the Rift


Riding the Winds

Seren Posts: N/A
Unregistered
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#1
SEREN
interstellar
After the calamity, after the world had settled for her, Seren had remained here in the Bloodfalls, unable to leave. While she had felt something inside her change, she knew it was only a little piece of her, and it would take such a long time to undo all the years she'd had with this in her head; the shame, the fear, and the constant wait for the demon to find her, the demon who had caused all her problems. She had been Remi, and Remi's mother had been Damara the blue pegasus, and beside her was the great horned Jarek, a king in his own right and a leader in the resistance. Yet Remi fell and from her ashes rose Seren. The demon had made sure that the brash young filly had never returned.

When the Rift had taken her, not long after Nocturne had erupted in fire, Seren felt sure that had been her time. She remembered drowning, the sensation of water and being unable to breathe and she had accepted that this was her time; it had come for her at long last. Yet it never did, and even in the Rift she had remained there, living with a few others she didn't know if she'd ever see again, trying to build a new life. Even amidst the mad gods, those who wanted nothing more than to watch their mortals squirm, Seren had lived.

Now, she stood at the edge of the crimson water. It cast red light on her, while her own light reflected off the surface of the water. Her coat shone here, the light luminescent but only just in the dimmed light formed by the canopy of red. It made her seem violet, but her eyes were silver and bright, despite their flitting here and there, although she were waiting for something to leapt out and strike at her.

Seren gave a sigh; a massive inhalation of breath that sucked her flanks in as she exhaled heavily, looking down into the red water, unsure and lost - where did she go now, in this new place, so much bigger and older than anything she had seen before?

note; ehe <3 sorry its a little odd! D: its late! @Crystarius

Caenan Posts: 49
Outcast atk: 5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 6
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.1 :: 4 Years (Ages in OrangeMoon) HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
TierRen
#2
"It's the heart and the soul and the body and the brain
Driving me insane 
But the wind and the land and the fire and the rain 
Always stay the same"
-Roll With the Wind


The young pirate emerged from the battle alive. And how how alive was he! Even as wounds from the fight gnawed on his lithe body his heart rejoiced. His blood sparked with vitality. Even his breaths seemed to have more enthusiasm. 

He now explores the place the battle had taken place in. What a strange land is the one that appeared. More than anything he hoped for more excitement to be birthed from the land drenched in red. 

A soft glow caught his eye and Caenan sought it out. Curiosity dragged him like a cat dragging in the kill of the day. The role is reversed quickly once he caught eye of the glow's source. No longer the prey the stallion is now the purring cat that curiosity left satisfied.

"Ya are the lass I spoke with durin' that fight." Emerald eyes seek out those of silver, "How'd ya fare?" The stallion refrained from looking her over himself. She had faced a great deal and he did not wish to upset her by prodding. There was heavy sorrow in her stance; if only he could bring a smile to her face he had the feeling it would be even more captivating than her glow. 

"Are you one of those that suddenly appeared in this land?" Caenan's accent softens with his serious tone, "If you are there isn't no guarantee all will be welcomin'. If it wouldn't be a bother I would teach some self defense to you." His ears pinned at the thought of the cold hearts that she could find herself facing. There is no guarantee in who you will meet in this world or what a soul will be faced with. "I'd teach ya so well you'd even be able to beat me!" So well that she would never have to face a fight with fear again. With a crooked grin and a wink his usual nature returns. "Maybe."   

Cocking one back hoof Caenan's gaze also dipped to the blood red water. Nothing like what he had seen before. Its mystery and untold secrets tugs at him in the same way his mistress, the sea, does. 

"I had hoped I would come across you once more. Whenever I saw you in that battle you looked petrified yet you still pressed on." A quiet chuckle passes his lips, "If anything I believe you may have fought more than some of the seasoned fighters! I do believe the hardest blows dealt were to their pride." He bumped his shoulder against her own, "I can't say my pride made it past you unscathed either." 

