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Post by Zookcan on Jul 21, 2019 21:30:31 GMT -6
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ENIAH
your scars will be remade in gold.
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Eniah silently stepped back, offering a nod of acknowledgement towards Taeith. Like he had done before, the red colt tucked himself beneath one of Ianthe's wings, blue eyes searching the rest of the smooth, carved facade with tender scrutiny. He hears Sol chitter softly, and his feathers were ruffled in distaste;
'Are you certain opening that door is a good idea?' the kestrel murmurs, but his soft inquiry is said too late, for by then, Taeith was slowly getting the door to budge with Earth Manipulation.
Witnessing her struggle only made Eniah feel more uncomfortable. After all if their misadventures lead to a cave in, he can't help but fear that she won't be able to handle it. The door finally budges and shifts into the smooth stone, starting up a small cloud of dust that briefly clouded whatever laid behind it. With a tentative sway of his staff, he followed the group inside, though he dare not until most of the others had gone in first. Minding Sol's previous statement, the colt lingers close to his groupmates, blue eyes scanning stone walls and pillars in an attempt to decipher the ancient inscriptions etched within them.
None of them were discernible enough for him to read, and the art style seemed even more strange than the Serorans'. Perhaps it was a different faction's? Or more likely, it was carved by Serorans far back in time, whose practices were long forgotten. "Could this be...an ancient Seroran city?" Eniah whispers.
"Wow..." He turns towards the main roadway, taking in the rest of the cavern from their viewpoint. The path seemed to curve in a gentle upward slope. It was quite a discovery to behold, but Eniah had to wonder... "But I don't understand...why would they ask for a Mullah to see this?"
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Word Count: 300
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Post by SagaWolf on Jul 22, 2019 23:37:42 GMT -6
Ianthe
... ...
Rainbow horse was quick to step out of the way as Taeith moved up to take a crack at the door and she very much hoped it was going to work. It was hard to contain her excitement as evident by her neck feathers poofing up, and the eventual squeak she let out when finally the metal monstrosity did move. "A-Ma-ZING! " she cheered at Taeith, thoroughly impressed by that feat of manipulation and the door continue to swing open and then throw a cloud of dust in their faces. Ianthe, open mouthed and cheering, was reduced to a coughing hacking mess, backing up further and flapping his wings awkwardly to clear the air. Once it settled the had to take a moment to wipe her face and rub her eyes, sniffling pathetically as she followed the others.
A few more coughs and clearing of her throat and then Ianthe could finally let out an impressed: "Alya's Winds! " gawking at the old forgotten city. Shep read out loud from the column, and Ianthe (still sniffling a little as snot desperately wanted to clear the dust from her nose) trotted slowly towards the nearest deteriorated building, holding her lantern high.
"This is crazy! " she croaked, still suffering from the dust, and caught the tail end of Eniah's question. "They were probably freaked out by a door that shouldn't be here. People call on Mullahs' for all sorts a things they dunn understand, " she chirped back, and by then she'd found a way into the old house which she promptly entered. A little while later her colorful head popped up in a window, brow furrowed.
"There's nothing here, " she called to the others, clearly disappointed. She'd hoped some trinket to take back as a souvenir, but all she found were some rotting furniture. Ianthe rejoined the group with a bit of a pout. "Looks like they left inna hurry. There's nothing inside, just rotting wood. "
......
Word Count: 323
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Post by leaftail on Jul 25, 2019 6:19:38 GMT -6
Taeith | Folk
Taeith was starting to recover from pulling the door open as Acorro came up to her side. She blinked in surprise and then felt her face heat up, again out of embarrassment. She didn’t want to look weak in front of everyone, but she hadn’t been able to utilize her blessing that much in the past and due to being slack on training it up, it was harder to use. But...Acorro, being a stallion, and Tae, not having much experience with the other sex being so concerned for her well-being, just added to her embarrassment. Plus, Ianthe’s cheer only brought attention to her, though she appreciated the pegasus’ encouragement. He asked if she was alright and Tae found it hard to speak without stammering. “ I-I’m...I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Just taking a small break is all. You know, we walked down here for a little so maybe my legs are just getting used to the rocky terrain, right? Yeah. Go on ahead, I’ll catch up. Here, I’ll drink some water and feel good as new!” Tae pulled a water bag from her pouch, one that was gifted to them from the villagers, and started to chug a little of it to prove she was okay. “ See? Right as rain!” she said just before she choked on the last bits of water and started to cough a little. “ G-go on ahead...I’ll be right behind you, ack…” The mare brought up the rear of the group as everyone entered the space behind the door and once she had recovered from coughing, Taeith’s eyes grew wide in amazement. ‘ The lower city district of Alhaj’ Tae looked from Shepherd, who had deciphered the old text on a giant pillar, to Eniah and then to Ianthe who decided to go and investigate the nearest building. There was a familiar look to the buildings, even though some were poorly made and looked as if they were rushly built. “ They...look manipulated. Like, they had someone or some group that had earth manipulation made them, kind of like some homes back in Osulas.” Her throat got a little tight at the mention of her, now destroyed, home. Shaking her head, she pushed the negativity out of her mind as Ianthe poked her head up from an opening that she assumed was a window. “ I’m surprised no one ever knew there was this...underground city here. For all the traveling we do, you think we’d stumble upon another stationary society. How old do you think this place is?” she asked, looking to Shepherd.
