[private] A God's Creation [Everclear]

[Deiti]

My time tied to the sea had been eye opening to say the least.  I had traveled to depths that my earthly lungs could not endure.  A world apart in all ways to the shores in which I seek now.  My plaything had departed some time ago.  If he stayed in the depths or left for the air I do not recall.

Now I must return to the land and continue my search to find a new home.  Even though Baltia would be a good fit for my Kelpie self, there is a part of me still longing for connection to my equus self.

I swim lazily towards the sandy shores as dusk begins to take hold.  My elegant, finned tail swishes casually as my head breaks the surface to see my trajectory.  A new scenery lays ahead.  One of bright pastel colors of almost a fantasy like presence.  My mind muses what kind of life flourishes here.  Perhaps the fairies dwell elsewhere than just the Mountain.

As I enter the shallows my forelimbs pull my aquatic form closer to the shoreline.  When the sandy bottom finally makes contact with my tail I begin my transformation.  Gone is the fish like appendage and replacing it is my equine hindquarters.  I lower my delicate face to the cool aqua at my hooves.  A soft snort rattles from my chest as my sapphire blue eyes scan the area.  

Reaching the sandy coast, I begin to walk casually along the sunset beach.  I take note of the bursts of colors muted by the setting of the sun and the familiarity of it to my underwater home.  Often cast more dreary by the awkward sunlight beneath the water's surface.   

A soft breeze picks up as the sky darkens, tousling my ebony mane against my scaled skin.  Without the warming rays of light, a chill begins to seep into my bones.  My eyes cast ahead to search for a shelter for the evening, but instead I find a faint glow seemingly floating upon the winds.  My movements stop as I watch with suspicion.  The lantern fish of the depths would tempt unsuspecting prey to their gaping jaws with such sorcery.  My right ear flicks backwards, soon followed by my left.  The creature within me creeps forward.  I would not be a moth to the flame tonight...

D

eiti

A God's Creation | Carnage X Dynast

Land quest thread

@ Everclear  I'm not sure where the last bit came from but I'm rolling with it XD

[Everclear]

EVERCLEAR

-- a dreamer neither lost nor found ;

The relative peace of the world is a welcome respite, in Everclear’s mind. While calm and quiet are all he’d known before, even during the plague (he had not fallen ill or been a carrier of the disease, miraculously untouched), they are equally all he has ever strived to know.

Conflict does not suit him.

As such, he has always sought peace, has always sought to soothe the hearts of others when evil seemed to grip them too tightly. Perhaps it had been foolish of him to think himself capable of persuading such crooked wills to divert and reform – after all, it rarely seemed to work – but his efforts would never waver.

It is all he has ever wanted since the day he’d come to serve Heaven’s Gates so long ago. To be worthy of the home he devoted himself to, to become the ‘angel’ that Spyglass had called him. Perhaps that is why the fairy-foal had given him the halo which now adorns him, a crown of light in the fading dusk around him. She hadn’t been able to help him with his larger desire of protecting his home, but perhaps she had started him in the right direction.

If only she could have given him the full power, the true angelic strength to inspire others, to quell the anger and dispel suppositions of weakness that more invasive forces often harbored toward the Gates.

Then, at least, he might truly be capable of safeguarding the kingdom as he so longs to do.

For now, he is only left with these thoughts and hopes. He wanders the land alone, quieted by his contemplation and minor reverie of times long past. The sun has begun to settle for the evening, taking with it the general birdcalls and gentle winds to be replaced by quiet, breathy breezes and the soft chorus of the oncoming night.

For a while the muffled padding of his footfalls in the sand is all he hears alongside the lapping of the ocean on the shore. The darkened beach around him is gilded vaguely with the golden light from his new ornament and the whisper of grasses moving in the salty dunes hardly catches his notice at all. It’s only when something larger and darker becomes apparent against the bluish backdrop of his surroundings that Everclear blinks and lifts his head somewhat.

The figure stands alone and silent and for a moment so does he. While Myrna had told him that Beqanna seems to be resting peacefully at present, the wariness of darker times still lingers in the old immortal. Grim events have been triggered by seemingly idle encounters much like this in the past, but after a moment’s deliberation, the stallion moves forward slowly.

Still alert, head up and ears forward (one occasionally turning to listen to his surroundings), he approaches the stranger with caution. “Hello?” he beckons gently, hopeful that this is perhaps an inhabitant of the Gates he hasn’t met yet, or an aspirant. “Lovely night we’re having…” The observation is not truly meant to start a conversation, but more to provoke any kind of response that may allow him to gauge the figure’s intentions.

He remains alert but not overtly hostile, holding on to a nearly-naive hope that this is nothing more than another friendly encounter.

