They were all dead. One morning they were there and then they were gone, torn by gnashing teeth and jagged hooves. He watched as the bodies of his family fell lifeless to the ground. Death came for each of them, now it had come for him. The writhing mass of the war band charged through the underbrush as the sorry silver hybrid scrambled to escape. By some miracle of his small stature Uriah was able to weave through the tight foliage of the forest while the bulkier warriors struggled. But they were not far behind, and with each bounding step they were getting closer. Brambles and twigs pulled at his skin as if to drag him into the waiting mouth of the beast a grimace forming with each tug and cut. Uriah stole a glance behind fearful for what he might see charging behind him.
He didn’t see his pursuers. In fact the forest in its entirety had disappeared, replaced with a wonderful, terrifying realm. As his sight moved forward Uriah could feel his stomach lurch as his body fell into nothingness. His hooves scrambled to find footing where there was none, and his ‘wings’ flapped instinctively. What was before him now was a temporal world of sound and color. The glowing ichor was a multitude of hues, many he had no words for, and the din of indescribable sound filled his ears until he could hear nothing else. The experience was maddening, but also beautiful. He had experience no place like this, and he believed no other existed. Uriahs’ legs hung limply and his featherless, stunted wings calmed and stretched as far as they could. For a moment he was flying through the world. He inhaled deeply, smelling the scent of smoke and electricity that tickled his nose and lungs. He felt alive.
What felt like minutes in the rift for Uriah was merely a second before the world around him blinked out of existence, leaving him in darkness. The small stallion stumbled from the sudden jolt of stillness, his scarred knees sinking into the mire underfoot. Uriah stood shakily and looked at his surroundings. He had come to a shadowed land. Remnants that reminded him of the world he had just exited floated above, glowing lazily in the darkness. The din in his ears was replaced by oppressive silence, and he could only smell murk and wood rot. “Have I died?” He wondered out loud in barely a whisper. The sound echoed into the trees and reverberated until they were only a perversion mumbling into the shadows. He found it unlikely he could escape such a fate, and the world he had just left had beauty beyond compare. Now he was here, in a plane reminiscent of a dark and unforgiving underworld. If he had died where was his family? Had he been forsaken? The silver stallion remained eerily still as he pondered this outcome, his lonesome gaze affixed to the lights dancing above.
---------------------------------
Magic
Poor baby boo Uriah has none, guess it's another thing for him to pout about?
Mutations
Underdeveloped Wings; While normal at birth his wings only grew slightly and never produced the flight feathers needed.
05-20-2018, 12:59 PM (This post was last modified: 05-21-2018, 08:57 PM by DragonHeart.)
Dragon
Death is not real,
A thunderous boom sounded, as someone, or something, crashed to the ground behind me. I could not see them through all of these trees. I now had a dilemma. Should I continue the path in front of me that would surely lead to a way out, or should try to help whom ever was behind me and start all over again. I stood there listening for a moment before turning around and going to check out the newcomer. My small stature helped me weave between the large trees with ease. I came to a clearing and found a man. He looked as if he were a boy but somehow I knew he was a man. He was silver, with small deformed wings on his back. I shifted my wings in hope to not make him feel bad. "Are you hurt?" I stood there in the silence, not taking notice of the unblinking eyes around the clearing.
Uriah was so lost in thought that he had not heard the new intruder approaching. His horned head turned slowly, his golden haloed eyes focusing into the darkness. Shadows began to take shape as a rather small winged mare stepped into the low light. She was most assuredly real, although where she had come from had yet to be determined. She was plainly in her appearance, he had seen many bays when wandering the plains. His mother had been a spectacular silver bay. What he honed in on though where her wings. He had always envied the other pegasi of his birth flock, their freedom to go where they pleased with no hindering attachments to the world below. He could only watch from his perch as a young boy as others his age flew above. His face did not betray his envy and bitterness though, his expression bore the same calmness it always had.
“I am not sure…” He answered after a momentary pause. Adrenaline was still pulsing through his body, and his limbs still shook from the impact. But, except for those and the cuts and bruises from his flight through the forest he was fine. Still he felt, strange, his flight through the rift and his arrival in this dark world had changed him somehow. Uriah’s gaze wandered now, focusing on nothing in particular as his mind tried in vain to process all that was around him. “What is this place? Do you live here?” He inquired has soft, flat voice carrying only the hint of curiosity. Were there others waiting just beyond his sight? The shadows seemed to move of their own accord, and no matter how used to the darkness his eyes became he could not bade them to leave.
