Ruan
He'd been gone for a full day. Almost two now. He hadn't gone home last night. It was sinking to late evening now, darkness swiftly draping over the forest in an ominous shroud. But he wasn't ready to return. His thoughts flurried within his mind in a torrent. Nothing made sense. Nothing was right anymore. Pain burned his heart, became bitter anger. A slow fury was swelling within him. And he didn't know how to stop it.
He didn't think he cared to.
His heartbeat pulsed at the wounds. Blood caked his sides where elegant wings used to be. He could still feel the muscles there mocking him, rendered entirely useless, attached to nothing but a flimsy cover of dried blood. Crimson still stained his white blanket where his thrashing had sprayed the slick fluid like evidence of a massacre.
He stood frozen. Watched with a cold glare as a critter scuttled up a tree. Did it fear him? Could it sense the burning within him? The hate slowly spreading like a sickness. Hating what? Hating who? He didn't know, but it was there. Growing. Tainting his kind heart with its blackness.
For so long his eyes had been a deep, murky blue, like a gentle lake in the mountains. Now, they glowed from within. Lit with magic, bright with fury and lacking a target to release it upon. A demon of ice with glacial eyes. They shined from the black of his face, from the darkness surrounding this forest like a hungry feline's.
Without raising his eyes, still staring hard at the dark little cubby where the critter had taken refuge, where it felt safe, every last leaf on the tree froze solid with a sheen of frost. Why couldn't he seem to force himself to go home? The Taiga was gentle, calming. Soothing. It was family. Warm smiles. Beautiful little faces that looked up to him. Sweet, caring nuzzles.
And then it slowly came to him. He didn't want to be soothed. He wanted to let this anger burn, let it rage free. Let this whole forest burn with the heat of it.
No.
Let it freeze.
And every last leaf shattered in a sparkling dust of ice.
He didn't think he cared to.
His heartbeat pulsed at the wounds. Blood caked his sides where elegant wings used to be. He could still feel the muscles there mocking him, rendered entirely useless, attached to nothing but a flimsy cover of dried blood. Crimson still stained his white blanket where his thrashing had sprayed the slick fluid like evidence of a massacre.
He stood frozen. Watched with a cold glare as a critter scuttled up a tree. Did it fear him? Could it sense the burning within him? The hate slowly spreading like a sickness. Hating what? Hating who? He didn't know, but it was there. Growing. Tainting his kind heart with its blackness.
For so long his eyes had been a deep, murky blue, like a gentle lake in the mountains. Now, they glowed from within. Lit with magic, bright with fury and lacking a target to release it upon. A demon of ice with glacial eyes. They shined from the black of his face, from the darkness surrounding this forest like a hungry feline's.
Without raising his eyes, still staring hard at the dark little cubby where the critter had taken refuge, where it felt safe, every last leaf on the tree froze solid with a sheen of frost. Why couldn't he seem to force himself to go home? The Taiga was gentle, calming. Soothing. It was family. Warm smiles. Beautiful little faces that looked up to him. Sweet, caring nuzzles.
And then it slowly came to him. He didn't want to be soothed. He wanted to let this anger burn, let it rage free. Let this whole forest burn with the heat of it.
No.
Let it freeze.
And every last leaf shattered in a sparkling dust of ice.