I hope that you don't mind me dropping him in here! I just really wanted to thread him with your girl. If this is a thread strictly for Crystarius then I can get rid of this post and save it for their next meeting (:

Credits: Whit's tables were an inspiration | Coding by Schwartze | Image
[Image: caenan_pixel_by_danjahmouse-d9wbjhj.gif]

Crystarius Posts: 13
Up For Adoption atk: 3.5 | def: 6.5 | dam: 5.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.2 :: 10 years HP: 60 | Buff: NOVICE
Adoptable
#3
So much had changed in such a short amount of time. I had been born and raised in the Rift. Later, I had even become a victim of my family's arrogance and desire for power. Their discovery changed me and the rest of the warriors. I had been spared at first because they hadn't wanted to experiment on their beloved son if the red stuff turned out to be toxic or something. To their delight, it hadn't been. Instead, it granted immunity to mind control magic and massively enhanced strength and senses. Highly desirable traits for warriors. That's all it took before they started me on the red mineral, too.

That was before they realized that it was alive. And addictive. And likely to turn us all into crystal behemoths. That was all it took for me to quit. The crystals had already begun to grow through my dark skin, lining the rest of my pelt with red cracks. But I wasn't a monster, not entirely. I hadn't lost the stallion that I was before the red stuff, not yet. Quitting the red mineral, however, meant leaving my family for good. That was big change number one.

Upon leaving, I intended to put as much distance between me and them as I could. With tired and aching muscles, I found myself in the Blood Falls. That's when old winter came at me - terrorizing the way he always did. With his rancid breath in my face, his teeth and acidic drool mere inches from my nose - my whole world changed. Just as I thought I was about to die, I was granted a second chance. Sort of. This place... Helovia, was it? Helovia was another land, ruled by gods. Another place to be made miserable by power hungry beasts. What's worse? I come with a deep disadvantage: my addiction. The withdrawal symptoms had begun before the battle with the corrupt bear but the fight itself had been enough to keep the desire at bay.

Now that it was over, the adrenaline faded from my veins only to be replaced by the need blazing and spreading quickly. My whole body aches, though nothing could compare to the pain pounding in my skull. Sweat beads and rolls down my neck and sides. My nostrils flare with each quick and shallow breath. The shard hanging from the chain around my neck only adds to my agony. It practically sings to me, soothing and haunting all at the same time. A groan rips from my chest as I force my limbs to move me towards the red liquid pooling at the base of the falls. I had hoped the change of scenery would be a good one. That maybe the water would calm me or distract me but the color merely acted as a deadly reminder.

I stood, red eyes staring into the pool, vaguely aware of the presence of others nearby. After several long moments and several forced deep breaths, I had calmed the desire and it's irritation raging inside of me. Only then did I take notice of the voice, though I honestly couldn't tell you what was just said - only that something had been said. I turn my head then and my red gaze drifts to the pair. One, the glowing and star-dusted girl, quickly drew my attention. She wasn't from here either, I could see it on her face. She is just as lost as I am. The other, a stallion of earthy tones and a sharp horn upon his head (the speaker, no doubt) . "You talk too much." I say, my words clearly directed to the male. My voice is rougher still than it used to be. Edged from the strain of fighting off the withdrawal symptoms. It didn't help either that exhaustion was likely setting in but I couldn't sleep - not now. Instead I snort softly, allowing my gaze to drift to the young mare. Her glowing self softens the grumpy edge right off my face. "I'm Crystarius." I offer simply.

I don't say much but I'd never been all that chatty. Besides, the other guy had already done enough talking for the two of us.

CRYSTARIUS




@Seren <3

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Seren Posts: N/A
Unregistered
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#4
SEREN
interstellar
The crimson light shimmered all around her, and while it was eerie at the same time it was soothing to her ruptured mind. In that fight she had been lost, and she was still sore, with skin a little puckered here and there from the burns of the blood, and her eye... across her face the one dark hair was white, thin, and one of her eyes was still a little swollen as the flesh healed, but the eye itself was dark, the pupil clouded over and her vision was gone, and that eye did not move like the other. Seren had lost her sight in one eye, she didn't think it was something that would simply heal in time either.

