well, I'm a lion in the haze and the lamb in the lightning
oh, these spears and chains of flames around my neck are tightening
There was something wild living within him.
He dreamt of it—dreamt of the wild panther that roared in his dreams, of his grandfather’s face peering down at him. He dreamt of stalking through the woods, muscles rolling beneath the velvet pelt, of his smile revealing something dangerous. He dreamt of heavy paws and silent movement. And when he woke, he was the same, he was unchanged. It was frustrating, to wake in the awkward form of his own body, his coat the same inky blackness, but somehow thinner, his legs long, weighed by those bulky hooves.
He dreamt as a predator and woke as prey.
(Although it would be hard-pressed for anyone to think of Alek as prey.)
Still, it left an itch between his shoulder blades, an irritation he couldn’t shake, something that kept him up and moving. It was the same thing that brought him back to the heart of this cursed land, the very reason he was locked away inside. It was not lost on him that this land was the reason he was trapped and yet he returned to her. It brought a scowl to his handsome face, his dual-colored eyes sharpening.
The forest was quiet today, and he wasn’t unhappy for it, thick tail flicking at his sides. While he usually kept tabs on his unruly twin, he was, for today at least, completely alone. He yawned and cracked his jaw and then shook his head, the wildness of his mane flipping over his thick neck. When he glanced around and realized that there truly was no one else in sight, he sighed, rolled his shoulders and began to doze.
He may as well enjoy his solitude while there was no one around to disturb it.
Aleksandr