the Rift


[PRIVATE] when it gets dark out

Rein Posts: 44
Outcast
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 15hh :: 2 years
prissy
#1
[Image: 56933a9cc0382]
R E I N


He bursted out of the herdland, past the decrepit Sentinels (they look so cold now, they look like death, I don't want anymore death) and the disapproving scowls of the mountains. He casted a backward glance at the mountains, the tree line, the stars beginning to glitter above him, and he shivered.

'Farther,' he thought. He had to go farther, farther away from the mountains and the snow and the sky. He loved his home dearly and endlessly, but his nightmares were always set there. The one that had set him off that evening was of his mother, of her cream and gold fur, onyx dipped hair, and glittering chains. In his life, he had always known her as warmth and love and comfort, gazing back at him with only affection in her sapphire gaze and exotically lined face. In his dream, however, she was cold, and her gaze was quiet, blank, dead. Her chains didn't glitter, her fur cream and gold fur was drenched in blood, her hair ripped and tattered. He stood by her corpse, his bloody sword dripping softly into the pool of blood around them. He felt nothing in the dream as he looked upon the product of his magic and the Basin crumbled around them.

Of course, when he awoke he felt everything. Regret, nausea, love, anger (at himself), most potently though, he felt shame. His sword of blood brought no smiles made no man happy. Why had he been cursed with it? He wanted magic when he found it was a thing, but he didn't want it like this. He simply didn't understand the origin of his magic; didn't know who to blame for his cursed blood.

His mother? No, she had her fireworks, nothing more, he was certain of that. His father? This he considered for a moment. Rein hadn't seen the Clovenheart in a while, and in truth, he didn't know much of the man's magical abilities, or if he had any. He hesitated to blame his father for his cursed blood, but could there be any other answer?


son of a thief and a priest

[Image: 56b8020492908]

Ashamin the Clovenheart Posts: 426
Outcast atk: 8 | def: 11.5 | dam: 5.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 15.2 HH :: 5 [Frostfall] HP: 79 | Buff: NUMB
Lochan :: Plain Cerndyr :: Dark Mist & Rakt :: Common Cerndyr :: Starpast Jen
#2



It was as he was leaving that his first son came to him. As the dark was at last setting, as he was wandering further and further from the Basin, the place that was no longer home. Cold pricked him in a kind way, urging him to step faster as he moved towards some sort of shelter: the old frozen arch.

It seemed that time had forgotten the landmark, but Ashamin the Clovenheart had not. As he and his companions rested, armor scattered and sarong draped, the last light filtering through stars shone through the icy ceiling and made odd patterns in their wide eyes. The trio was for the first time nearly alone. Save for the company of each other, they were in some ways very unattached.

But Ashamin still had his loyalties, and so when he saw his son outside the entrance to the cave, in the hostile wild of the steppe, he did not hesitate to call out and rush forth. Rein, the sweet child whom he loved so and saw so little, was a sight for sore eyes.

"Rein!" the Clovenheart called, tail a white banner as he trotted out of the cave. "My son, let me speak with you!" His tone held urgency, for Ashamin knew that the matter of his leaving the Basin needed to be dealt with swiftly and carefully. He could not bear to have Rein turned against him, and just as it was important for Hotaru to know she was still loved, it was important for Rein to know the same.

The buck's black eyes glittered in the growing dark, their usually cold and impenetrable expression painted over with joy. At last, he could speak with his son.


A S H A M I N



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See Ashamin's profile for more information about Lochan, Rakt, and his various items.
All magic and force allowed, barring death and permanent injury.
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Rein Posts: 44
Outcast
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 15hh :: 2 years
prissy
#3
[Image: 56933a9cc0382]
R E I N


'Rein!'

The boy halted abruptly, startled by the call, his little hooves slipping slightly on the snow. His legs spread apart, his body tensing and slinking away from the sound of his name. Instinctively, he raised his left foreleg, prepared to slice it open, prepared to draw forth the magic he tried so hard to suppress. This was a sickening motion; he returned his leg firmly to the ground as he realized what he had intended to do.