Perhaps it was part of her penance. Perhaps not, but it did not concern her. She was here, alone, for no longer. A voice was nearby, coming from one who was the colour of the rich earth beneath hooves in a wonderful place, with a horn rising from his head that curved backwards. He was so different to her, so much richer in his colouring while she was simply vibrant, and indeed, when he spoke there were numerous words, much was said by him as he spoke. Seren listened and watched him out of her working eye, her skin tight over her taught muscles, tensed and ready to run should she need to.

Old habits die hard.

When he was finished, she realised that she and he were no longer alone. There was another one, and this one gave his name - and how it matched his appearance. Seren's eye looked over to him, seeing his black frame with red crystals growing from his form, shining in the red light. He seemed to be a part of the landscape in some manner, and yet she felt less fear from him than she did from the stranger but only because she knew he too, was from the sick world that had ruptured.

"I..." she begins, her voice brittle, and fails quickly. Seren took a moment to find herself, her courage, and she lifted her head a little, trying to appear although she wasn't ready to jump out of her skin. "Burned. He burned me with his blood. I rose against him and I paid with part of my vision, it always comes down to that... whenever I try something, I fail," she says, her voice cracking a little. "No matter where I am..." she adds on in a quieter voice, trailing off.

"I am not a fighter. She was once, when she was little but she was crushed and I took her place... I just wanted to help, destroy the god who ravaged us in that place," she says looking over to Crystarius. "He was terrible!" She says, looking at him although she were imploring him to understand, though he most likely did.

After a moment of silence, she says, "My name is Seren... " She says, giving her name to them both, and she finds herself calming a little by the presence of the red crystals, by his strong presence there near her, and the unicorn who spoke words she had believed she would never heard again in her lifetime; praise.

She is silent now, nothing more to add, but Seren is glad for the distraction to the pain that had begun to grow beneath her skin up her face and around her broken eye - and any distraction was good now.

@Caenan @Crystarius

Crystarius Posts: 13
Up For Adoption atk: 3.5 | def: 6.5 | dam: 5.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.2 :: 10 years HP: 60 | Buff: NOVICE
Adoptable
#5
armor laced with blood shall reclaim his name

The orders had stated that as soon as we began the red mineral substance, that we were to avoid fighting - giving the substance a chance to work its' magic. It was a short respite, of course. Though I hesitate to call it a true respite. There had been nothing relaxing in the way it changed each and every user - some were more sensitive to it than others with the effects occurring just a few short hours after the first dose. I had been lucky; it took a few days before I could feel the changes. It hit hard, crippling the best of us with a madness most couldn't comprehend. The madness wasn't an outright, aggressive type but rather a slow, smoldering, seething madness. One that you could see in the eyes, if you dared to look long enough. Some claimed to hear the mineral talking to them, twisting their minds and cloaking it with darkness. Me? I heard singing. Pleasant, sweet singing.

Even now, I can't erase that voice from my mind.

I left them all behind before the fighting began again. Only to be in the wrong place and the wrong time. I, like the others from the Rift, had been thrust into a battle that wasn't our own. I somehow, maker only knows how, managed to make it out of the battle unscathed. Wet from exertion and from the mare that had dowsed the battlefield with a waterfall, but otherwise I am left with no new scars. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at all disappointed. What's more disappointing is how little I had damaged the winter god. I only managed to scrape his shoulder and his paw - it wasn't enough to make that much of a difference. Perhaps if I'd thought to sharpen my horn before the battle started... but I digress. The battle is done and the bear is gone.

None of it matters any longer.

