09-12-2018, 10:14 AM
The young colt stares at the others arriving; he suddenly notices a shadow swimming over and sees that it's a shark, holding a few suspiciously dark tail hairs. There are more sharks than one, right now though. But Rajanish can't be bothered. It's not important. They're not attacking him right now.
The lost kingdom of his father is dark, eerie, and spooky. Exactly how he likes it. It's in fact, maybe not even that different from the ever-autumnous Sylva, where it is also cold and damp (though to say that Pangea is damp is perhaps the understatement of the year). There's trees, and, oh! Some green light, like the northern Aurora Borealis has been put into the forest, or maybe it's like Queen Astarael's fear aura, but then green instead of red. Pretty.
All in all, the bay appaloosa colt is not too bothered, where perhaps he should be. Instead he's eager, curious, and a little overwhelmed. This is real.
The voice of his father is steadfast in his head. He needs to go to the green light. The heart, he calls it. Raj supposes it may be sick, that that is why his great Godly father can't reach the place. Maybe they'll get to heal it. Maybe he'll be actually useful for once.
So he goes, almost with a spring in his step. He's a demigod, he tells himself - so are probably many of the others around him. He spies Zain between them, and for a moment, stops to stare. He dares not to laugh, but it is quite comical. Whatever the slightly older boy had done to displease the gods or the fairies, it had earned him pretty roses in his hair. Too bad Raj can't smell them now.
But he doesn't linger. Several before him have already gone out to do the god's bidding and he will not be the last. He cannot breathe very well in the water with his swollen nose, he cannot hear very well on his right side, and his skin tingles from the jellyfish stings, still numb, but he goes.
Each step seems harder to take, the further up the path he goes. He finds himself alone in the forest, and feels the pressure that holds him back, the sickness that Beqanna's fairies maybe, or whomever, have put upon this kingdom. But he welcomes it. He's a child of darkness, he tells himself. Surely he won't be harmed.
He's wrong, of course. When he rounds a corner, there's a dead horse moving in the water before him. He doesn't recognize her. It's a filly, younger than he, she's just a yearling he thinks, and he thinks she's harmless until she turns to look him straight in the eye.
Something's definitely wrong with her eyes.
There's the initial fear that should not be, irrational, and he weaves it away. She's just here to scare him. She's just a mental obstacle to keep him from going. It's a test. But when she comes straight towards him, he frowns. She has teeth, and looks like she wants to eat him. Now that can't be right, that's not right at all. He's the one who should be eating her - oh, but maybe that's it.
She's already dead, and he stares at the tearing skin, the muscle that's not all attached to her bones - but then he rears to keep her mouth away from him, kicking at her in the water. He almost tumbles over backwards, but at least she diverts instead of biting. But she keeps coming. He has to think of something to distract her, or to slow her down so that he can continue on his quest. She's really not all that important.
He kicks her away again, but then attacks her in return. Her flesh gives way easily - too easily - and he's surprised that he hits bone, that his hoof almost gets stuck in her mushy, rotten body. But then he remembers that she is not alive, that she has been rotting here for a long while, and it makes him wonder how she moves at all. Magic maybe? Is there something else?
He tears away more skin - she bites in return, but now that he has a hold of her bones (spine? rib?) it is quite easy to kick away more of her muscles until nothing much of it is left. She's then a moving skeleton, and he keeps on tearing off more flesh and kicking at the bones until they're no longer aligned right, until she moves only with twitches. Until she lies on the ground and he crushes a few leg bones to stop her from coming after him. He doesn't have time to deal with her.
He's not done, though. He wants to see how it works. He should have walked out by now, but instead, he circles the girl, remembering Lokii's words - careful, you may break something and then it stops working. He paws at her eyes, and one falls out, the other still stuck. She still is moving, trying to bite him. He has several bite marks on his shoulder already, but perhaps thanks to the jellyfish, he does not feel them, their poison making his skin as numb as his nose and right ear. But the eye, he decides to take as a prize. His zombie trophy. He would have gone further and find a way to open her skull, but suddenly he remembers his calling.
Find her heart.
He did not mean hers.
Move or die. Quickly, he takes the eye and runs forward in a hasty trot. He's almost forgotten, almost hadn't gone to the heart. That damned curiosity of his. Would Carnage take away the ability to breathe here if he didn't make it in time? Would he have been killed on the spot? Made into a real ghost, but like, forever? He shudders. He would not mind being a ghost - if only he could return to the mortal world as a ghost. He grins. Wouldn't that be fun.
He stumbles. Swallows the eye. Curses silently when lying on the ground, then sighs. Well, it would have been too good to be true to take the eye with him all the time. When he stands up, his foreleg hurts, but it's not broken, at least, he tells himself it's not broken. Maybe a hair fracture, since it still hurts. But he's used to being hurt by now, with the teeth marks still on his shoulder and spine, with the eye of the girl in his belly (hey Zain, how are you, I at a zombie eye today), and he smirks, and makes the trek to the heart. He can see it, and some of the others that are already there, and he nears them and stops at the rim of the crater.
