Uwaritace
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R I X E N The skeletal mare kept right on mumbling to herself, even after I called out to her. Was she ignoring me? Or had she not heard me? Hearing was one of the first things to go with age. As I stood behind her, feeling somewhat awkward, I tried to discern what in fact she was so busy talking about. I thought I could make out a word here or there, but maybe it was simply wishful thinking. Most every sound that came from her mouth was gibberish, strung together to the point where it was impossible to pick out where one sentence began and another ended, much less individual words. Bit by bit, I inched closer to where the grey woman stood. I had only moved maybe a few steps when she paused her talking and began to turn around. Who knew whether or not the turning of her body frame was because she knew I was standing there, the moonlight illuminating the right side of my body which was otherwise bathed in the darkness. "Hello?" Was all that I could say when she finally faced my direction. Up close, she did not look anything like I was expecting. Much worse, in fact. In addition to her thinness and unkempt hide, both of which were qualities that one might expect of someone too old and frail to properly eat or clean themself, the stranger had only one eye, which was covered in milky cataracts and bulged out of her skull. Where her other eye should have been, there was a dark and empty socket. Her mane was crawling with large, hairy spiders spinning their silken webs among the matted strands of hair. I watched in dismay as a spider, plump and particularly hairy, crawled oh so slowly from the tangled locks, across the mare’s face, and into the empty eye socket where it settled in all cozy and warm for the night. Upon her head rested a ‘crown’ of sorts, fashioned from a jumble of sharp branches. Though I doubted she cared, I did my best to conceal my disgust at her off-putting appearance. This was the Rift. The place was crawling with all manner of odd and unpleasant looking creatures, just as many as there were beautiful ones. Why should I be surprised? I winced as her jarring tone broke the silence. It was a sound that was not gentle on the ears in the least. Immediately, she launched into a series of weird questions, to which I replied that I did not know the answer. "I-I don't. I am not from around here. Is it someone important?" Was all I said, curious to know what her answer would be. Or was she referring to herself... Despite her unsettling image, I was not afraid of the old woman. Always one to stick to morals, I refused to allow myself to make any judgments before I'd attempted a conversation with the mare, even if she was not the most pleasant creature to look at. Mind you, that was an understatement. "Talk." they heard me singing and they told me to stop quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock |
