02-17-2016, 03:16 AM
THIS WAY, OR NO WAY, YOU KNOW I'LL BE FREE
The quiet was an impenetrable force, blanketing the valley with its rueful intentions and unspoken consequences. His footfall was soft, nearly impossible to sense as his lithe body began to writhe and slide between the thick foliage, his delicate wings tucked tightly against his curved spine. His shoulders wave to and fro with each unusual movement; he was agile and yet careful - his gaunt frame was not like the others. He could sense the branches shifting around his shape, a long antennae reaching out to gently stroke its barren length as he attempts to focus his gaze. It comes together within his compound eyes of obsidian, in pieces - in particles - and he can see the unsecured pebbles of roughened, broken stone ahead; the slope of the mountains he had only just breached - and yet it was all still a non-functioning piece of the puzzle. He could not see it in its entirety, but he could feel its allure.
It is when a single print reaches the valley floor that he hears it - a cry for union, given by a commanding voice. It echoes against the slanted stone and thick brush, enveloping him as it reverberates across his jawline and saturates into his small but gaping earholes. His antennae grow erect as he listens hard, tasting the air as the breeze whistles across the gentle down and scales that line his body. A blend of beige and black, he is an unusual sight to behold in pattern and design. He pushes forward, stalking through the terrain as he approaches. He can taste him long before he can see him - a male of substantial size and magnitude with warm summer sweat trickling down his graying pelt. Slowly, his gaze pieces him together. He sees the wings, the markings - his eyeless sockets. He knows immediately he will not be judged alone by his physical appearance, though he could hardly care if he were.
"Lead the way." His soothing, rumbling baritone is vastly different from the altogether strained way he holds himself. "While I am unfamiliar with your hierarchy, past and present, I have come to serve this kingdom in any diplomatic way I am able to and will stand behind you."
He can feel the hot stares against his flesh, and his wings ruffle for a moment, flinching.
"I am Elysium."
Elysium
equus lepidoptera, student of the valley