11-02-2025, 04:40 PM
harrowed
It is instantly satisfying the way the rocky walls of this small enclosure collapse under his pummelling. Harrowed’s screaming stops but his body doesn’t — instantly launching himself out of the crumbled cell as soon as there is space, desperate for the sky. Only to find himself in another not-right space. Now he pauses to catch his breath, his pale limbs trembling as he sees there is only one way to go. He is not free yet, the trap is just bigger than initially expected. Will the others from the Mountain be here too? Could they figure out a way to get home together?
Hope is what stirs him into action finally though the day’s events have introduced a strong sense of caution. As eager as Harrowed is to be out of this trap, running blindly through it feels foolish. He pauses once, when a keening cry rises out of the space before him, but there is simply nowhere else to go; he must go forward. He’s grateful for the soft glow of his body aiding his eyesight a little.
Especially when he realizes that this is not just one path, but many. Panic crawls up his throat and seizes his brain with its hands the first time he meets a dead end after choosing one direction over another.
The maze is not silent either, occasionally more cries rise up and a faint buzzing is constant and growing louder.
Harrowed makes a turn and thinks he has found another dead end, only the soft white light from his body is illuminating fur and not stone. A monstrous warg fills the hallway in front of him and the young stallion only knows the monster has seen him when it turns its disfigured head and bright red eyes flash. Torryn’s eyes, his father’s. A nightmare version of the bodach who taught him and Evade how to hunt, laced with familiarity that makes Harrowed’s heart ache as he can’t help but think dad?.
The mouth opens, revealing row upon row of sharp gleaming teeth like what you would find in a shark.
He expects a roar, expects anger and fury, but the beast just inhales deeply – gathering Harrowed’s scent, and a content grumble works its way out of the thick throat that would have no trouble swallowing limbs whole.
Shifting into his canine form has not helped so far today but Harrowed thinks he can get by this mutated version of Torryn if he is a little smaller. The warg’s shoulder sits higher than his as a horse so going down makes the most sense. It’s a dangerous gamble and absolutely necessary. Behind him only lie dead ends.
He hopes this is a trick, that his dad hasn’t been trapped here too and turned into something that made the bodach look like a pet.
The warg begins to step forward, its gigantic paws causing reverberations in the stones around them as they collide with the ground. It moves slowly, sure of its feast now that it has Harrowed’s scent. Home and life are behind the creature — that's what Harrowed needs to believe. His eyes, matching so perfectly those of the warg's, are wide with fear as he moves forward too. The smaller pads of his paws make no sound on the ground as his pace quickens, half his attention on the space between titan legs and stone wall and the emptiness of the hallway behind and the other half on the threatening figure.
Hope rises again as he leaps, the way so clear in front of him, and then teeth find his body. Dozens of sharp teeth scrape down his back and sides as the warg tries to catch him in its mouth as he dodges past. They scrape away the black fur of the canine, revealing white horse hair beneath. Pieces of the only self Harrowed has known hang from the warg's mouth as he slips by and continues to run down the hallway. The warg is too large to turn around fully in the space and give chase.
The sense that had stopped Harrowed from running into the maze blindly does not return to him now. He just runs, his body bright with pain and his gait awkward as horse and bodach attempt to reconcile. More than once he slides to a stop to avoid a wall, turn around, and try another direction, and like this he continues until a scream begins ahead and does not stop.
Caution interrupts his panic, returning Harrowed to a slow walk. Again, he reminds himself, he must keep going. There is just pain behind him. A chilly white light appears around one corner and his hope triples. He'd recognize that light anywhere — his mom has come to take him home. Excited by the prospect of this nightmare finally ending, Harrowed ignores the presence of the scream — thinking it will not matter in a few moments.
The light continues to brighten and as it does the screaming gets louder. It's Beyza's voice behind that scream and no matter how hard he tries, Harrowed cannot see her figure behind the light. She could seem otherworldly but she was flesh and blood, solid and sure, and this echo of her is none of that. It is a white void, violent in its contrast to the dark maze, and it is approaching Harrowed with a quickening speed. There's no room to move beside it the way he had with the warg so Harrowed backtracks instinctively. The screaming begins to echo in his mind until he forgets he has ever heard anything else and the void follows him. When he meets a wall, he doesn't even have enough time to turn and face the shapeless void and its screams before it slams into him. White fire ripples over his body, burning away more of the canine bodach form and forcing him to revert entirely back into a horse.
Harrowed is screaming too. He doesn't know it but his screams go on well past when the white void disappears and brings its haunting sound with it. It's only when a gentle nudge to his shoulder startles him that he inhales a deep breath and opens his eyes.
