"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
10-13-2017, 04:24 PM (This post was last modified: 10-13-2017, 07:26 PM by Astraeus.)
The caves behind the dazzling waterfalls had always been Astraeus’ haunt, a safe place to hide from the burning light of the sun, but they had become his prison. The whole of Beqanna had shifted, and with that the entrance closed up and Astraeus found himself in perpetual darkness, alone, only the luminescence from his own coat with which to see. At first he watched the shifting of constellations on his own body to keep track of time, trying and failing to find a way out of his stony prison, eating the moss that trickled down from the caves’ ceilings. Soon though he lost track, who knew if it had been months, years, decades. He walked stiffly through the underbelly of the land, feeling age creep up on him. Sometimes he would whisper his own name, as if to keep a hold on his identity, but things inevitably slipped away. Still, the healing waters of the Falls remained at the back of his mind, the memory of the soft smash of water on water filling his head. Then, one day, something changed. The caves were lighter, a light that prickled at Astraeus’ skin, made him squint. Still, as much as this light punished him he rushed to find its source, and all of a sudden, there he was, on a bare hillside. He wanted to whinny with joy, but his vocal chords were dry, scratchy. Before any further thought of celebration though, his prickling skin had moved to burning, that long-ago scent of burning hair, burning skin filled his nostrils, streaked fire across his body. He ran. He had skirted the edge of a great forest, seeking solace from the cruel sun in the trees’ shadows. And then, unbearably slowly, night had fallen, and there, glistening in the distance, Astraeus saw the languid moonlit rippling of water. He trotted toward it, his limbs already seizing up from being so long unused, from the first clinches of old age. Carefully he slid down the bank into the water’s cool clutches, submersing his skin that still felt on fire. The constellations on his coat glimmered and twinkled from under the surface as if communing with the stars above that they mirrored. Astraeus too looked to the night sky, soundless tears streaming down his face and falling drip-drop softly into the water. Tears for his treasured night sky, tears for years lost, tears for his treasured Falls which he knew in his bones were no longer here, in this unfamiliar landscape.
html code by Toli, design idea based on "Dovev" by Laura
Like a flower waiting to bloom.
This Beqanna is the only one Kylin knows and hopefully ever will know. Just like Ischia is home, even if the equine that make it home, are no longer there. She would guess that being born somewhere, creates a link between you and that place. And Ischia has been the perfect home for her and her family. That they were no longer around to share it with her, didn’t change anything about that.
For a while she has been afraid to leave home, afraid to miss the homecoming of her family, but after some waiting and even more waiting, they still hadn’t. Kylin never had be the one to venture out alone, always relying on her twin brother. Kharon, too, had disappeared and left her behind.
The last time she had been to the river, Ivar had been at her side. It had been close to night and they had watched baby turtles hatch and cross the sand towards the sea, where their life would really start. She doesn’t expect to see it tonight, but the moon was a nice companion on her flee from Ischia. To forget everything, just for tonight.
Like always the water carries her. Kylin doesn’t need to wait for the sea to pull back and reveal the banks to cross towards the mainland. She could either just walk across the water, or use her fins to swim there. The water was still warm, the last result of the summer, but the air cooled at night. It made walking on top of the water the more alluring option. Her fins are tucked against her side, like a pair of wings, except she cannot fly with them, but swim. She’s told they resemble a pair of ‘flying fish fins’, if Kylin didn’t know better, she would swear she could fly.
By the time she reaches the beach where the river flows into the sea it’s dark. The moon and starts have taken over the sky, ruling until the sun would drive them away again. The lavender tobiano girl doesn’t stop there, not even glancing towards the beach. Thinking of Ivar isn’t really that what would help her beat her loneliness.
When she continues, she runs into someone who can. At least for the night, she hopes. Curiously she blinks her hazel eyes at the dark figure that bathes in the water. Kylin hadn’t seen him at first, but the sound of moving water had given him away. She stops far enough away to still be polite, but close enough to really look at him.
”You’ve come from the stars... How?” Her voice is barely more than a whisper, but loud enough to disturb the silence. Her gaze never leaves him, but her head drops towards the water, so she would be more on eye level with him. After all, he was bathing in the same water as she walked upon.
10-27-2017, 04:18 PM (This post was last modified: 10-27-2017, 04:19 PM by Astraeus.)
Astraeus' ears could only prick up half-heartedly as he heard a curious rippling sound, of water disturbed, but not broken. A fleet of thoughts crossed his brain. What new predator could be hiding in these lands, what creature to inflict new tortures on his worn and tired old body.
His breath caught and rasped in his throat. His eyes, still spotted from their encounter with the sun, straining to make out the strange shadow moving towards him. He did not have the energy to move, to retreat or flee. Suddenly, a stray ray of moonlight pierced the clouds.
Astraeus breathed out, deflating from his tense state as he made out the form of a horse. Certainly, an unusual one, but still recognisable. Astraeus raises his tired head slightly as they approach, but forgets to offer any greeting. Then they, she even, speaks.
He chuckles, and the sound is gruff and rusty from his forgotten vocal chords.
‘My coat is my inheritance from my father, who was a star. But otherwise I am just like you. Well, maybe not quite the same.’
He eyes her unusual fins, her soft lavender and white coat with envy as she seems to hover over the water. At least her gifts had some use. What had he ever gained from his hide aside from the searing pain of the sun? While it drew admiration occasionally, Astraeus was not vain.
