the Rift


[PRIVATE] The Earth Remembers

Random Event Posts: 1,286
Helovian Ancient
Stallion :: Equine :: ::
#1


Erthe...

The sound trickled through every flower, every blade of grass, and every whispered billow of the wind.

Erthe...

It permeated through the ground, through the sunlit trees, and the scent of jasmine and honey suckle on the breeze.

Erthe...

The stones hummed the girl's name, and the clouds pulsed with the rhythm of the word.

Erthe...come here..

In a clearing, deep within the Grove, a pillar of sunlight beamed through the trees. In the centre of that pillar of light was a small white deer, with large, blue eyes. It stood solemn and silent, waiting for the icy mare to come to her.

For @Erthe ! Posting order only applies to Erthe, and it's up to Chan if anyone else is allowed to join.


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
#2
You're so cold but you feel alive

It took a while before she realized that the sighing on the wind was meant for her. Had that ever happened before? That someone should know her name, call her as if she was somehow important and place faith and trust on her?

Only once in the past could she recall having been summoned, and considering what had transpired that time, perhaps she could be forgiven for hesitating as she looked up from her grazing, straining to find the source of the voice. Memories of fear and pain lingered on her tongue as she took one hesitant step forward, grief and loss still near in her mind as she recalled where the path of such a summons had led her before. But once that first step had been taken, it never really occurred to her that she could refrain from heeding the whisperer.

Bravery or naivety bid her to press on, curiosity pulling her along; it may not have been wise to go where she was called, but then Erthë had never claimed to be so either.

Limping along as best she could, she entered the clearing with ears pricked and eyes full of questions, awed yet not entirely relaxed as she laid eyes upon the lovely creature before her. The light that shone down upon it was so pure as to be almost painful; try as she might she could not gaze directly at the doe for very long. It reminded her painfully of the illusion once seen in a bramble thicket, sweet and pleading in the face of those who would destroy it. Were they related? Was this too an illusion, waiting to spring a trap of thorny vines and pulsating darkness upon her?

"Yes?" she said, wary behind a mask of calm. "I am Erthë. Who calls?"



Image by Memuii || Table by Wanderer


@Mythical Request

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~

Random Event Posts: 1,286
Helovian Ancient
Stallion :: Equine :: ::
#3


The doe does not shy away as the pale woman approaches. It knows nothing of the illusory beast that the Edgers killed (murdered?) in order to achieve their goal. Instead, it watches her calmly as she approaches, pale white eyelashes gently covering and then revealing eyes so shiny and blue, that they look like someone has polished the ocean.

"You came!" The trees seem to whisper, and although the deer has not opened her mouth, it is clear that it is she who speaks. Her eyes sparkle brightly and she takes a step forward. "I know who you are, didn't you hear me calling?" Her head tilts, amused.

"It is so sad when pretty things are broken...don't you think?" The Grove seems to ask, though it is the deer who appears curious for the answer. She ignores Erthe's query of why she has been called, and appears lost in her own radiant thoughts. The doe's head tilts slightly and her large ears perk to the sides, eager to catch whatever response Erthe might have to offer.

For @Erthe

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
#4

The doe - or was it the grove? - seemed to share that annoying trait of taking words much too literal with someone else Erthë knew. The long tail wrapped around a hind leg to prevent the mild exasperation she felt from showing (would it be that kind of conversation again) but the slight mare still made an attempt at clarifying herself before she could stop herself.

"Yes, that might be true... But if I heard the call, someone else might have heard it too. I simply wanted to...

You know what? Never mind."


There seemed to be little point in explaining herself, and when the doe showed no inclination of returning the courtesy of giving her name, Erthë merely waited to see if the creature had more to say. Perhaps it did not have a name? Perhaps there was something urgent that made her summon Erthë, and this was no time for introductions. For all that the doe claimed to know her, the Sage did not have any recollections of ever meeting anything as beautiful and strange as this being...

But. After all that she had seen, Erthë knew she really ought not be surprised by anything she saw in Helovia. The land was rife with magic, and a doe speaking with the voice of the earth was just another of those anomalies that appeared from time to time. Could an anomaly be common, and did that mean it was really not abnormal at all?

She considered the question with tilted head, turning it over in her mind in an attempt at finding hidden meanings, ulterior motives. An initial thought had her wonder if the doe meant herself - but she discarded it again, not recognizing herself as very pretty or, indeed, particularly broken.

"Some would say that a thing become more beautiful for having been broken. The imperfection would lend to character and intrigue, as the story behind the damage enriches its history... and add value beyond the superficial. I would like to think that is true."

She regarded the pale deer, entertained by the curious question. The simple answer to the question would have been yes, but somehow this whole situation made her weigh her words quite carefully, and after all a mere agreement would have been boring. How could you engage in conversation if too much agreement removed the possibility of debate?


_________________________________________

Waiting for the rain I'm bracing for the thunder
A twig that wouldn't sway in the wind


@Mythical Request

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~

Random Event Posts: 1,286
Helovian Ancient
Stallion :: Equine :: ::
#5


The creature seemed slightly deflated by Erthe's perceived annoyance. The doe's eyes flickered to Erthe's tapping-tail, and to the way she exhaled more shortly than she had before. The doe was young, and this was her very first time being given a task such as this. That she thought it perhaps wasn't going well wounded some small part of her, but she carried on, mustering a smile.

"I meant beauty beauty", she corrected, almost feeling the same word-based frustration Erthe was. Character and intrigue are fine, as is history ... but when you look at something, you needn't always know those things in order to call it beautiful." She paused, wondering what more to say. This time it was clear that it was her speaking, despite the fact that her lips still did not move. Her voice just simply was.

"I think broken things are sad. If they are broken, it means they are not what they are supposed to be." Her bright blue eyes rose slowly, looking at Erthe. She did not want to offend the girl with what she had to say - what she was sent her to say - and yet...Yet some part of her thought that she probably would.

"I think that you are broken. But if you think brokenness is not some sort of failing ... maybe you would not like to be fixed." The does voice, and her eyes, dropped sadly.


For @Erthe

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
#6

As she watched the slender creature, it became increasingly clear to Erthë that this conversation was not progressing very smoothly. Her own mercurial temper (impatient, self absorbed, overly suspicious) was causing the doe distress, and though she thought herself able to understand it appeared they were speaking past one another.

Wishing to remedy this, as the frail being in the light appeared to wish no harm - on the contrary, appeared to wish to heal, the winged filly listened carefully as it expanded on the question, clarified itself; it made her wonder how well she had really listened the first time, brought her to question her own ability to comprehend others. In retrospect the simple question appeared to be nothing more than that, and she felt foolish for making things overly complicated.

It was, the girl admitted, another flaw of hers.

As those large blue eyes came to rest upon her however, she tensed. Indeed she could appreciate that the doe did not wish to hurt with her words, but the implication that she was less than she ought to be still stung. So many long seasons had been spent trying to convince herself that she was still fine that somewhere, the child had begun to believe it; she had struggled with pain and limitations, broken rules and hurt people she loved all for the sake of attempting to be all that she wanted to be despite her scars.

Now she bent her head to the ground as the gentle gaze became a mirror in which she could see the lie for what it had been. She was not fine, not alright; she was in pain and nearly constantly drugged in order to endure the day, and she wore her disability like a crutch so she wouldn't have to face the guilt and grief of having caused her mother's death. It had been her fault, thus it was no more than right that she should suffer...

"I do think..." she said quietly, "that a thing is more beautiful when it is whole. Scars can enhance that beauty, in the way a broken cup mended with gold can be more beautiful than one that is without flaw.

You think that I am broken... and you are probably right. I am in pain, and I could do more - go further - be better - if I healed..."


She looked up, eyes lined with uncertainly.

"But I don't know if I should be fixed. I feel like I don't deserve it, not after what I have done... Some things - dangerous things - are sometimes better left in pieces no matter how pretty they are."

But though she somewhere believed that, the hope that flared up inside her made it so very hard to say. Oh, she wanted it, desired the relief and the healing the doe had offered - and that desire caused her guilt grow even bigger. Why should she be allowed to be whole and happy, when Shadow was dead?


_________________________________________

Waiting for the rain I'm bracing for the thunder
A twig that wouldn't sway in the wind


@Mythical Request

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~

Random Event Posts: 1,286
Helovian Ancient
Stallion :: Equine :: ::
#7


The doe shrugged, likely much to Erthe's chagrin. Erthe seemed far too philosophical about the whole thing, and the doe resolved that next time (if there was a next time for her), that she'd be much more direct with the mortals. Their lives were so short after all, that she was surprised to find them wasting so much of it philosophizing. Had they no perspective?

And so her slender shoulders shrugged off Erthe's poetic explanation and justification for how she had come to be as she was. "And yet you said history and character and intrigue could make a thing more beautiful too. You never said anything about being deserving of it. You are just atoms arranged in a way that is more or less as it should be." Again, another shrug. "You ran into a battle when you were very young. That is what I was told. Are you the same now, as you were then? Why continue to pay for your own mistakes?"

