The gold had been torn. Ever since meeting Yael and Ki’irha at the altar, the Laurelin had wavered in his usual distance from his family, and his good humor of the situation. It wasn’t just the land the black fog was pressing upon, and though his made a joke now and again, trying to win a smile from his mate, it was clear even he knew this was going to be just another god battle.

He still wasn’t ready for it though. Pressing his sons and Haldir between he and Hotaru best he could, the gold stood slightly in front of them before Kaos. Shielding them. Yet he wasn’t going to go down easy. This dead man was going to be sure to have a few tales to tell. Earth eyes spark with gold, sharp and burning as it looked upon the calling God.

Haldir was not of the same mind. He knew the weight of battles, and unlike his bonded, he remembered more clearly their costs. Usually unintended. So the stag stays close to his bonded, his basic needs taking over.

Then it all changes. He’d been ready for a fight, to tear his own soul from his body in blood, sweat, and strain of one last good row. So ready to leave it all here….but then the bodies begin to fall. The gold was bold, but not usually suicidal. Harks lay flat on his head, but as the body count rises….as faces become familiar, they raise back up in shock.

He feels a movement by his side, Gal- The gold shifts, trying to keep the colt from view of the God before him…and the colt from the death quickly surrounding them. He was not one to soften the truth, but this was more than truth, this was horror. And it grew worse. The gold can only watch though, like a cornered cat he is forced to wait and watch. He hates it. Tasseled tail thrashes his sides. Trapped. Unable to fight, but unable to slip away. There were no shadows here, no dark corner to slip into. The spotlight had turned on all of Helovia, and the weapons of the gold were all stripped from him. Even his precious crown, ever feeling heavy atop his head, felt worthless now…

Tasseled tail hits something. Bared teeth reach back to warn whoever it was to stay back or they would find themsel- Galahad. His face….the look of horror, of future nightmares. Inside the gold drains of his gusto for a moment…fear…he hadn’t felt that in so long. Outside he visibly angers. “Galahad!” It snaps. How dare his son disobey? How dare he look at what he should never have to see? Of the world ending? It wasn’t fair to the colt. The gold snapping his teeth at him wasn’t fair, but he was bitter at his son for drawing that ill feeling into the very depths of his soul. Crowned head snakes out grabbing the scruffy withers of the colt and jerking them towards him. The colt falls, mindless, but also he catches the youth’s eyes….growing white.

“Fuck Galahad.” He groans, forgetting the colt was a babe, forgetting he had no control over his magic. Hips swing around, stepping over the colt. He thinks nothing of it, of that small move. One would simply think it was to shield the colt, but not entirely. It was also to shield the tender Galahad’s deepest fear from the world of monsters.

Earth eyes find Hotaru’s and in his is the strain of it all. How much longer- Another small group falls prey group. Crowned head rises back up as he becomes the sentry for his small group once more. Still ever resistant to moving on.

He didn’t want to leave. Damnit. Look at him. He finally had that perfect life. A mate and foals with a crown and reputation to boot. Helovia, though he could not admit it, gave it all back to him. And now it was falling? Just crumbling like it was nothing? This was supposed to be where the story ended with a happily ever after, where he and Hotaru walked off into some sunset with their sons. They should be playing in the Endless Blue, chasing fireflies in the Heavenly Fields. Not this….not letting this land which had given so much fall in choking suffocation.

Wrapped in his thoughts and warning off any who dared step near in panic or threat the gold did notice at first. Adrenaline was so high…his nerves already so on edge…but it didn’t take long. Suddenly the gold squeals, fire. His underside, up by his chest burned. Galahad! He shifts, earth eyes wincing at the pain of feeling his skin prick and crack. Damnit son. His head swims slightly, as he collects himself again, trying to pull it back together. Haldir, panicking, steps to Galahad, watching over the colt. Then he hears her…

The earth eyes look to Hotaru, his face twisting, then to where she watched. Ru’in A son of Ashamin….and hers. The gold watches with blank face as the colt quickly meets his end. Shit… Even he, in his love for Hotaru, could not be untouched, and an audible groan leaves his lips. But he gives himself no time. Crowned head immediately turns to her. Hotaru…oh god Hotaru…this would destroy her- The gold, grinding his teeth at the small burns, steps in front of the rosen Valkyrie to block her path. The first time he had ever done so.

He had to. Pain, and regret pulled his face low, and he could not look her in the eyes as he stepped in front of her, refusing to let her pass. She could kick. She could bite. She could scream. And she did.  Yet he couldn't even wince at the pain. Not even as he felt the blood run down his side. He let her break upon him like waves upon cliffs. For though he knew her love of her children, he knew she’d never let her child fall without bring the pain back ten fold upon the murder. And he knew the punishment Kaos was giving for that. It might be a price she would pay. But he could not. He could loose it all. He could loose Helovia, even his sons....but not her. It would be just as suicidal as stepping up to Kaos. He bears the hurricane of the Valkyrie. His soul burns with her words. No her bites do not wound him, but her hatred does. A he continues to dance with her, keeping her, his head falls into deeper despair. So the Laurelin stands between her and her fallen son, knowing the possible consequences, but willing to take any and all in the ever present love.

The massacre was raging on, but the gold is winded already. The senseless deaths, the gods, his mate….a flash of gold rises to Hotaru’s back and another of red at her side….his sons….Crowned head turns back to Kaos. He had been wrong. Thranduil had been wrong. He thought he’d go to the end of the earth with a smile on his face, so sharp witted humorous tact. Good gods how wrong was he. Yet how could he begin? What honor was in this? What glorious fulfilling death could one be given here? None, nothing. It was the worst weapon Kaos could have ever wielded. Hopelessness.

More familiar faces fell…Mindlessly, the gold curves around his mate. His pain on his underside forgotten in the numbness. “Hotaru…the colts…” There is nothing more here for them. There is nothing more here for us. “Come…” And the gold looks to the portal. As it sparks and the battle begins to show end, the Laurelin pushes his small family and companion towards the dark whole, the only place left. Letting it suck them into its dark folds. Away from the death and fear, away from the crumbling world.

Hooves begin to drag towards it as he is pulled faster, crowned head turns to Hotaru. There’s so much to say, but not time….no place. So he has to say it all in one last attempt to press his crowned head to her. Then he sees Haldir hesitating at the edge… “Tag. You’re it.” Before stepping through. Perhaps he’d cracked and gone mad. Or perhaps even given Kaos’s attempts, there was a bit of hope afterall. Haldir lets some pained smile show, before stepping through after his bonded. Then they’re gone…

Gone to terrorize the villagers of some other world.

OOC ::
"Speech"