the Rift


[PRIVATE] and I think to myself...what a wonderful world [Moon Post-SWP]

Cera the Golden Prince Posts: 419
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 4.5
Stallion :: Pegasus :: 16.3hh :: 6 Years HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Ilaria :: Red Panda :: Heal Brit
#1
Cera
the Golden Prince

The journey is long, but familiar. Cera does not know why she would ever sacrifice so much time, just to be there for him and keep him afloat, lest he drown before he ever receives his answers. That she had been the one to approach him, to offer to go alongside him - as his friend his heart cries pitifully with tentative hope - is beyond his comprehension. She and Hector, for all their swallowed time, had always been there to offer him wing and shoulder to hide beneath or cry upon. Though Hector had disappeared into the sands once more, Megaera was there, a beacon of light and embodiment of all that he had sworn himself to so long ago. Sultana she may be to him, but her title was unbefitting at times for how magnificent she was to him. Sunspear she may be, but to him she was a shield as well, protecting him from the elements and the horrors of his heart, chasing away the long shadows with her sisterly light. 

They travel in companionable silence, and she says nothing when he must stop to collect himself, staring into the distance with deadened emeralds that long ago lost their fires. In his heart he has become but a shadow of his former, righteous, faithful self. That faith is unshakeable, a bedrock to fall upon and prostrate himself against in his darkest hours. But his fires have dimmed to coals, awaiting the return of the sun. Simmering deep in his chest. He has lived by that code as long as he can remember, one of justice and redemption shown to him by Onni and Gaucho. But he had failed his Lord, had failed Hototo, by what he'd done. 

That was why he was there, taking the Goddess up on her offer to speak with her. Because in the world he knows, the values he lives by beneath the light of his Lord, there is always atonement. And so he seeks it, hidden beneath the shadows of her broken shrine - one he'd always respected but never prayed at. It looms dark and foreign before him, and he shudders, having to stop once more as his heart squeezes in his chest. Ilaria sits on his hindquarters, and she sends waves of wordless love and support to him from where she watches him face this path with trembling lips and unsteady heart. There is nothing she can say, and even if there was something to impart to him she would not do it. Ilaria is his supporter just as Megaera is, but this was something his gnarled heart had to face alone.

"As I tread this path of darkness," he whispers, throat tight as eyes turn to face the shrine of his Lord, "guide me with your light. May I return to your graces anew, atoned for the sins I have committed." Megaera is sure to hear him, but he does not try to hide it from her. Cera had never been a creature of illusion or deceit, his soul happily bared to those who wished to gaze upon it. "May She and Hototo forgive me." One last prayer, to a God he hopes will listen, one he has sworn himself to ever since he was a colt with nothing to his name and nobody to love him. A child of the sands, but one who stood beneath the heavy weight of darkness and shadows, seeking to find a way to purify himself. To become worthy of the light once more.

At last he approaches, and his eyes turn like a scared foal to Megaera, drawing off the image of her smile alone the strength he needed to do this. Ilaria slips from his wing, going to curl around Megaera's nearest ankle, knowing she would only be in the way. Cera turns away from them, holding breath inside his lungs as if it will bolster him as he stands before the broken shrine. Knees bend, wings spread wide along the earth, caressing warm stone. Completely prostrate, vulnerable, an action of submission as much as respect and reverence. "I have come to you, Goddess, as you bid. I have been a foolish mortal, with a heart too full of grief and pain to lead me down a path of faith." His eyes water with his emotion, and he knows she may mock him for it, but he is a visceral being. He loves too strongly, and it ruins him eternally to feel it and be beneath its weight and grasp. "I beg you for your forgiveness, for your wisdom. I seek only answers, so that I may place myself within your graces once more. I have tainted myself with my actions against you, please let me atone." His heart and chest are tight with fear that she will deny him, that he will fail her as he already has her brother whom he follows. Prays that Megaera will not see him differently, for how he confesses so readily upon the stone, a broken being led astray by his own overwhelming heart. For all the pain and suffering he had endured, it had never made him bitter. It had only ever made him kind. 

He prayed he could return to being that, that his one moment of despair and anger would be forgiven. Had he not held the weight of everything else so patiently? Had he not refused to strike out, to make this same mistake time and time again in the past when he could have? Surely that meant something?

