the Rift


[PRIVATE] Life, it's only the beginning.

Glacia Posts: 111
Aurora Basin Medic atk: 4.0 | def: 8.0 | dam: 6.5
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.3 :: 4 Years HP: 62.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Name :: Snowy Owl :: None Nessie
#1



The spring air coming off the ocean is fresh and salty. My eyes take in the beach with utter curiosity. The sand is a strange and foreign concept to me. It was like snow, crunching and giving in to my weight, but it was warm in the birdsong sun. If you where watching this you would see a child on the beach taking slow cautious steps, snorting loudly with each one. 

The other really weird thing was the water. Not only was it massive but it was constantly moving, crashing, booming like a softer thunderstorm. It would rush up the beach towards me scattering me backwards, chasing and trying to catch my young body. For some time it chases me, but then I get brave and let it catch me. Snorting ensues quickly after, for once it catches me it pulls back, trying to take me with it. But I stay steady as the water rushes back to its massive body, only to crash and come back again. 

Before long I was smiling, giggles echoing across the beach, bouncing off the grains of sand and the yellow salty beach grasses. Bravery and curiosity won out over fear and caution and soon I was moving deeper into the water. I look out to see the birds landing on the water so gracefully when I see a head pop up out of the water. It's a brown head, with big black eyes. It is certainly very cute. I wonder what it is. Slowly I move closer to it, But the further out I got, the stronger the pull of the ocean, the bigger the waves and the more of a struggle I was having. I had halted, questioning if I should continue out when the biggest wave thus fr swept me off my feet. A short shriek followed as I went under. After a moment a sobbing black horned head pops up, only to find I had moved much further away. With a panic like reaction I swim frantically towards shore. But I just kept getting pummeled by waves, and I almost wonder if I would make it out alive. So I swim strongly against the current, and with an act of desperation I call out for help. Maybe someone would hear me, and help me out of the situation I had gotten myself into.

"Speech goes here."
@Mauja If he would like to save his kid from drowning because she's just to damn curious. XD

Glacia
Slow down, it's a science


Credit
Ascended Helovian

Mauja the Frozen Light Posts: 1,392
Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 10.5 | dam: 7.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 17.2 :: 14 HP: 79.5 | Buff: HUNTER
Irma :: Snowy Owl :: Terrorize & Diego :: Eurasian Eagle-Owl :: Rage Neo
#2
but somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams
Life was a curious thing—you had those you loved, but you just kept on losing them, for once reason or another. Some went away (Kahlua). Some died (Psyche). Some.. some, you just let the tide of the world take—or maybe it was the tide of the world that took you, and in the whirls of water you lost sight of them. He loved them still, and he thought about them often—Faelene, Lena, Ulrik, Glacia, everyone else he had known in the frozen north.. everyone else who had followed him from the dragon's wrath at the Edge.

Everyone he had forsaken. Everyone he thought of, thought oh, I should go see them, and then just—never did. He grit his teeth. And it was all his fault.

He knew that, and yet he seemed incapable to change it.

The surf rushed up—the spring air made the ocean violent, a stormy gray heave, its incessant rage a roar as it threw itself against the white cliffs of his edge. It almost seemed angry that land was in its way, stubbornly battering itself against it and, through the ages, slowly carving itself a path deeper.

Maybe one day, far after Mauja had left this world, it would have devoured all land.

Deep in thought, the Queen of the Edge padded along the white shore with his head low.

Until the stillness shattered—and the wind carried with it a voice, a cry for help, desperation given form. His movements ceased, white head rising, ears flickering—did everyone fall into the ocean and need his help these days? It felt like he'd saved countless horses on the beach, but in reality, this would probably only be the second.

His eyes on wings soared out over the waves, seeking for the source, hunting by sight and by sound; they drifted easily with the fickle winds, and then—

And then, they saw her.

Lost in the waves of the hungry sea was his child.

"Fuck," Mauja spat into the sand, and turned into a white streak throwing himself into the arms of the very sea that threatened to swallow his girl.

His mind strained—his soul pushed—and from the unruly bottom of the sea rose the ice, fighting higher and higher against the strong pull of the ocean. Some snapped from the pressure. Some, he wasn't strong enough to pull high enough, as his legs fought to get him out there, and not be pulled under himself.

