07-26-2015, 06:03 PM
Trust your heart if the seas catch fire,
live by love though the stars walk backward.
In dreams, he still has it together. In dreams, he can make the world as it should be. On the outside, he’s nothing remarkable - no trace of the dams that bore him beyond his colouring. The bay has faded grey, which would be more obvious if it weren’t so covered in mud and grime. The body that lay in the needles, too lazy and weary to find a more comfortable spot, was malnourished and filthy. In the right wind, he would wake himself up with the stench off of his flesh and more than once, he had been mistaken by some vultures for a corpse.
But the body in the dreams was all he should have been - strong as those born of magic are. The midnight-blue eyes with flecks of ice around the iris still shine like the stars his birth-mother had fallen from, his dapple grey coat rich like that of his sire-mother. From them he had gained the mantle he currently bore, those queen mothers that had ruled together in this utopia and had helped him shape it with their magic. Together, the three of them had spoken reason to the animals. Together, they had made the earth less harsh and more giving, so that all might share in the bounty it could provide. It was a world where light and dark mingled freely, where the night was just as welcome as the day and shadows were no longer a thing to be feared. For years, Anaxarete the Shadow Queen and Agetta the Star Queen had ruled together, raising their son and bathing the land in their warmth. They balanced fear and love in the land and in each other.
And since their passing, it had been his turn. He had been taught well by his mothers, knew their secrets and held their magic within his heart. He could speak to the shadows and to the animals alike, could reason with them. Long summers stretched for years, followed by long autumns and easy winters. Spring saw the entirety of their world in a burst of colours, some without name. Tersias learned to temper the weather so that it would be less harsh on those that lived here, bring just enough rain for everything to survive and not enough to flood. He learned how much sunlight was needed and how much cloud, which of the animals could be easily reasoned with and which had to be coaxed. On great speckled wings he soared across the sky, bringing good weather and tidings. With a beat of his wings he could change the slope of the coast so that the tide beat softer on the sand and the rocks, cause the grass to grow longer so it would not be cropped so completely by those that grazed on it.
But one spring, the flowers did not come on the trees and the grass did not sprout from the earth where the snow had been. The stress of uncommonly mild winters had started to toll on the plants - without their needed period of dormancy, the signals of the changing seasons were mixed.
They did not respond to his breath of life at first, and then only reluctantly produced the blooms that would later turn to fruit. The grass that grew in the meadows was bitter and without nutrients and the water began to have a sulfurous smell to it. Try as he might, his attempts to fix these problems were futile. The solutions proved onto to be temporary and with each day, the sun became hot and blinding and the night became dark and suffocating. There was no balance now and they all knew it, all of the animals everywhere knew it. The ravens were the first to turn, attacking him in the air as he flew over a forest and tried to breathe into it the leaves that he knew belonged there. The other birds joined in, until his wings were bloodied to the point where they could not carry him any longer.
King Tersias crashed into the woods then, sticks jabbing into him as he went through the branches until he was met not with the soft moss ground that had been there before, but with the hard rock that the mosses had covered. They too, had died, the moisture they required dried up with the intense sunlight. Battered and bruised, the dappled stallion looked around to see a whole host of animals surrounding him - all with gleaming metallic teeth. Even the herbivores - there was a hare with long point viper teeth by his hooves, licking its lips. BEfore they could set in on him, though, a roar to the side caught everyone’s attention.
Out of the shadows they came, a pair of felines - larger than any that existed naturally in nature and without flaw. One was a panther, not black or golden but a rich silver with lighter spots, and to her side was a silk-furred snow leopard. He knew these two. They had raised him, had taught him, and he had destroyed everything they built together. Perhaps now they had returned to help him build it again. They had returned from the dead once, what was another turn?
“Mothers.”
He croaked to them but they did not heed him. Instead, they set about clearing the area of all the other ravenous rodents and creatures - the needle-toothed hares, the snarling squirrels, the ravenous dogs. Only after they had chased away the others to a respectful distance did they turn on him, saliva dripping from their shining canines - their eyes black and blank. Closer and closer they came to him, the fur of their shoulders brushing against each other as they moved. He didn’t believe that they would use those teeth against him. He did not believe it right up until the point that Anaxarete pounced and dug her teeth into the crook of his neck, when Agetta hurried forward to find a spot lower and begin to tear at it. They were his mothers, they would not hurt him....