Post: 5 | Word Count: 428 |
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Post by taebun on Jul 26, 2019 19:31:51 GMT -6
Tumble | 16 | Windracer
He had stepped aside when the door had finally budged open. Although he was barely quick enough to shield himself from the rain of sand and dust that followed suit. A cold shiver climbs up Tumble's spine as he waits for the thick cloud of dust to settle, looking from one horse to the other for confirmation to go on ahead and enter. Curiosity gnawed at him and he certainly wasn't the last to walk into the cavern, sky blue eyes wide in awe at their new surroundings. The words carved on the large stone pillar were quickly overlooked. Tumble didn't find reading all that interesting, adding more on to the fact that, despite taking lessons from Eniah, he still found it difficult to understand the written words. He instead was going to rely on everyone else's thoughts on what they'd all just discovered. The lower city district of Alhaj.
Tumble turns to Shepherd's voice, ears twitching and eyes growing all the more wide. "City?" He echoes. "Why would there be a Seroran city underground?" Out of habit his head tilts slightly to the side. Although his question was more rhetorical than anything. He lets his feet carry him forward, straying from the group with his familiar following close behind. While his eyes were occupied trying to take in as much as he could, his ears were focused on the rest of the group. "I can't believe no one ever knew this place was here." He suddenly wonders aloud, turning his head towards the others from his new found perch a top a small stump. "Everything looks old, like really old." A thick piece of bark from the old tree trunk gives way under his hoof, almost sending him face first into the sand if he hadn't quickly caught himself. "I wonder why they abandoned it." Tumble murmurs as he skips back towards the rest of the group.
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Post by FaunaFawn on Jul 29, 2019 9:34:49 GMT -6
 SauronIn the eye of a reckoning
Everyone is a sheep
But I've become the lion’s mouth
So settle in my teethSauron nodded to Acorro as he remarked about letting him go in the lead to ensure the safety of all. Or at least if something was in here, he'd be the first to get taken out. He huffed slightly as the group made their way through. His eyes took in the wonders of this crumbled down city, and the kirin was not impressed at all. He listened to the exclamations and comments of the others as she trotted forwards a bit peaking into spaces and seeing much of this place abandoned and picked over like a vulture to a carcass.
He listened in as many seemed to ask the same old questions, was this place abandoned and why was it underground. Sauron snorted all the same, this place looked old and crumbled down, it was looted over and so far held nothing worth having. He rolled his eyes a bit, not everything had to have some grand explanation on why it was lost to the herd. People change and move on, things get forgotten over time. It happens, it didn't mean it was some mystical foundation that could save it all. It was a place that used to be home, now it clearly wasn't. "Doesn't look as if there is much here to pick over. Just some forgotten old place." he remarked looking about, before finding a good place to look out and watch over the others. He had no interest in burrowing himself in dusty old things.
WC:248 | Post #5 |
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Post by ThatDenver on Jul 29, 2019 10:54:48 GMT -6
There seems to be little more to be gained from where you stand, and so, you continue on your way. The road you are on is in good enough condition, and although some of the pavement is cracked and worn, the path itself is easy to follow – there is little danger of getting lost. The uphill trek is not terribly steep, and buildings flank you on both sides the whole way. It’s hard to say exactly how long you’ve walked, but it must be a good several hundred yards at least – the city is certainly large. Around you, you notice that the buildings begin to change. The buildings constructed by earth manipulation give way to buildings of masonry and those strange shapes that look as if the earth was wished aside rather than worked on. The buildings get larger. Grander. And, you know instinctively, older. Gone are the War Forged carvings, now replaced by flowling designs and worn but colorful painted doorframes. The stone-lined, dead gardens around the buildings get larger, and the city itself seems more spacious and airy, despite being underground. Although you realize, it can not be that far underneath the surface at this point. Eventually, the terrain begins to even out once again. The slope is even less noticeable now, barely there. You round a corner and are surprised by a soft light in the distance. Not natural sunlight, no, but a blue and yellow that crackles and moves. It reminds you of something. But in this new light, you can see something else.  The lost glory of Alhaj. |
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Post by Zookcan on Jul 30, 2019 0:58:46 GMT -6
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ENIAH
your scars will be remade in gold.
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"Yes, but why do you think they would have left in a hurry?" He is an observant colt. People do not just abandon their homes without good reason, and leave behind furnitures and belongings. Even as he spoke, his cool, sky blue eyes thoughtfully studied the architecture. Compared to what he was used to seeing in Valore, he declared it was rather drab, with the exception being the inscriptions that he wished he could have deciphered. He wasn't educated like an Aodhian schoolboy and thus the opportunity to learn wasn't drilled into his head like a student with senioritis. When he felt there was not much else to see here, Eniah continued to work his way uphill, with Sol balancing on his withers.
What he sees is far more investing. With each slow step of his hooves, Eniah takes in the expanding chasm which revealed to them an entire city, full of long dead gardens, structures with immeasurable grandeur and streets that probably have not been walked in centuries. The ruddy colt shamefully admitted to himself that he once seen Seroran architecture as mediocre when compared to the grand glory of Valore. Even that part of him he could not have shaken off, yet the sight had practically flipped the idea on its head now.
Too awestruck to speak immediately, Eniah finally came to a stop at the base of the hillside where it had mostly flattened out with the rest of the terrain. Even worn by time, many of the surrounding buildings mirrored the grandeur of what he once knew, and he wished he could have seen it in its heyday. "You may...want to rescind that statement, even just for now, Sauron." The colt advises calmly and flicks his fiery tail. After placing his staff back in its holder, he makes his way towards one of the nearby street signs, which thankfully, was legible enough for him to discern: 'Alhaj, Moon District.' "This isn't even the whole city! It's just one of what could be many other districts!"
