"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
What a world it was, walking among the others who have met there makers. Yet some how they remained connected to the living, to his children specifically. He knows three remain in the land he left, though all went separate ways.
The gates of hell had opened, allowing all of the dead to find there bodies once more. To walk among the living, a second chance perhaps..or perhaps a chance to raise hell amongst the living.
He felt like a foal, his legs were wobbly and it took some time to get used to these living legs. He can't contain the grin, one may expect a father to visit his children first...but Arthas had another task at mind.
He finds himself at Taiga's border, this was the land Bane had ruled now wasn't it? They may have left on bad terms, the little bastard stealing Lepis from him, but times have changed. She just dragged him down, plus he had plenty of time to find others to occupy himself with now.
The dapple stag passes the border, he creeps in the shadows of the kingdom until the familiar scent of Bane pass through his nares. Again a grin tugs at his lips, he quickly moves until the yellow and blue stag come into view. Did you miss me? He says, his voice is hoarse, as he removes himself from the shadows of the territory.
Of all the possible intruders Wolfbane had noticed at his borders - Leilan, a multi-hued filly, another strange black stallion (two of the three visitors had been with Lilliana when Bane unknowingly watched from afar; he noted this to himself) perhaps the very last horse he’d ever expected to come slinking into his new home was Arthas.
The old dapple gray had a long history with Wolfbane, stretching back to the blue-and-gold pegasus’ youth. He’d been picked up, “recruited” by the elder stallion, and brought back to Loess for training which had eventually led to his ascension and initial crowning. In those days he’d been the Pirate Lord of Loess, while the two of them together had unified Sylva and the scrublands into what was currently known as the ‘Southlands’.
Their history together is Beqanna’s history, but only one of them had made it past the Plague alive.
Or, so Wolfbane had thought.
Perched comfortably among the evergreen boughs of Taiga’s redwood trees, Bane gripped at the bark with the long claws of a golden eagle. He was fully shifted, eyeing the borders regally from where he sat and pausing now or then to preen the lustrous honey-gold feathers that adorned his body. Without certain magical assistance the average horse couldn’t glean the truth hidden in the body of the otherwise normal-looking bird of prey. Even those with a heightened sense of smell or sight wouldn’t discern that the raptor was anything but an average male, out looking for an early morning meal.
Gripping his talons into the stringy flesh of redwood bark, Wolfbane hunkered his majestic eagle head down below his shoulders and tilted one round, hazel eye to where the faint movement of a trespasser could be seen - just near the less-traveled section of Taiga’s southern border. He lifted his body in one motion, unfurled both wings, and swept down from the perch to plummet smoothly through the entwined branches. In a matter of seconds he could see the carpet of thick, hazy fog and ferns rising up to meet him so he leveled out and swept his wings to stop, suddenly, before exploding into a mess of writhing body parts.
His blue hooves touched down on the springy earth and Wolfbane shook his mane as he trotted the remaining steps forward, halting while the last few feathers of his bird-skin blending back into the white bristles of his mane and the long, silken cords of his tail just before Arthas burst through the cover and out into the open. “I’ll be damned.” Bane breathed in disbelief. If he didn’t have the ability to prove to himself that this Arthas was the real one, Wolfbane might’ve taken the dappled stallion for a sick imposter. “The dead rise again. Arthas… I wasn’t expecting you.”
His eyes glance over the large eagle who stared back. His grin as big as ever, he was sure that he was the last equine Bane expected to travel into his territory. Perhaps his daughter, seeing as the pair had buddied up after his death. But alas, it was Arthas himself, in the flesh and blood he left behind years ago.
He watches the eagle grip at the branch one last time before leaving his perch and shifting back to the equine form Arthas was so familiar with. He closes the gap between them, almost as if a final test to ensure it was truly Arthas.
He mumbles, in disbelief to the resurrection before him. But little does Bane know, there was no magic that pulled him back from the dead...the gates of hell had opened for all to wander, and chaos was about to spill into Beqanna once more.
He falls silent after admitting he hadn't expected Arthas and his words only keep the grin on his maw. Awh, I missed you too Bane. You've secured a nice little home, you and Lepis. He says as he moves past the yellow and blue stag, his eyes glancing around the kingdom for the first time. It's not Loess, he throws in the jab of the kingdom they had both once ruled, that Bane so mindlessly gave up. But still nice, He turns to find Banes gaze once more, I want to be your champion Bane, we always made a good team. I will challenge whatever chump is there now if I have too, the gates of hell opened Bane. Let us bring back the partership we had once before. He was never one to waste time, he fully expects Bane to fall back into there friendship....it was Lepis who would be the challenge.
11-09-2019, 03:09 PM (This post was last modified: 11-09-2019, 03:10 PM by Wolfbane.)
WOLFBANE
Death had done very little to temper Arthas’ sarcasm, and Wolfbane isn’t exactly sure whether to be grateful of that fact or annoyed. Still the same self-serving, righteous asshole he always was, thought the skin-walker, turning his head to watch Arthas meander by and further into the deep woods. “Nice? Little?” He smirked, baited by the sarcasm and falling just as easily into their old ways despite the years gone by. Bane shook his head and decided to ignore the obvious barb about Loess, moving away from the border in favor of following alongside Arthas. Together they made a striking pair of stallions, in height and girth, and they cut a solid path through the swirling mists and over the deep snow blanketing Taiga’s earth.
