03-08-2018, 01:54 PM
When Nike appears before them with congratulations and rewards, Nayl remains quiet with anticipation that more is to come. A glance over her shoulder is confirmation that the tree and serpent have faded away, dissolved by this woman’s magic. This day-long task has been taxing, but she holds herself steadily. With a quirked brow, Nayl listens but finds herself taken aback by their concluding task.
Nayl’s mind has been blocked from the outside her entire life. To see this counterpart in front of her is startling and nerve-wracking. It’s a voice of failure, of doubt and threats. Her autumn eyes level on the figure, her face stoic as it so often is.
(A terrible Queen. You destroyed Nerine. You left it for family.)
I didn’t destroy it. I lifted it… then left it.
For decades, Nayl promised herself that Nerine would always come first, that family was a distraction she never wanted a part of.
(You abandoned Nerine. Worthless Queen. Terrible mother.)
She knew she could never be great to her children.
No, no, that’s wrong. She loves them all, loves Lior. They weren’t mistakes. She wasn’t a horrible mother to them.
The world around her disappears until it’s only her and the apparition. It is talking to her, hissing into her ear.
(Your children are dead because of you. You couldn’t protect them just as you couldn’t protect Nerine. You’re alone now. Your family is gone. Their blood…)
Is her mind playing tricks now?
When she looks down, she sees Lior, Castile, and Isobell crumpled at her feet, their blood sprayed across her chest. She lifts her head to see the apparition and its eyes blaze with fury and a hollow smile to match.
<i>”You can’t get into my head,”</i> she suddenly murmurs into the darkness, her eyes clenching shut to hide from the gory image. <i>”No one can get in my head.”</i> She’s suddenly vulnerable and lost.
(Mother, you failed us. You couldn’t protect us…)
Their voices are realistic, screaming into her mind and ripping apart her heart. Nayl is brought to her knees, wanting so bad for this to end, all while the doubt continues to feast on her insecurities. <i>”I would sacrifice myself---“</i> she begins but chokes on the words as familiar images spring to mind. The apparition mimicked her children, so young and so innocent, but Nayl has seen them in their adulthood. All of this is fake, a lie.
Anger erupts inside her that reaches into the rocks and sand of the arena. It emerges as the serpent again, but fortified with rocky armor – her inner strength – and pommels the apparition. It dodges easily enough but Nayl rises and steps forward with an unmatched tone of ferocity. <i>”You fucking lie. My children are alive, thriving, and I lifted Nerine to an empire.”</i> The apparition quakes from the coarseness of her voice as it adds weight and power to her own serpent. It crushes the apparition into submission.
Her willpower, her serpent, triumphs.
The Marwari horse is the answer due to the breed's deterioration in the '30s.
Nayl’s mind has been blocked from the outside her entire life. To see this counterpart in front of her is startling and nerve-wracking. It’s a voice of failure, of doubt and threats. Her autumn eyes level on the figure, her face stoic as it so often is.
(A terrible Queen. You destroyed Nerine. You left it for family.)
I didn’t destroy it. I lifted it… then left it.
For decades, Nayl promised herself that Nerine would always come first, that family was a distraction she never wanted a part of.
(You abandoned Nerine. Worthless Queen. Terrible mother.)
She knew she could never be great to her children.
No, no, that’s wrong. She loves them all, loves Lior. They weren’t mistakes. She wasn’t a horrible mother to them.
The world around her disappears until it’s only her and the apparition. It is talking to her, hissing into her ear.
(Your children are dead because of you. You couldn’t protect them just as you couldn’t protect Nerine. You’re alone now. Your family is gone. Their blood…)
Is her mind playing tricks now?
When she looks down, she sees Lior, Castile, and Isobell crumpled at her feet, their blood sprayed across her chest. She lifts her head to see the apparition and its eyes blaze with fury and a hollow smile to match.
<i>”You can’t get into my head,”</i> she suddenly murmurs into the darkness, her eyes clenching shut to hide from the gory image. <i>”No one can get in my head.”</i> She’s suddenly vulnerable and lost.
(Mother, you failed us. You couldn’t protect us…)
Their voices are realistic, screaming into her mind and ripping apart her heart. Nayl is brought to her knees, wanting so bad for this to end, all while the doubt continues to feast on her insecurities. <i>”I would sacrifice myself---“</i> she begins but chokes on the words as familiar images spring to mind. The apparition mimicked her children, so young and so innocent, but Nayl has seen them in their adulthood. All of this is fake, a lie.
Anger erupts inside her that reaches into the rocks and sand of the arena. It emerges as the serpent again, but fortified with rocky armor – her inner strength – and pommels the apparition. It dodges easily enough but Nayl rises and steps forward with an unmatched tone of ferocity. <i>”You fucking lie. My children are alive, thriving, and I lifted Nerine to an empire.”</i> The apparition quakes from the coarseness of her voice as it adds weight and power to her own serpent. It crushes the apparition into submission.
Her willpower, her serpent, triumphs.
The Marwari horse is the answer due to the breed's deterioration in the '30s.