<center><link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Arizonia" rel="stylesheet"><div style="width: 600px; background: url('http://i.imgur.com/G9BGwo4.png'); padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; background-position: bottom; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color: #673626; border-radius: 45px 0px 45px 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 20px #000000;"><div style="width: 590px; background: url('http://i.imgur.com/G9BGwo4.png'); padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; background-position: bottom; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color: #19161e; border-radius: 40px 0px 40px 0px;box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px #000000;"><div style="width: 530px; margin-bottom: 260px; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; padding: 15px; background-color: #212227; opacity: 0.6; font-family: Times; color: #a1a6a9; font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%; text-align: justify; border-top: 5px solid #9b4b2c; border-bottom: 5px solid #9b4b2c; border-radius: 40px 0px;box-shadow: 0px 0px 20px #000;">The song begins to fall, the motionless lips of the foal suddenly closing as the fading notes hang in the air around them. The air is still, the vapid mist evaporating between them but still curls around the edges of the lake like a wall. With the disappearance of the music, a sudden uneasiness returns. The sharp hot pain of her wounds are remembered and she takes a slow step forward, still captured in the swirling of the fillies eyes. <b>”What do you want to show me..?”</b> She breathes softly, the longing still fighting against the common sense that’s waving a red flag in the back of her mind.
There’s a whisper that calls to her, <i>Come to me, don’t be frightened.</i> The hair on the back of her arched nape tingles, her skin starts to crawl. Unable to tear her gaze from the one penetrating right through her, something is not right. Nothing has been right but there’s an alarm bell frantically ringing in her head. It takes her a second to realize that the swirling in the girl’s eyes has changed. Black begins to seep into the whirls of silver. She watches as they completely blot out her eyes, turning as black as the land that she’s been trapped in.
Now her pulse is racing again, she’s taking a step backwards and looks down. The lake is solid but no longer still. The water is rippling beneath her, the stones choppy as the water froths beneath her feet. The lake is becoming agitated, whirling and swirling around her. Still she does not fall in, something dark and wicked keeping her afloat. Churning and frothing, a dark pit opening beneath her. Void and empty, a hungry mouth waiting to devour her.
She has no time to cry out in alarm, so much is happening. Trails of dark water flick upwards, grabbing at her long legs. Spraying water as they slap against her skin. She doesn’t even flinch, her horror fixed now on the creature before her. The foal is evolving, changing, shifting. Those cold soulful black eyes are now filled with something new, evil. The foals jaw hangs open in a silent scream as long sharp rows of teeth emerge from pale gums. Lips pulled back in a grimacing snarl. It’s expanding upwards, the front legs turning into pearly white translucent skin. They extend, nasty gangling arms that end in grimy claw like hands. It continues to rise, the back end turning into a thick curling tail that wraps around itself like a snake waiting to strike.
Somewhere in her mind she knew what this creature was that's towering over her. Just like somewhere in the back of her mind she had known the Leshen. Like she knows everything and yet nothing. The siren is shrieking, a long yearning call for her blood that threatens to shatter her eardrums. For a moment time seems to stand still even as the creature begins to lunge forward to grab at her with those long dirty fingernails. It slows as her blood turns icy, as she hears the fast thrumming of her heart drumming in her ears. There’s a weird rushing noise as something in her snaps.
A surge of power she has never felt before builds in her stomach, sending every tendon and nerve on fire. It courses through her chest, building and expanding. Muscles coil and tense beneath her smokey fur, her neck arched and her head bent towards her chest. Something dormant trying so badly to get out. It builds and builds until she can contain it no more. Raising her head slowly, a cold hard look narrowed in on the creature. The once motionless silver of her eyes begin to swirl once more.
With a scream that rivals the siren’s shriek, she cries out and literally explodes with pure white light. The brightest light this underworld had ever seen. It seeks to explode from every orifice of her body, seems to leak between the wounds that cover her skin. A shining beacon of hope in an otherwise desolate place. It catches the siren off guard, shrieking and recoiling as it is blinded. Those clawing hands grabbing but not seeing.
Ciri had always been a girl of time and space. She had known this at birth where other’s would not be aware, would not remember. But why? For she came from the stars, from a place where these things melded and blended. Where time was an illusion and centuries passed in the blink of an eye. She could not remember, mortality stifling the knowledge she had once had. The stories and lives she had seen played out below her from her seat in the sky.
