[PQ - in progress] i break chains all by myself

[lestrade]

I'm telling these tears, "Go and fall away, fall away."
May the last one burn into flames.

Violet eyes determinedly glanced upwards and towards the top of the mountain. He was so close, just a couple more yards to go. The ascent had been almost torturous during this eternal night, but Lestrade was anything but a quitter. He was a survivor, knowing only too well the fickleness of this ever-changing landscape they called Beqanna.

He finally stumbled to a halt at the top, lungs burning and skinned knees trembling. The mint and violet stallion had fallen to his knees a couple of times, the cloaking darkness had hidden tripping hazards across the trail and looming boulders from either side of him had scratched at his sides. A bare sliver of moonlight was all that he had to guide him on this perilous journey and it had allowed him to barely see the towering mountain top in the distance.

But he had made it.

Now he could only rely on the good will of unknown entities.

Something he found difficult to do.

Relying on others had only led to disappointment. He had relied on his mother but she had been easily torn away from him. He had relied on Lupei to raise him and protect him. But he had decided that his own selfish desires were more important than Lestrade and so he went and got himself killed instead.

There were shadowy monsters lurking in this unnatural night and Lestrade had decided that he was relying on only his self from now on. But he needed a form of defense, a way to fight back against both these night-monsters and the monster-equines that had terrified him in his youth.

“I want to be stronger. I want to be able to protect myself.”

His voice held steady and firm in his requests but it vaguely trembled when he added one last plea.

“Please.”

He didn’t know if his journey had been in vain because he had never had personal experience with the magical entities of these land. Lestrade had only heard stories passed down from generations before him. But he had to try and he wasn’t too proud to admit that he was weak and vulnerable.

Lestrade

mint & violet son of lupei and azlyn.

Lestrade wishes for a quest to acquire dire wolf shifting

[Wysteria Fairy]

At least he was honest. He might have selfish motivations, but at least he doesn’t try to hide and pretend they are anything but what they are. In the end, there is rarely a selfless act, and that’s certainly not what the faeries expect of the mortals that live here. No, they only truly want respect for what is given to them, things they do not deserve and do not truly earn. The quests are a way to test their willingness, their heart, but they do not somehow earn the right to magic. That is a gift from Beqanna.

She appears, looking perhaps a bit duller than normal, tired in a way one might not expect of the fairies. Yet the toll of the eclipse reaches even them, drains Beqanna, and so far none have come to ask how they might actually help.

”You are stronger than you know,” she says simply, and there is something like kindness in those words, though it is always tough kindness coming from her. ”Go, discover how you can already protect yourself. Magic is merely a boon, but it is not a requirement. Might I suggest you figure out how to help a bit with the monster problem, while you are at it?” It’s not truly a suggestion, and her tone makes it clear.

Then, with that, she disappears.

***
You have received a quest. You must have 3 threads discovering your own strength/how to protect yourself without the aid of magic. One of those threads must include fighting a monster.