OOC HERE
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God of the Moon Posts: 236
Helovian Ancient
Mare :: Hybrid :: 15.2hh :: Ageless
Admin
#2
God of the Moon
lady diamond in the sky
"You know we can all hear the things said here." Her voice poured without body, seemingly from the sky. It always made her curious, the sorts of verbal offerings tossed at the decrepit stones that littered the Veins, and so every now and then she would eavesdrop.  

But it isn't eavesdropping when they decide to start speaking to you.

"Are you really so soft, or is this just an act?" Her voice was cruel and sarcastic - a sharp contrast to the beautiful and svelte body which materialized out of thin air. The Goddess' piercing silvery stare bore into Cera with amusement as she watched the Golden Prince hovering so dutifully over a heap of rocks. "I hope it's the latter. " She concluded with a bizarre sincerity - albeit it was laced whit condescension. 

"You want answers? Let me guess. You want to know why all those poor wittle horsies had to die? Is that it? Why wittle bittle Hototo is now gone?" Her tone might have been playful, but her eyes were hard and dangerous. Like diamonds, the seriousness and depth of her gaze was razor sharp. 


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Megaera the Sunspear Posts: 306
Absent Abyss atk: 6.5 | def: 10.5 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15 h :: 8 [Birdsong] HP: 70 | Buff: NOVICE
Gwaihir :: Golden Eagle :: None Laine
#3

I have been called a weapon
the Sun’s spear in the sands
but I must also be a shield
with open heart and hands


Of course she had offered to go with him. If anyone thought Meg would let her dearest friend face this trial alone after he had already been so broken these past weeks then they could not know her true heart. It had killed her not to go to him when he first arrived at the meeting. Megaera had been trying to be a good sultana, marshaling the healers, settling disputes but all that had seemed so petty and unimportant when Cera, weeping the black tar of this lung infection, had come and stood upon the outskirts. It was the distance that had her heart breaking for him; that he would stand so far from her, so dejected and depressed, and seek no comfort when she was right there had torn her apart. Didn’t he know her heart by now? Didn’t he know that she would never abandon her friend?

Meg did of lot of thinking during their journey to the wild blue landscape of the Veins of the Gods. It shamed her now to remember the anger she had held towards the moon goddess… She did not believe the Moon had been right in her actions but what right did Meg had to be angry when others had known loss and suffered far more that she could ever know. As hard as Megaera’s life had been, she had never lost anyone so dear to her and Cera had, and now the rage over her injured pride seemed so petty and childish compared to his injured heart. Megaera had never been selfish, in fact she had found herself in the discovery of a family to devote her life to, and even her fury would never overcome her love

Every time he stopped, she waited without complaint, in truth she was grateful for the congestion that had started in her lungs was making breathing difficult. Every so often she reached out, sometimes with a wing, sometimes with her muzzle, to press gently into his shoulder. You are not alone. they said Somehow, everything will be alright, though the last one she could not even think with complete confidence. Her friend was placing himself at the mercy of a mysterious and angry goddess, and Meg could not say what shoe thought would happen. She had tried feebly to persuade him against coming here, but it had been clear that he was coming whether his Sultana willed it or no. Still where she could not shield him as a leader, she must support him as a friend.

When they came to the place where the four shrines reached into the sky, Megaera felt a chill run down her spine. Gwaihir joined them from the skies to settle himself on Megs’s back, sending waves of calm to his beloved. The mare watched as her friend approached the stones but remained a respectful distance. He turned back t her, and she smiled, true warmth reaching from her heart toward his eyes and and spoke gently. “I am here. I will not leave you.” She glanced down as little Ilaria curled herself around one of her hooves and then back to Cera. “We will not leave you.” Her voice was steady and strong, even in its most gentle form and she knew that was all she could do for her friend now. As Cera began his prayers the Goddess, Meg bent her head down to give the panda a gentle nuzzle; they were both here for the love of the Golden Prince but could do not more than wait.

And then Goddess came.

Megaera made no movement when the slivery purple form appeared before them, she had been ready, had been waiting for her to come. That didn’t stop the urge to rush forward and throw herself between them, but somehow she mustered the restraint to remain where she was and only stare stone-faced as she watch. What she hadn’t been prepared for was the Goddess’ mockery. Her voice was venom in Meg’s ears, all cruelty and distain, eroding her resolve not to lash out. On her back the felt the sharp pinch of Gwaihir’s talons and herd him whisper in her mind “Focus here. Calm. Protect.” and Meg knew she must listen. The glint in those silvery eyes was dark and dangerous, and Meg knew she could never hope to win against her and to attack now would be her own death sentence but more importantly it could also be Cera’s and Gwaihir’s and Ilaria’s.