Suddenly, blooming white roses grow at your feet. They spread far and wide until they seem to take up every inch of space. But there’s something unusual about these flowers. Instead of having a normal center, that might hue a bit closer to yellow, these are bleeding. There’s black inside of these flowers, edging out toward the petals until they drip off into a small black river.
After a few moments, the black seems to devour the flowers, leaving an inky river in their wake, before dispersing completely and leaving you as you were before.
| ACCEPTANCE NOTES : Uriah |
Mutations:
Underdeveloped wings. While normal at birth his wings only grew slightly and never produced the flight feathers needed.
The small silver stallion sounded unsure of pretty much everything. I wondered at his horns atop his head as I just noticed him. His minuscule wings were an oddity and he would surely not survive in the Rift more than a couple days. Pity filled me like a bowl that had been dusty from no emotion for years. I shifted my inky hooves, as if I had hoped to get rid of the biting mist. It just swirled back around my hoof like water. A smile crossed my face quickly and faded at his question. "No. I do not live here, and I hope to never come back here when I leave. This, I believe, is known as the Portal, where horses like you and me are sucked into the Rift." He seemed to be pondering on his entry here when I replied, but it was not deep. I also thought back to when I came here months before and Renegade had found me. I missed him, for he was my first and only friend in The Rift. Maybe I could be friends with him, who ever he was. Curious, I wanted to know more about this silver stranger. "Who are you exactly? Where did you come from? and why are you here?" My voice became suspicious and I thought back to why I was here. My sister Giest and I were fleeing from evil horses who had captured our brother and mother in Helovia. We both had come through the Portal, but had oddly not come together. It was weird and the thought made me miss my family more. My eyes wandered and ended up looking in to his. The mist swirled around our hooves silently.
The stallion watched the mare intently as she explained the world around them, as well as the Portal that had transported them here. Uriah wondered if she had seen the same brilliance while traveling to this dark realm. The longer he stood in the soft gaze of the lights the more stifled and oppressed he felt. It was as if something wet and sinister was wrapping around him like a veil. It invaded his lungs and whispered dark and soothing things in his ears, though he could hear no words. However, Uriah’s face remained neutral even as he process everything around him. He was perceptive, and became adept at discerning all that was around him. A lifetime sentenced to being merely an observer on the sidelines.
The winged mare began to bombard him with questions, and for good reason he supposed. One couldn’t be too cautious in a place like this. “I am called Uriah, and I come from nowhere.” He had a habit of withholding information. Perhaps it was a defense mechanism, another way to keep himself safe until he could trust someone. That, and he really didn’t like to pour his whole sad life story on any who were within earshot. “I was a simple nomad by necessity, and to tell you the truth, I thought I had died when I first came here… although that could still be a possibility. One can never be certain about their own mortality.” He rambled off, hoping the little tidbits of information would suffice. He didn’t think the mare dangerous. She was certainly smaller than the bedraggled stallion, but he knew to be wary of strangers.
“And what about you my dear? What is your name? And why haven’t you left this mire if you despise it so?” He inquired with the same calming voice, gold rimmed eyes flashing a quick glance at her wings. She could have easily flown off, gotten her bearings in the sky while he and others sank in the ground. His eyes never once betraying the slight bitterness he felt nagging at the back of his mind.
Uriah was his name. I didn't believe that he was a simple nomad from nowhere. I went a long with it anyways. Time would have wasted if I gave a thorough questioning. His eyes held the same feeling that I had, Unease. It felt as if the moss was pulling me to the ground like quicksand. We needed to move on before something bad happened. He returned questions to me as soon as he had answered mine. My ears flicked nervously. "I am called Dragon. I was on my way in search of a special flower for a friend of mine when a hailstorm clouded the sky. I took shelter here and I currently am trying to find a way out of this awful place." I stamped my hoof and looked around at all of the queer glowing eyes. I have to leave before this place eats me alive. "Will you accompany me out of here? I fear that any more time alone with these eyes and I will go mad. Trust me, you don't want to be here for any longer than you must. Creatures have gone mad in this place before." I looked around nervously and stamped my foot again. It felt like the lichen were eating me alive.
"Talk."
The Portal
