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  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


    Island Resort: Round 1
    #11
    breaking like the waves down on the coastline
    breaking like the wine-stained glass that held my drink

    From the mouth of the river she had stayed, uncertain and frighten for what lurked in the shadows of the dryland. Eva has yet to convince herself there is nothing to be fearful of down the large mouth of the river. She knows the ocean better than anyone. A narrow path of the waters would protect her if there was to be danger. But it still did not feel enough for her.

    However, a stir within her heart blossomed. A call to come forward, down to the river, beckoned her. As if the call of the ocean was calling her to come onto the dryland. It felt foreign and strange, but at the same time there was comfort in the ocean-like breeze voice. As if her own mother, the dying body she found besides her on the bone-bleached beach, was waiting for her at the end of the river.

    With her new sense of bravery, Eva answers the call. She swims down the river, keeping her eyes only focused on the ocean-voice that summoned her. She does not notice the world around her, the new sights do not intrigue her for some reason. When she reaches the base of the mountain, she stumbles, keeping at the edge of where water and land meet. Eva bites her tongue, her fearlessness crumbles as her anxious heart beats heavily in her chest.

    But the call comes again, welcoming her. It embraces her with warm encouragement. Eva answers the voice blindly, like a naïve like-minded child she is. One hoof is placed slowly on the rock-hard surface, she stumbles once and then twice. But she is determined to find balance just like she was when she was a newborn. Eva smiles with confidence when she finds her balance and takes several steps forward.

    “I’m coming!” She says as she feels the ocean-breeze brush against her fine-chiseled cheekbone. The purple filly makes her way up the steep slopes of the mountain. Eventually, she reaches the top. Her warm orange-gold eyes catch ahold of the small group of others that have gathered in front of a fae (she knows this is the voice of the ocean-breeze somehow). Eva swallows hard at the sight that has unfolded before her, but she does not linger back long as being one of the last to arrive. She makes her way to the group, surveying them as she goes, noticing there are others near her age. It can’t be, she thinks with be wilderment as she looks at the dark teal filly with seashell markings and how dangerous her beauty is.

    Eva shakes her head, pushing the thought aside once the bright blue fae steps forward. Her voice is soothing just like the waters of Beqanna—her home. She is drawn to the fae, as if she has known this creature her entire life and beyond her own birth. She feels safe and comfort in her presence. Seashells? What exactly was this? Eva knows all about the seashells. She has found pretty and shinny ones all over Beqanna. But on Island Resort? Well, she never had been on the land there.

    “I’m not scared of no waters,” she says with a smile, obviously showing her confidence. “You’ll have your seashells in no time!” She says with a smile to the blue fae. Was she about to go on another adventure? It seemed so. I guess the dryland isn’t so bad, she thinks with a laugh as she turns and makes a quick run down to where she had come from the river.

    Retracing her steps back to the river ad to swim around the large dryland was the quickest way she could get to the Island Resort. She knew nothing about the other parts of the dryland, but in the water, she was the quickest and safest. So, the purple girl makes her way back down the river and out into the open waters that is her domain.

    She finds herself I absolute comfort and bliss when she is within the water. The sea salt fills her with joy, and the sound of the ocean breeze fills her with confidence. There is nothing she fears within the waters. It was what had shaped her and given her what she has become today. Giving her life and a sense of purpose to rule and protect the wide-open waters. Never has Eva ever confronted anything in these waters that she could not handle.

    “Is there even anything scary lurking around?” She asks out loud with a laugh as she rounds the bend of the dryland, marking the half-way point to Island Resort. There was nothing the sea of the daughter could not handle in these waters. “Nothing scares me!” She yells as she pushes through the waves at full-speed with ease. Her words are almost inviting to any monster that lurks within, challenging them to come and fight her.

    With the passing of time and speed, the tip of the island is seen in the horizon. Eva feels a wide smile spread across her lips. “Well, there you are!” She says with a laugh, pushing herself faster than the speed she currently was swimming at. “No monst-“ she says, but her words are suddenly cut off as she feels the entanglement of a strange and slimy thing on her right hindleg.