Some, he hoped, would rise high enough, and last long enough, to trap her against, and keep her from being pulled further out.

Maybe he had lost her to the fickle ways of his mind and his skewered perception of time—but he be damned if he lost her to death today.

[ "Save me!" Neo posts 4 years later... @Glacia .. not sure how to place this with the SWP though. ]
man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
angels, they fell first, but I'm still here

Glacia Posts: 111
Aurora Basin Medic atk: 4.0 | def: 8.0 | dam: 6.5
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.3 :: 4 Years HP: 62.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Name :: Snowy Owl :: None Nessie
#3


Someone please.

Don't think like that. 

I'm not going to make it, am I?

I am going to make it. I said don't think like that. 

But it was hard to be positive, when the waves are pounding into you, and with each stroke you are losing strength.

 But then I see an angel. He's moving closer, with grace and prowess. Seeing him come closer gives me an added boost, and I swim harder for him. As I get closer it dawns on me that he isn't an angel. 

Dad? 

"Dad!"


Another wave hits, and I go under. I come back up sputtering and gasping, kicking my back legs as hard as possible, but, what I hit... It is hard and cold and breaks suddenly upon hitting it. 

What the hell?

But currently I can't think about it, because dad is closer now. I can grab onto him. Dad will save me, right? He's a hero. He is always gonna be there.... 

Or was I just lucky this time?

But I wasn't out of the woods yet. As he gets closer, my neck stretches out, and I try to grab at his mane, then I can pull myself closer, then maybe he can get me back. You'll save me dad. I know you will.

I just hope you will soon. Because my breathing is becoming haggard, and my strength is fading. I'm so tired dad. Please hurry, I'm trying. I'm trying to get to you, but I'm so tired.

"Speech goes here."

Glacia
Slow down, it's a science
Credit
Ascended Helovian

Mauja the Frozen Light Posts: 1,392
Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 10.5 | dam: 7.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 17.2 :: 14 HP: 79.5 | Buff: HUNTER
Irma :: Snowy Owl :: Terrorize & Diego :: Eurasian Eagle-Owl :: Rage Neo
#4
but somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams
No you fucking don't—

He didn't know to which God he was praying—cursing. He didn't know at who he aimed the snarled threats bounding through his skull.

He didn't care, either.

Don't—

The angry ocean battered itself against him; his long white hair floated upon the surface, peaceful in a way so at odds with the way his legs fought beneath the surface, and the way the water sprayed into his face and the rolling waves doused his head time and again. His ears were flat against his neck, eyes narrow slits, black nostrils pumping furiously to drag enough air in to fuel his movements.

Don't touch my girl—

He could almost see the dark hand descending upon her; felt his magic break against the small shape of his child, lost in the wrath of nature. He had to be close enough now—he couldn't sustain both himself and pull ice thick enough to hold back the primordial force of the sea—it just wasn't possible.

Tears mingled with the salt water running down his face, fury and despair tying up his throat.

He wasn't strong enough.

He couldn't fight the fucking sea.

She screamed again—"Dad!"—before the waves pulled her under; all her hope, all her fear, living in that single word.

All her faith.

I'm not strong enough—

Still, his legs kept pushing, fatigue dulling the power of his strokes.

Forgive me, I'm not strong enough—

His little girl was drowning, and in the rage of the waves, he had, at last, found an enemy he could not defeat. His fire could not dissipate it; his ice could not freeze it. He was a mouse fighting a tiger,

but he fought all the same, weeping.

She was so close, so fragile, kicking the last of his ice apart and lunging for him.

She was so close, but so far, and he was so tired, the strength of his soul spent on defying fate.

Maybe, it could save her.

Maybe, it would be the thing that made the difference; that extra push from something solid.

Teeth latched onto the long strands of his mane, and Mauja went under, falling into a world he had never before visited; it seemed so much more peaceful down here.. slower.. calmer.. his large body buffeted by the dragging echo of the waves, cradled by the immense power of the water. Strange light filtered down from above, odd shadows playing desperately.

The water stung his eyes.

