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Home » Search » Roster » Whitepages » Records » FAQ » Guidebook
Tumbling down
Private Rainforest Cliffs 
Otem the Hopebringer
Currently championing:
#1
another mind, another soul, another body to grow old.
it's not complicated.



Otem continued to walk without purpose through this vast unending jungle. Whereas the endlessly depths of the Deep Woods in Helovia had filled her with a sense of awe and had ignited her penchant for exploration and adventure, this place only made her feel hollow and uneasy. The way the trees seemed to eat up the light and dampen all the normal sounds she would have expected made her feel impossibly small and alone and lost. Of course she was all those things, but never before had she ever felt them so strongly. In Helovia she had been somebody. Or, at least she might have been on her way to being somebody. She was the daughter of a demi-goddess and a king, and while Otem knew that her parents were more than their blood and their titles, she certainly didn't mind the political positioning it had given her. Or might have given her anyways. 

Anxiety ate away at Otem's heart and stomach as she continued to trespass through this strange new world. "Maybe it's all just a dream.."  She mused uncertainly outloud, her bi-coloured eyes looking to Pandora, the owlet gliding by her head. "In dreams it's very hard to tell if you're awake, because it all seems to real even if it's actually very silly ... and so ... so maybe this ..." But the girl couldn't even stomach the words, let alone say them. She knew in her bones that this was not a dream, even if she lacked Isopia's philosophical prowess to precisely argue why. Pandora hooted sadly, her beak clicking together as she landed upon her bonded's wither, nuzzling against the flesh reassuringly. 

art by Chloe!


@Erthë

You may always use magic/force on/against Otem.
Erthë
Currently championing:
#2
You gotta have the patience and believe you're gonna make it
Gotta hold on


Tired and drained from her effort of trying to control the rampaging energies this accursed place had unleashed within her, Erthë herded the protesting colt back towards the Portal. Why she insisted on returning there was something she had not lingered over. Perhaps it was a vain hope that the vortex might suddenly open in the other direction again and let her return home to her own realm. Or that others might appear to bring further news of Helovia and its state. Or perhaps that she was still dreaming, stuck in a very realistic nightmare and any moment now her father or the Lady Moon would shake her and make it all go away, if she just stayed as close to them as possible.

It didn't really matter why anyway. One place was as good as any, for none of the regions here was home to her. The rainforest by the sea might smell and look like her Edge, and the white beaches might appear to be the same as the Endless Blue, but they would never truly be the same. Important key factors had been lost, nothing would ever be as it once was and for every dreary, wet, miserable day that passed, she withdrew further into herself. Turning her back on what scant light there was, as it was not the light she wished to see.

Once they entered into the forest, Erthë took the lead. Hard eyed and leery of every scent and sound she brought them northward, driving them on as quickly as the weak legs of her child could handle. When the sound of a voice nearby reached her, the little mare tensed and instinctively reached for the magical energies that pulsated within her, teeth searching for the handle of an ivory bow - before she remembered that it would be of no use.

Another thing the Rift had taken from her. The list was growing long.

"Who speaks?" she asked, with a sharpness to her voice that she had not intended. It made her sound older, tired, the timbre and tone so similar to her own mother's that Erthë's gut clenched with longing.

She was the mother now... the notion was so strange that she still could not quite wrap her head around it, even as she held out her burning wings to block the path to the colt behind her.

I know you're tired of surviving but you gotta keep on trying
Hold on!



• Magic and violence may always be used against Erthë!
Otem the Hopebringer
Currently championing:
#3
another mind, another soul, another body to grow old.
it's not complicated.



At the sound of Erthë's approach, Otem's ears instinctively perked up. She should have assumed the sounds were from some sort of Rift monster come to claim her as a meal, but she'd known no such fear in Helovia, and so her instinctual response to lurking predators was relatively dormant.

She sounds like she's learning a language, Otem thought through her bond to Pandora. He speaks, she speaks, I speak, who speaks?
A smile tugged at Otem's lips, and then disappeared as she realized that her owl hadn't heard her. Frowning, she looked over her shoulder towards the owlet, who gazed back at her with wide golden eyes. "I'm sorry." She whispered to her, before turning around entirely to spy the pale form only partially obscured by the trees.

"I do." Otem answered, her voice bizarrely confident, answering as Isopia might. Although unlike Isopia, the girl had the social awareness to not merely leave her response at that. "I came through the portal. From Helovia." She clarified, as if she might be mistaken as a monster rather than the other way around.

Moving forwards to where Erthë's body heavily contrasted with the darkened jungle, the autumn-coloured filly regarded her politely with her gold and burgundy stare. "I'm Otem." She offered, introducing herself with a slight nod of her ram-horned skull. "Who are you?" The filly couldn't see the shape behind Erthë due to the spread of her icy wings.

art by Chloe!