    Eva screams out, pushing and pulling. “What the hell!” She says twisting and turning to get whatever is holding her back. The more movement and effort she tries into pulling from the grip of whatever has her, the tighter it becomes. The nereid kicks and twists, but suddenly the water stirs around her, several tentacles wrap around her.

    The girl screams out again. She kicks and turns to try and loosen herself from the tentacles that grip her. But the more and more she tries, the tighter it becomes. Eva can feel the oxygen in her lungs being sucked away. She chokes hard, tasting the saltwater in her lungs. As if she is a drylander drowning for the first time. It violently shakes her now, pulling tighter on her limbs and slowly making his way around her body and to her neck with several tentacles.

    I can’t die like this! There was no way she was going to let this strange creature take her down. Evan snorts, finding her last sense of strength, and takes control of the ocean around her. She pulls it, bringing the current to her and the beast that entangles around her. The current is strong. It lashes against the beast. She creates a whip-like current out of the waters she brings into her control. Lashing and beating at the shadowy-murky beast.

    Each time the current hits hard she can feel the grip of the tentacles loosening up. She continues, fighting against the tentacles wrapped around her and the sea monster’s attempt to keep her still and within its grip. But she doesn’t stop, she is determined to be free from the monster.

    Suddenly, there is a moment where she struggles free. The beast loosens its grip, retreating its long murky tentacles. Eva takes another current of the water, ripping across the murky beast’s shadowy-form in the water. “Get out of here!!!” She says loudly, demanding the beast to be gone. She pushes herself away from the beast, keeping her distance but all the while continually to lash out if the monster wishes to get closer. “That’s what I thought!” She says with a mischief smirk and soft laugh. “You better run!” She says as the strange, tentacled-sea monster retreats to the depths of the waters from where it came from.

    Eva laughs wildly at realizing now what she has done. “I’m definitely queen of these waters,” she says as she quickly turns towards the direction of Island Resort. Slowly but surely, the purple nereid reaches the shore of the dryland. She pushes herself onto where sand and water meet. Her body aches, but with what strength she has left she stumbles onto the shore to rest for a moment.

    Eva

    character info: here | character reference: here
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    #12

    No longer bound by the throes of sickness, Leander answered the call. He had done so once before, and though he had failed to complete the fae’s mission, his failure had ultimately led him to his sister. And so he took wing. He was still too-thin and perhaps a little wobbly in the air, but Lee felt stronger every day. His lungs expand and release easily, freed from the plague’s terrible grip – a part of him jubilant to breathe clear air as he soared through the skies, though he knew firsthand that whatever task was set before them wouldn’t be simple.

    No, it wouldn’t be simple at all.

    At the foot of the Mountain, he listened to the fae’s directives with a firmly set jaw – perhaps his stubborn streak could serve him well here. He knows of the Island mentioned, having seen it from above in previous explorations of Beqanna, before the lands had become festered and plague-ridden and he himself had been confined to the northernmost reaches of Icicle Isle. He struck out, launching into the clouds. Perhaps this task would distract him from the fact that his sister was nowhere to be found. The thought spurred him forward, and for once he pushed Kora and his potential niece or nephew from his mind to focus on what might lie ahead.

    Alighting upon the ashen shores of Tephra, he glanced upward at the volcano looming overhead. A black smoke was spewing steadily from its crater, the smell thick and sharp and cloying. He had not yet seen it look quite so menacing – but then, volcanoes were always unpredictable. A frown crossed his features before he shook his head, turning his brown eyes to the waters lapping at his hooves instead.

    He plunged into the waves, broad wings tucked close to his sides as his legs worked to cut through the sea. His father had taught him to swim from an early age, and thus he did so comfortably and with some real skill. With his head lifted, he could see a few others outlined against the wobbling line of watery horizon, and ahead of that was the Island for which they aimed. With each swimming stroke, its sandy beach grew ever closer – until something suddenly grabbed at a hind leg.