He is about to make his way around it, and takes too steps ahead of the sign when he hears Sol screech; 'Watch your step!'
Immediately, Eniah looks down. He gently lifts his hoof and realizes that he had set it on a horse's tibia bone! " !" He sucks in a horrified gasp and takes a few hurried steps backward, both ears perked in alert and his lips pried ajar with disgust. It only took him another moment or two for him to recognize the mostly complete skeleton of what looked like a pegasus the boy shudders.
With his mouth still agape, Eniah lifts his head to the cave ceiling high above them. "...What happened here?" | |
Word Count: 453
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Post by buffyandbramble on Jul 30, 2019 10:02:49 GMT -6
“Are you sure?” the roan asked with a quizzical head tilt and a worried brow. Taeith may say that she was fine, but he wasn’t entirely sure that he believed her – after all, did people who were fine stammer quite so much? He was no medical expert, but he was pretty sure that she didn’t look fine. The idea that it was his presence and attention that were the root cause didn’t even occur to him. Fortunately, Lailah wasn’t quite so oblivious and, having shaken the dust from her fur, slunk over to tug on Acorro’s tail to get his attention before bounding away towards to doorway with a yip, trying her hardest to convey ‘follow me’. When it didn’t work she padded back over. After briefly eyeing the mare with some nervousness, still not yet accustomed to being in the proximity of unknown horses, the painted dog put herself between the two horses, lifted her forepaws on Acorro’s shoulder, and pushed. She had no hope of actually moving the stallion if he didn’t want to be moved, but the gesture was enough this time. He might not quite understand why she was so insistent on getting him to move, but at least he listened this time.
“Well, if you’re sure you’re okay…” he said, glancing back to Taeith once more before allowing Lailah to herd him away.
The great cavern beyond the doors was something else entirely. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of an underground city, and snorted in agreement with Tumble when he commented on it. “I though underground cities were Breim’s thing.” It was about the expanse of his cultural knowledge, that Breimian’s lived underground. He poked his nose into a couple of doorways, likewise disappointed by the lack of interesting things within, before turning his nose towards the path leading up. A short burst of echolocation didn’t reveal much, other than the place was big. He supposed some of the others might be finding this more interesting; he knew his brother would be quietly fascinated by the lost culture and architecture, but to him it was just a bunch of empty buildings.
Further up the hill was decidedly more interesting. However, Acorro’s eager enthusiasm at exploring a cave had subsided slightly to something more cautious, now that they were wandering about an abandoned city. He was still curious about what lay around them, but the skeletons in particular had him far more alert than he had been previously, and he’d almost unconsciously loosen his sword in its sheath so that it was ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice.
His ears flicked back briefly at Eniah’s words, a frown crossing his features at the thought.
“Who needs a city this big?” he voiced aloud as had a look inside one of the painted doorways, going so far as to actually step inside when he saw that it wasn’t totally abandoned and quite literally poke at the old things lying around. Any bits of metal he’d collect and put in a saddlebag, intent on delivering it back to Danae for her to use in her crafting. It was just…. Odd, he couldn’t quite put his hoof on it. The earlier section looked like everyone had just moved on – it hadn’t struck him as odd that everything had been completely cleared out, given that he hailed from a predominantly nomadic herd. From his view, everyone had just moved on and not come back. This however, this wasn’t quite right. You didn’t just abandon stuff like this, let alone skeletons.
Having had a nose around inside, he quickly turned his attention back to the outside, pawing at the pile of sand outside the building and glancing towards the light in the distance. He shook his head at Eniah’s question, a silent ‘no idea’ response and very much wondering the same thing himself, before looking once more to the light in the distance, very much curious to investigate it but in no hurry to abandon to group and go on himself. Not when there was something odd going on at least… or had been something odd going on.
WC: 691
Post #6
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Post by taebun on Jul 30, 2019 17:22:13 GMT -6
Tumble | 16 | Windracer
The colt's eyes wandered as they made their trek uphill. The cavern only seemed to grow all the more vast and Tumble felt as if he couldn't take in enough of the sights at one time. His unease towards Sauron kept him positioned towards the front of the group, not far from the individuals he was far more familiar with. As the shape and style of the buildings around them began to change the deeper they delved, Tumble's expression of awe fell into one of confusion and worry. The colorful, painted door frames were one of the first details that caught his eye. He gave their group a quick glance before he wandered up to a building nearby, keeping his lance held tight with his tek and against his side. But before he could open his mouth to speak his head turned to Acorro, ears twitching at the mention of the large city they had just discovered. "It's dusty and old, but it's beautiful." Tumble exclaimed as he gave himself a quick shake of his neck, freeing himself of any excess dust. "I've never seen anything like this." A small smile had appeared on his face. "And what could be more Seroran than Alya..." Gently he blew away the dust and sand that was layered over one of the many depictions of the god. He had always felt a strong admiration towards their sky mother, but that wasn't any different from the average Seroran. "There's drawings of her just about everywhere here." Tumble breathed a soft breath through his nose, once again letting the feeling of wonder take over. It was Eniah's sudden gasp in the stillness of the cavern that brought his attention to something else amongst the sand - something that was far less pleasant to stumble upon. "Those...those are bones!" His long ears flattened against his head and the weapon he held at his side was poised in a more defensive position. Bek doesn't leave his spot on his shoulders and the sudden puff of the birds feathers give away it's fright at the unsettling sight. Tumble could hardly bring himself to shift his gaze elsewhere, but now that the skeletons had been brought into the light he could only notice the number of others that were lying about, some half buried in the sand. The young windracer swallowed thickly, his throat suddenly feeling dry and he couldn't bring himself to look anywhere else. Tumble could feel his heart sink to his stomach and he dipped his head, sky blue eyes clouded. "They're pegasi..."