Love.

Love.

Love is stronger than hate.


And Megaera remained silent and still. Sun, protect us.

Art by Nikkayla @ DA
FAC FORTIA ET PATERE
be brave and endure
:: permission given for use of magic and force :: please tag Megaera in all posts ::

Cera the Golden Prince Posts: 419
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 4.5
Stallion :: Pegasus :: 16.3hh :: 6 Years HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Ilaria :: Red Panda :: Heal Brit
#4
Cera
the Golden Prince

A disembodied voice echoes around him, and his skin ripples with a shudder that he bears in silence. He hears her words, but it is undermined by Megaera's soft voice repeating in his head. Isn't that something? That love could overcome the fear he had for this meeting, the trepidation as he awaited for the Goddess to manifest. Instead of taunting, beautiful words that curled at the edges and slid over his skin like smoke, he felt only the steady comfort inside his mind. "I am here. I will not leave you. We will not leave you." At first he quakes and shudders with the desire to cry, to fall apart, because he feels undeserving of such sentiments. But then...

The Goddess comes in the moment of a spare blink, immediate in both presence and demands. But Cera is taken by the transformation that he feels inside. Because just as he is pressed too hard, as he faces this trial and his own self-doubt, he finds that something has changed. Instead of crippling and breaking beneath the pressure of his own ineptitude and unworthiness, everything splinters away. His soul cries out, until it grows, morphing and developing into a might roar that fills his limbs with fire and his heart with diamond. Ilaria's pride is sudden and unexpected, but she knows what has happened just as Cera reaches his own conclusions. I am worthy, it whispers inside his head, for it does not need the volume of a scream to make itself known. I am worthy. Of Megaera's trust and love, of Gaucho's support and pride, of Ranjiri's loyalty and family. He did not deserve what he'd been put through. He'd broken down into nothing but ash and coal, only to find that as the Goddess came before him as the final pound of pressure...he turned into diamond.

His skin had never felt so fitted, his spirit so perfectly rested inside his body. And as he slowly stood before the Goddess, he lifted his eyes to her with a new calm that had not been there before. They stand behind and beside me. I have done something to earn that. I am worthy, somehow. How can I quiver here before her, how can I spit upon their faith in me? They have cradled me while I was weak. I shall never forget that.

Now is the time to be strong.


And suddenly the words were right there, ready and waiting on the tip of his tongue as the celestial before him lashes out with barbed words that would have made him flinch even moments prior. But his Lord has answered him at last. Or perhaps, it had been inside Cera all along, seen by all but himself. Maybe the Sun had seen the potential, the ability within the Prince, and known that fate would play itself out so that he would find his strength in this exact moment. There is no time for exhilaration, for experimentation and progress. He turns to the she-devil with her galaxy eyes and venomous lips, and he stares into the void of her soul as if contemplative. He can still here the worry in her tone as she yelled Mesec's name, and he wonders if maybe she is just a little fallible too. 

Aren't they all?

"Not an act," he spoke softly, eyes never straying from her. He is changed, revolutionized, and it disconcerts him to realize that she is the one he owes it to. She was the turning point, the pinnacle, and he has overcome it. At last. Can she see it in him? Does she see her brother's flame, catching against the coals he'd once been, flaring hot and high inside him once more? "I don't need to know," he says quietly, eyes hard and sure. "I thought that perhaps I did, but even if you cared to share your reasons, the loss is irreversible. I can't claim to understand you, but..." eyes turn to find Megaera, and a small smile curves at his lips. Love, friendship, honor...Hototo is gone. But the memory of him is mine, is all of ours. This is what he would have wanted.

"I see now I was wrong. You could take my apologies and depart, that is all I have to offer you." Eyes flick back to the Goddess, and he bows low, wings flaring to his sides. Any other time he would have cringed to do so, to show her the soft and flawed portions of his spine and neck, but...he is solid. Steady. Cera slowly stands once more, and he looks into her eyes and tries to prove that he is sorrowful, regretful. "I want to know...I do. But I don't need to, my Lady. I am flawed, but I shall never make the same mistake again. I swore to respect you and your siblings, and I failed. I shall not a second time." Though he was Diviner no longer, he'd always been a child of faith, and to have even momentarily gone against those firm beliefs...there was a reason he was so regretful of his actions, and he was no liar. He could not lie to her nor to himself, and his sorrow was sincere. In all her wisdom and power, he hoped that she would see that. "I will honor you however you will have me. There is nothing I can give you that you cannot acquire for yourself, but if there is anything I can do to satisfy you...I am here at your behest." Chest rises and body stands tall, militaristic. Whatever she bid of him, if anything, he does not regret what he said. 