He could see the ice, the last of its foundation breaking apart before his eyes—slow, regal, majestic. The death of a king, as the sea pulled it apart.

His mane was still in her mouth but he was sinking, heavy and tired; the air trapped in his lungs was still enough to sustain him, the swell of his rib cage almost pleasant with its tingling edge of desperation.

Perhaps drowning would not be so bad, after all.

Then, the world exploded into darkness and stars and the air rushed out of his nostrils in a stream of bubbles, and—

Oh gods, it hurt

He screamed, the sound swallowed by the water, body writhing out of instinct and pain, and then—

His head shot back above the surface, gulping in air and coughing it out again, but in the next heartbeat he was down again, pushed by the weight of Glacia across his neck. He pressed his eyes shut, heart near exploding in his chest; pushed his head back up. She was lodged against him, somehow, precariously trapped over his neck and back.

Hold on, he thought, his lungs useless for anything—just breathing in, coughing up the water. He spun where he was, eyesight ruined by the water, not knowing where to go—or how to get there.

In the end, the owls saved him. Told him when he faced land.

Come to think of it, he could feel it, too; the ocean tried to pull him apart, its top layers dragging him in to shore, but the deeper, stronger current beneath trying to drag him below, and out.

His tears kept on falling, his breathing full of ragged sobs and coughs.

Why the fuck had he gotten kids in the first place—

When you would just drown with them—

But life is a stubborn thing, he has learned over the years.

And so it is the unwillingness to let go that kept his legs pushing against the might of the sea, bringing him closer and closer to land—a slow and painful crawl, his mind reduced to nothing but grim determination and the promise of collapse, his body nothing but something that burned with each movement.

One stroke had him stumbling, pitching forward into the water, falling into it yet again; his knees collided with soft silver sand, the water once again roaring above his head.

Sand.

He could stand.

Maybe she would be able to, too.

But where is she, now?

Had he lost her when he stumbled, and fell? Was she being pulled back out again? Trembling, he found his feet under the water, and heaved his aching body to all four—coming up out of the waves, sobbing and coughing, casting about for the black form of his child.

If he lost her now, he wasn't sure he had the strength to save her.

[ @Glacia, if you want me to change anything just let me know ^^ Oh, I couldn't fit it in from his perspective, but at this part: "Then, the world exploded into darkness and stars and the air rushed out of his nostrils in a stream of bubbles, and—" was because Glacia managed to kick him in the head lol xD ]
man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
angels, they fell first, but I'm still here

Glacia Posts: 111
Aurora Basin Medic atk: 4.0 | def: 8.0 | dam: 6.5
Mare :: Unicorn :: 16.3 :: 4 Years HP: 62.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Name :: Snowy Owl :: None Nessie
#5


I had it. His mane. I got you daddy. You got me. We got each other. I pull with what little strength I have, and for a second relief floods my body. I'm sa-

Lesson of the day: Don't count your chickens till they're hatched.

Lesson of the year: Don't mess with the fucking ocean.

He goes under, and my heart drops.

What have I done?

Him going under brings me some strength, and I try to swim out of his way. Fear clouding my thoughts, I managed to panic myself even more. Kicking my legs out furiously. I hit something, something solid, and big. Like a head.

Oh gods. I kicked dad in the head. He's going to die, I'm going to die, WE'RE ALL GOING TO D-

In a fluid motion he is back up again and I am suddenly lifted slightly out of water, much to my shock, but I'm really to tired to make much of a response. I just cling, Cling for dear life. Dad has me now. I'm safe. I just gotta hang on.... But were spinning in circles. Can dad see? Did I blind him when I kicked him in the head? If I kicked him in the head.

But he stops spinning, and he is swimming now. I am clutching at his mane with my teeth, holding on for dear life, sliding a little every once in a while, scrambling back onto my precarious post on his neck/back. After what seems like ages- If it felt like that for me, how did it feel for him? He's the one carrying my weight and his... we finally reach the shore. I had slid off on accident, and I hadn't the strength to scramble back on him, but I found I could stand. But it was all I had to just stand there, shaking and sobbing. With difficulty, I move to his side, leaning against him, carefully leaning my head on his withers. I'm bigger now dad... How did you do it?

