hell hath no fury like a woman scorned - any/all

[Alecto]

It hadn’t taken the bay roan tobiano long to get caught up on all the juicy gossip, not once she’d finally made her way back to Beqanna. She’d learned long ago all the best places to pick up on current events, and it seemed she’d picked an interesting time to return. Tensions had come to a boil, resulting in the ever predictable war followed by the equally predictable diminishment of the issues. From what she’d heard, things were just about over, and the kingdoms would all return home, lick their wounds, and peace would reign for a few years at least. That always seemed to be the way of it, or at least that was more or less what had happened during the last war she’d borne witness to. And ironically, they’d both taken place in the Chamber. Today the mare’s changeable eyes are a light honey brown as she wanders her way into the Gates. It’s not a kingdom she’d visited often in her youth – other than her brother Rharian, Alecto’d had little interest in the other Light kingdom. It had been a latecomer to their network of alliances, and little of interest had occurred in the kingdom during most of her life. But from what she’d heard upon her return, the Gates had been the place to be these last few years. Well, maybe not to live – it had certainly not been boring, but from what the ex-princess had heard, most of the Gates’ residents had been killed, leaving the kingdom empty. More interesting still, it seems they hadn’t even turned up for their little war in the Chamber. This more than anything else intrigued her. Alecto’d been raised to rule – her whole family had been – and they’d all been taught early on about the importance of leadership. The fact that the Gates’ king not only hadn’t shown up to the war, but had left the fighting to his allies in his place, struck the bay roan tobiano mare as a very strange choice indeed. She wondered if perhaps this King Mast she’d heard about was simply too cowardly to go to war himself, or if he’d decided his kingdom couldn’t afford any more deaths without falling into ruin. Though from what she’d heard, the kingdom had deathly silent of late. And what she was seeing around her wasn’t telling a different story. Alecto had wandered right up to the kingdom’s borders, the etiquette of entering foreign kingdoms drilled into her since birth, but she saw few signs of life. She did however see signs of destruction – fire had clearly ravished part of the kingdom, and though it had been put out, its touch had not been erased.  Heaven’s Gates was clearly a kingdom in decline if you asked Alecto.  Alecto

[tannor]

With a past so dark, that Satan'd jump out of his seat.
But still you out in these streets, thinking you hot as can be.
Without the knowledge to lead, so you just follow the sheep.
Making sure your lame swag is all polished and clean

It’s a cold night. Cold enough for your breath to escape in small visible puffs. I’ve been searching for hours but I’ve finally found you. Ah yes, you’re standing there behind the large oak, clutching to the trunk with a strange excitement. It’s the type of excitement that fills a predator as it stalks its prey in the dead of night. Your heart is racing, your breath shallow. You’re doing your best to stay silent and you’re succeeding. They can’t hear you, they haven’t sensed you. No, not yet.

Your excitement is thrilling. It sends a shiver of anticipation down my spine as I stand in the shadows a distance away leaning against a dark brick wall. My thin, boney hands are shoved in my coat pockets. But most importantly, I am watching you. Watching as you watch her. I can sense you. Feel you. And I know all too well what you are about to do. I want to witness it. I need to.

I need to see the way you work, the way you choose them, the way you hunt and before long I find myself slinking towards you. I want to see what you see, feel what you feel. One slow step at a time carries me closer, my body twitching and twisting unnaturally as I drag myself towards you. It takes minutes but finally I’m behind you. I’m the breath of wind that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.

Slowly I lean forward, my chin resting on your shoulder. You can’t feel me. You can’t see me. Yet I’m there. My chest pressed against your back, my arm wrapped around your waist. I’m holding you in a sort of loving embrace. It is then I look where your gaze is drawn. A woman of ruby red hair and bright blue eyes is bounding down a large staircase, laughter filling her delicate and smooth features. It is when she appears that you tense and reaching up I stroke your hair like a mother lovingly smoothing a cowlick and I chuckle in your ear softly.

“She is perfect. She is the one.” I don’t say it. Instead I sneak the thoughts into your mind. I know you will agree. You already had long before this. “Hunt her. Keep her. Free her.” I am your encouragement. I am your darkness. I am you, and you are me. We are one in the same, and one day soon you will meet me. Slowly I move my hands to your arms, turning you towards me. Your eyes are wide and bright. Surprise dances across your face as your brow raises.

