the Rift


[PRIVATE] taken

Badger Posts: 68
Hidden Account atk: 4 | def: 8 | dam: 6.5
Gelding :: Equine :: 15'2hh :: 10 HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Snow
#1
OOC: I've chosen here for this thread as it's nearest to the Threshold. For @Erthë and @Tae ! Badger's headed to AA-ville for a while :( TL;DR; he's lured to the elves by a magical vision of his mother, then captured in ropes and teleported away.


B A D G E R

I am happy - it is unusual for me, but I'm happy.

It's been a long time coming. All my life, I just was; I existed, without a purpose other than the endless plodding with humans on my back, with nothing more to excite me than warm oats on a winter's night. I was bred to do the two-legged's bidding, and although I was content and never ill-treated or anxious, I was never happy. My accidental escape into the wild (twice!) has brought me a new lease of life, one I never wanted but that I've embraced with open arms. The Throat's trust in me has given me a confidence that I'd never before possessed, and I adore the responsiblity that comes with it. Helping people, fixing people - I've finally found my calling. For the first time in my life, I open my eyes in the morning with my jaws aching from smiling; I look forward to what a new day brings, instead of dreading the monotony than sunrise holds.

I am happy - and I should have known it wouldn't, couldn't, last.

It is a normal, chilly Frostfall day. My winter coat is thick and fluffy, and my remaining fat stores act as insulation against the cold. I graze contentedly, always keeping a keen eye out for any herbs I can stuff into my halter, and an equally keen ear out for predators. When I hear a welcoming whicker, I look up, intrigued - the sight that greets me makes my eyes widen and my heartbeat race. "Mother?" The tall bay mare smiles down at me, her kind chocolate-brown eyes fixed on my face. I haven't seen her for years - she was sold a year or so before I escaped into the wild, and I thought I would never see her again. We shared a pasture, even after the traumatic day when I was first taken from her to be weaned and trained. It was never the same as the halcyon days of my early colthood, but I was always extremely close to her, and heartbroken when she was sold. "Mother!" My whinny is joyous, and I thrust out my nose to sniff against her own, my whiskers twitching greedily. To my surprise, she flinches away from my touch; she turns and moves into a canter, peeking over her shoulder and huffing for me to follow.

I obey. Stupidly, I obey. I can't pass up this chance to spend time with my beloved dam, despite the warning bells howling in my head.

I follow her through the snow, my short limbs struggling to keep up with her longer, flashier stride. Finally she slows, and so do I. I turn, moving to try and embrace her again, and that's when I see the sadness in her eyes. The apology on her lips. My muzzle touches her, goes through her, and she disappears into a cloud of smoke.

I hear harsh words, the guttural none-horse tones that I've not heard in a year. I feel ropes fastening around my neck, dextrous fingers gripping my worn, battered leather halter, hands frantically stroking my sweaty neck and trying in vain to soothe me.

I notice nothing. I cry for my mother, a high-pitched bellow of anguish ripping free from my throat as I realise she was nothing but a horrendously realistic magical apparition.

And these are no ordinary two-leggeds. They are slight, slender, where humans are ungainly and bulky. Their eyes glow every colour under the sun, and their ears are pointed beneath braided silver hair. They exude magical prowess, whereas humans shun the very notion. For a moment, I wonder why they've hunted me down - why they've used their powers to create my mother, to lure me into their trap. What am I to them? Why do I matter? Why can't I have my mother?

I flatten my ears and begin to thrash against my chains. I have never intentionally tried to hurt a two-legged in my life, but I kick savagely out with my hooves, lurch my jaws downwards to pepper bites at whatever pink flesh I can reach, swing and flail like a wild stallion. They can't have me. They can't take me from my happiness, my family, my herd, my Erthë. Oh, Erthë! What will she think if she never sees me again? She will assume I've abandoned her, as I solemnly promised never to do!

More ropes ensnare me, and they are stronger than tempered steel - they are magical. Still I refuse to submit, but the more I struggle the more ropes they fling onto me. Their words are not unkind, and none of them attempt to smack or punish me, but the very fact they're taking me away from my home is punishment enough. My cry shatters the peaceful winter air, and I pray others will heed it - if not to save me, then at least to witness what's happening, so they can tell my herd, so the Throat knows I haven't left through choice. Not to save me - because I realise I cannot be saved - but to let the world know.

I continue to thrash, but the fight's dying from my eyes. I know I cannot win - the two-leggeds, with their thumbs and their weapons, are always stronger. One of them, a female, whispers kind words into my ear, and I feel the pull of magic in my mind as she tries to calm me, but I'm numb to anything except the desire to escape. It is futile, and their ropes tighten around my legs and body. They heave, and I'm dragged along behind them.

I manage to twist my head, to glance backwards at the beautiful land I'm leaving. Fear almost paralyzes me, and my angry bellows turn to terrified whimpers. I pray I will see Erthë in the distance one final time before I'm gone, and I beg the Gods to look after her in my absence. Please. It's the thought of leaving her that cripples me, and panic floods me.

