07-26-2019, 11:54 AM
It’s curious, he thinks, how still this world feels. Though life hums and bustles all around him, it feels so silent and still. Like it is holding its breath. Like her heart had subsided into trembling slumber in the wake of such wild disaster.
But through the silence, he feels something stir. It is something he hadn’t quite grown used to yet, that tingling awareness. As though his new, burning soul knows far more about the cosmos than he could ever learn in a hundred or a thousand lifetimes. No matter how much he wishes to know it all, he doubts he ever will.
But he had learned to pay attention to those stirrings. Had learned to trust instincts that seemed to flare so much more larger and demanding now. Like hers, though he doesn’t yet know it. But as he feels the tickle of stardust against the glimmering silver of his mane, he knows his senses had not been wrong. It seems they never are.
He turns slowly, finding her just beneath the knotted and bare branches of a winter tree. She is impossible to miss. Even if he hadn’t known just where he might find her, she would have drawn the eye. The way her pale skin seems to glow, as though the twinkling stars above had become trapped just beneath her surface, would cause any creature to pause and stare for a moment.
It takes him a few shallow breaths to realize why she seems so familiar. Why his senses had sizzled in recognition, even before he’d seen her. She echoed with the faint music of the stars so far above them, a haunting song that only he seemed able to hear. As though one of those fiery giants above had somehow become caged inside equine form. An insufficient cage, no doubt, for these bodies were not made to hold such celestial power.
So, it makes sense then, she could not be like the other horses in this land. Could not even be like him, who so precariously housed untold knowledge of the universe.
He slips forward, approaching with a curious reverence that would never serve to hold him back. She seems to recognize him in some way too, as though she could feel his attachment to the stars in the same way he could feel hers. “You don’t belong here, do you?” he asks, hesitating only a moment before speaking. “Would you like me to bring you home?”
But through the silence, he feels something stir. It is something he hadn’t quite grown used to yet, that tingling awareness. As though his new, burning soul knows far more about the cosmos than he could ever learn in a hundred or a thousand lifetimes. No matter how much he wishes to know it all, he doubts he ever will.
But he had learned to pay attention to those stirrings. Had learned to trust instincts that seemed to flare so much more larger and demanding now. Like hers, though he doesn’t yet know it. But as he feels the tickle of stardust against the glimmering silver of his mane, he knows his senses had not been wrong. It seems they never are.
He turns slowly, finding her just beneath the knotted and bare branches of a winter tree. She is impossible to miss. Even if he hadn’t known just where he might find her, she would have drawn the eye. The way her pale skin seems to glow, as though the twinkling stars above had become trapped just beneath her surface, would cause any creature to pause and stare for a moment.
It takes him a few shallow breaths to realize why she seems so familiar. Why his senses had sizzled in recognition, even before he’d seen her. She echoed with the faint music of the stars so far above them, a haunting song that only he seemed able to hear. As though one of those fiery giants above had somehow become caged inside equine form. An insufficient cage, no doubt, for these bodies were not made to hold such celestial power.
So, it makes sense then, she could not be like the other horses in this land. Could not even be like him, who so precariously housed untold knowledge of the universe.
He slips forward, approaching with a curious reverence that would never serve to hold him back. She seems to recognize him in some way too, as though she could feel his attachment to the stars in the same way he could feel hers. “You don’t belong here, do you?” he asks, hesitating only a moment before speaking. “Would you like me to bring you home?”
TEN
