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 Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:17 pm
This RP features my two main quest characters, Aisheva and Faelivrin, from my Quest Thread. Aisheva is a black-and-white paint Wind, Faelivrin is a black dragon Kalona.
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 11:47 pm
The day had dawned bleak and cold, grey clouds hiding the sun and chilling the air, fog rolling over everything and coating it with moisture, a steady drizzle pattering upon the dark needles of the evergreen forest and slowly sinking into the loam of dirt and dead leaves that carpeted the forest floor. This forest was strangely dark and silent, the birds' singing quieted by the dismal morning, the small animals of the forest prefering the warmth of their burrows to the crisp air of the morning, the clouds preventing the sun from piercing through the layers of leaves to reach the forest floor. And the fog that slowly rolled through and over everything made it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of yourself, muffling even the few sounds that were to be heard that dank morning, leaving every occupant of the forest in their own private island.
One such occupant was still very firmly asleep as the forest first began to lighten with the barely perceptible morning light. His breathing was shallow, almost pained sounding, and he twitched often, as if uncomfortable, or remembering some terrible memory. His dark form pooled into the shadows of the forest, a shape menacing to any sane Soquili, one they would run from as fast as they could. But the strange black Soquili knew none of that, locked in his world of dreams as he was. They were strange dreams, featuring dragons much larger than his current form, one all beautiful and red that he felt a special attachment to resting her head against his contentedly, then their dead bodies mutiliated by the sword of a human. A young human girl, hair black as night and eyes a loving silver, gazing at him and smiling, simply saying nothing, yellow topaz on her forehead glinting. That same face full of tears as he bled to death on the unforgiving ground, her trembling hand holding a black topaz as big as it. A black-and-white paint winged horse covered in sparkling jewels. But the dreams were like water to his mind, without substance, unimportant, like a fiction created by his sleep, and they drifted away from his questions, dispersing like mist.
The Soquili woke up as his dreams vanished, remembering nothing of them, remembering...nothing. Alarmed, unsure of where he was, he opened his eyes, peering around the dreary forest, but nothing brought a memory to his mind. This isn't where I should be, his mind protested, but the thought, as soon as it came, was gone once more. Confused, the black Soquili stood up, staring in confusion down at the ground. Shouldn't it be further? But that, to, was brushed aside as he walked forward a few steps to take stock of his surroundings.
As he stepped out from under the tree where he had rested, he found himself facing a small pond, just the right size for an early morning drink. As he bent down he found himself facing a face at least that was familiar, black, scaled, with silver eyes that glinted now with confusion, though often burned in anger. Faelivrin. I am Faelivrin. Satisfied with his name, the Soquili turned his eyes on the reflection of the rest of his body. All of it seemed normal enough, his black scaled body and black wings, long black-spiked tail. A dragon Kalona, his mind registered. But the wings should be larger. And how is this a dragon? I have seen ones far larger than the largest hills... But he couldn't place the rest of the thought, couldn't register why it was important, and it vanished as well.
At least I know who I am, he thought, bending to take a drink. I am probably just being silly and tired. So satisfied he turned his mind away from the disturbing matters of his leaky memory, setting out into the forest to find something to feed his loudly grumbling belly. Something large, hopefully, like a deer, that could last him for several meals. One deer is only a snack's worth, his mind protested, but the thought was forgotten as soon as it was spoken.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 12:40 pm
The black-and-white paint Wind mare moved like an element of mist herself through the early morning fog, stepping delicately on the thick forest carpeting, rustling not a leaf in her passing. She was used to moving this way, like a shadow, disturbing no one, passing through before they even had a chance to register that she was there. She was the unobserved observer, the unmoved mover, the changer, the beautiful presence that was acknowledged by the heart but not the mind. Few Soquili she met even remembered the quiet and sad mare a few moments after their conversation, and those she would even reveal herself to converse with were few and far in between. She was used to lonliness, used to the pain of separation that pulsed limpingly with every heartbeat, had lived with it for too long to count. Once she had been even greater, had been able to influence the Elements, had been their only protector, but all of that was gone now, reborn as she was in this Soquili form, transplanted to another land, another place where the Elements did not respond as they should. She could no more influence the glow of her gems than a bird could, though they seemed to have a bit more life and vibrancy when they were near their Element, and she sickened quickly if she spent too long away from any one Element. The fog and the drizzling rain made her smile slightly as she felt the corresponding warmth from the sapphire on her right shoulder, while the presence of the forest all around her made the emerald on her left leg glow slightly. But these were faint glows, only slight warmths, not the amount she had once held when she had truly been the Elemental Guardian. She had fallen far from grace somehow, had betrayed the trust of Faelivrin and the dragons, all of them long-dead, hunted and murdered by the swords and spears of humans, and so she was nothing more than a lost wanderer, plagued by memories of what she once was.
