i will rise after a thousand years

he had waited his whole life for this. to be free, to go out on his own, to make his own way in the world…. all winter he had pined for spring, pacing and eager to escape the clutches of his family, his doting mother, his disapproving father. he loved them, sure…but as all young men did, he had a strange yearning in his heart to leave home behind and prove himself. a desire for the heady rush of excitement that adventure always brought, the uncertainty in itself was an attraction… and so he had said his goodbyes, a long tender embrace from his mother and an awkward nudge from his father, gathered his well wishes, and struck out on his own.

he had heard of the islands from many travelers and the idea of the place had stuck with him even as a child. it seemed only fitting that now he was old enough to leave it was where he would set out to. the allure of variety was enough to scatter his mind in a thousand different directions when he reached the common island. he had been forewarned by his father of joining a bachelor herd… it may all sound like fun and games to run amuck and cause trouble with a bunch of wild men, but all in all the time would come to settle down and it wouldn’t do to end up ashamed of yourself for years spent in bad company pulling worthless pranks. his mother urged him to take up a herd of his own, to be a respectable leader… that idea, to be frank, seemed too daunting. where was the fun, the recklessness, when you had to be a leader, to be responsible for lives other than your own? no, he wasn’t ready for that….not yet…

after weighing his options, which seemed fewer than he had hoped, he struck out to the island that sounded most attractive. the idea of atlantis, the jungles, the rugged fertile terrain, seemed to call to him, more than the idea of endless sandy deserts and frozen tundra at any rate…

as his hooves grappled the shoreline and he pulled his tall lean frame from the water his heart gave a delightful lurch. the spring had touched every part of this land, the warm sun glowing serenely down into the wet earth beckoning forth fauna and flora that he could have never imagined. with exuberance he made his way up the ridge, stopping here and there to examine the view as he climbed or to snatch a bite of tender green grass from underfoot.

it wasn’t until he had gone quite a distance into the territory that he realized his gaffe and quickly stopped in his tracks. if he was hoping to secure a place here under another stallion it would never do to be so bold as to waltz in like it was already his home, snatching a meal as he went… it would be his own fault if he were hustled away from here before even having a chance at calling it his home. he finished chewing his mouthful as demurely as he could and whinnied loudly. he stood waiting as calmly as he could, enjoying the warm rays of sun playing over his back and the gentle breeze tousling his raven black mane. whoever called this place home obviously had excellent taste and he naively assumed they would get along quite well. part of him was eager to be accepted and to make a friend and ally, his first after setting out from home.. and the other part was already quite attached to this landscape, enough so that he would be hard pressed to find another home even if he wasn’t welcome.

R O A R K E

he is 4 years old, 16 hands tall and is a georgian grande with a bay rabicano coat

played by kafkaesque