Posts: 5 | Word Count: 436 |
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Post by SagaWolf on Jul 31, 2019 9:17:02 GMT -6
Ianthe
......
As the group moved on, Ianthe took little detours here and there, darting off to inspect anything of interest and returning swiftly after. She found nothing truly worth her efforts, but energy was building from the excitement and it needed spending. Darting left here, right there just a few paces down a side street, and returning with a flutter of wings, she brought reports of the 'nothing interesting' she found all over. Thankfully as the buildings began to change, and age, adding decorations onto them, the energetic pegasus stuck more and more with the group, meaning less sand kicked up by her wings. When the corner was rounded and an unnatural light revealed the district before them, Ianthe simply had to whistle her awe.
It was pretty dang impressive! And not at all as claustrophobic as she'd felt in the start. Alya was absolutely everywhere as well as stars and moons, beautiful in the odd shifting of the blue-yellow light. Sol screeched at Eniah, shocking Ianthe so that she jumped back with her wings snapping open, as she reared back, ready to shoot up if she had to. Tumble joined the scene and Ianthe followed their eyes to the bones, the pegasus bones, and felt her feathers stand on end. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she folded her wings slowly, looking like an upset feather duster.
"Urgh that's terrible! Why haven't they been buried proper? What do you think happened here? Gasp! Maybe it was a plague! Eurgh! Maybe we shouldn't be breathing the air! " she gasped, speaking an awful lot for that theory. She clasped wings over her mouth and spoke muffled through the feathers: "How much longer do we have to be down here? And what's making that odd light? What if THAT is responsible for the bones? "
Oh, Ianthe's imagination was already running away from her, imagining all sorts of beasts lurking just over yonder.
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Word Count: 322
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Post by FaunaFawn on Jul 31, 2019 9:30:28 GMT -6
SauronIn the eye of a reckoning
Everyone is a sheep
But I've become the lion’s mouth
So settle in my teeth Traveling father down with the group Sauron got this odd feeling he shouldn't be here. Especially when he looked at that signs and paintings that clearly marked this a some place of Alya. He felt his skin crawl as he looked at the images, last time he was graced with Alya's presence, she did not see him fit for this herd of place, but cursed him with images of all the horrid things he done, but there was more to his life then his crimes. He refused to be damned by her grace.
So instead he glared at the images of her, he'd spit at the ground, but surronded by those that worshiped her, was probably not the best idea. Sauron watched over the flock taking in the sights and keeping sure everyone was moderatly together. It was the least he could do, he assumed this place would hold nothing dear for him, unlike the others who took in its wonders with absoulte delight. Till someone mentioned bones and skeletons.
Suaron was quick to move to the ones that were near the skeletons, but suddenly the colorful one was spouting off all the worst things. "Hold on here, ease up." he snapped at Ianthe. "No use getting your feathers ruffled. They've been long gone." he shook his head and looked up to the thing they mentioned about the light. "As for the that, only one way to find out. To go look at it, no use in getting yourself worked up over nothing. If you want say a quick pray over them and that'll be good enough for a burial" he spoke a little more gently, a rare occasion for the kirin as he looked to the younger ones. Sauron looked to Acorro and the others. "Should we get closer?" he asked. As for him, he was far more interested in the light, then old bones that he could only imagine was something meant to be buried from the past.
WC:330 | Post #6 |
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Post by leaftail on Jul 31, 2019 18:34:03 GMT -6
Taeith | Folk
The same questions were being asked and no one had any answers. What were they to do? Keep exploring. The path in front of them went uphill, and up they went. Tae’s ears flicked back as Acorro mentioned underground cities being a Breim thing and Tae couldn’t help but saunter her way over to him. “ Have you seen Nariah? It’s beautiful! Did you know they use crystals for lighting? I got to visit when they held their annual artisans convention a few years back. I was mostly in Sterling for the event but on the way to the surface where I got to help start up the Seroran farming operation I did get to see Nariah for a moment,” she explained, excitement filling her eyes and voice. “ I doubt I’d ever see anything more beautiful than...oh Alya’s wings, look at this place!” Her gaze left Acorro for a moment to look at where they were heading, but what she had just laid her eyes on had her stopping, jaw dropped and eyes wide. “ Moon district? You mean, there’s more to this place?” she asked, after getting a glance at the street sign everyone else seemed to be looking at. “ Look at all the art of our beautiful goddess! They had some talented folk living here, that’s for sure!” Her amazement for the city district faded as Eniah and the others came upon a pegasus skeleton, her heart dropping. Of course, they would stumble upon the bad news eventually. She bit her lower lip as Ianthe tried to decipher what could’ve possibly killed the pegasus when her eyes caught another skeleton not too far off. “ It’s not the only skeleton here…” her voice trailed off as she nodded towards another long dead equine off in the distance. Sauron’s voice grabbed her attention as it was probably the most the kirin had said this entire trip. He was right, there was nothing they could do for these poor souls now aside from give them something small to let the powers above find them. Taeith joined Ianthe, Tumble and Eniah at the skeleton closest to them and bowed her head, closing her eyes. “ May Ayla’s wind find you and carry you to your resting spot. If you can’t see, may Ignacio’s light brighten your way. Let Kaia’s earth reclaim you for future growth to bloom. Join Cascade and Argus on the other side and find peace, my winged brother...or sister...or...whomever you all were…” She took in a deep breath and opened her eyes as she let it out. “ Let’s go see what that light is all about then, shall we? We’ve made it this far. Maybe it’ll hold the answers we are searching for…”
Post: 6 | Word Count: 455 |
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Post by Zookcan on Aug 3, 2019 22:55:37 GMT -6
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ENIAH
your scars will be remade in gold.