@Erthë

You may always use magic/force on/against Otem.
Van
Currently championing: Reszo
#4
It was not fair, he decided, as he hurried along in the wake of the pale mare. Were moms always this commanding? First she dragged him this way, through dense woodlands and over difficult sandy beaches where vast, terrifying waves thundered in against the shoreline. Left him, too, without explanations or reassurances to do whatever she wished. Then, just as he had started to enjoy himself in the surge - playing with blue crabs and lavender kelp while darting in and out of the swell as it lapped at his feet - she dragged him off again, back the way they had come. Not once did she pause to ask his opinion on the matter, not for an instance did she consider the fact that he might not want to run around at her heels.

He'd much rather stay with his dad. Or his twin. Actually, Van would really prefer to just stretch out somewhere and sleep. His body was aching, and it would only get worse the further the more he exerted himself. Telling Erthë would not help much; the mare only frowned at him when he complained, her eyes cold and distant and the words she offered as unhelpful as her attempts to keep him and Alvah dry at night.

When they stopped, relief flashed through the bright amethyst eyes. His legs were not strong, his body not durable or fit; the little chest heaved and the heart raced visibly beneath frail ribs. Pattering in pace with the falling rain.

It took him a moment to realize that they were no longer alone. Though his mother tried to keep him back behind vast ivory wings, Van ignored the warning and ducked in beneath the bright sparks that fell from the wingtips, curiously studying the filly up ahead.

"Oh" he heard Erthë say, her stance relaxing noticeably beside him - though the glare she passed down on him was terse enough to make him flinch. Boy, would he be in trouble when they got home. "I am sorry, Otem... this place makes me nervous, and I forget my manners. I am Erthë, and this is my son..."

"Van" he chimed in, to his mothers obvious chagrin.

Finding it pointless to worry about scoldings when he was already in trouble, the stocky colt pushed himself out from under the cold wing and tripped confidently towards the large girl, his expression brazen as he looked her up and down. That she was older than him was obvious, but it was hard to say who of the two mares were younger. His mum was shorter, did that mean anything?

"Do you live here?" he asked.
Otem the Hopebringer
Currently championing:
#5
another mind, another soul, another body to grow old.
it's not complicated.



A horned head suddenly poked out from behind one of Erthë's glittering wings, and Otem had to steady herself and force her hooves to stay where they were. The boy's horns curled backwards, and the contrast of his amethyst gaze and pale locks against his chocolate complexion was striking. Otherworldly in fact, which on any other day might have been interesting. But today, in this place, it made Otem want to shiver nervously.

"Oh, that's okay." Otem said swiftly, shaking her head and smiling. She hated apologies, just like her mother had. They made her feel uncomfortable. But unlike Isopia, she had least had the good sense to be normal about it. "Hello." She said again as Van introduced himself, as some of her unease began to dispel.

Do you live here?

The question made Otem pause. Hadn't she just said she was from Helovia? So of course she didn't live here...but...if they couldn't find a way back, did that mean she lived here? That they all did now? "Uhm." She gulped helplessly, her bi-coloured gaze returning to Erthë. She was the adult here, despite how youthful her frosty features appeared to be. You had to be an adult to have a child, after all. "Do we live here now?" Then thinking it over, how the Gods had perished and how the blackness had covered everything before they were thrown the portal, Otem seemed to slump. "We do, don't we? Because we can't go back.."

art by Chloe!


@Erthë

You may always use magic/force on/against Otem.
Erthë
Currently championing:
#6
You gotta have the patience and believe you're gonna make it
Gotta hold on


Staring her son down was less effective than she would have hoped. Erthë gritted her teeth against the urge to lecture the brat about doing as he was told - it would hardly work anyway, and this was not the time. But his question, childishly unveiled and startling in its bluntness, made both her and the younger girl uncomfortable. Seeing the helplessly confused look Otem sent her way she gave the boy a sharp nip on the withers, heard his squeal of protest with some satisfaction - it hadn't been that sharp, thank you - but could not do much else to comfort the other.

In fact, the query made her want to fall on her knees and weep.

"This place is not our home" she said sharply, addressing both the children with a harsh jerk of the neck that threw her flame-laced locks back over the shoulder. "A home is a place where you are safe and sheltered, a haven for heart and soul and the place to which you long to return. Every second spent on this side of the Portal is a moment of exile for us all."

Even for you, she thought as she looked down at her son. Perhaps especially for him, for he would never have the memories she possessed, the awareness of what a fertile world overflowing with light and peace was like. Van and Alvah had been born in the Rift, and not a moment passed that Erthë did not weep for their fate and the dark future that awaited them.


I know you're tired of surviving but you gotta keep on trying
Hold on!




@Otem

• Magic and violence may always be used against Erthë!
Otem the Hopebringer
Currently championing:
#7
another mind, another soul, another body to grow old.
it's not complicated.



Watching Erthë nip at Van's shoulders made Otem wrinkle with envy and longing. Although Isopia had never done anything remotely like that to her, she might have done if she had lived long enough. Tears began to well in her bi-coloured gaze and although she felt ashamed and embarrassed about crying in front of strangers, she was helpless to stop them once the first droplet fell from her eyes.

