the Rift


Staggeringly Vivid

Rishima Posts: 137
World's Edge Moon Advocate
Mare :: Equine :: 16.2 :: 15 Buff: NOVICE
Kali :: Common Griffin :: Draining Clutch Charks
#1

Rishima</style>
the frenzied pace of the mind inside the cell.</style>

Bright sun beats a blistering pattern against coats of pitch, the lord of day particularly vengeful against the moonlit mare and her shadowy sister. The trek from base to summit had proved taxing to Rishima's stamina, moreso than any of her previous adventures, and yet it was not nearly the worst of her adventures. She had endured the vengeful cruelty of the desert sun, the vicious cold of high mountains. This too would pass. Helovia and all its wrath could not hurt her for long.

From the top of the spire, the view was dazzling and the heat unbearable. In silence she stepped across grasses which disintegrated beneath lithe footfalls, dark eyes seeking the vast horizon, still choosing to maintain her silence as she contemplated what tasks lay before her. Silently she stood upon the lip of the butte, overlooking the ocean. The skies were clear; the drop to earth hundreds of feet below, staggeringly vivid. Dished hooves challenged the line between stability and loss, poised upon the brink of the edge of the world. One step, and she would fall, fall infinitely to her death, to the abyss of unknown and mystery. Would she die before impact, she wondered, the flesh torn from her body by the speed of her descent? Or would it be a great fall, everlasting and glorious, a spiraling last moment before the eternity of dark?

Beneath her right fore, a rock shifted, and fell, and vanished, with no sound to mark its demise. She stepped away, turning back to her sister and letting the thoughts of flight fade away and drift into the recesses of her subconscious. The weight of the sun returns, the mass of the egg hung about her neck suddenly returning as an aspect of her reality. Ebony eyes settled upon her sister's face, mind returning to the task at hand. "I had my lesson here. She told me to find the source of the dark." Interesting words, a peculiar task to contemplate within the wide expanse of flamboyant light. Yet she knew that Mirage would understand, and that no other words needed to be said.

[ Mirage first ]

image by tambako @ flickr.com</style>

Mirage the DragonHeart Posts: 414
Deceased atk: 5.5 | def: 9 | dam: 6
Mare :: Equine :: 15.3 :: Eighteen HP: 68.5 | Buff: ENDURE
Akaith :: Royal Golden Dragon :: Fire Breath Whit
#2
The Heavenly Fields, aptly named, was a realm to test one's resolve. The climb was something Mirage knew well now, having made it numerous times and having grown fitter for it each time. In the unbearable heat, of course, sweat did coat her hide, dust and dirt gathering from the journey to make patterns of mud streak across the dark coat. With some sadness the little shadow mare noted the damage wrought upon the lands by the will of the Sun God, the scent of burnt timbers bringing tears to her eyes not only from the stinging air, but from hints of emotion daring to leak out of the mistress. It was swiftly forgotten, or squashed out of existence, as the mare refocussed upon the matter at hand.

Akaith rode upon her back today, offering her draconic view on things. Rishima had filled them in on her lessons with the Goddess of the Moon, and Mirage could not help the strange emotions she felt at learning such things. They both grew up the same way, living under the Moon's light, and that Rishima had earned this position of Pupil, Mirage had wondered at it, even, she was reluctant to admit, envied her for it. But it was such a circumstance that Rishima requested her aid, and such unimportant feelings were swept aside for the sheer love and devotion the little shadow felt for her sister. It was a question that Rishima hardly had to voice for Mirage to willingly give her all to the matter.

"The source of the dark." She repeated in her own similarly accented tones, tasting the words, eyes thoughtful, faraway. "Remember what Mother used to say, about the darkness. She always spoke of a balance, of how her and Father were each volatile entities controlled by the balance they found in each other." A nostalgic fondness crimped the edges of her lips in sweet reminiscence. "One cannot exist without the other." Quietly she uttered this sentence, an idea sparking behind her eyes. Akaith took flight, above them, cavorting in the sunlight, but also trying to help illustrate what it was running through the shadowy minx's swift, sharp mind. She knew not if it was of any help, but the idea formed regardless.

