10-12-2026, 10:40 PM
The blackness was replaced all at once by wavering, brilliant light. His eyes nearly burned at the sudden change, but they opened instinctually all the same. And at first, he cannot understand…anything. Because hadn’t he just faced down a horde of beasts with a devil looming above, watching the sick spectacle like some kind of god from beneath the depths? Hadn’t death been only a hair away? Again, of course.
He had died many, many years before.
Now he thinks the veil must be so thin between this life and what comes next that it must be broken. Because instead of the strange shoreline of the Afterlife he has traversed countless times, thinking of the what might have beens and all of his many mistakes, he seems to have sunk below the surf instead. Where he thought he might see the face of his mother or friends waiting to greet him, instead Alaunus finds only fish poking his stormcloud sides.
Gills undulate at his neck and as he kicks out in surprise, he finds himself thrusted forward in the water. Recognition comes quickly then, replacing panic that is short lived. Death has already changed him; an aquatic tail and other adaptations are next to nothing in comparison.
Curiosity sparks within him. The world is so different beneath the waves and he can’t help but take it all in. But as he moves towards a jewel-colored reef, watching the jetting motions of the fish and rays around it, he doesn't realize something is watching him, too. Or many somethings, even. They surround the grey stallion quickly. More beasts, he thinks, wondering what on earth he has gotten himself into. Wondering why he couldn’t even let his own soul rest when a peaceful eternity was right in front of him.
Then again, he has never settled for complacency.
The water creatures approach Alaunus in turn. He tilts his head to regard each one, looking between them with a mild expression on his face. He doesn’t move to answer them, waiting them out as long as he can. Before, he had enjoyed flexing his brain and his muscles both, but he had been a diplomat foremost. Drawing out answers was an art. But the shadow that comes overhead shortens the clock.
A massive shark dips towards the group and makes quick work of many of their number. Blood blossoms around Alaunus and the others. He almost chokes on it as it passes through his gills. The urge to flee outweighs any hope of diplomacy, and though his body is new again, he powers through the water on instinct alone.
Coral scratches his shoulders as he passes desperately by it, looking for any safe place to escape the toothy predator. The first mare peeks out from a cave, calling him in, but he is already passing it when she does so. The blue stallion is just ahead though, and Al motors towards him. Perhaps it is foolish to trust a stranger, but for now, he knows that they are all prey here. All but the behemoth pursuing them. And that is merely another death he hopes to put off.
“Lead the way,” he gasps to Nereus. Still alive, he thinks. That ember of hope sputters within him but doesn’t go out. He will make it if he just keeps swimming.
He had died many, many years before.
Now he thinks the veil must be so thin between this life and what comes next that it must be broken. Because instead of the strange shoreline of the Afterlife he has traversed countless times, thinking of the what might have beens and all of his many mistakes, he seems to have sunk below the surf instead. Where he thought he might see the face of his mother or friends waiting to greet him, instead Alaunus finds only fish poking his stormcloud sides.
Gills undulate at his neck and as he kicks out in surprise, he finds himself thrusted forward in the water. Recognition comes quickly then, replacing panic that is short lived. Death has already changed him; an aquatic tail and other adaptations are next to nothing in comparison.
Curiosity sparks within him. The world is so different beneath the waves and he can’t help but take it all in. But as he moves towards a jewel-colored reef, watching the jetting motions of the fish and rays around it, he doesn't realize something is watching him, too. Or many somethings, even. They surround the grey stallion quickly. More beasts, he thinks, wondering what on earth he has gotten himself into. Wondering why he couldn’t even let his own soul rest when a peaceful eternity was right in front of him.
Then again, he has never settled for complacency.
The water creatures approach Alaunus in turn. He tilts his head to regard each one, looking between them with a mild expression on his face. He doesn’t move to answer them, waiting them out as long as he can. Before, he had enjoyed flexing his brain and his muscles both, but he had been a diplomat foremost. Drawing out answers was an art. But the shadow that comes overhead shortens the clock.
A massive shark dips towards the group and makes quick work of many of their number. Blood blossoms around Alaunus and the others. He almost chokes on it as it passes through his gills. The urge to flee outweighs any hope of diplomacy, and though his body is new again, he powers through the water on instinct alone.
Coral scratches his shoulders as he passes desperately by it, looking for any safe place to escape the toothy predator. The first mare peeks out from a cave, calling him in, but he is already passing it when she does so. The blue stallion is just ahead though, and Al motors towards him. Perhaps it is foolish to trust a stranger, but for now, he knows that they are all prey here. All but the behemoth pursuing them. And that is merely another death he hopes to put off.
“Lead the way,” he gasps to Nereus. Still alive, he thinks. That ember of hope sputters within him but doesn’t go out. He will make it if he just keeps swimming.