"Evade." He tries to speak his twin's name but his throat is so raw only a rasping gurgle escapes his throat instead.
His twin smiles at him, as though nothing is wrong and they are just wandering the Dale, and motions for Harrowed to follow.
How could he not?
With a tattered body and a mind drenched in fear, this young stallion thinks the command of his body is out of his control.
He follows Evade because that is what he would do anywhere.
Sounds continue to echo from elsewhere in the maze but for a short while, the brothers are quiet together. He trusts Evade completely and does not consider that this may also be a trick until he sees the rot begin on his brother's back. What starts as just his roaning soon blossoms into mould and then deepens into a black fungus that eats away at the flesh.
Evade doesn't stop walking so Harrowed doesn't either, strung along by this horror.
He watches Evade's spine heaves and then splits, causing him to stumble before continuing with his walk. Mindless and uncaring, this version of Evade continues to split down the middle as a large canine bodach begins to emerge from inside the body.
Harrowed stops and so does the creature masquerading as his brother. Evade turns around to face him, still with that smile, and Harrowed can only watch as skull and neck are cleft into two and a bloody canine head rises up to take control.
This nightmare both breaks Harrowed's heart and snaps something inside of him, reminding him of his task. He must get past. Evade's half-and-half body is awkward as the canine continues to rise up as though it is simply wearing a horse costume and Harrowed surges forward. He tosses his weight into the haunting figure, hating himself for hurting even a false-version of Evade and drowning in the guilt that he had no means in which to save him. The canine head has freed itself enough to snap at Harrowed, ripping a chunk of his mane out as he wrestles to get by.
Evade's cleft horse head attempts to speak. A warbling, choking version of his brother's voice split into two and becoming its own echo as it calls out with two half-mouths.
Calling out for help.
And he hesitates. He knows there is nothing to do but this is his twin. There is no world where he would not follow, and no world where he could run. The hesitation only earns him a swipe from a canine claw as it pulls itself free from Evade's body, raking down his neck and chest.
It isn't sense that gets him moving again, just fear. The cries for help continue through the wet sound of the canine pulling its other legs free and Harrowed finally manages to get by. His white body is streaked with both his blood and that of his twin. A sob escapes him as soon as he rounds another corner and loses sight of Evade's mangled form.
There is another light ahead, and though it does not have the same glow as the one before, Harrowed's battered body and mind prevent him from feeling hope again. Whatever this new trick is, he will just have to face it. And continue facing them until either his body or this labyrinth finally crumble.
Hope is what stirs him into action finally though the day’s events have introduced a strong sense of caution. As eager as Harrowed is to be out of this trap, running blindly through it feels foolish. He pauses once, when a keening cry rises out of the space before him, but there is simply nowhere else to go; he must go forward. He’s grateful for the soft glow of his body aiding his eyesight a little.
Especially when he realizes that this is not just one path, but many. Panic crawls up his throat and seizes his brain with its hands the first time he meets a dead end after choosing one direction over another.
The maze is not silent either, occasionally more cries rise up and a faint buzzing is constant and growing louder.
Harrowed makes a turn and thinks he has found another dead end, only the soft white light from his body is illuminating fur and not stone. A monstrous warg fills the hallway in front of him and the young stallion only knows the monster has seen him when it turns its disfigured head and bright red eyes flash. Torryn’s eyes, his father’s. A nightmare version of the bodach who taught him and Evade how to hunt, laced with familiarity that makes Harrowed’s heart ache as he can’t help but think dad?.
The mouth opens, revealing row upon row of sharp gleaming teeth like what you would find in a shark.
He expects a roar, expects anger and fury, but the beast just inhales deeply – gathering Harrowed’s scent, and a content grumble works its way out of the thick throat that would have no trouble swallowing limbs whole.
Shifting into his canine form has not helped so far today but Harrowed thinks he can get by this mutated version of Torryn if he is a little smaller. The warg’s shoulder sits higher than his as a horse so going down makes the most sense. It’s a dangerous gamble and absolutely necessary. Behind him only lie dead ends.
He hopes this is a trick, that his dad hasn’t been trapped here too and turned into something that made the bodach look like a pet.
The warg begins to step forward, its gigantic paws causing reverberations in the stones around them as they collide with the ground. It moves slowly, sure of its feast now that it has Harrowed’s scent. Home and life are behind the creature — that's what Harrowed needs to believe. His eyes, matching so perfectly those of the warg's, are wide with fear as he moves forward too. The smaller pads of his paws make no sound on the ground as his pace quickens, half his attention on the space between titan legs and stone wall and the emptiness of the hallway behind and the other half on the threatening figure.
