"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
The thoughts cause a pit in my stomach. How could a place so beautiful and tranquil be gone? What had happened in my absence to cause such a travesty? But most importantly, what do I do now? Where do I go, what do I do? Perhaps not do so much as, belong. I am not a creature of the land or sea solely, but a muddled existence somewhere in-between. It was in my pool I felt most at home, but it is no more and now I must move on...
I allow the river to carry me inland. Its currents sweeping me along with no energy spent on my part. It allows my mind to wander in my thoughts below the surface of the waters. Within those thoughts I consider my options. Had Ischia been the only lands with interior water features? It was the only area I had ever really explored, and I did not know what even remains of the other lands.
Around another bend in the riverway, I lift me head to peer above the water. It is bright here and somewhat open. The land looks to be a grassy plain and inviting at first sight. It would do me some good to exercise my unused hind legs and explore. My great finned tail flicks, harnessing the water and propelling me to shore. As the water shallows my forelegs lift my front half and drag my finned tail along the river bottom. Within a step or two my hind legs morph and I am standing on all fours once again. My delicate face lowers to the waters and exhales a snort as water droplets trickle down my scales and lush ebony locks. My reflection stares back at me with icy blue reptilian eyes. I snort away the image, causing the water to ripple before I lift my head and move up the rivers bank.
My legs function somewhat easier as I traverse into the sea of green. My ears swivel to each cricket chirp and bird song with curiosity and caution. I do not move far from the rivers edge, but far enough that maybe I can see across the meadow and spot a blue pond. A new home. The sun warms my scaled pearlescent skin in a most satisfying way. Like a lovers embrace it warms me from the outside in, calming me and giving me ease. I stop my wanderings and simply drink in the warmth for a time. My gaze shifts lazily about the land and I wonder just what I might find here.
The land has always been such a bipolar mess of tumult and violent shifting. Claudia was born into it, out of her mother’s womb and into the thrashing waves ̶ the cold saltwater embracing her and the seastorms whispering their rage above the surface.
Chaos feels like home ̶ because it is.
Her mother spat her out into a hurricane and it made no difference to the little toothy devil that is Claudia. The little water-wraith, the nightstalking, bone crunching, slithery, scaly demoness grew up with those storms in her heart, in her blood. When the land folds and crumbles, collapsing and rebuilding, or being swallowed into oblivion; none of it is new to her. The only constant is change, right?
Today the stags gather in the grasses, chasing and fighting, properly distracted with their own bullshit, making them rather easy targets for a craving creature like Claudia. It doesn’t take her long to stalk and take one. Dragging it into the knotted brambles as it screams, flailing desperately before she sinks her long teeth into its neck. She takes her quarry to the river’s burbling edge, staining the emerald moss with sparkling red blood as she rips the tastiest parts from its bones.
And what a coincidence it is then, that just down the way a kelpie-girl rose from the tumbling waters and climbed onto the banks of the grassy meadow. They were all different, the kelpies of Beqanna, but all had something that strung them together like pearls on a chain.
“Hello.” she purrs, appearing behind the mare who just made her way toward the sea of green and away from the riverside. Claudia moves in silence, so when she comes from behind, it is rather ghostly; yet she has no ghostly magics. Her half-grin exposes glowing teeth, sharp and bright. Her golden mane shimmers with a faint glow, taken just slightly by the gentle breeze as she looks over the stranger she has boldly approached. Blood is still gathered on her chin and chest, smelling of a fresh kill. “Getting a break from the water, eh?” she blinks slow, sliding her eyes over the mare’s shiny scales and curves and back to her eyes.
Maybe in my minds musings I had not heard another approach. My muscles tense as I hear words sneak up on me. My ears twist back, and my delicate face rises in surprise at the sudden greeting. What I sought to find in these lands is not what has found me basking in the rays of the green meadow...
Hello.
My neck curves to bring the other into better view. Sapphire eyes find something familiar in the mare that curls around me. Color, teeth, mannerisms. It all screams of Ivar and oddly these characteristics cause my muscles to relax almost instantly. Had the other been something foreign to me the reaction may have been different, but Kelpies I knew...
Getting a break from the water, eh?
A grin upturns my blackish lips, exposing my equally sharp teeth, before I reply, "It can be tiring after decades I suppose." My words hold no alter meanings today. My neck straightens and lowers in a relaxed position once again. I wonder just how many of Ivars' spawn I will meet within these lands.
The blood on the other does not surprise or concern me. It was the typical way of life for many of their kind but it was not something I lost myself to. Not by choice. I did not judge those that did though.
My eye lids hang lazily over my eyes as I enjoy the warmth of the day on my dark scales. I do not dismiss the company that has found me and so I offer my name kindly, "My name is Deiti, what is yours?"
D
eiti
A God's Creation | Carnage X Dynast
@Claudia Sorry it took so long! Just got back from vacation so I still have beach brain. It'll get better I promise <3
Deiti