[Deiti]

The muted glow dancing against the bruised hue of the twilight beckons caution to the creature within me.  It shifts with unease, even as my body remains still.  The soft lapping of the ocean tide across the sands calls as a reminded retreat -should it be required.

As the light stills, the need to flee subsides when the angelic being offers a greeting.  My dark ears flick forward at the sound of the voice.  The others passive comment comes at no surprise.  I note a slight hesitation in their tone.  Not as a muddle flow but a seeking of clarity.  Again the creature shifts, but it is not from fight to flight, but from prey to predator.

Remaining unmoved, I allow the stranger to near.  The voice is masculine in tone, as is the scent that wafts between them.  A grin creases my lips.  My own angelic tone casts onto the breeze, “I'd agree, it is a most lovely evening…”  I shift my body just slightly, a faux indication that I am relaxed.  That the creature within me isn't coiled, readying itself to pounce on its unsuspecting victim.  

The faint light of his crown shimmers rainbows of color across my iridescent scales.  My reptilian eyes scan across the stranger, sizing him up and calculating my next move.  I settle for more small talk to draw him in, both physically and mentally, “Tell me stranger, what do you call this place?”  My feminine face turns to look inland, the gaze of my aqua eyes following.  A soft swish of my ebony tail sends to him my own scent.

D

eiti

A God's Creation | Carnage X Dynast

@ Everclear

[Everclear]

EVERCLEAR

-- a dreamer neither lost nor found ;

If he could sense the shift in the mare, her internal struggle between beast and beauty, he may have retained some of his well-practiced caution. Having lived so long, he is not a stranger to wolves in sheep’s clothing (nearly literally, in fact) and he would have shifted his amiability to the side, shuttered in a separate bastion within a grander wall of vigilance.

The moonless darkness, however, and her well-worn mask prevent his perception of any potential harm. She is but a wayward maiden along the beach; he is but a nightwatchman on patrol. The ocean plays their soundtrack, a steady gasp and sigh of waves against the shore, its faintly glittering surface yawning like a spectral void at their side. Everclear’s wariness lingers, foggy in his mind as he gauges this stranger’s intentions from her body language alone; his greeting is merely a verbal probe meant to engage and elicit some form of affirmation.

Her response is neutral, though it is nothing overt enough to lead him into believing she carries ill intent with her. Still, her subtle shifts and the opaline luster of her scales leave him with that sense of uncertainty. At the very least she doesn’t seem hostile – her muscles do not flex as if preparing to spring at him – and her delicate face seems trustworthy enough in the gentle golden glow of his halo.

He exhales gently and edges a smile to his lips, pressing a kindly expression through the apprehension he maintains.

Undue judgment is not becoming of an angel of Heaven, he reminds himself inwardly, and if he were ever to become a true angel as is his desire, it would not be right to look upon others with such doubt before their purposes are known.

So he nods to her, shifting his weight to relieve some of the tension borne in his back, and shares in her appraisal of the shadowed lands spanning north of them. “For me it is home,” he says rather plainly, obviously, and he snorts almost gruffly. “It is the kingdom that was once called Heaven’s Gates, long ago. These days it is known simply as The Gates.”

He looks back to the stranger, a minor tilt bringing his gold-gilt brown eyes to study her again. “And my name is Everclear. May I ask yours?” 

@Deiti

[Deiti]

As I look out across the land, darkened by the moonless sky, I listen as he speaks of it. 

Home.

Heaven.

There is an irony I have found myself here of all places, having neither of those qualities in my life. 

My thoughts go back to the ocean land Baltia.  Its glowing flora, its untouched purity.  It was heavenly in its own right and yet I had tainted it with my very existence.

Something clicks within my mind.  My mother had known from the moment of my birth.  I was cursed.  Cursed to destruction.  Cursed to walk this world alone.  So why even try to be anything other than what I was meant to be.

Do it

My view remains on the land as he now introduces himself.  In turn he asks for my name.  “I've had many names,” my voice is light but holds a slightly sinister tone.  A smirk tugs at my lips, revealing within the glow of his light, jagged edges of carnivorous teeth. 

“Tell me EverClear.  Have you ever tried so hard to be someone you were never meant to be.  Do you wrestle with your inner demons to the point of insanity.  I do.  I do every day and every night and I am so VERY tired...”

My scaled body remains still, for the moment, even as the creature churns restlessly.  Only my head turns to bring into view the angelic being.  The questions I ask are not questions at all, simply statements.  This is made apparent by the abrupt movement that allows no time for his response.

I lunge, twisting my front half upon my hunches with the speed of a striking cobra.  My delicate face reaches out to bring my razor sharp teeth snapping at him.  Aiming for the large vein in his neck.

Only blood seems to satisfy the creature within me, and so blood is what I seek…

D

eiti

A God's Creation | Carnage X Dynast

@ Everclear