Staring into the darkness, he wonders if it's the girls eye, the different pieces of dirt, or this place that makes him feel a little sick.
The lost kingdom of his father is dark, eerie, and spooky. Exactly how he likes it. It's in fact, maybe not even that different from the ever-autumnous Sylva, where it is also cold and damp (though to say that Pangea is damp is perhaps the understatement of the year). There's trees, and, oh! Some green light, like the northern Aurora Borealis has been put into the forest, or maybe it's like Queen Astarael's fear aura, but then green instead of red. Pretty.
All in all, the bay appaloosa colt is not too bothered, where perhaps he should be. Instead he's eager, curious, and a little overwhelmed. This is real.
The voice of his father is steadfast in his head. He needs to go to the green light. The heart, he calls it. Raj supposes it may be sick, that that is why his great Godly father can't reach the place. Maybe they'll get to heal it. Maybe he'll be actually useful for once.
So he goes, almost with a spring in his step. He's a demigod, he tells himself - so are probably many of the others around him. He spies Zain between them, and for a moment, stops to stare. He dares not to laugh, but it is quite comical. Whatever the slightly older boy had done to displease the gods or the fairies, it had earned him pretty roses in his hair. Too bad Raj can't smell them now.
But he doesn't linger. Several before him have already gone out to do the god's bidding and he will not be the last. He cannot breathe very well in the water with his swollen nose, he cannot hear very well on his right side, and his skin tingles from the jellyfish stings, still numb, but he goes.
Each step seems harder to take, the further up the path he goes. He finds himself alone in the forest, and feels the pressure that holds him back, the sickness that Beqanna's fairies maybe, or whomever, have put upon this kingdom. But he welcomes it. He's a child of darkness, he tells himself. Surely he won't be harmed.
He's wrong, of course. When he rounds a corner, there's a dead horse moving in the water before him. He doesn't recognize her. It's a filly, younger than he, she's just a yearling he thinks, and he thinks she's harmless until she turns to look him straight in the eye.
Something's definitely wrong with her eyes.
There's the initial fear that should not be, irrational, and he weaves it away. She's just here to scare him. She's just a mental obstacle to keep him from going. It's a test. But when she comes straight towards him, he frowns. She has teeth, and looks like she wants to eat him. Now that can't be right, that's not right at all. He's the one who should be eating her - oh, but maybe that's it.
She's already dead, and he stares at the tearing skin, the muscle that's not all attached to her bones - but then he rears to keep her mouth away from him, kicking at her in the water. He almost tumbles over backwards, but at least she diverts instead of biting. But she keeps coming. He has to think of something to distract her, or to slow her down so that he can continue on his quest. She's really not all that important.
He kicks her away again, but then attacks her in return. Her flesh gives way easily - too easily - and he's surprised that he hits bone, that his hoof almost gets stuck in her mushy, rotten body. But then he remembers that she is not alive, that she has been rotting here for a long while, and it makes him wonder how she moves at all. Magic maybe? Is there something else?
He tears away more skin - she bites in return, but now that he has a hold of her bones (spine? rib?) it is quite easy to kick away more of her muscles until nothing much of it is left. She's then a moving skeleton, and he keeps on tearing off more flesh and kicking at the bones until they're no longer aligned right, until she moves only with twitches. Until she lies on the ground and he crushes a few leg bones to stop her from coming after him. He doesn't have time to deal with her.
He's not done, though. He wants to see how it works. He should have walked out by now, but instead, he circles the girl, remembering Lokii's words - careful, you may break something and then it stops working. He paws at her eyes, and one falls out, the other still stuck. She still is moving, trying to bite him. He has several bite marks on his shoulder already, but perhaps thanks to the jellyfish, he does not feel them, their poison making his skin as numb as his nose and right ear. But the eye, he decides to take as a prize. His zombie trophy. He would have gone further and find a way to open her skull, but suddenly he remembers his calling.
Find her heart.
He did not mean hers.
Move or die. Quickly, he takes the eye and runs forward in a hasty trot. He's almost forgotten, almost hadn't gone to the heart. That damned curiosity of his. Would Carnage take away the ability to breathe here if he didn't make it in time? Would he have been killed on the spot? Made into a real ghost, but like, forever? He shudders. He would not mind being a ghost - if only he could return to the mortal world as a ghost. He grins. Wouldn't that be fun.
He stumbles. Swallows the eye. Curses silently when lying on the ground, then sighs. Well, it would have been too good to be true to take the eye with him all the time. When he stands up, his foreleg hurts, but it's not broken, at least, he tells himself it's not broken. Maybe a hair fracture, since it still hurts. But he's used to being hurt by now, with the teeth marks still on his shoulder and spine, with the eye of the girl in his belly (hey Zain, how are you, I at a zombie eye today), and he smirks, and makes the trek to the heart. He can see it, and some of the others that are already there, and he nears them and stops at the rim of the crater.
Staring into the darkness, he wonders if it's the girls eye, the different pieces of dirt, or this place that makes him feel a little sick.