________________________________________________
"If not a plague, then something." Eniah cringes in thought, picking his legs up high off the ground as he takes a few more cautious steps away from the pegasus corpse. His lips were slanted in a crooked frown and his teeth were grit in disgust. The pieces were beginning to line up in his head; the spilled lantern at the doorway, the abandoned furniture, the corpses, empty buildings whoever once lived here, they had all left in a hurry. But what caused it? "P-perhaps there was a cave-in..." He suggests reluctantly, noting the giant piles of sand that had built up along the sides of structures and buried some of the corpses laying around.
He hears about Nariah, and instantly his thoughts flashback to the rumors shared between both slaves and the elites at the Palace in Valore. He recalls hearing that the Breimian capitol went up in flames because of a mistake on his fallen King's part, an incident which greatly strangled relationships. Probably Amadeus's biggest folly before he died. The boy doesn't dare dwell on that, though. "You know, the longer I stay in this desert, the more and more I wonder if I'm just seeing mirages. I don't think I ever would have expected to find an underground city probably twice the size of Osulas!"
Instead, he shifts his focus on the blue and gold light shimmering up ahead. Eniah's full ear twitched. He felt Sol stoop low on his withers. "It looks to me like its a light source of some kind. It mean, it make sense, at least...doesn't it?" He takes a few tentative hoofsteps forward, and keens his head skyward again. "...As a substitute for the sun. We're probably so far down that you hardly get any of that here." Then he turns his head toward the others, slowly. "...I don't suppose it would hurt to get a closer look. I'd like to keep my eyesight intact, though."
Is this how the Breimians live, too? Maybe they're not pale, sun-hating bat ponies after all?
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Word Count: 341
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Post by buffyandbramble on Aug 4, 2019 9:39:54 GMT -6
He was glad that Taeith was feeling better, turning his attention to her as she started speaking on about Breim.
"I can't say I have, I've not travelled outside of Sedo's borders. That must have been quite a trip!" He might have been nomadic by nature and upbringing, but he'd strangely never been struck with a much of sense of adventurous wanderlust, instead being perfectly happy to remain within the borders of his herd. Granted, those borders were pretty expansive, but to travel and experience another culture just wasn't high up on his to-do list, he was perfectly happy in Serora. Uncultured, his sister called it. He had no doubt that it was interesting to travel though, and Taeith certainly seemed to have been enamoured with the trip. Her enthusiasm for it was practically contagious and he couldn't help but smile as she reminisced. "Crystal lights sound real pretty, I think I've heard by sister go on about Breimian gems before, she's interested in that kind of stuff." Addie had probably said more on the topic, but he suspected he wouldn't have been listening too well.
The bones about the place were certainly putting a damper on the mood, the change from the initial excitement pretty noticeable. He was grateful that Sauron had a response for the worries of plague, gruff as it might have been - he wasn't entirely sure what he could have said in way of reassurance, though perhaps reassuring wasn't quite an apt description for the kirin's manner.
The consensus seemed to be to keep moving; apparently he wasn't the only one curious about the strange light source, and lingering here, in this 'moon district' didn't seem to be the most favourable idea. They could always come back and have a proper look around later. Acorro suspected pretty strongly that there'd be more horses sent to investigate this place give what they'd uncovered so far. It was probably a job for a whole team of Mullahs at least, who would no doubt have a field day.
"Let's get closer then," he said with a shake of his mane, picking up a trot and heading with purpose for the odd light. "No time like the present, right?" he asked with cheer, determined to keep a good mood going, and to lead the way so that if something was going to happen, it was him that was first in the firing line. Though in reality, what could a ball of light do?
WC: 415
Post #7
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Post by ThatDenver on Aug 4, 2019 17:01:11 GMT -6
Your prayers for the lost echo on the cave walls. It’s not hard to imagine this place full of life, full of smiles and laughter. The light in the distance calls your attention still, and somewhat more solemn, you move on.
Hints of what happened here become clearer as you go on. More sand. Some rubble. More bodies.
Many of the buildings look worn, as if they resisted many a great storm before this all ended so tragically. There are half-loaded carts rotting away in the streets. They left in a hurry.
Onwards and upwards, towards the light. The buildings get grander.
There are not so many bodies here. The light is very close now. The surroundings are now well lit by that strange, blue and yellow shimmer that seems foreign yet familiar. Like you’ve seen it before.
Finally, you come to it. Above you is not the roof of a cavern, but a giant, shimmering dome of gold and blue. It emits light as it crackles and shimmers, as if small jolts of electricity are running through it.
