He is whisked away to the present once more and despite the soft, warm light of his portal, there is no comforting reassurance in its embrace. Instead, he feels an unsettling sensation creeping along his spine, where it circles his shoulders for a prolonged period before racing up his neck and settling its prickly touch between his eyes. The discomfort lasts far longer than he would like and it sets him to wondering why this journey is not as instantaneous as the one that took him from Beqanna. Then, the portal abruptly spits him out near a bubbling creek in the meadow, where he lurches forward in an ungainly manner that is a far cry from his normal movements.
Though he is older than the hills, his muscles are still strong, well-defined, and efficient. Yet, in this moment, those of his neck seem feeble, unable to support his head in its usual regal carriage. Confusion washes over him as he mounts an enormous effort to lift and maintain his head in a higher position, but that is not the only thing that just doesn’t quite feel right to him. His shoulders ache and he cannot think of a reason why they should. His eyes close and he whips his head to the side with teeth exposed, ready to snap at the air in irritation. So, it startles him when his teeth close over, rather than the nothingness he expected, but over feathers?!
There is a rustle and a pinching sensation and he is left with a mouthful of feathers, which he promptly drops with a splutter. Suspicion rises in his eyes as they open and he stares as the feathers float to the ground, still not understanding where they’ve come from. Then, he catches subtle movement at the periphery of his stare.
The dark red-brown, almost black, tips of a magnificent pair of wings lightly brush his nose as the wings curl forward to where he can better see them. They match his coat perfectly.. the same dark shade of his body blends seamlessly into the arms of his new appendages and copper highlights add a nice contrast. The undersides of his wings are similar, but with white patches serving up a dramatic flair that he could never dare to dream up.
Before he can fully absorb the shock of this discovery, a new theory pops to the forefront of his mind. He hears the water nearby and awkwardly trudges toward its source. He finds the creek and follows its length until he finds an area where it collects into a gently rippling pool, complete with a mirror-like surface, which he cautiously peers into.
A horn now juts emphatically from his forehead. It is no delicate, sparkling horn of a young girl’s fantasy, but instead a stout protrusion that lends a new menacing air to his previously plain presence. The base covers a greater portion of his head than one might expect and its wide spirals create jagged spines that wind upward, rather than gentle swells of a typical unicorn-style horn. Its impressive length, also nearly black in color with a copper sheen, tapers into a whetted point. Honestly, it is a horn well-suited for a warrior, which he most certainly is not.
He acknowledges that these must be manifestations of gratitude from the sprites for joining their quest. He snorts in laughter, not because he is ungrateful for his new additions, but because he thinks his effort was inadequate, that it accomplished nothing. But in the same moment, he realizes that the powers that be are grateful for his attempt, however he may feel about it.
He lifts his head again and finds that the motion comes with greater ease each time he does so. Chagrin steals over his features as he remembers that final scene of the quest. If nothing else, he has learned that he is an empty shell of a man with no true understanding of how the world works. Perhaps if he knew what it means to have compassion, he might have had greater effect on the mourners. Instead, he lectured them without emotion, not even taking time to show his own surprise at his own inadvertent use of magic on their bodies. He considers himself lucky to have not tightened the snarl in the combined history of Baltia and Stratos.
So, what now?
He does not know, but he certainly has some soul searching to do if he is ever to be more than a background character in Beqanna’s history.
@Famkee