Hope rises again as he leaps, the way so clear in front of him, and then teeth find his body. Dozens of sharp teeth scrape down his back and sides as the warg tries to catch him in its mouth as he dodges past. They scrape away the black fur of the canine, revealing white horse hair beneath. Pieces of the only self Harrowed has known hang from the warg's mouth as he slips by and continues to run down the hallway. The warg is too large to turn around fully in the space and give chase.
The sense that had stopped Harrowed from running into the maze blindly does not return to him now. He just runs, his body bright with pain and his gait awkward as horse and bodach attempt to reconcile. More than once he slides to a stop to avoid a wall, turn around, and try another direction, and like this he continues until a scream begins ahead and does not stop.
Caution interrupts his panic, returning Harrowed to a slow walk. Again, he reminds himself, he must keep going. There is just pain behind him. A chilly white light appears around one corner and his hope triples. He'd recognize that light anywhere — his mom has come to take him home. Excited by the prospect of this nightmare finally ending, Harrowed ignores the presence of the scream — thinking it will not matter in a few moments.
The light continues to brighten and as it does the screaming gets louder. It's Beyza's voice behind that scream and no matter how hard he tries, Harrowed cannot see her figure behind the light. She could seem otherworldly but she was flesh and blood, solid and sure, and this echo of her is none of that. It is a white void, violent in its contrast to the dark maze, and it is approaching Harrowed with a quickening speed. There's no room to move beside it the way he had with the warg so Harrowed backtracks instinctively. The screaming begins to echo in his mind until he forgets he has ever heard anything else and the void follows him. When he meets a wall, he doesn't even have enough time to turn and face the shapeless void and its screams before it slams into him. White fire ripples over his body, burning away more of the canine bodach form and forcing him to revert entirely back into a horse.
Harrowed is screaming too. He doesn't know it but his screams go on well past when the white void disappears and brings its haunting sound with it. It's only when a gentle nudge to his shoulder startles him that he inhales a deep breath and opens his eyes.
"Evade." He tries to speak his twin's name but his throat is so raw only a rasping gurgle escapes his throat instead.
His twin smiles at him, as though nothing is wrong and they are just wandering the Dale, and motions for Harrowed to follow.
How could he not?
With a tattered body and a mind drenched in fear, this young stallion thinks the command of his body is out of his control.
He follows Evade because that is what he would do anywhere.
Sounds continue to echo from elsewhere in the maze but for a short while, the brothers are quiet together. He trusts Evade completely and does not consider that this may also be a trick until he sees the rot begin on his brother's back. What starts as just his roaning soon blossoms into mould and then deepens into a black fungus that eats away at the flesh.
Evade doesn't stop walking so Harrowed doesn't either, strung along by this horror.
He watches Evade's spine heaves and then splits, causing him to stumble before continuing with his walk. Mindless and uncaring, this version of Evade continues to split down the middle as a large canine bodach begins to emerge from inside the body.
Harrowed stops and so does the creature masquerading as his brother. Evade turns around to face him, still with that smile, and Harrowed can only watch as skull and neck are cleft into two and a bloody canine head rises up to take control.
This nightmare both breaks Harrowed's heart and snaps something inside of him, reminding him of his task. He must get past. Evade's half-and-half body is awkward as the canine continues to rise up as though it is simply wearing a horse costume and Harrowed surges forward. He tosses his weight into the haunting figure, hating himself for hurting even a false-version of Evade and drowning in the guilt that he had no means in which to save him. The canine head has freed itself enough to snap at Harrowed, ripping a chunk of his mane out as he wrestles to get by.
Evade's cleft horse head attempts to speak. A warbling, choking version of his brother's voice split into two and becoming its own echo as it calls out with two half-mouths.
Calling out for help.
And he hesitates. He knows there is nothing to do but this is his twin. There is no world where he would not follow, and no world where he could run. The hesitation only earns him a swipe from a canine claw as it pulls itself free from Evade's body, raking down his neck and chest.
It isn't sense that gets him moving again, just fear. The cries for help continue through the wet sound of the canine pulling its other legs free and Harrowed finally manages to get by. His white body is streaked with both his blood and that of his twin. A sob escapes him as soon as he rounds another corner and loses sight of Evade's mangled form.
There is another light ahead, and though it does not have the same glow as the one before, Harrowed's battered body and mind prevent him from feeling hope again. Whatever this new trick is, he will just have to face it. And continue facing them until either his body or this labyrinth finally crumble.
I know it's long but LISTEN I had fun writing it so. It all stays.
Harrowed meets with monster versions of his family who claw/burn out the bodach in him <3