The other edge of the dome must be somewhere above you, where the natural cavern ends, hidden from view.
The far end stretches out and onward.
The dome lays low above the city. Only a few feet of air are left between it, and most of the buildings. There would not be enough space to fly comfortably here, you realize, and many buildings seem to cut through this dome altogether, disappearing into it.
Alhaj, Star District a sign says.
There is sand everywhere, but especially around the buildings that disappear through the dome. The ground beneath you looks as if it was above ground, once, and you realize.
It was.
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Post by taebun on Aug 4, 2019 18:45:33 GMT -6
Tumble | 16 | Windracer
He stood quietly during Taeith's prayer for what remained of the equines that inhabited this city. Those that perhaps didn't get the chance to escape from whatever it was that now left this city bare and empty with nothing but sand. The thought made his heart feel heavy in his chest. Tumble stretched his legs before following the others to investigate the strange glowing light that had peeked their interests since they had arrived. Bek had dropped down from his withers and although the roadrunner remained cautious he'd grown restless sitting atop the colt's shoulders. The bird kept close to his feet nevertheless. "There's so much sand..." His words were in a tone so quiet it almost sounded like a whisper. Everything that they were discovering, old and new, all of it was just so strange and Tumble couldn't quite wrap his head around it all. As they approached the source of the light his hoof-steps grew more hesitant, every step almost forced to fight against his gut feeling of unease. His eyes were almost instantly drawn to the crackling of the blue and gold light as he lifted his head skyward. Tumble rested the lance at his side upright, almost burying the base in the deep sand underfoot. An expression of awe that quickly changed into one of confusing crossed his face. "It's a dome." His voice regained it's normal volume. Tumble's ears pressed lightly against his head, eyes narrowing as he stared for a little while longer. There was something so familiar about it and it took a few minutes for him to finally grasp onto the memory. "Like the Oasis, the dome!" A small smile of disbelief tugs at the corners of his lips. "I'd never forget it. It almost looks just like the dome over the Oasis, doesn't it?" Questions. So many questions were running through his head at once. If they were similar could that mean that this city, this place had needed protection from something or from someone? Had history repeated itself? Tumble winced, feeling a small headache rising from the back of his head. There was too much that he wanted to know all at once but he was confident that it was the same for the rest of their group. His gaze dropped from the dome and rested instead on a sign nearby. He took a few steps towards it, eyes squinted as he focused on the words engraved on the surface. Alhaj, Star District. "How many districts are there..." He murmured. "This place is huge."
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Post by hydrus101 on Aug 4, 2019 20:28:51 GMT -6
 S H E P H E R D• Vagabond | Harbinger •
”The phoenix must burn before it can be born again.”
“That’s true,” Shepherd remarked in reply to Ianthe’s statement about things people didn’t understand. “I can’t tell you how many weird trees I’ve been called to investigate.”
She laughed to herself a little, hoping her jokes were easing the tension rather than reinforcing it.
Taeith spoke next and Shepherd regarded her with a soft gaze. “Aye, it’s got to be before the God’s War at the least. I’ve never heard of anything like this. How did we ever manage to forget an entire city?”
For a brief shining moment, Shepherd cursed the fact that not all of her herd members were literate.
As the group realized there was nothing in the rubble for them, they headed upwards, Shepherd lingering back to inspect every tiny detail, commit each one to memory.
The cavern above seemed to stretch up, far, far above their heads and the harbinger spoke quietly.
“This whole thing must be built out of God’s Landing,” he remarked, peering up the walls and ceiling. “Who’d have ever guessed the Mesa was hollow?”
The dancing light caught his eyes and Shepherd tried to follow the shadows to its source, but the rays of light didn’t seem to behave in the same way as surface light did.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shepherd noticed another sign and moved towards it, examining it closely. He came up beside Eniah, who had already started to move away. His bird screeched, it’s cries echoing around the cavern, and the boy backed up, looking horrified.
Shepherd grimaced when he noticed the bones. Clearly, the city hadn’t simply been left behind willingly. Something strange had happened here, and the golden colt voiced the harbinger’s thoughts exactly.
As the others gathered to say a prayer over the unknown’s remains, a smile returned to Shepherd’s face. It was good to see horses who held such strong faith. Faith strong enough that they still prayed for someone who had been dead so long.
“And may Digend carve out a place for you in her kingdom as well,” she thought, dipping her head respectfully as Taeith ended the prayer.
As always, they moved forward, Shepherd taking a few moments to break away to examine some artifact before quickly rejoining the group.
They climbed higher and with a flash, a shimmer of light reflected on the metal of Lockbox’s legs.
The light enticed Shepherd’s eyes upwards, but he kept them down to avoid possibly looking into a light too bright for him.
The dome, however, wasn’t nearly as bright as a star.
Tumble began to speak and Shepherd looked to him with a nod.
“Indeed. There’s got to be hundreds of buildings here. Not just homes, but businesses, hospitals, temples...” She trailed off, looking towards to grandiose architecture. She knew a mare back in the Oasis that would have killed to have seen this. If only she could somehow....Oh, of course!
With a deft movement, Shepherd reached back into their saddlebag and fished out a journal and a charcoal pencil. Scribbling furiously, the harbinger jotted down as much as they could remember of the areas they had already passed, mentally hitting their head against the wall at the mere idea of forgetting to take notes. They’d been too caught up in the mystery, that’s all.
Shepherd followed the others as they fanned out to search, noting the peculiarities in the placement of the doors and items left behind.
