Force-claiming is not allowed here. This is a peaceful, neutral area meant for socialising.
| Lacuna let not light see my black and deep desires |
| I did not intend to find myself washed up upon these bleak, misty shores. The ocean had its way with me after I gave myself over to it. It had been far longer than I’d care to admit since I’d been embraced so tenderly, but then again, I have no one to blame but myself. It has happened this way all of my life. I find myself led to devastated and desolate places, and seek belonging in the shadows of those who had been forsaken and vilified. Many are incapable of understanding this, but there is nothing quite like being loved by a soul who has nothing else to cling to. Even fewer crave such love.
It has become my whole purpose. As I climb from the tideline, heading for the shelter of the trees, the sand beneath my heavy hooves gives way, and each step is a struggle. I cannot help the bitter smile that spreads like fire across my lips. Though this land seems overtaken by winter, my eyes sweep the heavens, seeking the sight of Sirius rising. Nothing here feels dormant; it’s well past time for me to reap all that I have sown. True, the seeds of discord I scattered were not meant for these sleepy islands, but for all my wiles, not even I can control the wind. Perhaps this is why the ocean delivered me here. It may yet be that one of my designs was carried across the water, and lay dormant, waiting for me to find it, and love it to life. The thought was one I held close, because the truth is, for all that I love dancing with death, I am not ready to die. And it seems I may yet have work to do. I weave silently through the trees, my fever-bright eyes wide and wandering. I do not know what it is a search for, but I trust that I will, when I find it. My body trembles, and it is not just from the cold. I hear a voice calling me, and it leads me to cascading water that refuses to freeze. I’m drawn to it, as I have always been drawn to things of its kind; things that seem impossible, things fighting to survive. Things like me. But it is not enough, and silently, my heart begs for more. And it is granted me, because I was honest in my inaudible pleas, and made no attempt to deceive the spirit of the land upon which I walk. About what I want. And why. I linger by this second body of water for some time, staring through the misty veil at my reflection. What will those born to these fragments in the ocean make of me? In the place that was once my Home, all those who had known me were blind to things such as possibility and purpose. All they could comprehend was what I had been, and how different a creature I had become. Even my own kin recoiled from me in the end, like I was some hideous beast, with jagged horns and fire in my eyes. 'They were wrong,' my reflection reassures me, 'about the horns.' But not about the fire. With slow, purposeful strides I return to the waterfall, and I surmise now is the time. Just as my blood-dark coat has dried and the shivers have abated, I wade into the ice cold pool, and hear the snap of a twig and a rustle of leaves between the chattering of my teeth, and I turned my hungry aquamarine gaze to the trees, desperate to catch sight of the stranger who has happened upon me. "You," I stutter with the cold. "You found me." I try to smile, but the chill of the water pervades almost every sense. "Come to me," I beg hoarsely. "Tell me who you are, and let me show you..." There is no warmth in my words, no husky longing. I speak to something deeper than lust. The cold of the pool strips away everything, leaving behind only the truth. And the truth is, I do not believe in Fate, at least, not in the way some others do. And it will not matter to me if the stranger turns away from me, unwilling to do what I ask. It is meant to be a test, you see, for I am all I have, and I have no interest in pledging myself to one who is unworthy. And time, time will reveal that I will give as much as I ask for. I will give, and give, and give. First I ask only for this one little thing. It may seem a monumental thing I demand, one with treacherously sharp contours, but it is merely a shadow, and I intend to soften every cutting edge with my own mouth and all its tainted tenderness. Any unquestioning acquiescence would not go unrewarded. I am as the cloud veiling the moon, or the mist that shrouds the mountain peak, and I seek to See and be Seen. I beckon just once more, and it is little more than a whisper slipping from my scarred lips, an offer that is wholehearted and carried on a hallowed breath. "Let me show you what you can be." |