There are many who say that the darkness is a welcoming presence, glad to offer those with tortured souls sanctuary by showing they are not alone. A haven, a never-ending void in the sky that struck fear into those who sought the presence of the light, those who were afraid to face the demons of their past that lingered within the cracks of their hearts like everlasting shadows...
"Knowing your own darkness, love... that can help you understand others better than you think..."
For all of the wise things she'd said, that was definitely one Aten had not come to fathom until he was grown. To this day, he still struggled with it too... despite his effort, the darkness inside others, it could still be so different... not like the night sky that followed the burning sun, cloaking the world in silence.
One could argue the stars in the sky made the night sky seemed different, but once again... those were the ones, who looked to the light... those, like the golden one... only saw darkness... the same darkness, every night... the same darkness, that lurked within his heart...
The same darkness that drove him to leave his family during the times when his demons began to creep up on him... lit the spark within him that was his now feral nature... ever since acquiring the gift...
Just like the sky, his gift had two sides... and though he tried... the feral nature, it would not be silenced...
And on this night, it seized control, following his run from his family. He would not be near them, could not be... he wouldn't let them see him like this.
His rage, his anger, it continued to heat his blood... he had many things to be angry about. He was calm, collected... a rational thinker... but that did not mean he could not be angry. He thought he still had reason to be; his leadership had been stripped away and handed to a younger stallion because of bloodlines... the one who had done so, a promise broken... whenever those memories resurfaced, the feral beast inside begged to be released...
And Aten only complied, to silence it... to squash it back down and keep it locked away, silent within him... to suffocate it's hold over him, like the night sky drowning the beautiful sounds of the world...
Tonight felt even darker, without the moon casting it's glow over the land. It's beauty was different... it's gorgeous gleam may dazzle many, but it's embrace was cold, unforgiving, not welcome to the daytime creatures who depended on the sun for guidance... in order to understand the moon, one had to work to understand oneself...
But Aten wasn't at that point yet. Too much anger still existed within his heart. So much that he could often hear the beast inside speaking to him, begging to be let out, to cause destruction... the claws he now bore scraped at the ground, creating lines in the earth's surface of increasing size to express his rage... his nostrils expelled steam instead of cold night air...
And his body temperature was rapidly rising. The voice was growing louder inside his head... screaming now, an otherworldly noise...
But other voices were here too, and Aten didn't think they were inside his head. It was different, this voice... it was a whisper, a call, as if something out there was singing a beautiful song, asking for the light in his heart to resurface...
The beast would not relax it's grip... it wanted to have some fun. But Aten could feel it was intrigued by the call too. It wanted to investigate, see if whatever was out there could provide entertainment. He had a thought... he would let the feral nature out, see where it took him... a backseat, see what he could understand of this darkness inside him now.
As he allowed the feral nature control, Aten felt his own mind slipping away. It was not an uncomfortable silence though... this was warm, like the flame inside him that burned when he wasn't angry. It welcomed him, encouraged his presence within his own mind, his conscience, to understand this new side of him.
And he did, for what felt like an incredibly short time despite what his body told him. While locked in his own mind, Aten had no knowledge of what was going on the outside; all he knew was the beast was running. For how long, he did not know; time didn't exist within his mind. When he came back, many things hit him at once. The chill in the nighttime breeze... the silence in the air... the overwhelming smell of blood and death... and, when his eyes 'opened' as he returned, all he saw was a never-ending stretch of land before him, unable to tell it's color due to the night.
He thought returning to normal self would be like a gentle breeze blowing across his skin, switching places with the feral nature in a manner that he wouldn't even feel anything.
But this, no. It was painful, a rapid shift like he'd been struck by lightning, his feral nature shut back inside before something even worse happened. He couldn't describe it other than like a big cat's claws coated with ice wrapping around his heart, before being pulled away in a manner so violent that Aten felt as if his own heart had been torn from his chest with them. His legs were shaking, his body coated in a light sheen of sweat, both from exertion from the run and from the pain he'd just experienced.
At first, Aten didn't realize what happened, not until he realized what familiar presences were gone. Not only did it seem the feral nature had disappeared, but... the warmth within his mind, the presence of his raptor comrade... that was gone too. There was a small constant buzzing within the back of his mind that reminded him of the unique bond he shared with Turul. And now, for some unexplained reason, it was gone.
Turul... the feral nature...
