The day grew long and Sacre’s thoughts stacked up on top of one another, the key to the Throat, tied in his mane, was beginning to weigh down on his mind. He should go back, return the key to where it belonged, but he didn’t know what he would say to them, his friends, when he did. He should take it back, he would take it back, he was just procrastinating over it as he stressed about how he would be received. What if something had happened in his absence? Another tragedy he hadn’t been there for, like his mother and sister. He walked, paced, away from the Worlds Edge, each day blurring into each other until he reached somewhere that was familiar and he realised he had unknowingly been following the route back to the Throat. He was in the Heart! Helovia’s Heart. It was late evening, the sun retreating from the world and relinquishing its warm rays to the cool light of the moon. Just like Sacre had, from the throat of the Dragon to the mists of the Goddess.

He had been here a few times, mostly on patrol and once to escape the wraith invasion when he was just a little boy—they had been cramped in there for a while. It was also the place where he had found an egg and Inari had hatched. A warm, fond smile spread on his lips as he glanced at the red fox who had been his first blessing of two and Sacre remembered it vividly. His memories of this place, whilst it had been a time of fear, where happy and bright, full of new friends and warmth. 

Sacre, not really knowing exactly why he was here, began to make his way into the cave system, deciding he might as well make the most of it whilst he was here. The familiar glint of fire and the glow of crystals welcomes him in as the heat pierces his coat and warms his body—the furnace of Helovia. He was not alone, however, and he made a small noise of surprise when he spotted the light coloured mare who sported a horn, but there wasn't an awful lot else he could gather in the dim cave lighting.

"Hey" he called out to her before getting any closer, hoping he wouldn't frighten her whilst his two foxes peered from behind his two hairy forelegs, wondering who the new face was. "Cool place isn't it" he smiled and nodded to their surroundings, the sparkling gems making way for many different passages that led to many different rooms. When he had taken refuge here, Sacre had made a point of exploring as much of it as he could, though he often got distracted by the crowds that had filled it. 

"I hope I'm not intruding, my name is Sacre, do you mind if I accompany you?" he boldly asked, excited to find out who she was and what had drawn her to the underground maze of Helovia.

”Zyan” …  ”YA!”

Her name echoed around Sacre’s head as his two companions repeated it back and forth between themselves—the playfulness of foxes. They almost seemed to grow in size when she asked about them too and began to twitch excitedly, they were after all much more important than their half-wit friend.

”Tell her, tell her, tell her…”

It went on and on in his head until Sacre smiled at the pale mare from the Aurora Basin and introduced the two, if only to stop the noise in his head. ”Inari and Ríona, a fox and a kitsune. The most cheerful creatures you might ever meet” he laughed fondly, perhaps too cheerful, but then it wouldn’t be his two friends if they weren’t overly friendly. As if being released by the mere mention of their names, the pair trotted forwards, eagerly but cautiously, unsure as to whether they might still frighten the girl. Once they thought they were close enough, a flurry of tails reached out to the Basin unicorn with their primary aim to brush against her legs—a gentle touch of two curious vulpine. 

However, Sacre was now more interested in the question she asked, her voice was delicate and he warmed to her easily. ”Yes—well—a while ago now, there was an invasion of wraiths in Helovia and most had to hide here to escape them until the Gods cured the problem…” he paused as his mind went back in time. Despite the desperate circumstances Sacre had met a lot of new horses here, a few new friends and discovered an egg. He actually didn’t remember the period that harshly, in fact, he discovered a lot during it. The whole ordeal wasn’t that long ago, in terms of time, but Helovia often seemed agitated if it wasn’t drowning in some sort of drama, so much so, that the Wraiths felt like a lifetime ago.

“It was quite cramped in these caves for a while… but there’s different rooms you can go in, would you like to see?” he asked, ushering the way to one of the side rooms that held etchings of history. He went silent for a moment, allowing her time to respond, he was actually quite curious about the mare too. Was she new? How did she find the Basin? Is it still the same? With her being a unicorn, it was hard to tell if the Aurora Basin was still as it once was, maybe he would get the chance to ask later. Did Lord Deimos still lurk in the mountain range? Was there a bright red stallion with two white stockings called Roux there? Sacre wanted to sigh, how long would fate keep them apart? He wanted so desperately to find his twin brother again.

“I used to live the Basin too… Do you like it there?” he asked.