A star made mortal.
She had forgotten but now she recalls.
The light continues to shine, the creature before her is still real. It threatens to take her soul down into the abyss that yawns beneath her. If she loses, it will open. If she wins, she might escape this place once and for all. The creature is struggling to see and this is what she must use to her advantage. Spinning around so that her back is towards the siren, she throws herself forward and sends out a savage buck. Her hooves land solidly on the creature’s chest. It screams with rage, throwing an arm and hitting Ciri across her barrel. Nails rake along her ribcage and she squeals, the light growing brighter with her fear.
The dark mare stumbles but does not fall. This is the fight of her life, she cannot fail. Another buck is sent forward, her neck turned so she can see when she makes contact with the siren’s left arm. It shatters, light piercing through it’s translucent wound. The siren screams and it’s pain is terrible to hear. She turns now and launches herself at the monster. Avoiding snapping teeth, she thrusts her lantern like body into it’s face. Front hooves pummeling at wherever she can hit. Where she makes contact, the light seems to burn into it like a branding iron. Oily patches of blood flow from it’s wounds and the angry churning void beneath her swallows them greedily.
The siren screams as Ciri lands a last blow, biting at it’s neck. The siren flails, it’s piercing cries as shattering as the light that punctures through it. Then they are both falling into the blackness. Ciri’s screams weave between the siren’s and she closes her eyes, ready for the fall.
Instead she hits the water with a loud splash, sinking beneath the lake as the water closes around her. Her legs paddle fiercely beneath her, struggling to rise. She panics, her lungs burning for air. With a gasping cry she breaks through the surface and inhales deeply, looking about her with fear in her eyes. Nothing. The world is silent once more. The lake is still except for where she is churning in it’s depths. Wet forelock clings to her ears as she pants and thrashes around her, looking for the siren. It’s gone. The abyss had tasted blood and taken it.
She had survived.
Slowly she swims towards the shore, her hooves finally finding the smooth stones as she gets closer to the bank. She stumbles towards land, falling often, barely climbing out before collapsing in the mud. Shaking sobs rattle her breath as the reality of everything begins to hit her. The siren and the leshen, this terrible place, the light and her forgotten memories. Blearily she looks around as the warm tears sting her swirling silver eyes, realizing that she no longer lit up like a lightbulb. <b>”I am done with this place.”</b> She spats out loud, her anger and her fear finally consuming her.
</div><div style="font-family: 'Arizonia', cursive; font-size: 70px; color: #acadaf; margin-bottom: 60px; padding-right: 380px;align:center; opacity: 0.9; text-shadow: 1px 1px 15px #000, 0 0 5px #000, 0 0 15px #000, 0 0 3px #fff;">Ciri</div></div></center>
Ability used: Equus Astrea
There’s a whisper that calls to her, <i>Come to me, don’t be frightened.</i> The hair on the back of her arched nape tingles, her skin starts to crawl. Unable to tear her gaze from the one penetrating right through her, something is not right. Nothing has been right but there’s an alarm bell frantically ringing in her head. It takes her a second to realize that the swirling in the girl’s eyes has changed. Black begins to seep into the whirls of silver. She watches as they completely blot out her eyes, turning as black as the land that she’s been trapped in.
Now her pulse is racing again, she’s taking a step backwards and looks down. The lake is solid but no longer still. The water is rippling beneath her, the stones choppy as the water froths beneath her feet. The lake is becoming agitated, whirling and swirling around her. Still she does not fall in, something dark and wicked keeping her afloat. Churning and frothing, a dark pit opening beneath her. Void and empty, a hungry mouth waiting to devour her.
She has no time to cry out in alarm, so much is happening. Trails of dark water flick upwards, grabbing at her long legs. Spraying water as they slap against her skin. She doesn’t even flinch, her horror fixed now on the creature before her. The foal is evolving, changing, shifting. Those cold soulful black eyes are now filled with something new, evil. The foals jaw hangs open in a silent scream as long sharp rows of teeth emerge from pale gums. Lips pulled back in a grimacing snarl. It’s expanding upwards, the front legs turning into pearly white translucent skin. They extend, nasty gangling arms that end in grimy claw like hands. It continues to rise, the back end turning into a thick curling tail that wraps around itself like a snake waiting to strike.