Don't think of the past, Aisheva, she scolded herself, shaking her head slightly. That only gets you into trouble. The past is gone and you cannot change that, the world is different and you cannot change that, and perhaps the forces that made the dragons the Elemental Guardians in the first place no longer have need of those type of services. But no matter how much she tried to tell herself that the past didn't matter any more, that she was who she was now and not at any other time, it didn't erase the pain from her eyes, or fill the hollow in her heart, or make her jewels glow with her magic the way they should.
If only Faelivrin had not died, then I would not feel that it was all in vain. But no sooner had that thought crossed her mind than she stopped, hearing the sounds of something large to her right, something that sounded like it was a Soquili...eating prey. Probably a Kalona or a Skinwalker, she thought with a resigned sigh, though she didn't run away at that thought, instead turning her lithe body toward the sound and making her way on noiseless silver hooves toward the Soquili.
She stopped just back in the shadows of the trees, and gazed upon the creature before her with wide silver eyes. It was a Kalona alright, but a strange one, one that looked more like the dragons she remembered from her time as a human than a regular Kalona. The male who was so voraciously tearing into the deer was a pure black, beautiful and iridescent, with hints of an opal's purple and blue sheen in his scales. His wings, his head, the spikes down his back and tail, all of them reminded her, with a pained constriction of her heart, of Faelivrin. His eyes were cast down to the meat as he gulped it down--just like Faelivrin--so she couldn't judge their color, but as he turned slightly to attack the deer's haunches, she saw something that made the opal on her left flank suddenly warm up with far greater heat than she had ever felt since she had lost her powers and became a simple Soquili. On his left flank, positioned precisely in the middle, was a black opal as large as hers, with the same purple flecks, same spots of black iridescence, positioned exactly in the same way as the one Faelivrin had commanded her to take from his body as he died.
"Fa-Faelivrin?" she choked out quietly, startled, feeling her heart fluttering deep within her chest as she took a step toward the strange black Kalona.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 4:25 pm
Faelivrin had had a very productive hunt and was glad that it had all gone so well. Even if his mind couldn't remember everything it should, his body and his mind still could cooperate when it came to stalking, killing, and eating. So when he'd caught the scent of a deer on the wind, he hadn't been able to help but follow it, winding silently, a deadly shadow, through the forest until the young buck, stupid and slow, was within his sight. He watched it for several long moments, and then in a flash was out of the trees, pouncing upon the unfortunate deer, tearing its skin with his wicked silver claws and biting through its neck with his sharp silver teeth. The blood from the dying deer gushed into his mouth, warm and full of life, and he smiled through his mouthful of deer, relishing in the taste, in the life-giving ectasy of prey.
Carefully he laid the deer down onto the wet ground, then, using his claws to peel away the unsatisfactory fur, dove into the carcass, voraciously tearing off strips of the fresh meat, unmindful of the blood that splattered him. Later would be a time for cleanliness; now was the time only for eating. That thought in his brain, the dragon Kalona dove into the meat with a single-minded determination, his body craving its sustenance after who knew how long asleep, his focus only on the meat in front of him and not on the forest around him. Teeth crunched through bones like they were twigs, and soon he had the entire front of the carcass stripped of its meat.
It was as he turned to the haunch that he felt slightly...strange all of a sudden. A strange warmth seemed to flow through him suddenly, originating in the black opal that he hadn't noticed earlier embedded in the middle of his left hindquarter. Darkness... his mind whispered, but he couldn't hold on to the thought for more than a moment, and so continued staring at the beautiful beautiful black opal. What was it there for? Where had it come from? But his musings were interruped by the sound of feet taking light, hesitant steps toward him.
The words didn't even register in Faelivrin's mind at first, and automatically his head whipped around to the intruder, a low growl emanating from deep within him, as he walked forward to pace in front of his meal, guarding it from the stranger. For that was obviously what they must want. But then the meaning of the whispered words sunk in, and he cocked his head, suprised. The other one knew his name. And the voice sounded strangely familiar, like it tickled something in the back of his head. Curious, the dragon Kalona sniffed at the air, his nose telling him only that it was a female Wind Soquili.