    Whatever it was, it pulled him under.

    Leander hadn’t even drawn breath before the creature had snared him. Had it really been so easy to breathe moments earlier? There was salt in his airways and a fire in his chest, and with effort he flared his wings wide through the water to slow his speedy descent to the depths. This made whatever had a hold of him tug even harder, but now he was fighting, desperately fighting to break past the waves and breathe again, just breathe easy again, breathe, breathe…

    With all four of his legs kicking wildly, one of his hooves must have struck the thing – hard enough that he felt its grip loosen momentarily. With that, Leander beat his wings downward with all his might and kicked for the surface. Propelled upward by this final burst of energy, his face broke from the water and his lungs raked in blessed oxygen, his lungs burning and his eyes rolling. He knew the creature wouldn’t be far behind.

    And it wasn’t. An ugly, gelatinous head protruded from the sea before him, rows of razor-sharp teeth gaping from its open maw, its movement through the waves frighteningly silent. Deadly. He was about to give a final, desperate lunge for the air, when a loud whistling sound pre-empted a chunk of volcanic rock that barreled over him, narrowly missing his own skull, shooting like a bullet directly into the sea creature’s brain.

    Thank the stars for the unpredictability of volcanoes, he thought – that is, until a veritable storm of spewed rock began falling around him, quickly realizing the creature’s unfortunate fate could very well become his own in short order. With renewed vigor he swam for the Island’s shore. Sometimes the ominous splashes of falling rock came dangerously near. Leander’s eyes grew wide when a boulder two times the size of a horse fell thirty yards away, leaving a massive wave in its wake.  

    He reached the beach, gulping back deep breaths as he gratefully climbed out of the water. Only when he tried to put weight on his hind leg did he realize how deeply the sea creature’s teeth had punctured him, and he favored it heavily as he strode further upshore. A few of the flying rocks had glanced off of his back, scraping his overo skin so that blood trickled from the shallow wounds – but these were minor compared to the ache that now pulsated from his ankle as his adrenaline waned.



    leander
    take a bullet to the heart just to keep you safe; like a dream in my arms but i’m wide awake

    so luck was on his side and basically the volcano defeated the sea creature for him by erupting at a very opportune moment :]
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    #13
    Bright

    She is aware of the sick crawling through Ruan’s veins the very moment her brother-mage breathes life back into her cold, empty body. It hits her like a blow to her chest, and she can feel the fissures spreading outwards despite her best effort to not care so deeply. About him or anyone, save the beautiful boy she had left behind. But it seems to not make a difference how her mind feels, what those strands of self-preserving logic keep beating into her.

    Her heart feels what her heart feels.
    And it feels for the family that had been built around her by forces greater than even herself.

    Her family.

    So the mountain is the first place she returns to, knowing that the magic inside her body is not yet strong enough to carve the plague from Ruan’s weary bones. That she alone does not yet possess the resources to heal him, make him whole again. She will add her strengths to those who heed the call of the fairies, who mean to find this last ingredient in the hopes of making their families well again, of making homes safe and returning to places that had been made unliveable.

    There is a part of her that still feels wary even as she stands with the others and listens to the words of this fourth and final fairy, so blue and beautiful and in a shade that rivals even the gem-tones of Bright’s own amethyst skin. She can see that others feel calmed by the woman, but it is far from her nature to be soothed by a stranger, even one as gifted as this in her manners of tranquility.

    She is quiet and steady while the mare speaks, only looking around once to see the faces of those who have gathered. It is unsurprising to a few of her own blood, distant but still hers, and she feels a flicker of wariness for their well-being. It comes from a place in her rationality though, not from the heart. She is well aware of the toll it takes on her when any of her own blood is spilled, when death comes to claim someone that belongs in her intricately woven web.

    She will be careful to keep an eye on them, help them if she must.

    The journey to the Island is more tedious than she is used to as she struggles to conserve her magic where normally she would not be so concerned. But the tasks these fairies have sent others on have been anything but easy and she is not so foolish as to think this, despite the serenity of the gem-blue fairy, would be any different. All of her instincts warn her to conserve her magic, conserve her energy. To allow the journey to be simple until it decides it is ready to be otherwise.