For the first time in a long while, Aten felt alone. Much like his time as a bachelor deep within the forest following Taiga's destruction years ago. His body ached all over from such a rapid shift along with the feeling of it being torn from his body. His mind was now quiet too, the absence of the buzzing indicating Turul's presence causing an uncomfortable silence.
What in the world had just happened? Aten didn't understand, and that made him angry too. His anger stemmed from the fear now starting to enter his heart too... he didn't like the feeling of being alone anymore, not like this. He knew he had somewhere to go back to, a home, loved ones... but this loneliness, having something taken away in the blink of an eye...
He suddenly thought more of his family. They could be taken away in much the same manner, and he feared it more than anything. More than being alone? Hard to say. Losing his family would lead to that, but he couldn't allow it. He wouldn't!
A harsh wind blew against Aten's coat, the stallion's body shivering lightly now that he didn't have the additional warmth of the flame inside him. It wasn't unbearable, but it would be akin to a normal horse having it's winter coat and then suddenly being stripped bare in the middle of an autumn night. Uncomfortable, but not life threatening.
Aten lifted a hoof and turned his head to shield his eyes from any debris that may be coming his way. When it started to die down a bit, the stallion opened his eyes, stunned by what he saw in front of him now that he was facing the other direction.
Two rocks trying to rival the height of the redwoods in his home stretched to the sky, their colors drastically different even in the limited light of the stars. One was a deep obsidian black that rivaled the night, the other a dazzling deep green that reminded Aten of the leaves that covered the year-round trees that dotted Beqanna's lands. He did not understand why they were here, for he'd been to the Plains - a very limited number of times, sure - and had never seen them before.
Still, he did not sense anything negative about them. He took a couple of steps closer to investigate, now noticing the intricate details that covered each stone. The green one was littered with lines that resembled the shapes of wings, like the ones Pteron had, as well as other designs, like those of the bats that Aten sometimes saw flying among the redwoods late at night. The black one's lines were more straight, not as intricate like the delicate feather patterns of the wings. Some were curved and slender, but unmistakable. If Aten had to guess, he would say they resembled horns like he'd seen on the foreheads of some of Beqanna's equids.
Confusion cluttered the stallion's mind. What exactly was going on here? None of this made sense, but then, in a magic land like this, what really did? The stallion's own thoughts began to die down as the whispers on the wind returned, but they were quiet, gentle, encouraging. They were inside his mind now, not aggressive as before. What were they trying to say to him? The entire time he listened, he couldn't take his eyes off those stones.
The voices got louder the more he focused on the stones of black and green, and slowly, he began to piece it together. They were encouraging... but it was his choice to make. He had no idea what getting near one of those stones would lead to, but he would find out. He was tempted to go near the one of jade green color, yet something in his heart pulled him the other way. Wings...
They fondly reminded him of the raptor. If that stone did anything along the lines of what he was thinking, he could not do it. Because one of Aten's flaws early in life, was the inability to ask assistance of others. And now that he had learned how, and gained a new friend... he'd learned an important lesson, one that any kingdom leader had to know.
How to ask for help, one's own pride be damned.
And so Aten made a move toward the black stone, hesitating for a moment, before he reached out and touched it at the base with his hoof. The stone didn't do anything extremely magical, but the lines that made up the horn patterns seemed to almost glow a little before the golden stallion felt a tingling sensation on his forehead. The skin began to stretch in a slightly uncomfortable manner, the stallion wincing, before it parted like the ocean against a rock.
Due to his line of vision and not being able to see directly in front of him, Aten was unable to see exactly how the new feature on his skin looked. But he could feel it there, something new, a tad bit heavy since he wasn't used to it, but at the same time, light as the breeze. He moved his head a few times to test it out, the new object firmly rooted to his skull.
The horn was straight and tough like the redwoods, but thin and easy to maneuver. Aten could not see the color, but the base of it matched his coat. The dark golden color bled into a light champagne as it got closer to the tip before finally turning a snowy white. The horn also bled a dark golden color down onto his skin where it met his forehead, forming intricate patterns like branches with small leaves like a reminder of where he came from.
Aten lowered his head, stretching one of his front legs out and turning to poke his limb with the new addition to his skin. He felt the tip rub against the tender muscles of his lower leg, and drew it back in the fear that he might cut his own skin by accident. The stallion's eyes went up as if he could see the horn that way, but was still unable to.
Eventually, he turned back to the black stone, the green one also within his line of view. His mind too muddled from what happened earlier, his body still aching, the now with this new feature to deal with, the only thing that came from the stunned stallion's lips were three simple words.
"What... the hell?"