It’s me. I am here. I am free.

“But for now, leave her.” Slowly I flicker into view, my blank gray features shock you. I can see it in your own eyes. I can see your confusion. I can feel your curiosity. I see you reach up to touch them. I can feel your fingers slipping through my eye sockets as you become fascinated with what you are seeing. I am laughing now. Amusement dancing around in my tone as my cackle feels the silent night air. You’re asking me who I am, what I am. So many questions. So few answers. I will tell you nothing. You are nothing. You are merely a discovery that I want to enjoy. But for now it’s time for you to awaken. One look deep into your soul and suddenly I’m thrusting my arm forward, my hand burying deep within your gut before shooting up into your chest.

It is then my fingers wrap around your heart. It’s beating nice and quick; your anxiety is almost tangible. I’m squeezing then, causing the organ to slip between the spaces of my fingers. And then I’m speaking. My voice is raspy, high pitched. I need you to awaken. I need you to become who you are. You are expected now.

“Wake up, Tannor.”***************It’s almost humorous how this world cares so much about what is going on within each and every border. One would almost say it was genuine curiosity. They would make up explanations and reasoning for their constant need to know who, what, when, where and why. But not myself. No. I didn’t need to know and frankly, I just didn’t give a damn. I wasn’t born to live a simple life. To live a life or relaxation or angst. I was born to do what was needed. To take a place in this world and make a name.

Like my father before me, I was here to do a job that most couldn’t. Yet I would never know it. The memories of the change had left my mind entirely blank of any family and never would I know who my father or mother really were. Never would I truly trust if they were to tell me. But did I care? No. I was born in a time of chaos and ruin. Of equines fighting blindly and without control. Death wreaked on the wind and the sight of charred landscape danced across every kingdom. It was a suitable birth. The way I was thrown into a world I had never known, amongst corpses rotting in the dirt and fog slowly rolling through the tall pines. Death would not always follow me, but welcome me wherever I went.

It had taken only days but I too had heard the rumors. That the gates had not joined in on the fray and it almost made me laugh in hysterics. Had they not been to the Valley? Had they not seen the numbers that fell to their deaths and littered the ground. Had they not watched this kingdom’s king run into the fray turned on by a once-king of his very kingdom?

Most likely not. They were all too distracted by what they wanted to see. What they wanted to believe. Yet like the truths always did, they would arise. And soon the world of Beqanna would know that the Gates had attacked a different kingdom on their own, alone. And in his own eyes that had taken guts no matter how inexperienced and quick they fell. Along with them the gates king had fallen and in result, the Valley had traded their thrones. In result I had come into existence and had been sent here by a face without a name. A name I couldn’t remember. A name I didn’t, in all honesty, care to know. Slowly I walked through the quiet kingdom, listening to the wisps of wind as they twirled delicately through the tree’s leaves and took deep breaths enjoying the scent of charred wood that danced along with it.

The Gates had become quiet. Eerie. It was just how he liked a place he could call home. One day the destruction of the fires would give birth to new trees, to new foliage and the kingdom would be a sight once more. Yet instead of the old days. Instead of the patient, kind, sweet faces they were so used to filling these borders, a different set of personalities would be brought to the kingdom. I was going to change it. I was going to mold it. It had become mine and I was told I could do whatever I wanted with it.

The thought was almost thrilling.

It is then I sense you. I can hear your hoof beats, smell your salty sweet scent. Your proper in your waiting and it almost unsettles me. You reek of diplomacy. Of proper etiquette. And I’m not sure if I like it. Slowly I come to a stop, watching from a distance amongst the shadows as you finally step over the border and make your way in. My wings are tucked tightly against my sides and for a while I stalk you in the shadows, silently waiting for you to make a move. It is when you stop that I step out of the brush, muscular shoulders slowly rolling under flesh as I come to a halt behind you and slowly tilt my head. ”Hello,” When I speak my tone is almost full of a lazy air and my eyes trace along the curve of your body momentarily yet lacking complete desire. ”Can I help you?”

tannor.

@[Alecto] Sorry for the wait, dear. <3 I was on a writing away.