Screaming, the skin-and-bones version of Tersias jolted awake to find that he was not being eaten alive by his mothers - but he was not altogether sure that what he woke to was any better. He was coughing when he woke but it was not his blood that wa choking him - it was smoke. Beqanna was burning around him after he had already watched one home fall apart, he was not sure he could survive the destruction of another. It took four tries for his weak legs to hold his body weight so that he could stand and get moving, and still he stumbled. Fire licked at his heels and it wondered if it was his sire-mother, with her fire-magic, that had started all of this. Was this revenge for his destruction of their utopia? He had destroyed the home that she loved and now she was taking everything from him. He dared not look behind him, such was the depth of his cowardice, as he half-stumbled, half-cantered as far as he could. Weak and delirious, he got cornered by fire once in his journey and escaped with burns along his belly and legs.
Finally, he was outrunning the worst of it and later, when he was sure that he would die on his feet, he reached an outcrop on the outskirts of Beqanna and managed to look back. Everything was on fire, everything was gone. There was no sight of any one else escaping the flames. Although he had lingered on the edge of Beqanna for most of his life, in the pit of his stomach there was some despair taking root as he watched - at first too much of a coward to look back and now too afraid to look away. He could not mourn the childhood friends he did not have, or the brothers and sisters he did not know exist, but he mourned his mothers - for surely they were there among the flames. In this reality, Anaxarete wielded fire and used it as a weapon against Agetta. Perhaps it had gotten out of control this time, perhaps they had finally managed to kill each other.
His ice-flecked, midnight eyes stared blankly out at Beqanna - knowing that there were things he should be mourning but unable to register the emotions for this land. Instead, he mourned the fact that his dream had been false - that even for a time, his family had not existed peacefully together. The entire sky was filled with dark grey smoke, blotting out the sun and the sky, until their entire world was nothing but fire and ash. There was no more heart or strength left in the dappled stallion to run now, and his legs were weary from the climb and searing from the burns. He collapsed there on the ledge, watching sideways as everything in Beqanna burned. When he closed his eyes, the flame mingled with the flashing of metallic teeth, coming to kiss him goodnight.
But the body in the dreams was all he should have been - strong as those born of magic are. The midnight-blue eyes with flecks of ice around the iris still shine like the stars his birth-mother had fallen from, his dapple grey coat rich like that of his sire-mother. From them he had gained the mantle he currently bore, those queen mothers that had ruled together in this utopia and had helped him shape it with their magic. Together, the three of them had spoken reason to the animals. Together, they had made the earth less harsh and more giving, so that all might share in the bounty it could provide. It was a world where light and dark mingled freely, where the night was just as welcome as the day and shadows were no longer a thing to be feared. For years, Anaxarete the Shadow Queen and Agetta the Star Queen had ruled together, raising their son and bathing the land in their warmth. They balanced fear and love in the land and in each other.
And since their passing, it had been his turn. He had been taught well by his mothers, knew their secrets and held their magic within his heart. He could speak to the shadows and to the animals alike, could reason with them. Long summers stretched for years, followed by long autumns and easy winters. Spring saw the entirety of their world in a burst of colours, some without name. Tersias learned to temper the weather so that it would be less harsh on those that lived here, bring just enough rain for everything to survive and not enough to flood. He learned how much sunlight was needed and how much cloud, which of the animals could be easily reasoned with and which had to be coaxed. On great speckled wings he soared across the sky, bringing good weather and tidings. With a beat of his wings he could change the slope of the coast so that the tide beat softer on the sand and the rocks, cause the grass to grow longer so it would not be cropped so completely by those that grazed on it.
But one spring, the flowers did not come on the trees and the grass did not sprout from the earth where the snow had been. The stress of uncommonly mild winters had started to toll on the plants - without their needed period of dormancy, the signals of the changing seasons were mixed.