    And when her hooves finally settle and pause beneath the water of the shore, she finds her wariness confirmed.

    There is deep magic here, she can feel it in her blood and her bones, in the very essence of who she is. As a mage she revels in it, wants to close her eyes and bask in such power. Let it find her and wash over her, mingle with what she is and create something more. But that is not the kind of magic this is. It does not crave to be joined with, it only seeks to destroy. If it had a shape, she can only guess it would be that of teeth. Something powerful and dangerous, meant for destroying. For ripping and rending.

    But the instruction of the fairy had been clear - to go into the water, to swim to the opposite shore.

    She steps into the ocean until the ground disappears from beneath her heels and there is only the soft twining of seaweed at her legs, but then even that is gone and she finds that having so much nothingness stretched below her is unsettling. It was better to feel the plants and know they were rooted nearby, near enough that there could be nothing lurking where she cannot see it. Now there is only sky above, only a world of dark and treachery below, and she feels the smallest she has ever felt in her whole life. Even death had been bigger than this. Fuller. For a while she swims and there is nothing ominous in her way, no spark of magic pinging at her senses, warning her to be wary. It is just she alone and the promise of something to come. Deliberate, she supposes, meant to lull her into complacency.

    But she is not complacent.

    She feels the magic flare and throb inside her skin, feels the all too mortal ache of desperation the moment the beast awakes and settles its sights on her. It is had to get a sense of, hard to know its shape or its mind, hard to know what it wants until the water starts to shift around her in a slow turn, an easy, drowning spiral.

    Charybdis.

    The name it gives itself is a grinding, guttural hiss in her mind. Like clawed fingers digging a den inside her where it can live and nest and roost. It does not belong there, not inside her, not within this ocean.

    She swims harder, fighting fear because it is a useless, unproductive emotion. Thoughtless and reactive, a prey-emotion, and she is not prey. She tries to portal herself further, past the reaches of the whirlpool now churning lazily around her, but it is so strong and so vast, and beast below simply follows her. Simply waits because it can, because the only way she can go now is down with this current, with the pull of this unnatural tide.

    The water is pulling her under now, splashing over her burning amethyst eyes and winding like a snake down her throat, an element come alive with the fury of its master. She tries to portal again, but there must be some magic keeping her here, some force that even she cannot understand, because when reappears it is only to be in a different place in the wall of the whirlpool. Her legs kick hard to keep her afloat, to keep anything below from reaching for her. But the not-knowing is too much for her, having no idea of this beast below. So she draws her magic into herself, too much of it because she can feel a mage-wound open up like a slice across her chest, and buries the magic inside her eyes.

    What she sees below makes her wish she had not, makes her wonder if she would have been better off not knowing. For the beast is massive, its open mouth as wide as its tubular body. An open mouth ringed with teeth the size of a pegasus’ horn, just rows and rows of them leading down into what must be it’s gaping, sucking throat. She realizes that is where this whirlpool comes from, those gulping swallows of ocean water as it drains her towards it. Clever beast.

    But now she knows what it is she needs to do, knows the anatomy of the beast and how best to neuter its manic strength.

    She stops fighting immediately, takes a huge breath and plummets as the beast grabs her with tentacles she had not noticed in the periphery of the spiraling whirlpool. She gasps, cries out as the barbed limbs bite into her skin, losing all the air she had trapped inside her. It pulls her down, down, and though it had not been what she intended, a new idea forms in her head.

    With the mouth of the gaping beast gnashing like a tooth-ringed hole in the bottom of the whirlpool directly beneath her, she shifts. In an instant she is iron, smooth and solid and beautiful, marked permanently in the deep furrowed wounds ripped across her body - falling, falling until she is inside the belly of the beast and the world is dark and wretched, stinking of death and rot and brine.

    There is exactly one second of silence, one instant of false-peace in the face of death, and then she explodes.

