Engine of Change

AURELIA The crescendoing thrum of a grumble encapsulated the area. The noise demanded to be heard. It was intense nearly to the point of pain. Otem's wings moved to her ears in an attempt to block out the sonance, but Aurelia was frozen in place. The being wasn't a being as much as it was a collection of dark ebony and navy shadows. They pooled before the pegasus, demanding to be regarded, heard, felt. The pressure the creature emits begins to augment and Aurelia feels it everywhere. The orbs that bobbed quietly around them begin to pulse brighter, sensing the accretion of their new company. The fog-like shadows hadn't done much except linger loudly around them until one tendril lashes out aggressively at her back hooves like a whip. Aurelia is surprised by this and begins to move from her frozen state, a loud squeal flying from her lips as she recoils away from it. She is not quicker than the shadows. Her hooves are targeted by the thing and despite her frantic attempts to move away from it, it still reaches her. The familiar warmth of fire leaves her body leaving her cold. The fire that used to be so readily on command is no longer there, replaced with the icy feeling of loss. Had it stripped her of her magic? She was both perplexed and dismayed. Amidst the chaos of the shadows, the only thing that occupies her mind now is fire. However, the shadows are not done yet. Another tendril reaches forward excitedly towards her lower flank. Aurelia desperately wills her skin to ignite as it had so many times before, but it doesn't and the darkness is able to reach her side effortlessly. It kisses her skin quickly with much more softness than it had lashed at her hooves. It's whimpering now. Why she will never know. Truthfully, this thing is more complex than Aurelia had ever imagined. Otem asks quietly about Aurelia's baby, worried for the fetus. "I.. I don't know." Her voice stutters, but as she begins to think about her child, broken and damaged in her body because of this thing, a new wave of anger forms within her. The fucking thing begins to retreat, but Aurelia refuses to allow it to leave without trying to attack it in some way first. She lurches forward, anger and adrenaline coursing through her body like heroin. "You," she spits at the shadows. "Come. Back." Her voice is venomous and radiates hate as her body lurches forward, a string of angrily-spoken words and curses falling from her lips. As her body enters a thicker part of the forest, the branches scrape her body and snap from their trunks as she barrels through them. Small scrapes begin dotting her body from the constant lash of the sticks. Tears threaten to fall from her eyes from the pain, but also from the confusion and sadness this land had already caused for her. "Why are you doing this?" She asked dejectedly as she slows to a walk, eventually halting. "Why are you taking my fire?" Her voice is a somber whisper now, a pool of so many emotions. But... Where is Otem? Aurelia cranes her head to look in the direction she had just come from. Was Otem following her, or had she given up on the fiery pegasus as she ran off? Her brow furrows and she exhales loudly. The lighting was certainly dimmer here than where she stood before, but Aurelia would still be able to see the shadows should they reappear. "Hello?" She called out lightly, to Otem, to the shadows, to everyone, and to no one. If she was alone in this forest now, she wasn't quite sure what she would do. chaos is only understood when it is loved by the wild, not the weak

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