to live and burn is
the most exquisite form of self destruction

The golden stallion emerged from the sea like a leviathan, and was reborn into a previous life.

It felt as if it had been an eternity since Rade's hooves had scrabbled up the rock-strewn shore - and yet, it had not been nearly long enough. He could remember his time here as clearly as if it had been yesterday; a bittersweet montage of glory and defeat, love and loss. And like a second heartbeat the palomino roan could feel a yearning pulse within him, could sense something dark and violent within him stir. Here had been the rise and fall of his family's empire - here had Rade come as close to greatness as he'd ever known... only to throw it all away for the love of his brother.

Standing beneath the cold gray sky, the stallion could feel his instincts warring against his intent - and knew that the latter was losing. Rade had known down to his core that time had not changed him, could not change him. The vices that his family had thought to eradicate were simply buried; denied so long that they curled up in some corner of his mind, coming to life in the shadows of his slumber. He had dreamed of the islands often - dreamed of Atlantis and it lush foliage, dreamed of Styrke and Xina and Fatale and Cherish. Dreamed of the Lagoon, the only place where he had ever belonged.

The life he'd embraced since his departure had never Rade's calling. It was a role he'd played to hold on to the ones who held his heart - a façade he cultivated for the sake of his family. Golden body quivering, the stallion knew that he would abandon it now - knew that the love he bore for them was no longer strong enough to deny the truth of his inner self. He had been born with a hunger that the simple herd existence could not hope to fulfill - the need to pit himself against worthy adversaries and emerge as their better. To hone young bodies and minds into weapons that could both start and end wars. To prove himself to his peers, and leave a legacy in his wake.

It wasn't too late.

Shaking saltwater from his dusty coat, Rade drifted forward like a creature in the midst of a waking dream. He had not forgotten the original reason for his return - but the siren's cry of the Lagoon held him in its thrall, and he made no effort to resist. The snow crunched beneath his hooves as he walked, too loud in the cathedral silence of the familiar landscape. And though he took no care to move with stealth, only shadows greeted him. There were no sentries scattered around the periphery as there had been in his day; no sullen trinkets attempting to skulk away. There was nothing, as if one of Rade's nightmares had come to be - throwing back his head and chewing at the cold air, the stallion's strides came faster and faster, until the slick coating of snow threatened to be his undoing.

A screaming call broke the silence, bursting from lungs that burned despite the wintry air that filled them. It was both command and condemnation, filled with anger and agony. Though Rade had turned his back in it, it wasn't easy to see what he had helped to build now crumbled into ash. And to help subdue the unrelenting guilt that rose within him like a bitter gorge, he was determined to find someone to hold accountable for these failings.

stallion . twenty-one . palomino roan . mustang mix . 15.1hh
debonaire x neassa