Silence, no matter how brief, settles over me after my voice - rough and strained - addresses the much younger male. The lack of sound soothes me, wrapping my tired body in a soft blanket of warmth. My muscles ache - partially from their prior disuse on the battlefield and partially from the addiction burning through my veins - toxic and deadly. I just... ache. Everything hurts; including my head. So when the younger male falls silent, I manage to avoid sighing dramatically in relief. No need to anger the younger stallion into a battle. Not after battling the winter god. So instead, I focus on the mare, finding myself quietly mesmerized by the swirling colors on her coat. I, too, had noticed her in the battle. Her glowing, celestial body was like a beacon of hope. Perhaps that's a strange notion to anyone outside the Rift, but from the perspective of someone that was born and raised there - it isn't only accurate but also comforting. Where I came from was dark. Most of the soldiers were variations of black and any who took the red mineral sprouted red crystals exactly like mine. The only difference is where the crystals are located, how thick, and how widespread they are.

Her voice is brittle, fragile and when all she manages to squeak out is one word before it fails her; I feel compelled to go to her. Compelled to pull her into a warm but strong embrace and chase away her fear. But something tells me to stay back. Not out of fear of her but rather to keep her here. To keep her from running away. I'm intelligent enough to understand that my appearance can be... monstrous or intimidating. Carefully and slowly I shift so that I am now facing her instead of the blood red pond at the base of the falls. A few moments pass before she finds her voice again, though there is no confidence in that gentle voice of hers. When she paused I wanted to tell her she was wrong, that she hadn't failed or that she wouldn't always fail but I couldn't find the right words, though I wasn't sure that she would even believe me if I did. Exhaling softly, I resign myself to following my gut instinct and I take a small step towards her. So small, I hardly moved at all. "You didn't fail." I began, rather bluntly - more blunt than I really intended. "Leaving a battle unscathed is rare. Fighting generally has a cost. Whether that cost is physical or mental, it is there." I explain, attempting to soften the hard edges of my voice. The roughness remains, though not as harsh as it had been, and the strain has dissipated.

She continued, though her words change and soon she's referring to herself in the third person. The younger male would likely find that baffling but somehow, I understood. The rift was a place of many strange things. When she speaks of the winter god, her gaze drifts to mine and my red eyes soften a bit with warmth. I nod in agreement before I respond. "He was. They all were. But he's gone now." I pause, offering a half-hearted smile. "We are safe... for now, at least." I conclude, attempting (and likely failing) to lift her spirits. Being raised and groomed as a warrior has left me a bit lackluster in the social department - especially when it comes to comforting females.

By now, I was listening carefully to her - completely ignoring the other male (for all I knew, he'd left already). So when she spoke her name, I tucked it carefully into my mind - repeating it mentally many times with the hopes that it would make it past the fog of addiction. I needed to remember her. Needed to. Everything about her pulled at my soul, practically begging me to protect her. We are safe here, for now, though every ounce of my pessimistic heart wonders how soon this place would come crashing down into the corruption I knew from the rift. "Seren." I repeat her name verbally, then continue. "It's a pleasure to meet you." I add, completely genuine. "Would you... like to find a healer?" I ask, remembering that she had been injured in the battle instead of me. It should have been me. The thought echoed absently in my mind, even though her injury had nothing to do with me. It was entirely unrelated but that didn't stop the guilt. So I stood there quietly; dark and muscled, a warrior with a constant battle raging within.

CRYSTARIUS
image credit


@Caenan - sorry for skipping you! I saw your thread in absence and figured you could hop back in whenever you have the time.
@Seren

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Seren Posts: N/A
Unregistered
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#6
SEREN
interstellar
Seren looked about - and was met by a wall of black through one eye, unable to use it. She was barely even aware of how it might appear, and yet across her body she was broken, the burns seeping despite them beginning the touch of healing. Yet even as she stands there with her head down, her gaze stuck looking down at the ground, at the moving water and the brilliant blood red colour that gave everything such a strange appearance here, she heard his words.