His thoughts of his magic and blame dissipated as he looked to hear who had called for him. His dark, navy gaze slipped up to see an unexpectedly familiar face. "Dad?" Rein stated, puzzled, his head falling to one side, silvery mane flopping harshly over one ear.

It was him. Gnarled horn, leonine tail, shaggy mane, blood-stained, as his son was. He seemed to show up at the most surprising of times for the boy. He searched the landscape for the deer, a pair he had always been fond of, but his father called out again. The boy would greet the deer later, he decided, for this meeting was between the two of them.

Rein straightened up, regaining his composure as he stepped closer to his father. He smiled, noting the urgency in the Clovenheart's tone. The boy decided that whatever he wished to speak about couldn't be too bad, for his father looked uncharacteristically happy. The whole situation caused a delightedly confused expression to come over the boy's small, exotically lined face.

"What is it?" The boy questioned with a smile still hanging from his golden lips as he stopped a couple feet from the Clovenheart.


son of a thief and a priest

[Image: 56b8020492908]

Ashamin the Clovenheart Posts: 426
Outcast atk: 8 | def: 11.5 | dam: 5.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 15.2 HH :: 5 [Frostfall] HP: 79 | Buff: NUMB
Lochan :: Plain Cerndyr :: Dark Mist & Rakt :: Common Cerndyr :: Starpast Jen
#4



Ashamin was joyful, it was true, but the moment Rein innocently called out that name reserved for their relationship, that Dad?, Ashamin felt his heart drop.

It was rare that he used his own magic on himself; now that he thought back on it, he wasn't sure he ever really had. He tried to twist his own heart up so it would keep beating as it had before, keep sending the right chemicals to his brain, but it was difficult to recover when he saw that purely innocent look on Rein's face. If only he knew what had really gone on in his son's life as of late, he might not have been so concerned about scarring his son.

What is it?

Well, what was it? Was he abandoning his son? No, he didn't want to think of it like that. But he was leaving the home they had shared together, even if only in passing. And that wasn't what he wanted but Ashamin knew, deep down, that it was what he needed.

"Rein, I..." the now former haruspex paused, his heart caught in his throat. That same shaggy mane caught in the wind for a moment and flipped over his neck, revealing a spot of crimson that the Bear God had left him with. He paused, looking over his son, and struggled to put together the admission of his departure. Luckily a faint mark on his son, some remnant of a cut, caught his attention.

Rein was not immaculate. Rein was not innocent, not entirely pure or clean. Perhaps he was young but the faint line of a healed cut on his shoulder (its origins unknown to Ashamin) revealed that he had been through something. Ashamin wished he'd been there for it, and he wanted to be there in the future. Suddenly renewed he breathed in deeply and came out with the truth.

"I'm leaving the Aurora Basin," Ashamin said then, his voice steady but his  heart wavering in fear. Would Rein turn and run? Would this just be another betrayal for his son?

No, no, it wouldn't be. Ashamin wouldn't let it.

"I'm leaving the Aurora Basin but I'm not leaving you, son," the Clovenheart said firmly. "I'll never leave you. Outside of the herd I can be happier. I can be free of the God of the Spark and the duties that took up my time, I..." Ashamin paused, looking first down and then back up at his precious first child. "I can spend more time with you. You're old enough now, you'll... You'll be grown soon. You won't need me, I know that. But I want you to know that I love you. I will always watch out for you, Rein, even if I'm not with you."

A crazy thought came to him, a fleeting hope. He knew he should have talked to Rexanna before leaving, Ashamin really did know that, but where was she? He hadn't seen her in so long, he suspected she'd moved far beyond him now.

Screw it. He could deal with her backlash later if the boy said yes.

"And if you want, Rein, you can come with me."

Beyond them and late in the night, the wind howled a song of forgiveness. Ashamin could only hope that his son would hear the tune.

