn't matter when you ask if your mutual destination is close, but to you it does matter. "I'm tired..." You whisper to him, a reminder of the condition you're in. Your legs wobble under the weight of your body and you find yourself stretching your neck out, your muzzle seeking Knox. When you find him you step closer and lean against him, allowing him to shoulder your weight while you gather what strength you have left to prepare for the journey to wherever it is that he's taking you.

Your heart thumps heavily in your chest as Knox says that he is going to take care of you. You don't know if its relief that he will, guilt that you're to become his burden, joy that he cares enough to want to help you, or fear that maybe, just maybe it is Dovev mocking Knox's voice. But no, Manhattan is here this time, you can smell her and that is enough to calm the fear that had risen within your chest. You are confident that Manhattan won't allow one of Knox's ancestors to hurt you.

"And when we get there, I'm going to tell you everything I should have said before."

You are uncertain about what he means, but you don't have the energy to question it. 'After I get some rest.' You think as you finally move to support your own weight. "I'm ready." You say and you wait for Knox to step forward and guide you in the direction that he wants to take you. As you walk there are so many questions that buzz around in your brain, but you hold them back deciding that it is better to actually talk once you've both reached your destination and rested.



"."

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@Knox


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