Eyes darting across the page and the city skyline, Shepherd had already started to speculate within her own head. This place was different from the Oasis. The horses here had been forced out instead of forced in. Perhaps the kirins had found them, way back when? Did Alya seal them in and let them starve while her children flew free? She began to nibble on the end of the pencil, nervous and curious and a thousand different emotions all at once.
“I suppose you can’t solve a puzzle without all the pieces,” she sighed, and snapped the journal shut, tucking it back into her bag. “Let’s keep moving.”
WC: 678
Post: 4
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Post by Spectre on Aug 5, 2019 2:22:38 GMT -6
She falls towards the back of the group, her crimson eyes only giving the kirin a glance before turning back toward the front.
Diana stays quiet through the whole adventure, mind pensive and body strung taut. She stays silent when the find the door, only giving it a long look before moving along with the rest of the group.
Her eyes drift around the scenery, noting stars, suns and moons. She passively follows towards the dome, staring in awe the shining stars captured in stone.
Only to be thrown from her own awe as she looks at the world around her.
It connects in her head, eyes widening- the dome, the sand, all the seemingly haphazardly left carts... the bones.
Horror forms a lump in her throat- "The city... it sank beneath the sand or- at least this part" She whispers. Her gaze wanders around the cavern, the sheer size of it seemingly threatening to swallow them all, "just how many were trapped in the collapse? How many districts collapsed?"
She silences, only to turn towards a great library on the other end. She gestures to it with her head. "I- maybe something is in there?"
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Post by leaftail on Aug 6, 2019 18:49:24 GMT -6
Taeith | Folk
General consent was to continue towards the light, so they went. Everyone continued on about the different theories they had about what happened to this...Alhaj. Taeith admired the structures of the district, wondering who had lived in these homes and what kind of shops were run. There was even a building that caught her fancy and she daydreamed for a second of herself owning a building just like that to open up a gem store. She could picture the displays and where she could put huge natural geodes around; she’d have to memorize the building’s details now for future use. As they continued up the path, there was a part where the dead were more numerable. Her heart went out to the victims of whatever had occurred to them and she hoped they were at peace. But, all of a sudden, the bodies stopped and the structures around them became much more...like very important people either lived or worked in them. Taeith blinked as the light danced on the buildings, the blue and yellow feeling a bit...familiar. That was when they reached it. Looking up, Tae let out a soft gasp as she caught sight of the dome. Tumble, then, took the words right out of her mouth. ‘ It’s a dome. Like the Oasis, the dome!’ The dome stretched over the city just like the barrier had in the Oasis. Taeith looked back on her time spent in the Oasis and wondered about how many days she spent just looking up at the barrier that kept them out of the war. Her thoughts drifted to the weapon and how, with the help of her fellow herdmates, they were able to manipulate the barrier into letting those with teleportation get in and out until they were finally able to be let out. “ I wonder what purpose it had here...was it to keep the city safe?” she mused, more to herself but anyone within earshot could’ve heard her wonderings. She noticed the sand next, eyeing at how much there was just laying around. Diana’s words echoed her thoughts and Tae wondered how a city could just sink underground without the help of...a god. Did Ayla do this to protect her people? If so, why were there so many dead pegasus left over? Did they not make it out in time? What enemy did they face? Was it the…? Tae’s eyes couldn’t help but look over to Sauron, but she pulled her gaze away quickly when she realized she was jumping to conclusions. They hadn’t found any answers yet, so there was nothing to prove this all took place during the Great War. Yet… Diana motioned to a large building, a...library from the looks of it. Shepherd would have a grand time in there Taeith guessed, as she was currently scribbling notes in a notebook. Taeith smiled at the mullah’s actions, happy that someone was recording this experience. “ Let’s go check it out. There has to be records left behind in there. Maybe we can find out how they got the barrier to work when we needed the weapon to make the one above the Oasis?”
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Post by FaunaFawn on Aug 7, 2019 17:13:43 GMT -6
SauronIn the eye of a reckoning
Everyone is a sheep
But I've become the lion’s mouth
So settle in my teeth The group set off farther down into this vast place, A lost city? Sauron wasn't sure if it was something that should be found. Yet the others seemed eager about, they were more vast in the ways of Serora and all its sandy secrets. Still he felt as if something wasn't to right here, and as he eyed the large buildings, eyeing all the doors on the higher levels, he snorted. Clearly this was a place for the winged ones, their get away. At least their was less skeletons here, that should be a comfort.
Sauron remained quiet as the other spoke of this or that. He merely looked at them in passing as he moved along, deciding to take his position as the guard over the flock. He had no desire to check out buildings riddled with sand, dust, and old bones. Leave that to the others that still had some hope for amazing things, mystery left to be solved. He on the other hand, held not much love for this place, he came because he was asked, and he would look over the others, Ensure if things go bad, which they mostly did in his experience so far in serora, he would be the one to get them out.
Many spoke of looking farther, some seemed a bit concerned. Sauron sighed a bit. "We are already this far in, whats the harm in seeing what else there might be." he remarked coolly, his eyes looking before him and he hoped there was no danger to be hand in this forgotten place.
