12-04-2019, 12:44 AM
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Cormorant|Great Vibes" rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><style>.lilt_container {width: 500px; background-color: #352541; border: 1px solid #EAEAEA; box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px 0px}.lilt_name {position: relative; z-index: 1; font: 60px 'Great Vibes', serif; color: #766881; bottom: -1px; left: 140px; letter-spacing: 0px}.lilt_quote {text-align: center; font: 15px 'Cormorant', serif; color: #766881; letter-spacing: 0px; padding: 5px}.lilt_message {width: 450px; text-align: justify; font: 12px 'Times', serif; color:#EAEAEA; background-color: #352541; opacity: 0.7; padding:25px;}</style><center><div class="lilt_container"><div class="lilt_quote"><br>{ and all we are is skin and bone trained to get along,<br>forever going with the flow but you're friction }</div><div class="lilt_message">She was so sure it could have been a dream, at first.
Beneath the autumn-colored branches of a tree she slept, safely within the borders of Sylva. Even without being able to hear, Lilt was not afraid. She knew her parents and her siblings would never let anyone cross their borders if they meant to bring harm, and, especially after the brutal murder of her grandmother by a mysterious creature, they were all the more vigilant. She does not think anything dangerous could breach the walls of her safe haven.
It’s why she does not stir at first when the mist rolls in, twirling and wrapping around her like a cloak. Her wings hug tighter to her sides reflexively, but she does not move. It’s only when the forest floor collapses into sand that she stirs, blinking the sleep from her silver eyes. She is surprised, and most of all confused when she awakens in a world much different from the one she had fallen asleep in. Sylva has disappeared, and instead of being surrounded by dense, white-barked trees, there is nothing. Nothing but a blanket of rolling sand, so bright it could have been snow. Fighting the panic that she can feel bubbling in her chest she scrambles to stand, grasping for any sort of logic that could explain how she fell asleep in Sylva and woke up in a desert.
<I>I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming,</i> she repeats to herself inside of her head as she walks forward, waiting for all of this to vanish back into reality, and doing her best to calm her elevated pulse.
She can see other horses in the distance, but even from here she knows they are not familiar. Briefly, her eyes flicker into something more draconic, making rare use of the vision she had been born with but did not often call upon. It confirms her suspicions, however, and she moves away from them with a knot continuing to build in the space between her ribs. Being in a strange place always made her nervous; she couldn’t hear, and she couldn’t always control her shattering. Understandably, her anxiety made it all the more unpredictable, which was something she was frantically trying to smother as she walked across this strange kingdom.
She is not sure how long she walks, she just knows that her muscles began to ache with exhaustion and she wonders how long this desert goes on for. It doesn’t occur to her to fly, and her delicate wings are still tucked neatly into her sides when she first catches sight of the glimmering oasis ahead of her. The sigh that rattles against her chest is one of relief, and with newfound vigor, her pace quickens.
Of course, she does not hear the rapid footfalls running at her.
Even if she had not been deaf, there’s nothing that says she would have heard the lion as it sprung across the sand – fleet and agile, with the shifting footing already nearly muffling any sound. She hardly even catches a glimpse of it from the corner of her eye, but when she turns her head there is a breath of a second that their eyes lock.
When the animal slams into her side she is knocked to the ground, and something between a cry and a gasp tears from her throat. She does not notice at first that the animal’s claws have torn long marks into her skin as she fights to find her footing again, her blood bright and red as it drips into the pale sand. She whirls to face it, ignoring the throbbing of her shoulder as her silver eyes watch the predator as it paces a half-circle around her. From its mouth she sees the glint of sharp, white teeth, and the way its lips curl into a snarl, but she cannot hear the growl that rumbles from its core.
She doesn’t mean to shatter it when it leaps at her again. She was too sweet, too naive to want to purposely hurt anyone, not even this vicious beast that had set its sights on her. When the animal made its move to launch at her she had ducked her head and squeezed her eyes shut tight, but the moment the lion’s claws touched her again, everything stopped.
Breathless, and with her heart beating hard enough that she is afraid it would leap from her chest, she opens her eyes. The sight of shattered bone and blood and golden fur in the sand causes her to choke back the sob that clawed at her throat, and the sudden rush of the adrenaline leaving her body makes her knees tremble weakly.
