Time changes everything. Seeds turn from bud to trees in the span of a few years and children grow up even quicker. Change is inevitable, and one would be a fool not to learn to adjust accordingly. With time you even learn to appreciate it for the change in scenery it brings.

But usually you would expect mountains to last for a little longer, and the sea was supposed to be eternal.

So why was it that, as Shadow flew along the southern coast of Helovia, she barely recognized anything? The very shoreline had changed beyond recognition, and while she had been gone only a few years the red cliffs and beaches along the way looked as though it had taken thousands, no millions of years. The skin on her back crawled with unease at the sight and made her shudder in a way that the icy winds had not managed. With delicate adjustments of muscle and wings the black pegasus drew nearer to the sheer rocks, purple eyes examining the stone again. She was no expert in geology, but even a novice could see the difference between smooth, weather-beaten rock and the sharp and jagged edges that would be left after rock-slides, meteor impacts, any damage that might make stone break apart. Had she been further north she might have gone out on a limb and excused it with harsh winters and ice - she had seen the exploding trees in some places, where the freezing sap made them fly apart during cold nights...

It was just that... she couldn't find the debris that should be lying on the bottom of the cliffs, half-drenched by the sea but still visible. If anything natural had occurred then it should have been there.

The absence pointed to something entirely unnatural, which, deny it as she might, still made the mare uneasy. The powers that had to have been in place to move this much land exceeded anything she could imagine, she could only gape in awe and praise the gods for their sheer strength, and quietly she wondered to herself exactly what it was that had made them do all this. Something must have happened while she was gone, something she had yet to hear about.

It was a good thing that she had other landmarks to navigate by. Using the fading blue light of the Veins and the pale morning sun as indicators she hitch-hiked on a north-eastern gale that brought her to where the western coast of the Dragon's Throat once had been. Well there she found herself forced to continue onwards, because where land once had lain she found nothing but dark, frothing water. Thoroughly perplexed the mare scoured the horizon, and just as she thought her former herd-land had disappeared completely she spotted a red line in the distance, smaller than she remembered and more distant. It took her a while, but eventually she found the remnants of the land-bridge and stared at the strange constructions that rose on opposite sides of the vast, salty moat, far wider than any horse should be able to swim.

What in the four winds had happened here? Had they all gone completely insane? Midas had never struck her as the kind of horse to isolate himself or turn the lands of the Sun into a place restricted only to the winged and the blessed, those skin-changers who could carry more shapes than just their own. Unless... but the thought of Midas somewhere other than the Dragon's Throat was almost as ridiculous. Could a mortal even make this happen? Dragon's Throat had been a vast area of desert, red sand broken off by winding canyons and arid plains. Now it had been reduced to an island in the sea, remote and isolated. Had the Sun god done this? Why, to what purpose?

What now? Was she supposed to wait on the mainland side of this water and wait for someone to notice? Bullocks, to the Abyss with that! As if she had the time (or the patience) to stand around for some young idiot to deign pass by. Shadow continued forth, not even bothering to land and rest despite the increasing strain on her wings from the heavy burden of her swollen belly, inwardly seething with irritation over all the change. Quietly she was beginning to wonder whether there would be anyone she recognized in the herd at all, but then she remembered Ampere and their meeting by the Earth God's boat. Their conversation had been... tense, much through Shadow's own doing, but at least the temperamental mare was still around and about. Finding her was reason enough to continue, and discovering whatever other things had changed now felt like an obligation. Was everything she had known gone?

Would there be nothing for Kari to come home to, when he came back? (Not if. If was forbidden. He would come back, she would see him again. Repeat the mantra.)

The blackbird made a point of circling for a while before slowly lowering herself to the ground, grunting softly as she landed in the cold, red sand; gracefully, but gingerly so as not to make any unnecessary jolts or bumps that might damage the fragile life within her. As she folded her wings over the swelling sides she looked around, expecting a guard to come flying or running any minute.

She made herself comfortable, ready - and rather eager - to start cross-interrogate them about what had been going on in her former home.


@[Zéklè]