Although she appreciated Erthë's honesty and bluntness, it left her feeling even more hollow and emotionally cold. I have no home, she thought to herself. None of us have a home. It made her lip tremble and tears fall with even more vigour now, despite the fact that she was trying to bite her lower lip to stop its motion.

"Sorry-" She choked out, gulping back a sob. "It's just hard-" Realizing how selfish that sounded, she shook her ram-horned skull desperately. "I mean, I know it's hard for everyone too.."

Otem's wings moved from her sides to cover her face, knowing that it was likely going blotchy and discoloured. But now that she had allowed one sob, more were building in the back of her throat. All she could see was Isopia's body bursting into light and then vanishing, and then being greeted by a shadowy raven when she opened her eyes in this place.

art by Chloe!


@Erthë

You may always use magic/force on/against Otem.
Van
Currently championing: Reszo
#8
Van flinched again at the tone of his mother's voice. It was hard and sharp but frayed at the edges, and when it made Otem cry the colt looked at her with a world of accusations in his eyes. What did she say all that for? It wasn't their fault that they were homeless, right? At least he didn't think so. But now that the concept had been brought up, and he saw the heart-wrenching sight of the crying filly he felt his own lips begin to tremble.

Why though? He felt no pain (not beyond the usual ache) and he felt no real sympathy for either of the mares. Perhaps it was just the fact that it had been a long day already, and he was tired and sore and his mum had nipped him and maybe crying was the appropriate thing to do.

But though tears actually began to pool in his brilliant eyes, they quickly vanished when the pale mare walked up to Otem instead of him, eyes soft and her wonderful ice cold wings rising to embrace the filly. Jealousy thundered through his entire being, for her comforting hum was much sweeter than he'd ever heard before, and her eyes looked almost soft.

It was a bit too much to swallow. He was crying too, wasn't he? So why was he not wrapped in the cold comfort of her wings? He was her son, her oldest son even. It was so unfair!

Glowering a bit at the tall yearling, as if daring her to try and steal his mum away with any more bawling, Van puffed out his chest and pretended that it didn't bother him to be left out like this.

"Where is your own mum and dad?" he asked her, the voice carrying the same velvety whisper as before... though there was nothing he could do about the sulky undertone it carried.
Otem the Hopebringer
Currently championing:
#9
another mind, another soul, another body to grow old.
it's not complicated.



Otem's sniffles were so loud in her own skull that she hadn't heard Erthë approach until the mare was before her. The filly thought she felt a cold breeze but wasn't able to tell if it was real or just a phantom emotional wind inside of her soul. That was until Erthë actually touched her. The mare who appeared to be made out of flesh and feathers just like she was, was like touching a living icicle. Although Otem desperately wanted to be comforted, already her skin was feeling as though it was growing numb beneath Erthe's embrace.

"You're so cold-" Otem mumbled almost apologetically, pulling back as a shiver shook her narrow frame. Her eyes rose to find the almost pupil-less gaze of the mare, hoping that she might chuckle and say "oh that!" and somehow make the cold stop.

As Van asked about her parents, Otem swallowed hard, more tears streaking down her cheeks which had turned a darker shade of brown. "My mom ... she...she helped the Gods with the thing.." The thing. What a stupid way to describe it, but words temporarily eluded her. You know, the thing. The thing with the portal and the magic. And don't forget about the bit where their bodies were eaten up because they tried so hard." Otem's throat closed as a sob filled it, and she shook her head. "And my Father...I don't know. So many came through so ... I think he's with them." Then, realizing that wasn't actually very descriptive she added, "He has lots of kids."

art by Chloe!


@Erthë

You may always use magic/force on/against Otem.
Erthë
Currently championing:
#10
You gotta have the patience and believe you're gonna make it
Gotta hold on


Her frozen heart warmed with sympathy for the girl, the most intense feeling she had experienced since she awoke alone on the forest floor. It was equaled only by the regret that she could not do more to comfort the child. Both these emotions surprised her, enough to make her wonder whether the shock perhaps was beginning to loosen its grip on her.

Ignorant of, or perhaps just ignoring her sons baleful glares at her, Erthë gave Otem a sad little smile and nodded. "Yes... I am sorry" she said, and let her wings settle back down against the sides. "It is my nature..." There was nothing she could do about the cold, unfortunately. Her children had somehow managed to survive within her womb - perhaps due to some magic of their own, or thanks to the life-giving energies of Helovia - and they did not seem overly bothered by it. But they too suffered when her control over the Rift's energies faltered, and more than once they had wrestled themselves free with blisters and frost glittering within their coats.

It was unfortunate, but Erthë had no way to turn the chill off. No more than she could make it stop raining, or take away the pain of loss this filly was feeling.

"Could you tell me their names?" she asked gently. "It might be that I know of them... "

Sensing the curious gaze of the colt Erthë shot him a glance and winked, actually smiling a little at his astonished expression.

"I traveled more often than not throughout Helovia. I know a good many names that would make your jaw drop, Van."

It had been something to brag about then. Now, the thought of those legendary brave only caused her grief.

I know you're tired of surviving but you gotta keep on trying
Hold on!



• Magic and violence may always be used against Erthë!