09-29-2019, 11:36 PM
<center><div style="width:400px; padding:20px;font-family:times;font-size:12px;line-height:14px;background:#FFFFFF;color:#000000;text-align:justify;border:3px solid #B6385F;">She doesn’t know what she had expected the sphinx to do after she had delivered her answer. She assumed there would have been some sort of sign that she was correct, such as a nod of approval, or a dismissal if she was wrong. What she had not expected was for that great, gaping mouth to swallow her whole. In the length of time that transpired as she tumbled in this yawning stretch of eternal darkness, she found herself wondering why hadn’t she ran? Why did she freeze in fear and uncertainty when she saw those jaws opening up for her? That wasn’t who she thought she was; she was suppose to be smarter than that, able to react to things instinctively.
When she is finally spit into the humid jungle, it is with an ungraceful <i>thud</i> that she lands in a pile of ferns. Scrambling to her feet and sputtering, with twigs and leaves clinging to her lengthy mane – a typical look for her, honestly – she takes a moment to take in her surroundings. It was disgustingly warm. Tephra had a tendency to lean towards the warmer side, with tropical scenery and the glowing volcano. But it was tolerable. This...this was gross. The moisture in the air was nearly asphyxiating, and as she set off on the only path available she could feel her mane begin to stick to her skin.
As soon as she got out of here, she was swimming in the river.
She was still fantasizing about water when she finally comes upon a sketchy bridge, and she stops to stare at it dubiously. This place was not scoring many points with her, between the pitch-black slide of doom that brought her here, the humidity, and the fact that they didn’t bother any sort of upkeep on their walkways. She was about to turn back, even though that small voice in her head was reminding her that 1) that slide probably disappeared and 2) she couldn’t climb back up it. Apparently her only way out of here was across this bridge.
Since she has such a solid record of making poor decisions that more or less work out, she begins her careful trek across it, doing her best to ignore the lava flowing beneath her. That part wasn’t really anything different for her. She was used to the lava flows in Tephra, and she had learned long ago how to find her way across them. Giving her mother anxiety was one of her favorite hobbies, until her younger siblings were born and Ryatah more or less forgot about her (what better way to get attention though than to fall into a river of lava – Alleria and her selkie-shifting could shove it).
Rushing the last few feet with her eyes squeezed shut, she doesn’t realize she had been holding her breath until her hooves hit solid ground again, and she gulps that gross, completely unrefreshing hot jungle air. She had been so focused on getting across the bridge that it takes her a moment to realize it was leading her to a great stone castle. Nestled in the mountainside, she can see the glow of light coming from its windows, and something very large sitting outside of it. Squinting as she gets closer, she eventually realizes that what had looked like just another large boulder was in reality a dragon. She immediately thinks of her older sister, Casimira; Aislyn had never had the chance to meet her, because her sister was killed in the same war she had been born during. But her mother had told her about her; how she could shift into a dragon, and how beautiful she was when covered in white, glittering scales.
This isn’t her sister, she reminds herself. This is a <i>real</i> dragon, not a horse than can shift into one. And so she creeps forward cautiously, her curiosity, as always, getting the best of her. The beast was laying curled close to the castle wall, and once it heard her footsteps, she froze when a large, red-orange eye with a black, slitted pupil suddenly flew open at her. It lifts its large, angular head, slowly rising to all four feet to peer down at her. Swallowing hard, Aislyn stumbles backwards, but the loud clanking of chains causes her to stop. Clasped around both back legs and anchored to the castle wall, she blinked in alarm when she realized that it was trapped.<i> “Umm...hi. My name is Aislyn, and – please don’t set me on fire – I can help you,”</i> she can feel herself rambling, and by the way the dragon was still staring and occasionally cocking its head, she is pretty sure it doesn’t understand her. Taking a few more tentative steps forward, she makes her way towards where the chains attached to it.
The dragon spins abruptly, hot plumes of smoke erupting from its nostrils and Aislyn squeals in surprise.<i> “I’m going to help you, I promise. And then you can fly away and go to, uh...Dragonqanna, or wherever dragons live. Or you can live in Tephra! Do you like volcanos? We have a huge one, and –”</i> she had noticed that whenever she talked the dragon seemed to stop trying to kill her, and she managed to get one leg undone by striking repeatedly at the latch with a front hoof, but her narrative was cut short by a voice that sharply cut through the air,<b> “Hey! What do you think you’re doing!?”</b> Jumping backwards, she peers upwards to find the source of the voice scolding her. There, she sees a young girl – a human? – glaring down at her. The face quickly disappears, and moments later, a door flings open
Aislyn knows almost nothing about people, and even less about fashion. But she does know that this girl looks like she got her princess dress from the discount rack at a Spirit store. She’s also yelling at her, still, and Aislyn soon realizes maybe she should be listening.<b> “That’s my dragon, and you can’t have it,”</b> is what she manages to get out of all of that.
<i> “What? You can’t just keep a dragon. And if you have to chain it up, it obviously doesn’t like you that much anyway.”</i> The girl was standing with her arms crossed, glowering, and when she bravely – stupidly, really – made a move to herd Aislyn away, the young filly made one last strike against the clasp, and it broke open. Smirking triumphantly at the princess, she wheels around and bounds a few strides away, calling over her shoulder at the dragon,<i> “You’re free, let’s go!”</i> She was ignoring the way the girl was still yelling at her (she learned three new swear words!) as she hastily made a beeline back towards the bridge, and she didn’t have to look up to know the dragon had taken flight. She could hear the loud <i>whoosh</i> of its wings, and from the corner of her eye she saw it disappear behind the tops of the mountains.
