i’ve been both a saint & a viper
It had been a long time since there had been movement at the mouth of the cave.
It has also been a long time since there was movement inside of it. The nights bled into days and time was never ending, looped and twisted into only darkness and stone. He stands like a shadow himself, swaying in the pitch of darkness to the drones of whispers and distant howls. His head is low to the cold stone of the cavern’s floor, mumbling and murmuring to himself, finding comfort in their panting voices, the delicate and evil whispers that plague him day and night. He’s wasted into nothingness; mere bone with sagging blue mottled skin, eyes sunken and nearly closed. He prays for death and he is only met with wicked laughter - you’ll never die!
He’d left the corpse rotting in the pits of the cavern and it is nearly only bones now. Sometimes he swears there is a voice murmuring to him from its jaw; sometimes it comes to life and rattles as it drags itself towards him, cursing him with its ghostly breath. Death and darkness and demons darken the cavern’s doors, though from the outside it is merely a cave mouth with dark, swaying vines across its entrance like teeth. Hell awaits anyone who dare venture inside - where a crazed man locked himself in with the monsters that haunt and torture him.
“Balto?”
The trance is broken and despite his weakening body physically, the stallion’s head is thrown upwards. His brow furrows, confused. Who is that? they ask him, even though they know the answer, sniggering in his ears as they begin to weave around his legs, purring like cats as they rub against his weary body. He blinks ferociously, shaking his head and squeezing his eyes shut. Tell them to leave. He snorts, shivering as one of the demons runs its warm tongue across his cheek and then into his ear. He does nothing, merely stares at the entrance where sunlight spills in, frozen.
Tell her to leave. They order him again, more firmly this time. Snapping at his brittle bones, pulling at his mane and forelock. Balto swallows, taking a single step forward. Their voices clash in his head, rumbling with a mixture of anger and pleasure. To the visitor outside, she would only begin to hear the clattering sound of hooves against stone.
He is still far from the entrance when he halts. They are howling and whistling and purring, pricking at his skin and biting his ankles. Tell her to leave! they order, tightening in close to him, squeezing him until his breath runs ragged. “Keeper?” He barely gets her name out, but he knows it's her. It’s always her.
They swarm him and try to bend his bones in anger for resisting their requests. His blue eyes burn as the light cascades through the entrance, attempting to peer through the thick vines to see her familiar shape. As he strains against them, short clattering steps are taken with each ragged exhale. Then, suddenly, they release him. He is met with the cold, damp air of his cavern and the silence that accompanies it. Their demands have changed; they whisper to him, then vanish.
Tell her to stay, tell her to join us.
Balto
@[keeper]
yay!!! i have no idea what's going to happen but I'm so glad you wrote to me and to Balto! <3