OOC: Aten hails from Taiga, hence his continued reference to the redwoods. He currently lost his traits of companion animal and dragon mimicry. He chose the black stone for a single horn.
"Knowing your own darkness, love... that can help you understand others better than you think..."
For all of the wise things she'd said, that was definitely one Aten had not come to fathom until he was grown. To this day, he still struggled with it too... despite his effort, the darkness inside others, it could still be so different... not like the night sky that followed the burning sun, cloaking the world in silence.
One could argue the stars in the sky made the night sky seemed different, but once again... those were the ones, who looked to the light... those, like the golden one... only saw darkness... the same darkness, every night... the same darkness, that lurked within his heart...
The same darkness that drove him to leave his family during the times when his demons began to creep up on him... lit the spark within him that was his now feral nature... ever since acquiring the gift...
Just like the sky, his gift had two sides... and though he tried... the feral nature, it would not be silenced...
And on this night, it seized control, following his run from his family. He would not be near them, could not be... he wouldn't let them see him like this.
His rage, his anger, it continued to heat his blood... he had many things to be angry about. He was calm, collected... a rational thinker... but that did not mean he could not be angry. He thought he still had reason to be; his leadership had been stripped away and handed to a younger stallion because of bloodlines... the one who had done so, a promise broken... whenever those memories resurfaced, the feral beast inside begged to be released...
And Aten only complied, to silence it... to squash it back down and keep it locked away, silent within him... to suffocate it's hold over him, like the night sky drowning the beautiful sounds of the world...
Tonight felt even darker, without the moon casting it's glow over the land. It's beauty was different... it's gorgeous gleam may dazzle many, but it's embrace was cold, unforgiving, not welcome to the daytime creatures who depended on the sun for guidance... in order to understand the moon, one had to work to understand oneself...
But Aten wasn't at that point yet. Too much anger still existed within his heart. So much that he could often hear the beast inside speaking to him, begging to be let out, to cause destruction... the claws he now bore scraped at the ground, creating lines in the earth's surface of increasing size to express his rage... his nostrils expelled steam instead of cold night air...
And his body temperature was rapidly rising. The voice was growing louder inside his head... screaming now, an otherworldly noise...
But other voices were here too, and Aten didn't think they were inside his head. It was different, this voice... it was a whisper, a call, as if something out there was singing a beautiful song, asking for the light in his heart to resurface...
The beast would not relax it's grip... it wanted to have some fun. But Aten could feel it was intrigued by the call too. It wanted to investigate, see if whatever was out there could provide entertainment. He had a thought... he would let the feral nature out, see where it took him... a backseat, see what he could understand of this darkness inside him now.
As he allowed the feral nature control, Aten felt his own mind slipping away. It was not an uncomfortable silence though... this was warm, like the flame inside him that burned when he wasn't angry. It welcomed him, encouraged his presence within his own mind, his conscience, to understand this new side of him.
And he did, for what felt like an incredibly short time despite what his body told him. While locked in his own mind, Aten had no knowledge of what was going on the outside; all he knew was the beast was running. For how long, he did not know; time didn't exist within his mind. When he came back, many things hit him at once. The chill in the nighttime breeze... the silence in the air... the overwhelming smell of blood and death... and, when his eyes 'opened' as he returned, all he saw was a never-ending stretch of land before him, unable to tell it's color due to the night.
He thought returning to normal self would be like a gentle breeze blowing across his skin, switching places with the feral nature in a manner that he wouldn't even feel anything.
But this, no. It was painful, a rapid shift like he'd been struck by lightning, his feral nature shut back inside before something even worse happened. He couldn't describe it other than like a big cat's claws coated with ice wrapping around his heart, before being pulled away in a manner so violent that Aten felt as if his own heart had been torn from his chest with them. His legs were shaking, his body coated in a light sheen of sweat, both from exertion from the run and from the pain he'd just experienced.
At first, Aten didn't realize what happened, not until he realized what familiar presences were gone. Not only did it seem the feral nature had disappeared, but... the warmth within his mind, the presence of his raptor comrade... that was gone too. There was a small constant buzzing within the back of his mind that reminded him of the unique bond he shared with Turul. And now, for some unexplained reason, it was gone.
Turul... the feral nature...
For the first time in a long while, Aten felt alone. Much like his time as a bachelor deep within the forest following Taiga's destruction years ago. His body ached all over from such a rapid shift along with the feeling of it being torn from his body. His mind was now quiet too, the absence of the buzzing indicating Turul's presence causing an uncomfortable silence.