"Watch her." Mirage commanded of her sister, though it was a kindly command, more a very persuasive suggestion than anything else. Akaith hovered in the air before them, outlined by the bright blue sky. With a deep inhale, she constructed her firebreath to spew forth hot, bright flames. Not towards the mares, but to the skies, so that the brightness of the fire was outlined even by the brightness of the sky. Snapping her jaw shut, the lingering effects of taking away the flames left a strange darkness burning upon their retinas. "It cannot exist without Light. The source of the Darkness.. Is it in the Light?" Mirage questioned out loud, looking to her sister, looking for guidance like she would when they were young fillies.

Akaith trilled, and flew lower to the ground now, her flight taking her over the lands that had been scorched by the Sun God. "Look at the ground Rishima… that damage was caused by the Sun God's flames, their bright light burning everything in it's path… but it leaves behind, Dark." Breaths were shallower, quicker, Mirage sorely hoped she had aided her sister in getting closer to the answer. "Even shadows need Light to exist, without the light there would be nothing to cast the shadow.." Mirage longed to know now, now not only so that she could aid her sister, but also so that she might learn, might gleam something from this mysterious, and wonderful Goddess.


Rishima Posts: 137
World's Edge Moon Advocate
Mare :: Equine :: 16.2 :: 15 Buff: NOVICE
Kali :: Common Griffin :: Draining Clutch Charks
#3

Rishima</style>
the frenzied pace of the mind inside the cell.</style>

I listen to the words of my smaller sister, pursuing the train of my little shadow's mind with a fond smile and a wry strain of amusement. Oh, the tales of our parents, the balance of fire and shadow that had created the balanced twins, the little shade... and me, the odd one, the one who made no claim to their blood and yet had inherited both of their natures. I can see them in her sister, especially my lovely mother; Mirage's voice is the echo of Anei, her shadowy nature a split image of our dam. It makes me love her all the more, and I smile at my sister's enthusiasm, remembering our mother; I listen to the command, and smile indulgently, following my sister's gaze to where Akaith hovers. The dragon is a brilliant silhouette against the vibrant blue sky, a graceful twist of long tail and strong wings. I wonder if the egg about my neck will hatch into a creature as lovely as Akaith. There is no doubt in my mind that it will.

The roar of dragon fire is followed by a sudden blinding silence, and I blink furiously against the dark patches that flutter before my eyes, ear slashed back and dry amusement welling beneath the irritation. I know what she will say even as she says it; I have thought of this myself, and it pleases me that my little sister's ideas aligned with my mind so well. She voices the query, her prying tones a sudden throwback to when we were children, and I took it upon myself to educate her on all the intricacies of the world. It touches something deep in my heart, a string of tenderness I reserved for my siblings. Here, in the solitude of the roof of the world, I let myself indulge in the emotion. "I think you are on the right track," I murmur proudly, the words heavy and thick in the dry air, "Darkness and light are forever intertwined." For a moment they are fillies, and she is asking if there is an end to the ocean, and I am telling her that no, it goes on forever. I gaze across the lip of the butte, out across the sea, only turning back to Mirage as she speaks again.

Excitement rings in her tender voice, a vibration of joy against her calm nature, and again I smile at the pathways of her mind. The curious nature of her explanation rings true against the weight of my own musings; it is an interesting pursuit, the idea that ash is dark. Is darkness all that has been destroyed, all that has been abandoned to rot against the raw and scorched earth? Behind fire there is death, ashen disaster left in the wake of consuming flame. Her murmur of shadow is left behind in this thought, for where I had seen the world of shade and light before, the physical darkness was a road I had yet to investigate. I peer about the scorched plateau, dark eyes reflecting on the damage done by the Sun's wrath. Day and night are opposites in each other but they have always been concepts to me.