Hototo had lived and died with a thousand memories and experiences to call his own. He had preached and serviced forgiveness, had taught Cera the meaning of friendship and brotherhood. Cera would miss him, but the hurt grew a little less with every morning that struck the horizon. Hototo's memory would not die, even if Cera and all those who'd known him followed him into the Beyond. He was the child of the Earth, and the memory of a god was perhaps the best immortalization possible. 

Gazing upon the Goddess, knowing he may anger her with his presumptuous nature, he could think only one solid, underlying thought. 

I forgive you.

It is what his Lord had always told him to do. Forgive. Find peace. Be steady. And he stood before her unwavering, hoping she would understand. Hoping she would see that somehow, he still loved her, as he'd promised to love all the gods. 

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God of the Moon Posts: 236
Helovian Ancient
Mare :: Hybrid :: 15.2hh :: Ageless
Admin
#5
God of the Moon
lady diamond in the sky
The Goddess was surprised to see a backbone seemingly grow into Cera's spine before her eyes. She had expected him to whither and shrink away from her sarcasm, yet he remained calm and unperturbed.

"I don't need your apologies-" She snapped, and yet something in her voice hinted at kindness. "Understanding does not diminish pain. That is a lesson you've just learned. Similarly, your moral compass and pathetically small view of the world does not determine what is right and what is wrong. There are things in this world that are ugly, messy, and bring heartache. But those facets of existence do not determine what this world needs. You are sensible enough to know that not all is rainbows and butterflies, just as I do. The difference between the two of us, is that I can always deliver on my promises. I can always do what is needed. You once knew what that was - " A shadowy image of a much younger Cera, murdering the doppelganger of Midas swam shakily through the air, before billowing into nothingness. "Do not forget. This world is bigger than you. It is bigger than those who died, and just because you do not understand why, does not mean that their deaths were senseless, needless, or horrific."

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Cera the Golden Prince Posts: 419
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 4.5
Stallion :: Pegasus :: 16.3hh :: 6 Years HP: 65 | Buff: NOVICE
Ilaria :: Red Panda :: Heal Brit
#6
Cera
the Golden Prince

He weathered the snap of her voice, because in it he could somehow sense that she understood. And instead of sighing with relief, shrinking down before her, he swelled. Growing to fit the skin that no longer felt uncomfortable and ill-fit around him. Understanding does not diminish pain. And he smiles at her, because he finally understands that, and it is a glorious thing to be able to move on from the past. Yes, his brother and father are gone, dead. Murdered, the both of them. But he cannot change that, and while he misses them, he also has their memories to keep him warm. He is tiny, so insignificant before the Goddess, and he does not even attempt to weed out why she had done what she did. It wouldn't change anything, and she saw plans so much greater than he, with futures and outcomes he could not even hope to predict. 

"I'm grateful that you can see what I cannot," he made clear, and he hoped that whatever plans she had set forth came to fruition for the benefit of Helovia. It's what his family would have wanted, with their deaths, at least. "But I will try to broaden my understanding, mortal as I am," was confessed softly, wondering if she would disapprove of that, or find it a fruitless endeavor. How could he, after all? Those at his disposal to converse with were similarly mortal. The least he could do was try.

He watches the shadows converge, a scene he is familiar with, but one he has made peace with. Wonders idly what Megaera will think, watching his past self murder Midas' twisted other self. Would she think less of him? Ah, but wasn't that ironic? Because that's exactly what had happened, on a much larger scale, with the Moon Goddess. And suddenly his breath leaves him on that realization, and his eyes fly to the Goddess. She is praising him, in some small way, for at least having once held that capability within his grasp. "I understand," came tumbling out in his surprise, because he did, in some way. 

And he glows beneath her eyes, comforted by his own insignificance even as he promises to strive towards greater understanding. "Thank you, my Lady," he says sincerely, and bows his head to her. While attacking her was one of his greater mistakes, this...this, right here, was worth it all. 

OOC HERE
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