I entered Helovia willingly, albeit unintentionally. I leave it not of my own volition, but at the forceful hands of creatures I thought I'd never see again. Suddenly I feel my flesh tingle, and I realise the two-leggeds are using magic again; I don't know it yet, but I'm being teleported alongside the pointy-eared thieves. As my vision blurs and the world around me explodes into blackness, I focus on the horizon that I may never see again, and watch the sun rise until I see nothing but darkness.


Tae Posts: 133
Dragon's Throat Alchemist atk: 7.0 | def: 10 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.2 :: 2 HP: 72.5 |
Mal :: Timber Wolf :: Terrorize & Hel :: Royal Hellhound :: Hellfire Odd
#2


Tae watches, impassively and makes no effort to assist.

She had stalked the alchemist here. He wasn't the sharpest cactus in all the sands, and so he made an easy practice-prey for the ghostly-girl and her canine companion. They had followed in his hoof-tracks, keeping just out of sight. And, if Tae thought that perhaps he was onto them, she would use her magic to rattle some bones in the opposite direction of where she was, to hopefully catch and distract his attention. It appeared to have worked, for he never called out the girl or her companion on their added presence to ... well, whatever it was he was doing.

As he began to shout for his mother, Tae immediately drew herself up, slowing drastically and keeping low. Her pale gaze searched the underbrush and the surrounding fauna to try and discern where this mother was. Her nose quivered, and through her bone, she could tell that Mal's nose was quivering too, trying to pick up the scent of another. The black wolf shook his head, indicating that he - with his far superior sense of smell - found nothing.

Curiouser and curiouser.. The girl thought, and began to slowly stalk ahead once more.

Despite her attempts to appear cool, calm, and collected, when the hands come, attached to their slender far too upright bodies, Tae's magic takes hold and her body seems to vanish into a wisp of smoke. She stands like a ghost, limbs sprawled and wings slightly out of from ribs as if she means to fly away from whatever madness has currently grasped the gelding. But she doesn't fly away, instead she peers forward, deciding that the creatures below are far more intent on Badger than on her. 

While her Father might consider everyone in the Throat to be a part of the family, Tae .. has other thoughts. Besides, last time she charged towards danger (and that was to save her brother), her Mother had all but disowned her, and grounded her in the Throat. No, no ... whatever was happening to the gelding, he would have to endure it on his own.

As Badger disappeared, Tae audibly gasps. That ... wasn't expected. She hadn't expected anything other than a minor altercation to ensure. After all, Badger was much larger than the weird hand-things which had appeared. Surely he could have fought them? Though if they had the ability to transport him ... well ... perhaps not then.

"Come on." Tae whispered in a hush voice to Mal as she turned on her heels. "We've got to tell Father."

And with that, the ghostly girl and the wolf disappeared back into the brush.

tae
this was your heart, this swarm of flies
This was once your mouth - this bowl of lies
Image Credits

Erthë Posts: 440
Outcast atk: 5.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 5.5
Filly :: Hybrid :: 14,2 hh :: 3 years HP: 64.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Chan
#3



She saw it happen, watched the struggle from far away. At first she had taken the blurry black blotch on the ground for nothing more than a dark rock in the sea of snow, then figured it for a lone caribou hiking through the desolation. Curiosity peaked when it suddenly changed course, altered its direction and surged forward in a flowing lope that could only belong to one of her own kind.

How was she to know that the lone horse would turn out to be none other than her very own uncle? What was she supposed to do when his path led not to green grass, running water or pleasant company, but straight into an ambush? What could she do, when he was on the ground and she still far away, high up in the air and feeling as though she was at a standstill despite the wings beating hard enough to tear from the shoulders.

It was nowhere near the frantic drumming of her heart though, so loud that she was deafened to the roar of wind in the ears, Badger's desperate whinnies or her own furious, heart-wrenching screams. Erthë could do nothing but watch as her most favorite horse in the world was surrounded by monkey-like creatures, tied down by ropes and dragged headlong into nothingness, oblivion, there one second and gone the next. His voice was cut off and left regret, remorse and fear hanging like an echo, reverberating through the sudden silence and through the shocked, numbed part of her soul that still refused to accept the truth.

Badger was gone. Erased, picked up and removed from Helovia and her life as easily as one removes a pebble from the sole of the hoof. It was such a cliché but Erthë hadn't even known how much he meant to her before he was no longer there. An inerasable presence had suddenly become just that. Erased.

But she couldn't accept it. Panting, with the cold wind lacerating her throat for each ragged breath the filly fought her way over to the place where he had vanished. The trampled snow where she landed told the tale of struggle and defeat all over again, chilling her to the bone as hoofprints lay there, cut off in the midst of a stride - there one moment, gone the next. There, then not. Present, then erased.

Who could have done this? Who were those tall, narrow figures and what did they want with their ropes and shrill nasal voices? What did they want with her uncle, her Badger - didn't they know she needed him? Lost for words, for understanding of the situation, Erthë kicked about the snow as though turning it over might give her a clue on what to do. But there were no hints to be found, no scattered or discarded objects that might lead her on her way.

For the longest time she simply stood there, gazing dumbly into the void, waiting for the gentle gelding to return. But when the sun set she turned and began to slowly walk the long way home with her cheeks lined by frozen tears.

How powerless she was. It was about time to change that.


DANCING IN DARKNESS
to the sound of a drum

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