Somewhere in her mind she knew what this creature was that's towering over her. Just like somewhere in the back of her mind she had known the Leshen. Like she knows everything and yet nothing. The siren is shrieking, a long yearning call for her blood that threatens to shatter her eardrums. For a moment time seems to stand still even as the creature begins to lunge forward to grab at her with those long dirty fingernails. It slows as her blood turns icy, as she hears the fast thrumming of her heart drumming in her ears. There’s a weird rushing noise as something in her snaps.
A surge of power she has never felt before builds in her stomach, sending every tendon and nerve on fire. It courses through her chest, building and expanding. Muscles coil and tense beneath her smokey fur, her neck arched and her head bent towards her chest. Something dormant trying so badly to get out. It builds and builds until she can contain it no more. Raising her head slowly, a cold hard look narrowed in on the creature. The once motionless silver of her eyes begin to swirl once more.
With a scream that rivals the siren’s shriek, she cries out and literally explodes with pure white light. The brightest light this underworld had ever seen. It seeks to explode from every orifice of her body, seems to leak between the wounds that cover her skin. A shining beacon of hope in an otherwise desolate place. It catches the siren off guard, shrieking and recoiling as it is blinded. Those clawing hands grabbing but not seeing.
Ciri had always been a girl of time and space. She had known this at birth where other’s would not be aware, would not remember. But why? For she came from the stars, from a place where these things melded and blended. Where time was an illusion and centuries passed in the blink of an eye. She could not remember, mortality stifling the knowledge she had once had. The stories and lives she had seen played out below her from her seat in the sky.
A star made mortal.
She had forgotten but now she recalls.
The light continues to shine, the creature before her is still real. It threatens to take her soul down into the abyss that yawns beneath her. If she loses, it will open. If she wins, she might escape this place once and for all. The creature is struggling to see and this is what she must use to her advantage. Spinning around so that her back is towards the siren, she throws herself forward and sends out a savage buck. Her hooves land solidly on the creature’s chest. It screams with rage, throwing an arm and hitting Ciri across her barrel. Nails rake along her ribcage and she squeals, the light growing brighter with her fear.
The dark mare stumbles but does not fall. This is the fight of her life, she cannot fail. Another buck is sent forward, her neck turned so she can see when she makes contact with the siren’s left arm. It shatters, light piercing through it’s translucent wound. The siren screams and it’s pain is terrible to hear. She turns now and launches herself at the monster. Avoiding snapping teeth, she thrusts her lantern like body into it’s face. Front hooves pummeling at wherever she can hit. Where she makes contact, the light seems to burn into it like a branding iron. Oily patches of blood flow from it’s wounds and the angry churning void beneath her swallows them greedily.
The siren screams as Ciri lands a last blow, biting at it’s neck. The siren flails, it’s piercing cries as shattering as the light that punctures through it. Then they are both falling into the blackness. Ciri’s screams weave between the siren’s and she closes her eyes, ready for the fall.
Instead she hits the water with a loud splash, sinking beneath the lake as the water closes around her. Her legs paddle fiercely beneath her, struggling to rise. She panics, her lungs burning for air. With a gasping cry she breaks through the surface and inhales deeply, looking about her with fear in her eyes. Nothing. The world is silent once more. The lake is still except for where she is churning in it’s depths. Wet forelock clings to her ears as she pants and thrashes around her, looking for the siren. It’s gone. The abyss had tasted blood and taken it.
She had survived.
Slowly she swims towards the shore, her hooves finally finding the smooth stones as she gets closer to the bank. She stumbles towards land, falling often, barely climbing out before collapsing in the mud. Shaking sobs rattle her breath as the reality of everything begins to hit her. The siren and the leshen, this terrible place, the light and her forgotten memories. Blearily she looks around as the warm tears sting her swirling silver eyes, realizing that she no longer lit up like a lightbulb. <b>”I am done with this place.”</b> She spats out loud, her anger and her fear finally consuming her.
</div><div style="font-family: 'Arizonia', cursive; font-size: 70px; color: #acadaf; margin-bottom: 60px; padding-right: 380px;align:center; opacity: 0.9; text-shadow: 1px 1px 15px #000, 0 0 5px #000, 0 0 15px #000, 0 0 3px #fff;">Ciri</div></div></center>
Ability used: Equus Astrea