"Dad...."

It comes out a hoarse whisper, before it begins again. Right before it all hit me, and I was a shaking crying mess.

I was stupid, so stupid. I had almost gotten myself killed with my curiosity. Worse I had almost killed my dad too.

"I'm- I'm S-s-sorry! So-so sorry!" The stuttered words come out between sobs, as I bury my face in the wet thick mane on his neck. I can't stop crying dad. It wont stop. I could have killed you. I can't handle that. I can't handle the possibility that I might have done so for a second. What if I had? And what if by some miracle I survived the experience. I couldn't live with myself.

Could you forgive me for being an idiot? Could you possibly forgive me? Ever?

I don;t know if you can. I would understand if you couldn't. I can't forgive me either.

Fool. You're such a fool. A disgrace.

...

I'm sorry.

"Speech goes here."

@Mauja <3 I feel like this kinda flowed. I am very proud of this. And your post is beautiful. NEO/MAU IS FRIGGEN. JUST. GAH

Glacia
Slow down, it's a science
Credit
Ascended Helovian

Mauja the Frozen Light Posts: 1,392
Outcast atk: 6.5 | def: 10.5 | dam: 7.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 17.2 :: 14 HP: 79.5 | Buff: HUNTER
Irma :: Snowy Owl :: Terrorize & Diego :: Eurasian Eagle-Owl :: Rage Neo
#6
but somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams
Denne polka, denne får du aldri nok av
Av denne sangen er du kommet
til denne sangen skal du bli


His heart was a forge.

It felt near bursting, hot and heavy, thick with fear, with water, lungs rattling wetly with each exhalation. Please

He was an angel with no wings, no halo; he was a trick of the light.
He was an angel of smoke, with gilt light for wings; he was a trick of the mind.

He couldn't save anyone.

The ocean heaved around him, pulled ceaselessly in to the shore—pulled ceaselessly back, into its own grave. It rose nearly past his rump, stroked down his sides with cold, wet hands, and passed him, nearly pitching him over each time it came. And still, he did not move. Glacia's weight being gone from his back was almost like having wings.

and like having a rock tied to his slowly sinking, fighting heart.

A blizzard strong enough to devour a wildfire.

Salt water ran down his face in gentle rivulets, the wind a cold and wicked thing biting straight through his thin fur, and still he did not move. He couldn't save anyone, because he did not exist.

He was too tired to even look about himself, and still his mind kept whispering you lost her, you lost her, you lost her, you lost—

But if he had lost her, why was she leaning against his side, drenched head slung over his withers, her voice whispering wetly, "Dad...."? If she was dead, how could her ghost touch him—if she was lost to the sea, how could she be warm?

If she was beyond his reach, and beyond her mortal pain, how could she cry?

The salt of her tears merged with the salt of the water—but her tears were warm against his cold shoulder, and his aching eyes slid drunkenly to the side. She was there. His girl was there, crying and sobbing and clinging to him like she had when he'd carried her through the sea—

"Glacia," he whispered, his voice raw and rugged, body shivering as the ocean tried to rock them both; was it angry of having been robbed of its prey? Or was it telling them to drag their sorry selves back to shore?

The broad line of silver sands wasn't very far away, after all. Surely he could walk there, put one striped hoof in front of another and get his corpse up on land before he froze to death, or the sea rose in all its fury? Surely he could do it?

But he stood with his knees locked and trembling in the water, unsure of if he could even think about moving without collapsing. His muscles burned as much as his lungs—as much as his heart.

"Glacia," he said again, through her sobbed apologies; strands of his white hair clung to her face as she hid within the mess of his mane. To touch her seemed as possible as moving mountains, to command his neck to bend, and his muzzle to rest against her shoulder—so he didn't, just stood there, passively facing the shore even as his gaze lay sideways, on her.

"Glacia..." he said a third time, because what else could he say? What other words could somehow encompass all the love he felt, all the relief, all the things left unmourned..? And that was why his voice was a ragged whisper, impassive and detached, frozen as the heart in which it had spawned.

[ @Glacia -- flow's great <333 also I'm sorry he's being useless .. xD ]
man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
angels, they fell first, but I'm still here


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