But that was before a slight breeze drifted through his little clearing, exposing the mare who was only a few yards in front of him to his complete view. She was a black-and-white paint Wind, and she seemed to have several strange jewels growing out of her body, much like his opal. Her eyes were like molten silver, and they stared at him almost hopefully, though confused, and he could catch a hint of sorrow underneath. But she wasn't anyone he recognized, so who was he to care if she carried her sadness out in the open for all to see.
"Who are you?" he growled angrily, annoyed that some Soquili he'd never met would dare to use his name and interrupt his meal. "I've never seen you before. How did you learn my name?" His silver eyes were flashing now, his voice like thunderclaps, and that should have been enough to warn any Soquili away.
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 2:25 pm
The anger in the dragon Kalona's eyes was just like the anger of the Faelivrin that Aisheva had first met, or the Faelivrin when he learned of humans killing dragons, or remembered his mate and young ones, slaughtered by her father. His silver eyes burned from within, icy and deadly as a pulsating star, cold enough to freeze even the bravest Soquili in their tracks, to pierce and lance with more pain and eventual fire than even a hot iron. Those silver eyes were liquid and smooth, impossible to get a purchase on, foreign to those who did not know them, completely not understandable, walls that only reflected all that was thrown at them instead of soaking it in and learning some about it first. Those were the eyes that Faelivrin had always presented to the outside world, though Aisheva had never seen them presented at her since that fateful day he realized exactly what she was.
The mare felt the wet smoothness of tears forming in her eyes, their cool harshness, salty and unforgiving, as she stepped forward to confront the Kalona. "What do you mean, you've never seen me before?" she asked, confused, sad, feeling terribly alone. "I'm Aisheva. The human whose father killed your family, who you stole, then realized I was the final Elemental Guardian, and taught, finally presenting your final gift upon me." At those words she turned to the side, presenting her left fank to Faelivrin, showing him the black opal exactly the same as his growing out of her skin. "And in the end, as humans killed you, as you bled to death upon the remorseless ground, you turned me into this form, so that I might live more easily as what I was marked out to be from birth. How could you have forgotten such a connection?" The tears, as sharp and as beautiful as diamonds, were rolling freely down her cheeks now, tracking through her black fur, forever marking her, but she didn't care. The real Faelivrin would not want her to suffer, would not trick her like this. Something was so terribly wrong.
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 2:47 pm
The strange mare was crying now, was pouring her heart out upon the floor for the whole world to see, scoff at, and stomp upon, which simply disgusted Faelivrin. How could she be so uncaring of what others thought, simply let herself loose to whatever Soquili she met in the world? She was doing no more than setting herself up for someone to hurt her terribly beacuse of her foolishness and her presumption that other Soquili even cared. If she had problems, they were her own fault, her own preoccupation, and she couldn't expect that every Soquili in hearing distance would jump to save her from her troubles. The weak were the ones that exposed themselves like that, or rushed off to help up everyone who looked like they might be in danger of falling down. If you didn't learn how to do things on your own, there was truly no point in living, or at least that's what Faelivrin believed. You'd be as worthless as a newborn, and as helpless. It was just disgusting to see that kind of behavior in adults.
Faelivrin shook his head slightly, silver eyes clouded with resignation, as he took a menacing step forward to teach this other Soquili about what just might happen if she wore her heart on a chain for everyone to see and step upon. But then her words sunk into his mind, and he paused, thinking. Aisheva... Again, in his head, the picture of that human girl with the laughing silver eyes and black hair, practicing magic in front of him. To protect... He had always protected his Aisheva, that young thing, so fragile, like a butterfly's wings, allowed her to learn about his world though books and his ancient teachings, but had only taken her a few places for fear of what the other dragons would do when they learned that this girl's birth was the source of all their downfall, that a mere human was so important and would take on their ancient task. She was not truly part of his ancient world, so he could not expose her to it like he would a young dragon, letting them learn the hard parts of it though experience, but had done the best he could. And he had been so proud, when his time had come, so ready to let his fledgling go. And I even gave her wings...
But those memories receded as quickly as water through a sieve, leaving him with nothing other than a strange longing for this mare, a strange feeling that he must protect her, must keep her safe. But that's ridiculous, he scoffed at himself with a growl. I do not know her, and she merely wears her emotions out for all to see and grind into the dust.