A S H A M I N



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@Rein


See Ashamin's profile for more information about Lochan, Rakt, and his various items.
All magic and force allowed, barring death and permanent injury.
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Rein Posts: 44
Outcast
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 15hh :: 2 years
prissy
#5
[Image: 56933a9cc0382]
R E I N


His father spoke, then stopped. The boy's head tipped innocently one side, his golden brow furrowed farther with each second that delayed the answering of his question. His heart began to to somersaults in his chest, aching sporadically with worry. What was it that caught his father's voice is in throat? What demons were strangulating the boy's only way to understand their situation? What emotions were flickering through the Clovenheart that the boy couldn't comprehend?

Rein watched his father's inky gaze roll over his body, pause at the fading scar on his shoulder. He had to restrain himself from flinching. Would his Dad question him for it the same way his Mom had? He associated no pleasant memories with the scar, except for maybe seeing the delight on that violet girl's face after the deed was done.

But he didn't get yelled at or questioned. The boy was met instead with earth shattering news. Leaving the Basin? Rein felt sick. His ears flopped to each side, his navy blue gaze slipping from the furry frame of his father to the ground. He felt deflated, and looked it as well. His only father, leaving the only home the boy had ever known. Is this growing up? He thought sorrowfully.

He looked back up to his father, smiling meekly at the Clovenheart as he spoke of love, and clarified what had scared the boy in the beginning: Ashamin wasn't leaving him. He understood, but oh, it hurt anyway.

Rein was ready to leave their talk as it was, but before he muster out any goodbyes, his father spoke again.

"And if you want, Rein, you can come with me."

His jaw fell apart, his eyes widened, his brow raised, his ears pricked. The fragile boy who stood before the Clovenheart morphed into the blood-stained prince he truly was. Come with him? Where? The boy thought first, but the cream and gold face of his mother appeared in his mind. Oh, he could only imagine the heartbreak in her eyes if he left her.

The blessing and curse of parents who loved you, but not each other, was the choices. And now, he had to choose between them.

Screw that, he thought, his brow furrowing. I choose myself, his mind whispered, sealing his fate with a lonely kiss.

"I—I want to leave the Basin," He stated firmly after a stuttering start. To say the words out loud felt desolating. "If I went with you, would you be okay with me going off on my own sometimes?" And then eventually, going off on my own forever?

But he left that part out.


son of a thief and a priest

[Image: 56b8020492908]

Ashamin the Clovenheart Posts: 426
Outcast atk: 8 | def: 11.5 | dam: 5.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 15.2 HH :: 5 [Frostfall] HP: 79 | Buff: NUMB
Lochan :: Plain Cerndyr :: Dark Mist & Rakt :: Common Cerndyr :: Starpast Jen
#6


After the anticipation there was the yes, captured forever in a fleeting moment of acceptance. Ashamin watched as the heart he bore was returned to him in full, with confidence, and with love. His son's face had not been void of complicated emotion, but Rein had settled on the decision that Ashamin had hoped he would.

In an instant the Clovenheart had chosen himself. Now, his son had done the same. Little time as they may have spent together, it was clear who Rein took after.

Ashamin's companions moved out of the cave and appeared behind him, reaching out with tender thoughts and affectionate exhalations. Lochan pressed his eye-marked brow to his bonded's red leg and Rakt's gold eyes locked with Rein's blue ones. There was respect in that gaze, but also thankfulness. As Rakt grew, so did his capacity for interaction with others. The cerndyr knew that he owed Rein a lot for securing Ashamin's happiness.

"Of course," Ashamin said with a too-quick nod. "I left the Basin to strike out on my own, I understand that you, too, must wish to be independent. But you won't always have to be alone, this way." His black eyes were wide with the sort of admiration and awe that only a father could hold for his child. The Clovenheart lowered his nose and extended it, hoping Rein would reach out to touch and accept the gesture.

"You don't know how happy this makes me, my son," Ashamin murmured with eyes shut and heart pounding. Electricity burned in his breast and longed to be set free, but he contained his magic—at least for now. Perhaps Rein would like to see its strength, but Ashamin wanted at least a moment to celebrate the fact that they were being reunited.

A S H A M I N



image credit || Tags:


@Rein


See Ashamin's profile for more information about Lochan, Rakt, and his various items.
All magic and force allowed, barring death and permanent injury.
Do not tag me, please message on skype instead



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