They did not respond to his breath of life at first, and then only reluctantly produced the blooms that would later turn to fruit. The grass that grew in the meadows was bitter and without nutrients and the water began to have a sulfurous smell to it. Try as he might, his attempts to fix these problems were futile. The solutions proved onto to be temporary and with each day, the sun became hot and blinding and the night became dark and suffocating. There was no balance now and they all knew it, all of the animals everywhere knew it. The ravens were the first to turn, attacking him in the air as he flew over a forest and tried to breathe into it the leaves that he knew belonged there. The other birds joined in, until his wings were bloodied to the point where they could not carry him any longer.
King Tersias crashed into the woods then, sticks jabbing into him as he went through the branches until he was met not with the soft moss ground that had been there before, but with the hard rock that the mosses had covered. They too, had died, the moisture they required dried up with the intense sunlight. Battered and bruised, the dappled stallion looked around to see a whole host of animals surrounding him - all with gleaming metallic teeth. Even the herbivores - there was a hare with long point viper teeth by his hooves, licking its lips. BEfore they could set in on him, though, a roar to the side caught everyone’s attention.
Out of the shadows they came, a pair of felines - larger than any that existed naturally in nature and without flaw. One was a panther, not black or golden but a rich silver with lighter spots, and to her side was a silk-furred snow leopard. He knew these two. They had raised him, had taught him, and he had destroyed everything they built together. Perhaps now they had returned to help him build it again. They had returned from the dead once, what was another turn?
“Mothers.”
He croaked to them but they did not heed him. Instead, they set about clearing the area of all the other ravenous rodents and creatures - the needle-toothed hares, the snarling squirrels, the ravenous dogs. Only after they had chased away the others to a respectful distance did they turn on him, saliva dripping from their shining canines - their eyes black and blank. Closer and closer they came to him, the fur of their shoulders brushing against each other as they moved. He didn’t believe that they would use those teeth against him. He did not believe it right up until the point that Anaxarete pounced and dug her teeth into the crook of his neck, when Agetta hurried forward to find a spot lower and begin to tear at it. They were his mothers, they would not hurt him....
Screaming, the skin-and-bones version of Tersias jolted awake to find that he was not being eaten alive by his mothers - but he was not altogether sure that what he woke to was any better. He was coughing when he woke but it was not his blood that wa choking him - it was smoke. Beqanna was burning around him after he had already watched one home fall apart, he was not sure he could survive the destruction of another. It took four tries for his weak legs to hold his body weight so that he could stand and get moving, and still he stumbled. Fire licked at his heels and it wondered if it was his sire-mother, with her fire-magic, that had started all of this. Was this revenge for his destruction of their utopia? He had destroyed the home that she loved and now she was taking everything from him. He dared not look behind him, such was the depth of his cowardice, as he half-stumbled, half-cantered as far as he could. Weak and delirious, he got cornered by fire once in his journey and escaped with burns along his belly and legs.
Finally, he was outrunning the worst of it and later, when he was sure that he would die on his feet, he reached an outcrop on the outskirts of Beqanna and managed to look back. Everything was on fire, everything was gone. There was no sight of any one else escaping the flames. Although he had lingered on the edge of Beqanna for most of his life, in the pit of his stomach there was some despair taking root as he watched - at first too much of a coward to look back and now too afraid to look away. He could not mourn the childhood friends he did not have, or the brothers and sisters he did not know exist, but he mourned his mothers - for surely they were there among the flames. In this reality, Anaxarete wielded fire and used it as a weapon against Agetta. Perhaps it had gotten out of control this time, perhaps they had finally managed to kill each other.
His ice-flecked, midnight eyes stared blankly out at Beqanna - knowing that there were things he should be mourning but unable to register the emotions for this land. Instead, he mourned the fact that his dream had been false - that even for a time, his family had not existed peacefully together. The entire sky was filled with dark grey smoke, blotting out the sun and the sky, until their entire world was nothing but fire and ash. There was no more heart or strength left in the dappled stallion to run now, and his legs were weary from the climb and searing from the burns. He collapsed there on the ledge, watching sideways as everything in Beqanna burned. When he closed his eyes, the flame mingled with the flashing of metallic teeth, coming to kiss him goodnight.
tersias
anaxarete x agetta