What in the world had just happened? Aten didn't understand, and that made him angry too. His anger stemmed from the fear now starting to enter his heart too... he didn't like the feeling of being alone anymore, not like this. He knew he had somewhere to go back to, a home, loved ones... but this loneliness, having something taken away in the blink of an eye...
He suddenly thought more of his family. They could be taken away in much the same manner, and he feared it more than anything. More than being alone? Hard to say. Losing his family would lead to that, but he couldn't allow it. He wouldn't!
A harsh wind blew against Aten's coat, the stallion's body shivering lightly now that he didn't have the additional warmth of the flame inside him. It wasn't unbearable, but it would be akin to a normal horse having it's winter coat and then suddenly being stripped bare in the middle of an autumn night. Uncomfortable, but not life threatening.
Aten lifted a hoof and turned his head to shield his eyes from any debris that may be coming his way. When it started to die down a bit, the stallion opened his eyes, stunned by what he saw in front of him now that he was facing the other direction.
Two rocks trying to rival the height of the redwoods in his home stretched to the sky, their colors drastically different even in the limited light of the stars. One was a deep obsidian black that rivaled the night, the other a dazzling deep green that reminded Aten of the leaves that covered the year-round trees that dotted Beqanna's lands. He did not understand why they were here, for he'd been to the Plains - a very limited number of times, sure - and had never seen them before.
Still, he did not sense anything negative about them. He took a couple of steps closer to investigate, now noticing the intricate details that covered each stone. The green one was littered with lines that resembled the shapes of wings, like the ones Pteron had, as well as other designs, like those of the bats that Aten sometimes saw flying among the redwoods late at night. The black one's lines were more straight, not as intricate like the delicate feather patterns of the wings. Some were curved and slender, but unmistakable. If Aten had to guess, he would say they resembled horns like he'd seen on the foreheads of some of Beqanna's equids.
Confusion cluttered the stallion's mind. What exactly was going on here? None of this made sense, but then, in a magic land like this, what really did? The stallion's own thoughts began to die down as the whispers on the wind returned, but they were quiet, gentle, encouraging. They were inside his mind now, not aggressive as before. What were they trying to say to him? The entire time he listened, he couldn't take his eyes off those stones.
The voices got louder the more he focused on the stones of black and green, and slowly, he began to piece it together. They were encouraging... but it was his choice to make. He had no idea what getting near one of those stones would lead to, but he would find out. He was tempted to go near the one of jade green color, yet something in his heart pulled him the other way. Wings...
They fondly reminded him of the raptor. If that stone did anything along the lines of what he was thinking, he could not do it. Because one of Aten's flaws early in life, was the inability to ask assistance of others. And now that he had learned how, and gained a new friend... he'd learned an important lesson, one that any kingdom leader had to know.
How to ask for help, one's own pride be damned.
And so Aten made a move toward the black stone, hesitating for a moment, before he reached out and touched it at the base with his hoof. The stone didn't do anything extremely magical, but the lines that made up the horn patterns seemed to almost glow a little before the golden stallion felt a tingling sensation on his forehead. The skin began to stretch in a slightly uncomfortable manner, the stallion wincing, before it parted like the ocean against a rock.
Due to his line of vision and not being able to see directly in front of him, Aten was unable to see exactly how the new feature on his skin looked. But he could feel it there, something new, a tad bit heavy since he wasn't used to it, but at the same time, light as the breeze. He moved his head a few times to test it out, the new object firmly rooted to his skull.
The horn was straight and tough like the redwoods, but thin and easy to maneuver. Aten could not see the color, but the base of it matched his coat. The dark golden color bled into a light champagne as it got closer to the tip before finally turning a snowy white. The horn also bled a dark golden color down onto his skin where it met his forehead, forming intricate patterns like branches with small leaves like a reminder of where he came from.
Aten lowered his head, stretching one of his front legs out and turning to poke his limb with the new addition to his skin. He felt the tip rub against the tender muscles of his lower leg, and drew it back in the fear that he might cut his own skin by accident. The stallion's eyes went up as if he could see the horn that way, but was still unable to.
Eventually, he turned back to the black stone, the green one also within his line of view. His mind too muddled from what happened earlier, his body still aching, the now with this new feature to deal with, the only thing that came from the stunned stallion's lips were three simple words.
"What... the hell?"
OOC: Aten hails from Taiga, hence his continued reference to the redwoods. He currently lost his traits of companion animal and dragon mimicry. He chose the black stone for a single horn.