i break chains all by myself; narcisus

[Narcisus]

On the Island there was only so much to do. To others Islanders was a paradise, but as the days blended into weeks I found it to be less of something to be discovered and more like something that was starting to hold me back, which reminded me of my days spent in the adoption den. I hardly bothered Aedan anymore; he’d fulfilled the purpose of giving me a home and since then, I’d only been practicing how to leave it again. Aedan himself had never mattered in the first place: what mattered was that I had somewhere and someone to use as an anchor. I only needed the security of Islandres and belonging there, and I had certainly never wanted an adoptive parents pitious love.

Aedan’s other children were pathetic, anyways. I never played nice with them and soon enough they got the picture, choosing to avoid me altogether. The older I grew the less appealing games were and the more I wanted to use my magic instead, but I had been told (more than once) that the way I used it was ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unfair’, which I thought was utterly stupid. That was the point of it all, couldn’t the others see that? I wasn’t like them - I didn’t beg for things, I demanded them. I got what I wanted, one way or another, and I liked the way I could sometimes force others to do my bidding against their own free will.

No creature that swam through the bog’s murky depths or flew through the gaseous air was safe. If I wanted them to sink, to land, to come when I beckoned them ‘come’ they had to listen. And the most enjoyable thing of all was that I could feel myself getting stronger each time I practiced. So strong, in fact, that the dumbest creatures of the earth weren’t fun to command anymore, and I’d been forbidden to practice on the inhabitants of Islandres since they didn’t like being bothered, so here I was in the common lands instead. That’s where I’d first seen him: the ugly stallion. I hadn’t thought much of him aside from being grateful that I looked nothing like him, but he’d caught my dark attention when a little mare approached him and he promptly told her to “Fuck off.”

I laughed to myself about it, and then left the throng to follow him covertly as he wandered away.

He shuffled off toward an oak tree and I wasn’t secretive about approaching him, airing out my wings and hopping on black hooves through the chest-high grass. “Hey loser,” I taunted him, smirking, “You shouldn’t let bitches talk to you like that.”

Stopping, I turned away from him to focus on the little mare who’d upset his sensitive feelings. For a second nothing changed, then she went rigid and started jerking her legs sideways. Her head was turned back to the group she’d been a part of, the expression on her face clearly disturbed and almost frightened. Her friends beckoned her back but I only burrowed deeper into her with my gift, allowing for my eyes to go white and pale with the effort of controlling her legs like a marionette toying with his puppet. Off she went, further and further, until she was splashing into the river against her will and whinnying for someone, anyone, to help her. One of her friends tried bravely to pull on her tail but it was useless - I dug harder, deeper, and watched her sink further into the water until her head was entirely submerged.

Then I let go, laughing.

Eventually she surfaced again, though by then I’d already turned to look back at the lonesome poser, my face entirely twisted with arrogance and a sick, dark mirth.

“What’s your name?” I asked him.

Narcisus

@[lestrade] ahh, they grow up so fast