Aislyn herself disappears back along the path from which she had came, not really sure where it was going to take her this time, but trusting she had at least accomplished something on this strange adventure. </div></font></center>
When she is finally spit into the humid jungle, it is with an ungraceful <i>thud</i> that she lands in a pile of ferns. Scrambling to her feet and sputtering, with twigs and leaves clinging to her lengthy mane – a typical look for her, honestly – she takes a moment to take in her surroundings. It was disgustingly warm. Tephra had a tendency to lean towards the warmer side, with tropical scenery and the glowing volcano. But it was tolerable. This...this was gross. The moisture in the air was nearly asphyxiating, and as she set off on the only path available she could feel her mane begin to stick to her skin.
As soon as she got out of here, she was swimming in the river.
She was still fantasizing about water when she finally comes upon a sketchy bridge, and she stops to stare at it dubiously. This place was not scoring many points with her, between the pitch-black slide of doom that brought her here, the humidity, and the fact that they didn’t bother any sort of upkeep on their walkways. She was about to turn back, even though that small voice in her head was reminding her that 1) that slide probably disappeared and 2) she couldn’t climb back up it. Apparently her only way out of here was across this bridge.
Since she has such a solid record of making poor decisions that more or less work out, she begins her careful trek across it, doing her best to ignore the lava flowing beneath her. That part wasn’t really anything different for her. She was used to the lava flows in Tephra, and she had learned long ago how to find her way across them. Giving her mother anxiety was one of her favorite hobbies, until her younger siblings were born and Ryatah more or less forgot about her (what better way to get attention though than to fall into a river of lava – Alleria and her selkie-shifting could shove it).
Rushing the last few feet with her eyes squeezed shut, she doesn’t realize she had been holding her breath until her hooves hit solid ground again, and she gulps that gross, completely unrefreshing hot jungle air. She had been so focused on getting across the bridge that it takes her a moment to realize it was leading her to a great stone castle. Nestled in the mountainside, she can see the glow of light coming from its windows, and something very large sitting outside of it. Squinting as she gets closer, she eventually realizes that what had looked like just another large boulder was in reality a dragon. She immediately thinks of her older sister, Casimira; Aislyn had never had the chance to meet her, because her sister was killed in the same war she had been born during. But her mother had told her about her; how she could shift into a dragon, and how beautiful she was when covered in white, glittering scales.
This isn’t her sister, she reminds herself. This is a <i>real</i> dragon, not a horse than can shift into one. And so she creeps forward cautiously, her curiosity, as always, getting the best of her. The beast was laying curled close to the castle wall, and once it heard her footsteps, she froze when a large, red-orange eye with a black, slitted pupil suddenly flew open at her. It lifts its large, angular head, slowly rising to all four feet to peer down at her. Swallowing hard, Aislyn stumbles backwards, but the loud clanking of chains causes her to stop. Clasped around both back legs and anchored to the castle wall, she blinked in alarm when she realized that it was trapped.<i> “Umm...hi. My name is Aislyn, and – please don’t set me on fire – I can help you,”</i> she can feel herself rambling, and by the way the dragon was still staring and occasionally cocking its head, she is pretty sure it doesn’t understand her. Taking a few more tentative steps forward, she makes her way towards where the chains attached to it.
The dragon spins abruptly, hot plumes of smoke erupting from its nostrils and Aislyn squeals in surprise.<i> “I’m going to help you, I promise. And then you can fly away and go to, uh...Dragonqanna, or wherever dragons live. Or you can live in Tephra! Do you like volcanos? We have a huge one, and –”</i> she had noticed that whenever she talked the dragon seemed to stop trying to kill her, and she managed to get one leg undone by striking repeatedly at the latch with a front hoof, but her narrative was cut short by a voice that sharply cut through the air,<b> “Hey! What do you think you’re doing!?”</b> Jumping backwards, she peers upwards to find the source of the voice scolding her. There, she sees a young girl – a human? – glaring down at her. The face quickly disappears, and moments later, a door flings open
Aislyn knows almost nothing about people, and even less about fashion. But she does know that this girl looks like she got her princess dress from the discount rack at a Spirit store. She’s also yelling at her, still, and Aislyn soon realizes maybe she should be listening.<b> “That’s my dragon, and you can’t have it,”</b> is what she manages to get out of all of that.
<i> “What? You can’t just keep a dragon. And if you have to chain it up, it obviously doesn’t like you that much anyway.”</i> The girl was standing with her arms crossed, glowering, and when she bravely – stupidly, really – made a move to herd Aislyn away, the young filly made one last strike against the clasp, and it broke open. Smirking triumphantly at the princess, she wheels around and bounds a few strides away, calling over her shoulder at the dragon,<i> “You’re free, let’s go!”</i> She was ignoring the way the girl was still yelling at her (she learned three new swear words!) as she hastily made a beeline back towards the bridge, and she didn’t have to look up to know the dragon had taken flight. She could hear the loud <i>whoosh</i> of its wings, and from the corner of her eye she saw it disappear behind the tops of the mountains.
Aislyn herself disappears back along the path from which she had came, not really sure where it was going to take her this time, but trusting she had at least accomplished something on this strange adventure. </div></font></center>