‘So where have you come from? Beqanna is not as I remember it…’
His voice trails off as he scans the landscape in the dark, its unfamiliar swells and drops. It filled him with dread, before he had been safe from the sun, he had known caves and close canopied forests where he could escape its gaze. Now he knew nothing, and if he did not find a place before sunrise he would burn and melt under its gaze.
html code by Toli, design idea based on "Dovev" by Laura
Like a flower waiting to bloom.
The longer she looks at him, the more she discovers. His coat rivals the night sky, almost like trying to beat the starry sky on its own terrain. No, Kylin decides then, that wasn’t it. It’s not at all like that. His coat ís the stars, like a perfect replica, one that moved and changed with the sky too. His muzzle luminous white. Kylin couldn’t be more curious to see the rest of his body.
So she’s more than delighted when he replies to her, giving her some information about his lineage, his origin. And it’s even better than she thought. A perfect distraction. ”No, I’m nobody.. but if your father was a start, you’re a half-star” she eventually replies, the smile on her lips growing wider and her hazel eyes twinkle in delight.
As his eyes wander off, Kylin cannot help but to move her fins a little, just like Kharon used to ruffle his wings from time to time. The attention threw her a little off balance, making her sidestep a few times. Thankfully, he spoke again.
”I’m from Ischia, I was born there” she tells him, a slight frown between her brows. This was the only Beqanna she knew. And nobody had ever spoken to her about a different Beqanna. Bending her neck she points back to where she came from, across the sea. ”Ischia is there, an island not far from the coast, but only reachable by foot during low tide. Beqanna used to be different?” she asks right of the bat. Right now, Kylin would take everything that would take her mind of things.
In the silence that follows Kylin turns back to look at him again. The longer he holds her gaze, the more she sees through his star painted coat. There is a certain weariness in his eyes, and he holds himself differently than what she knows. ”Have you only just returned to Beqanna?” After all, Beqanna had been like this for years now.
He smiled sadly at the lavender mare’s excited response to his parentage. He supposed that yes, he was half-star, but in his aging bitter heart he felt this had only been a curse. He was confined to darkness, had been denied a father, and somehow he felt these two things had combined to prevent him from ever achieving anything. As well as being stuck in the caves for only the stars know how long.
Ischia… He liked the sound of the word, the way it conjured up images of sand and sea. He peered past the mare as she gestured in the direction of her home, but was distracted by the subtle difference in the eastern sky. It would only be a couple of hours, perhaps three, before the Sun reclaimed the sky, and he would have to hide.
‘Yes, Beqanna once was different. I lived in a place called the Falls, or the Dazzling Waterfalls. It was beautiful, there was so much water, and the falls themselves…’
He sighed as he remembered playing in the currents, peering up at the huge height of the falls and wondering at the power with which the water slammed into the pool at its feet.
‘The water there even had healing powers. But somehow I was trapped in the caves when the land shifted, until now.’
He longed once again for the cool touch of the Falls’ water, still feeling the sting in his skin from his earlier encounter with daylight. With this thought he focused his attention back on the young mare, who was not-quite-still on the water’s surface.
‘Would you happen to know anywhere in Beqanna that might have a waterfall? They often have caves behind them, and you see the Sun burns me up. I really need to find a safe place for the day.’
He coughed slightly after so many words, his throat tight from the unfamiliar effort. It was only as he thought of the last conversation he’d had with another horse that he realised he did not know the lavender mare’s name.
‘I’m sorry, I’ve been so rude. I am Astraeus, and you are?’
html code by Toli, design idea based on "Dovev" by Laura
Like a flower waiting to bloom.
Never before someone had told her from this different Beqanna, the Beqanna from ‘before’, and Kylin finds herself stepping closer the star male starts to tell her about it. She has always been curious, though a little hesitant to start to explore on her own. Stories – and company – were great ways to satisfy her curiosity and explore more of the world.
”The Dazzling Waterfalls” she repeats softly as her hazel eyes convey her enthusiasm. How much she would give to see such place, such beauty. And then to imagine the water had healing powers too. ”That almost sounds too good to be true. I wish I could see them..” But she cannot. The land of which he speaks no longer exists.
”Were you hurt? When you got trapped I mean? Are you hurt now?” It’s genuine concern, but honestly, even if he was hurting, there was not a thing that she could do. This Beqanna didn’t have the kind of healing waterfalls he speaks of. Worry shows in your eyes as she lowers her head, and slowly she reaches out to touch his forehead gently.
Honestly, Kylin hadn’t seen much of Beqanna. She knew Ischia by heart, and had recently visited Loess to see a childhood friend. And she hadn’t seen waterfalls, not big ones with the kind of caves he was looking for. Ischia had few for example, but most weren’t very big. With what going on at her home, Kylin could use someone at her side. But she also knew that wouldn’t be right.
”Ischia has a few small ones, caves I mean. And from stories I know both Sylva and Nerine have them, at the shores I think. But I don’t know anything about those lands. Not who rule them and if strangers are welcome. Or how big the caves are..” After all, all she knows is that what Ivar has told her.
”Would a dense jungle be okay too? Ischia is basically beach and jungle, some places are lighter than others, and I know of a small cave. And I can search the island for one more comfortable?” She could use a friend, and he clearly had dealt with huge changes too, perhaps he could help her through the one holding Ischia in its grasp.
She cannot help not to chuckle, but then, she’s still young too. Of course, how could she have forgotten. It hadn’t been hard with Astraeus’ story about his former home. But she’s flustered by her rudeness. ”My name is Kylin, would you like to visit my home? Just for the night – or day, I guess – and perhaps you can stay, or we can look for a home for you?”