This changes things.

"How many types of darkness are there?" I ask absently, thoughts racing. "There is the dark of night, the shadow cast by light and the abyss left in its absence. There is the physical dark of the burned earth, of crumpled leaf and drowned animal. And finally there is the emotional dark of doubt or sorrow, of deep thought and blissful sleep." And they are all connected. They are all facets of one and the same. I turn back to Mirage, a sudden fire burning in my eyes, an eager anticipation to match her own. In the way I might have when we were fillies, I smile at her and nudge her with my tones - "Tell me, Mirage, what do you see that connects these things, what similarity is thereto be found? What is a shadow - light, or its absence?" I await her response eagerly, shifting my weight beneath the overbearing heat. Without light, we cannot see darkness; but without the depth of shadow, we could never appreciate light.

But what is its source? Is it light? Or something else? Was I overthinking this? Perhaps Mirage was right, and I simply looked too far, seeking a source that could not be defined, placing too many realms of darkness into one arrangement. Which one does she seek the knowledge of?

image by tambako @ flickr.com</style>

Mirage the DragonHeart Posts: 414
Deceased atk: 5.5 | def: 9 | dam: 6
Mare :: Equine :: 15.3 :: Eighteen HP: 68.5 | Buff: ENDURE
Akaith :: Royal Golden Dragon :: Fire Breath Whit
#4
Ears listen, always taking in the words of her sister. Both of them now seem to be looking at each other for guidance, both of them starting with a single idea and taking it to form many other, equally fantastic, but perhaps irrelevant ideas. Excitement still caused tremors to shiver through the raven mare's frame, as she heard Rishima's interpretations take interesting twists and turns. Absently, her own golden eyes drifted to the Sun above them, the Sun which seemed closer than normal from these Heavenly peaks.

"There are many types of darkness, those you speak of and more, I fear." Melodic hymns quietly intoned, but she was hopeful. "I don't think our sovereign Moon would have set an impossible task. Perhaps we are looking too deeply, focussing too greatly on the darkness we know is already within ourselves." She chewed the words over carefully, hoping that what she was saying held some semblance of truth and fact. She hoped that by taking a step back and looking for something more physical like the Moon Goddess had instructed, they would be able to complete this task.

Suddenly, Mirage was as intent to complete this quest like it was her own.

It wasn't the first time that she had helped a friend complete a task set by a God. Her beloved Vikram had needed her, and Akaith's aid to complete his, Mirage shuddered to think what might had happened to him had they not been present after he was granted his desires of firebreathing. She didn't linger upon the memory of the Sun God shoving the lava stones down his throat for more than a moment, but it was long enough to make her hair feel like it was standing on end, her skin becoming hypersensitive. She shook it off. Their Lady Luna would not betray them so.

It was not a selfish want of something in return that Mirage so easily dedicated herself to her sister's task. It was just that, love for her sister, and love for knowledge. The siblings' thirst for knowledge was almost equal in measure, combined they would surely unravel this mystery. "The Sun." Mirage spoke again, her eyes once more drawn to the fiery orb in the sky. "As you say, sister, darkness is caused by light's absence." Warm, honeyed eyes, seemingly renewed in their strength from the short spell of peering at the Sun clutched hopefully to Rishima's own dark, fathomless gaze.

"The source is not here." She spoke with obvious tones, nodding her tiara towards the path that would lead them down these mountains once more, a wry expression softening her visage. "Let us travel the lands together until we find it." Their search would not be entirely aimless; the Sun would be their guide, as he treks his path westerly over the sky, so too would they. Mirage's eyes looked to the lands that awaited them below, spying from a distance, the great fiery pit that was Helovia's Heart. She despised those lands, truly. But that was their next destination, she decided.

With a devious smile and mischievous glint to her gaze, the sisters began their journey across the lands.


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