Somehow they pierced the fog of her mind, and her head lifted up slowly; her silver eye fixed on him, the one with the crystals so matching to the glowing around them, and upon her lips a small, sad smile appears there. For a moment she remembers her younger self, brash and full of life until that terrible day, the day when she had learned that the world was not hers, not in the slightest - "You.... you speak words my younger self would have heard and ignored, but words she should have heard," she says, even her voice quiet yet so poignant.

Seren manages to move, ignoring the pain that reached across her, and she manages to stand up a little straighter - and across her was the bears hide, won in the fight. It was a consolation to her somehow, and it laced hope into her heart.

"He is gone. We're free," she says, closing her eyes and letting the moment rush over her. "And thank you but for the moment I will let it hurt. Pain is a reminder for her, for me, but perhaps it will teach me... something..." she says, with a grimace as she moves a little. She still feels the misery in her heart hanging there, the tendrils of fear wrapped so heavily around her that struggling out of them was so difficult; but she tries - how she tries.

"You were in the Rift as well, weren't you?" she suddenly asks. She lets the pain keep her awake, keep her alive - and she wanted to talk. Words were distractions to the world, and Seren had not spoken with anyone in such a long, long time... stuck in that place and left to her own mechanics, she had fallen into her own little world until the Rift opened - and here they were...

@Crystarius - <3 I adore him just so you know :D i think Seren secretly does too... shhh :D

Crystarius Posts: 13
Up For Adoption atk: 3.5 | def: 6.5 | dam: 5.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.2 :: 10 years HP: 60 | Buff: NOVICE
Adoptable
#7
armor laced with blood shall reclaim his name

Her glowing starry coat commands my attention when once more a silence blankets us. I'm drawn to her, much like the moth to the flame. But instead of seeing heat or warmth, I see heaven. Or what I could only imagine heaven looked like. She is light and softness whereas I am dark, cold and hard. A warrior through and through. The shifting of her coat is intriguing, mesmerizing. So much so that I almost miss the small smile curling her lips and the sorrow so clear behind it. Crimson eyes watch her, meeting the silver of her right eye before gazing to the left at the burned flesh surrounding a milky, cloudy eye. She likely couldn't see out of it now, nor would she be likely to ever see out of it again. Tucking the information away into the messy recesses of my brain, I made note to approach her from the right should we ever meet again beyond this night.

I listen carefully, her quiet voice sweet in my ears - a welcome change from the harsher voices I was used to back home in the Rift. One corner of my lip twitches upwards in a short-lived small half-smile. "A sense of invincibility is common with youth." I reply, my rough voice growing more gentle with further interaction. "You've seen far too much for someone your age." I add, though after a moment I expand on it - realizing that perhaps it wasn't going to send her the right message. "Haven't you, Seren?" It isn't meant as an insult, simply an observation. Her body still holds the soft, tenderness of younger years - years that I've long since passed. Mentally, though, she is older than she seems. I'd wager it was a result of learning many lessons the hard way and faster than anyone should.

She moves then, managing to pull herself up to stand a bit straighter. The movement is so simple, so basic yet it brings a smile to my face. She's a fighter, stronger than she believes herself to be. The bear's hide is draped over her back - white, accented with blue - further enhancing the image of her in my mind of an angel. I move towards her, taking slow and easy steps though not yet closing the gap; careful to avoid startling her even though she seems more relaxed in my presence. The younger mare relaxed in my presence far sooner than I'd expected her to but it delighted me nonetheless. She speaks again, echoing my prior statement, closing her eyes as though relishing the thought of being free. "I understand." I say when she turns down my offer of finding a healer. My smile grows larger, in spite of myself. "You are strong, Seren. Stronger than you give yourself credit for." But you really should rest, now, I think, it's all right, I'll keep you safe. Yet I can't manage to actually say it; despite watching her grimace when she moves, despite the pain clear in her remaining good eye.