"I said I do not know you, Aisheva." Faelivrin said dangerously, taking another step toward her until only a small yard separated the two. "But I will do you this one small favor and tell you this. You keep your heart out for the world to see, the world to mock, the world to rip from you and throw, still beating and bleeding, upon the ground, the world to pound to dust beneath its hooves and claws. Though my name is Faelivrin, there is no connection between us, and I know nothing of the things you speak. Go tell your sob story about betrayal and love and death to some other Soquili, for you shall find no pity for it here." That was the last warning the mare would receive before she found Faelivrin's claws in her throat.
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:38 pm
Aisheva could see the strange emotions play out across Faelivrin's face and narrowed her eyes in confusion as she watched what almost seemed like a battle of emotions, one chasing the other across his face until he settled on the most common one: anger. First he seemed disgusted, almost as if he could not stand her tears, than angry, then almost resigned, as if he did not desire to step forward and teach her a lesson but it must be done, then suddenly proective, loving, longing, and then that sharp anger again, accompanied by a growl. It's as if there are two different personalities inside of this Faelivrin, as if he does not truly know himself, she mused, uncaring of the fact that the dragon Kalona was very menacingly moving toward her and she could quite rapidly end up with teeth in her throat if she angered him any more. She had faced danger all of her life, as both a true Guardian and now a fallen Guardian, and it did not phase her. What had to be done had to be done, and she would find out what was going on here. Something deep inside her, some gut feeling, combined with the warm pulses her jewel was admitting, convinced her that she was facing the real Faelivrin, just in a new form. Like me. Save for he is blessed with not remembering, while I am cursed with the memory of what I once was. The spirits liked him far more, the last great Elemental Dragon Guardian. She couldn't blame them. Her birth, a birth she had hated as long as she knew this fact, had been the factor that had caused the downfall of all the dragons. It had been in place since long before she was even thought of as a possibility, but she had been the deciding factor that had killed the dragons. It was her curse, knowledge that she had to live with for the rest of her life, and so she was glad that she had the memory, that she was forced each day to remember what others had sacraficed for her, what pain she had caused, and ultimately how she must have failed to have gained this form and losing her power. Faelivrin, on the other hand, had simply been what he was, and so the spirits had granted him new life. He had never failed; his lot in life had simply be to see his mate and children slaughtered by her father's sword.
So she did not blame Faelivrin in his anger, in his confusion, the slightest. She would bare her neck before him, would let him take her life right there, but she knew that would be the coward's way out, that he would never know why she owed such a life-debt to him, why her heart ached for him to recognize her, while her brain tried to convince her heart that him knowing would only be for the worse. Then he would have to remember Malvana, Evalie, Kaladra, all of them dying all over again, would have to remember the fate of his race again, and she just couldn't allow that. There was no reason for Faelivrin to suffer.
"I think I understand you very clearly now, Faelivrin," Aisheva said, her tears now dry that she had realized what had been hidden from her before: that Faelivrin had been transformed into this new form so he could live without memory and to act as another challenge and a curse to her. "I do not ask for pity, I do not ask for anyone to care about my emotions, save for you. I know that my existence is worthless, that I am cursed, that I brought down the extinction of an entire species, that I somehow failed in the task I was born to do and now must suffer for all that I have done wrong, that I caused far too much pain in my life, that my life is worthless. But that is simply who I am. I do not ask others to attempt to fix me, for there is nothing to fix. The past cannot be changed, and I am cursed to remember every second of my past. You, on the other hand, do not remember your past, are gifted with only your name, and so for that I ask you to think well upon my emotions and to accept them. You are without a past, so I might ask that you will listen to mine. Your presence is simply another part of my curse, for we are connected. But you have no knowledge of that which has come before, no remembrance of all that has happened between us, and I do not fault you for that. The spirits simply gave you the beauty of not knowing all you have lost. You should feel blessed." Aisheva bent her head, now letting the tears grow in her eyes, though they did not fall, and she would not let Faelivrni see her weakness. She had said all that she needed to say. The rest of her emotions, of her thoughts, needed to return deep within her heart, where they normally resided when she met other Soquili. No one else needed to be burdened with the knowledge of how much of a failure she was, of how she was born to kill an entire race far more magnificent and important than her original one. Humans were naught but a grain of sand, while the dragons had been the entire desert. All gone because this one human had been born. Her. She could not do enough in a thousand lifetimes to make up for that.
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