    She is living shrapnel inside the beast, murdering it from the inside out as it bellows and screams and writhes to spit out whatever pieces of her hadn’t already been ejected through his thick skin. It feels strange to be so many, to be innumerable and and falling through the dark water as the beast disentangles, bleeding and shrieking and swimming away to nurse such fatal wounds.

    She falls to the bottom of the ocean, chunks and slivers and slabs of metal all coming back together so that by the time her hooves hit the sand and stone and ocean-floor debri, she is mostly whole again. Mostly, but not completely. It is enough though, nothing vital missing, nothing she can’t live without. Perhaps in time, it will all come back to her again, but if it does not, she will heal.

    With one final drag on the last of her magic reserves, she finds that her magic is no longer restricted and portals the short distance to the shores of Island Resort, collapsing in a heap on the sand as herself again. As skin and bone and bleeding flesh.

    My touch is black and poisonous and nothing like my punch-drunk kiss




    bright encountered the mythological charybdis and defeated it by letting it swallow her as metal and then turning herself into shrapnel by exploding inside it
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    #14
    During all his time spent in Beqanna, there was one place Aten had not gone very often despite his own curiosity: the Mountain. The reason for this was not the imposing sight of the large monument stretching for the sky high above his head, or the numerous amounts of horses that gathered there, who for all he knew could be the enemies of his home. No, it was something else entirely; he knew there was a source of magic there, something intimidating, not necessarily dangerous, but something he would not want to mess with.

    He preferred to stay at the foot of the mountain, where others dared not tread, only watching with curious eyes as others climbed the trail that led to the top to confront the magical force that existed up there.

    But one day, when he once again drifted away from Taiga, his curiosity got the better of him as it did when he was a foal. He followed a large group of horses up to the top, feeling an imposing presence settle on his heart as he got closer. But once he reached the top, the intimidation disappeared, replaced with something... almost warm, comforting, like the feeling he used to have when he was with his dam during a scary time.

    Whatever was up here, it was powerful, but it had called others here, Aten having answered unwittingly. He listened to the voice as others did, surprised by what was going on. They were working on a cure for the Plague? And he had been blind to it this entire time? He could've been out here helping to find a cure, instead of waiting around in the Taiga, but he'd sat around and done nothing. Never before had the stallion felt more unworthy of his kingdom home.

    So, when the force spoke of the final ingredient needed to cure the Plague, Aten did not hesitate to partake. He followed the other numerous horses down the Mountain and in the direction of the Island resort, a journey that took quite some time since they had to travel a great distance. That wasn't even to say about the swim, but Aten would cross that ocean when he came to it.

    Every hour he spent on his travels was another that stripped energy from the stallion's body, but still he pressed on. When he got to the ocean along with other horses, he, for a moment, hesitated. He had swum before and was not afraid of the ocean, but a distance that massive to travel? Seeing some of the gifts the others possessed, he was suddenly jealous that he'd been born a normal horse. Maybe with a gift he'd have a better chance of survival.

    Shaking his head to steel his resolve, the stallion stepped into the ocean, feeling the slight tingle of his burn scars all the way up on his belly when he got deep enough, and began swimming. He was tired by a small point into his journey, so the stallion adjusted himself to try and preserve his energy while still going on. He was a good distance in when he felt a bit more normal, not as fatigued, and was enjoying his swim.

    But anything can change in a moment.

    Aten, at first, thought it was seaweed of some kind, that brushed against his leg, until he felt it again, and this time... well, he couldn't really describe it. To his attuned senses, the way whatever had brushed against his leg did... it just didn't feel like seaweed. It was a little more aggressive, tight, as if whatever brushed him had been trying to grab him and pull him under.

    Not trying to think about worst case scenario, Aten pressed on, but then he felt it again. Swimming a bit slower so he could look around, the stallion felt a chill run through his body, for he didn't know of any dangerous sea creatures that could cause the sensation he felt on his legs. He'd figure it out soon enough... like in, right about, now.