I manage to remain still, thankful for her distraction from the burning addiction still coursing through my veins. I needed her words just as much as she seemed to need mine. "I was. Born and raised." I begin, pausing for a brief moment to sigh softly. My voice is deep and rough when I continue, edged with sorrow. "My family, well... we were warriors. Then we discovered a red mineral. My parents found out that, when ingested, it turned us into stronger fighters. We were immune to mind control magic but it also increased our strength and senses. But they were missing a crucial piece of information." I explain, my eyes flashing with anger and irritation on the last sentence. "The mineral... it was alive, somehow. Like a parasite. The first to take it... they... they turned into crystallized beasts. Monsters. It just eats away at its' host until there's nothing left of them." I pause, my jaw clenching and my eyes darkening to a deeper red. "The worst part? It's highly addictive, making it nearly impossible to quit." And the withdrawal is likely to kill. But I couldn't bring that up, couldn't lay that on her. Closing my eyes, I inhale deeply to calm myself once more. Her scent, sweet and distinctly feminine, tickles my nostrils and I bask in its softness. "I'm sorry." I almost whisper then I open my eyes, refocusing on the mare. "Are you from the Rift originally?" I ask her, genuinely curious about her as well as ready for change of focus.

CRYSTARIUS
image credit


@Seren - aw, thanks! I love Seren <3 I'm excited to watch her develop on here. :D

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Seren Posts: N/A
Unregistered
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#8
Seren
interstellar
Seren decided right then and there, she liked this stallion. He was stronger than any she had known, even her own sire, to her eyes and to her ears. He had lived with the terrible parasite that had destroyed part of his world, and Seren had never seen anything like that. Her eyes close and she sees the mountain though, fire spewing from the top, molten and terrible.

An involuntary shiver runs through her at the thought, the memory, and she buries it quickly.

Her eyes open as she looks up to him again, gaze sombre and expression calm.

“Yes... she has.” She says. She says no more, she looks up though and her eyes are calm. “I am sorry for you that this happened to those you know. It is a terrible thing, even more so when the... addiction... is not something that can be taken away,” she says. She knows in her own manner, in her own way. Pride had been Seren's downfall, all those years ago.

In another life, in another world.

When he apologises, she looks up to him, with a gentle smile, “No apology is needed here... none at all...”

Her eyes fall again though, as he asks her of the history that lay behind her. Seren's head rolled backwards, her gaze shifting down and away. It may seem to him, for a moment in time, that she was not going to be answering him – but then she took a deep breath, lifting her head. “No, I am not.”

She says, her voice shaking a little with the words. She had never spoken them out loud before, never talked about her history before the Rift. Seren had kept it to herself, no need to burden others she had thought.

But now she speaks, voice halting at times, but she pushes through this mental block; perhaps it will help her by saying it out loud. “I was pulled to the Rift. I am from a land called Nocturne, ruled by demons. They...” she begins, voice stopping abruptly as the memory burns in her mind, “She. It was not a they, it was a she. She found me, she... decided to punish me for trespassing on demon land. I had gone there seeking a talisman to prove to my brother that there was no demon walking there, but she found me and destroyed Remi. Seren emerged from the shell of Remi, and I was left; I did the demo's bidding, until they ripped Nocturne apart and cast me into hellfire... and I woke in the Rift, where I lived alone until now...” she says.

She looks back up again, anxiety bright in her eyes. “I've never told anyone this. My family believes I'm dead, and it was better that way,” she says.

Looking around at the brilliant crimson of the forest, the water flowing around them, she feels an odd little surge in her chest though, and she turned her working eye back around to Crystarius. “Perhaps we can both find hope here?”

Seren didn't remember what hope was well, but she found something, and more in talking to him. She found already, she liked him; red crystals and all; there was something truly enchanting about him for her – and it had brought part of her out, the part Seren had sworn never to speak of.

Maybe there was hope.

@Crystarius - sorry this is so ridiculously late D: i got caught up with stuff and then procrastinated >.> <333 but i still adore him. I been reading him when I see his posts :D
<3


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