07-18-2021, 11:33 PM
One day you will find yourself looking into the nether and emptiness is all you will find. One day, if you continue as you have been, you will lay yourself wearily upon this Earth you so cherish and take your last breath. Death will come to you and you will be alone like I am. Do not be like me, Broch. Do not spend your life fighting other people's battles and forgetting the war that wages inside you. Do not fights wars for the world that you are not willing to fight yourself.
Silence. It was such a heavy thing. The greenery filled the void around with lively shades and occasional blooms. Water rushed unburdened by restraint, with only one destination in mind. The sun rose and set and traded places with the moon. Life continued evolving around the sooty beast who remained stoically alone, lifeless amidst a world thriving with it. One might hope for the solitude he seemed to find within himself, until the peered inside his mind to find what lay beneath the visage that seemed to rest so peacefully by the churning river. Beneath that dome was a world of regret and dissatisfaction. For fear of lingering too long on the negative, the story needed a beginning to lead to his current existence. The massive beast was no monster, despite his size and bulk. His was not a past of misdeeds he was now finding the time to regret. Though he did have regrets, his past was largely burdened with grief and stories that were left marked and unfinished. Questions plagued his mind daily, full of the curiosity that followed wondering where the bonds of his past found themselves now. He was in strange lands again. This was no unique story. Brochturach was a wanderer if he was known for anything.
He lay as if he slept, though that pleasure had not befallen him in many days. His bones ached with weariness for the many miles pressed upon them by the well honed muscles that clutched so tightly to them. The crest of red fringe atop his pate glistened with sweat and dust from the path he'd traveled. There had been nights when he'd wondered just why he pushed on. Unlike the river beside him, he had no destination in mind. His body drove him where his eyes spied and his mind had little involvement in the matter. It was his way. When the place he called home was no longer such, he moved on. It was a natural inclination. Instinctual. He would earn his scars and press on. When he no longer had loved ones to keep him in a place, he left. It was a natural as day becoming night and night becoming day again. He had stopped questioning. He had left when he could not find his mother and father after they fled the great war of his homelands. He had fought the good fight, assuming he would find them safely with the others who had evacuated. It was after the war that he learned that the herds had divided and some had wandered where others did not know. Without them why should he stay? So he'd left.
Then he'd found a new home after wandering aimlessly for weeks. That story was a greater burden to consider and his lids flew up, blue eyes hardening like ice within their sockets. His loss had been great. Far more was taken from him than he'd hoped in a lifetime and he did his best to keep such thoughts from his mind. Very few ever gained what he'd had and he doubted they had ever lost it. So he stirred, massive limbs drawing his body up as he peered out over the rushing waters. A soft breeze wafted through his feathered nape and for a moment he could imagine he was not in a strange land but back in the mountains he had so cherished. For a moment he imagined the tantalizing scent that had been trapped in distant memories for so long he'd almost forgotten it. He could never forget, he reminded himself. There was too much branded into the core of his memories to ever escape from it.
He found a soft, roguish smile tilting the corners of his blood stained lips. It was just enough to hint that he was still capable of any feeling at all. He had always been lively, open and honest. The years might have tarnished his nature a bit, but Brochturach had never strayed far from the morals his family had instilled in him. He perhaps tried too hard to pretend that he was affected by the world, but deep down he could never undo his own nature. He could never escape what had drawn her in and would he want to? For a breath in time the world had been all but his. He remembered the laughter, the bright blue eyes that had dazzled him so and the curiosity that had piqued her interest when he'd first spoken. For a breath in time he had wanted things he'd never considered having in his life again. Family. Home. Happiness. That dream had been dispelled before it had even reached its peak. So here he stood, years between himself and those bygone times. Drawing in a heavy breath, he continued watching the rushing river even as he wished it would take him with it.
@lilliana