    Without warning, something suddenly grabbed the stallion's hind leg and pulled, hard. Aten felt his entire back half go under water, doing his best to paddle with his front legs and keep himself above to breathe. Whatever grabbed him didn't hold on at first, so Aten had a chance to start swimming. He could see the island in the distance now, and tried to push himself, but also knew if he did so, he might get tired faster and succumb to whatever was attacking him.

    It was a tough situation indeed.

    Several times the same thing happened, with either Aten's front or back half going under the waves. About five times into whatever was happening though, a new sensation was added. After whatever grabbed him let go, Aten felt a sharp, tearing sensation on his left gaskin, indicating somthing had either bitten or clawed him. It wasn't extremely deep, but it was quite painful, and slowed the stallion down immensely while the wound was fresh.

    The ocean water did something to calm the sting, but very little in the long run since now, he was receiving multiple wounds on his body. His legs, two on his belly, one near his breastbone. Now it wasn't just fatigue from the swim that was tiring him out, and the longer it was taking him to reach the island shore, the more Aten feared for his life.

    Aten was now roughly 30 yards from the island shore, and still being attacked. At least now, some of them had subsided to a grab and not clawing at him, but that didn't make him any less fearful. His eyes lit up with hope when he saw how close he was, but in an instant, all that hope vanished as the stallion's body disappeared beneath the ocean's surface with the quickness of a bolt of lightning.

    Aten was not a creature built to see underwater very well, but shapes and slight colors were all that mattered. All around him, he could see little creatures swimming, a few feet in length at most and skin that was flashing like the ocean's surface in a storm. Aten had no knowledge of what these creatures were, but could tell they were the ones that attacked him since they seemed to be circling him, assessing him.

    Instantly, Aten knew they were not sharks, otherwise they would've torn him to shreds at the smell of his blood. He wracked his brain for an answer, but came up empty-hoofed. One of the creatures swam toward him and lashed out with something that Aten could only guess were it's legs. It was fast, too fast for Aten's liking, and he tried to break for the surface to avoid it. Unfortunately, he was nowhere near fast enough, and he felt the creature latch onto his neck with two of it's legs. He felt a tearing sensation in the skin as the creature held on, and then let go, which gave Aten the time he needed to get to the surface.

    He breached and sucked in a huge breath, coughing up a small mouthfull of water. What in the world had just happened? He could feel the new wounds on his neck... what the hell could've caused that? In shock, Aten did nothing for a moment, which allowed the creatures to attack again.

    This time, it was faster, and harder. Multiple creatures grabbed Aten's legs and pulled him under again, this time more than just two feet. At least a few yards down now, Aten's ears were starting to hurt as he realized the creatures were trying to...

    Drown him...

    Panicking, the stallion kicked out with his legs, managing to strike the creatures holding him. It wasn't a hard kick, given he was in the water, but enough to stun them to let him go. Aten made a mad swim for the surface, feeling his lungs deprived of the air he so desperately needed. The creatures chased after him, unknown to the stallion, and latched on again. This time, Aten swiveled around with his teeth and grabbed one by it's abnormally large head, biting down hard enough for it to let him go. He did the same with the other three and continued his break for the surface.

    Getting above water again, Aten didn't even think about the breath he needed. He started swimming for shore as fast as he could, overcome by fear and adrenaline to get out of the water. Every time he thought he saw a creature come near him, he would lash out with his teeth and hooves to chase them off, having to do this maneuver many times by the time he got to the island shore.

    By the time he hit the banks of the water, far too shallow for the creatures to follow him, the stallion was absolutely exhausted. Not even taking the time to assess his wounds, Aten dragged himself to shore and all but collapsed on the sand, briefly nothing other horses had also made it to the shore before he laid his head down and closed his eyes to try and rest.


    OOC: Aten was attacked by a shoal of humboldt squid (I'm sure there is other species that would do so, I'm just a fan of them).

    Also, tried to hash this out as fast as I could to partake in the quest; I found out about it last minute. If I am not allowed to participate because I passed the deadline for the post required please let me know.
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