She reaches the oasis, smeared in blood and with dried tear-stains on her youthful face. She stares at the water, but suddenly loses any desire to drink from it. Again, she closes her eyes, wondering if maybe the nightmare is now over.
There is a sinking feeling, like a stone cast into a lake, when she opens her eyes and the oasis is still there.</div><div class="lilt_name">Lilt</div></div></center>
Lilt is aligned with Sylva. She fought a lion cause I have Reasons that she needs to be scared of a lion. I guess this is a special Desert Lion.
Beneath the autumn-colored branches of a tree she slept, safely within the borders of Sylva. Even without being able to hear, Lilt was not afraid. She knew her parents and her siblings would never let anyone cross their borders if they meant to bring harm, and, especially after the brutal murder of her grandmother by a mysterious creature, they were all the more vigilant. She does not think anything dangerous could breach the walls of her safe haven.
It’s why she does not stir at first when the mist rolls in, twirling and wrapping around her like a cloak. Her wings hug tighter to her sides reflexively, but she does not move. It’s only when the forest floor collapses into sand that she stirs, blinking the sleep from her silver eyes. She is surprised, and most of all confused when she awakens in a world much different from the one she had fallen asleep in. Sylva has disappeared, and instead of being surrounded by dense, white-barked trees, there is nothing. Nothing but a blanket of rolling sand, so bright it could have been snow. Fighting the panic that she can feel bubbling in her chest she scrambles to stand, grasping for any sort of logic that could explain how she fell asleep in Sylva and woke up in a desert.
<I>I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming,</i> she repeats to herself inside of her head as she walks forward, waiting for all of this to vanish back into reality, and doing her best to calm her elevated pulse.
She can see other horses in the distance, but even from here she knows they are not familiar. Briefly, her eyes flicker into something more draconic, making rare use of the vision she had been born with but did not often call upon. It confirms her suspicions, however, and she moves away from them with a knot continuing to build in the space between her ribs. Being in a strange place always made her nervous; she couldn’t hear, and she couldn’t always control her shattering. Understandably, her anxiety made it all the more unpredictable, which was something she was frantically trying to smother as she walked across this strange kingdom.
She is not sure how long she walks, she just knows that her muscles began to ache with exhaustion and she wonders how long this desert goes on for. It doesn’t occur to her to fly, and her delicate wings are still tucked neatly into her sides when she first catches sight of the glimmering oasis ahead of her. The sigh that rattles against her chest is one of relief, and with newfound vigor, her pace quickens.
Of course, she does not hear the rapid footfalls running at her.
Even if she had not been deaf, there’s nothing that says she would have heard the lion as it sprung across the sand – fleet and agile, with the shifting footing already nearly muffling any sound. She hardly even catches a glimpse of it from the corner of her eye, but when she turns her head there is a breath of a second that their eyes lock.
When the animal slams into her side she is knocked to the ground, and something between a cry and a gasp tears from her throat. She does not notice at first that the animal’s claws have torn long marks into her skin as she fights to find her footing again, her blood bright and red as it drips into the pale sand. She whirls to face it, ignoring the throbbing of her shoulder as her silver eyes watch the predator as it paces a half-circle around her. From its mouth she sees the glint of sharp, white teeth, and the way its lips curl into a snarl, but she cannot hear the growl that rumbles from its core.
She doesn’t mean to shatter it when it leaps at her again. She was too sweet, too naive to want to purposely hurt anyone, not even this vicious beast that had set its sights on her. When the animal made its move to launch at her she had ducked her head and squeezed her eyes shut tight, but the moment the lion’s claws touched her again, everything stopped.
Breathless, and with her heart beating hard enough that she is afraid it would leap from her chest, she opens her eyes. The sight of shattered bone and blood and golden fur in the sand causes her to choke back the sob that clawed at her throat, and the sudden rush of the adrenaline leaving her body makes her knees tremble weakly.
She reaches the oasis, smeared in blood and with dried tear-stains on her youthful face. She stares at the water, but suddenly loses any desire to drink from it. Again, she closes her eyes, wondering if maybe the nightmare is now over.
There is a sinking feeling, like a stone cast into a lake, when she opens her eyes and the oasis is still there.</div><div class="lilt_name">Lilt</div></div></center>
Lilt is aligned with Sylva. She fought a lion cause I have Reasons that she needs to be scared of a lion. I guess this is a special Desert Lion.