Swallowing, the doe made an attempt to match Erthe's philosophical jargon. "A bowl might be prettier mended with gold, but that assumes that there is gold to mend with, and that the bowl was broken perhaps by accident. But a bowl used to murder, even mended with stardust, will never be beautiful to those wounded by the loss."

What did that even mean? The doe didn't even really know. She just wanted to steer Erthe back on track. She needed to be successful at this.

"Will you let me help you?" She asked finally and simply, hoping Erthe would just say yes.

For @Erthe

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
#8

If she somewhere had hoped the summoner would have answers for her, she would have been disappointed. Instead Erthë found herself with more to consider, aspects of a different view that neither hindered nor helped.

The issue, she realized, was not whether she ought to be forgiven or not, but rather whether she could accept her mistakes and move on. And this she would have to do regardless of whether or not her legs healed, something that would take far longer and more thought than a brief conversation with a spirit could give. Moreover, her issues with her past were her own, of little consequence to the doe (that was made painfully clear, and Erthë did appreciate the frankness of that message) or, for that matter, her herd.

The Moon had once told her that she should not spend her life trying to please others, but somewhere that was still what she was doing; attempting to appease a dead mare's spirit, cowering because she thought others would frown upon anything less humble and self-deprecating...

But if she still wanted to be pleasing to others, and thereby pleasing herself, would it not be better if she could serve wholly, fully, with all her body and heart?

And she wanted it, and all of this was really nothing more than finding excuses again, and after teetering hesitantly on the brink of an answer Erthë finally nodded, desperately eager even though she still could not say that she had found an answer even for herself.

"I just... But... yes. Please."

Perhaps she did not have to find forgiveness at all. Maybe it would be enough to remember and regret, and swear to never be the cause of grief again.


_________________________________________

Waiting for the rain I'm bracing for the thunder
A twig that wouldn't sway in the wind


@Mythical Request

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~

Random Event Posts: 1,286
Helovian Ancient
Stallion :: Equine :: ::
#9


The doe wanted to sigh audibly to show her relief, but she refrained. That would be unprofessional after all. But still, that the girl had finally said the magic works she needed to hear filled the doe with happiness and the confident feeling of success. She wouldn't have to return back to the Goddess as a failure. She'd done her task.

The doe's bright blue eyes suddenly glowed, shining brilliantly as if filled by starlight.

"Be beautiful again Erthe. Be whole." She whispered, before charging forward. As she did so, her body began to wisp away as if she was made of nothing more than smoke. As if she really was just illusory as Erthe had previously thought she might be. Without hesitation, she charged into Erthe, though her body seemingly did not make contact. Silvery smoke burst away from the touch-less impact, and a surge of icy heat roared through the mare's body. Inside, her bones shifted and adjusted, lengthening and realigning themselves, though because of the chill, Erthe would feel no pain.

The doe did not emerge from the other side of the girl's body. Instead, a pale white flower drifted to the ground with a brilliant blue steam parting the white fluff. It landed softly upon the sunlight grass.



Congratulations! Erthe has been completely healed! She has also received a VOTG Chat in the form of a feather! The feather will not be added to your character records, but Erthe may 'use' to to call down a God for her chat!

For @Erthe

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
#10

She braced herself, half fearing what was to come; but when the doe leaped into action it was not at all in the way Erthë had expected. The creature came charging at her, and before she could move or react to step away it dissolved and merged with her own body, the contact like nothing the girl had ever felt before.

It was cold, and hot, and she found herself recalling all the beautiful winter mornings she had ever experienced. With a shuddering breath she felt a tension drain from her as the bones in her legs realigned, a haze of agony lifting from her senses... and she felt lighter for it, free in a way she had almost managed to forget. Finding that she had squeezed her eyes shut at some point, she opened them again and looked around for the doe, but she was nowhere to be found. On the ground lay a single white feather; she reached for it and picked it up, smiling softly as she lifted it to her nose and the gleaming down tickled the pink skin.

"Thank you!" Erthë murmured, not sure if the doe could hear her anymore or if the Power that sent her was listening. It did not really matter to her; it was enough know that someone had seen her, enough to know that someone cared.

She took a step, gingerly testing the strength of her limbs; and when no pain jolted through her mind, she let out a laugh and bounded away, unable to contain the exhilarated glee that filled her like a surging tide. She could walk again, and run and dance and... anything she could ever think of!

Life was good.


_________________________________________

Waiting for the rain I'm bracing for the thunder
A twig that wouldn't sway in the wind


Thank you so, so much for this, I loved this thread and the gifts and the doe.. just... Thank you!!! <3<3

~| Use of magic and violence is always permitted |~
~| Please only tag in opening posts |~


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