“You know Lepis would be ten times more surprised than I am right now if she got a good look at you, dirty old man.” The once-student chuckled deeply, turning his ears down to rest on his nape, smirking with devilish intent. For a moment more they continued on, traversing the redwoods mindlessly and with no exact destination in mind. Then they paused and Arthas spoke again, adding insult to injury with such an outlandish request.
Hardly fresh from the grave and already eager to disturb the bourgeois. Fuck I missed you, Wolfbane would never admit aloud, though the truth of it sparkled in his olive-colored gaze.
“Woah woah, easy there buck-o.”. The striped gold-and-blue horse laughed, sighing. “I like the way you think but it ain’t so simple anymore. This place -” He motioned with the wide swing of his head, indicating Taiga and her gigantic woods, “- is in the middle of a tug-o-war between Nerine and Loess. Castile and Heartfire are trying to out-piss one another.” He muttered dejectedly, making his distaste over the matter obvious. Perhaps it’s the defiant spirit he’d always harbored, or maybe Aten had finally wedged some splinter of himself into Bane’s dark heart, but the constant bickering between kingdoms was starting to make him think Taiga was better off with neither the North or South.
“That shit has really put a damper on mine and Lepis’ relationship. She’s so… she’s so fucking stubborn, so am I. And she loves Castile and I… well I can’t sever ties with Heartfire. It’s a hot mess.” He groaned from the weight of it, realizing that this was perhaps the first time he’d begun to openly talk about his little (actually huge) strife between himself and his spouse. Bane relaxed onto one hind leg and propped the other up, looking at Arthas.
“Must say though, for a dead guy you’ve got impeccable timing. Stick around and we may both get what we want.” The masked marauder joked. “Or this place and everyone in it will be completely annihilated again.”
Then he remembered, “Speaking of death and her many mysteries: how the hell did you get here anyways? Where’ve you been?”
He briefly checked in on Bane from time to time while on the other side. He had done well for himself, though he does which the stag had remained in Loess...regardless, he has grown wiser in his time and with so much time having passed between there last altercation, he can only hope to slip back to there old ways with little struggle.
To his relief, a familiar grin tugged at Banes maw and it felt as though they instantly fell into there old ways. Though the air around them grew awkward as he mentions Lepis, but he can't help but allow a laugh to escape his maw. Oh Lepis would be much more mad than you are. Had they spoken about how she betrayed him? He can't remember....did she keep Delta after he died? He wasn't ever able to reach Delta on the otherside.
But the conversation shifts, if shifts to the point that Bane confides in Arthas. He tells him of the troubles that not only Taiga has had, but his relationship with Lepis. He could have guessed that, Lepis can't be loved, or at least she doesn't want to. She was stubborn like that, Arthas should know!
His yellow eyes gaze at the young stags, It sounds like you have a big decision to make, love or leadership. Bane knew that, if Lepis was the reason that Taiga was failing, he would have to remove her before there is no returning from her damage. But I'm sure you already knew that, he adds to not add insult to injury.
Again the conversation shifts, this time about his death, or...his return to life. I don't know...the gates to both worlds opened....I'm sure I'm not the only one, everyone who was once dead was able to find there way back to there bodies... He glances around, still in shock that he was here in person! But you know how this place is, let's just hope they don't figure out how to kill me again. He laughs, at the small joke he threw into the conversation, there were many equines much more evil running around beqanna because the changes...
Staying in Loess at the time would’ve spelled out death for Lepis, his family and himself. In fact coming back to Beqanna at all had been a huge risk, but Wolfbane had curbed his pride and gone to Heartfire (hah) for help. And make no mistake - she had helped him. But it had cost him and was continuing to cost him the longer he did nothing about it. So far he’d gone to look for Eyas and come back to total chaos, not that Taiga hadn’t been chaotic before leaving. The tangled web of issues and leadership had really only tightened into a ball of tension between kingdoms and horses alike.
Someone - be it Wolfbane or otherwise - would have to snip the dread clean from the source.
In time Taiga would grow out again and the problems surrounding its leadership would smooth out. Where that left Wolfbane though… he can’t be too sure. “Can’t leave decision-making to the weak.” He chuckled, shouldering the dapple grey with a heavy wing to playfully push the other stallion off-course. “But yea… it’s been a rollercoaster.” His expression darkened, turning his eyes and the line of his blueish mouth into a vision of hatred.
Then just as suddenly the darkness faded away, and Arthas was chipperly continuing on with his story of life after death. The origin of such life is fascinating enough that Wolfbane pauses mid-stride, sinking dark hooves into the cold snow but refusing to move them as confusion furrows his glittering brow. Had he heard the ex-King correctly, just then? The gates to both worlds, to life and death, were… open? “I’m sorry- you’re actually telling me that someone, or some ‘thing’ has allowed your soul to rise from the grave and return to your body healthy and whole?” Bane asked, fully aware that his chin had dropped open entirely.
What the… what the fuck?!
His head began to spin. If Arthas was back… if it was actually true then… NO, the first thought he has is to stop himself from thinking about it at all. To hope for something like a prodigal son returning would be more pain than it was worth but maybe, just maybe if Arthas had come back life then…
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