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Post by buffyandbramble on Aug 8, 2019 15:20:17 GMT -6
"So much sand it's practically home," Acorro added to Tumble's comment, though with more volume than a whisper and a decidedly blasé kind of attitude. Things weren't home if there wasn't sand getting in every nook and cranny. Though he supposed that this place had once been a home, and a home to many. It was strange, trying to imagine so many horses in one place and especially one so grand. It was even more difficult to think of this place as Seroran. It wasn't that the place wasn't nice, it was just so.... fancy. He wasn't used to fancy, and he was pretty sure most of his herd wasn't used to fancy.
Maybe they were going to get used to it? Would this place be populated again, in time? It would be a waste not to he supposed, what with Osulas in the state that it was. Alya help him, he wasn't going to have to learn how to be sophisticated was he?
The light was less interesting now that he realised it was a dome, not unlike that which covered the Oasis, and he found his attention more drawn to the buildings that it covered. There was something off about them that he couldn't quite put his hoof on... It took some time for him to realise that the doors were above his head. He paused below one of them, staring up at it somewhat quizzically whilst the others looked about, and weighing up his options. Putting a door up that high almost seemed like a challenge... The muscles in his hinds legs started to tense before he'd even realised it and his weight began to shift onto his haunches. Could he reach that?
He was stopped by a sharp tug on his tail, looking over his shoulder to Lailah who was managing a very disapproving look. He pouted almost childishly and swished his tail gently in her face, watching as she trotted on ahead of him and towards the building the others seemed to be gravitating to. It had a door on ground level, that was boring. His attention shifted back above him, and what with Lailah not paying any attention, maybe he could...
A sharp bark echoed and his shoulders slumped as he sighed. He didn't need to speak her language to know that was a reprimanding 'Hey!' from the painted wolf and he picked up a trot to rejoin the group, still looking slightly put out. He could have made that! Probably...
It was pretty clear that attentions were being focused on the large building in the plaza and Lailah already seemed to be making her way there, sitting down by the door expectantly. Acorro studied the building properly this time as opposed to just noting where the door was and when he realised what it most likely was his face fell.
"Uurgh, a library?" He wasn't even going to try and hide the dismay in his tone. Libraries were boring, as were books and scrolls and all their odd scribbled on relatives. "Fine," he sighed after a moment. It was the responsible place to go. He hated this being a responsible adult thing sometimes.
The sooner they got into the library, the sooner they could leave again, and he trotted across the plaza with at least a sense of purpose for all he was lacking enthusiasm, and he didn't linger long in front of the (boringly on-the-ground) door for long before trying it, ready to throw his weight behind it if he needed to.
WC: 590
Post #8
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Post by Zookcan on Aug 8, 2019 22:31:57 GMT -6
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ENIAH
your scars will be remade in gold.
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"Huh, that's a good observation, Tumble." Eniah complimented with a small tap of the tongue. As they had made their way up the hill to the source of the light, he too noticed the dome, though he had not yet made a connection between it and the Oasis. Frankly, the colt was more concerned about the history of this city and how it had become abandoned; being a free horse allowed him to get more in touch with his own interests and fascinations, among them, ancient ruins and their unfortunate demise. Here's hoping that they would not suffer a similar fate just by being down here. The colt lifted his tail high and picked up his legs, cautiously avoiding every bone in his path, grimacing at each corpse he finds.
"I know I've sounded excited about this, but...the more I look at this place, the more I wonder if we should keep it a secret," He suggests. "I mean, its basically a graveyard. I'm afraid if everyone found out, someone would be bound to desecrate it or pillage it." A little bit of his old pessimism makes itself known. Even in a generally friendlier herd like Serora, Eniah did not trust that everyone was above stealing, even from a centuries-old abandoned city.
He stays silent throughout most of the conversation afterward, quietly considering the rest of their surroundings and pondering the others' own guesses. If the city sank, then how? Why? Was it an act of nature or was it divine intervention? Why did so many horses die outside of the barrier? His mind finds its way back to when Aodhian Chevaliers began to invade Sedo's borders, and he and the natives had no choice to flee to the Oasis before the weapon was used...those who didn't make it in time were trapped outside, and left to Aodh's wrath.
This had to have been something similar. Eniah follows the others towards the library doors, his blue eyes beginning to light up with returning interest in place of the dread. He does not voice his opinion out loud, but even if not searching through books and scrolls for records on whatever created this dome, at the very least, he does want to read up on any possible history he can find! Even for a former servile slave, he had a decent education.
He makes it next to Acorro just as the stallion is about to throw his weight against it. "Wait," the doors have handles on them. It should be a pull door then, right? The ruddy colt grabs both handles with his teke and begins to pull. Sadly however, years of being locked in that position, with the addition of sand and whatever might have built up between the gaps made the already large doors hard to move. Straining, Eniah continues to pull until, at long last, they budge with his strength. The colt steps aside and continues to slowly pry open one of the doors, in spite of th the initial struggle. "These doors are heavy !"
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Post by taebun on Aug 10, 2019 19:43:22 GMT -6
Tumble | 16 | Windracer
The city sank? Tumble could hardly imagine it. But just the thought of such an event made him incredibly sad. There were still so many questions that needed answers and although this city seemed to have been forgotten long ago, he couldn't help but feel pity for what had happened here. Luckily he didn't have the time to dwell on these complicated thoughts as his familiar called for him from a few feet away, it's body facing the rest of their group who were standing before another, much grander building. Tumble didn't waste any time as he jogged over, long ears perking forward in curiosity. It wasn't until he caught the mention of it being a library that his shoulder's slumped, showing his very clear disappointment. Libraries meant books and books meant reading. He couldn't help but grimace at the idea of having to decipher letters let alone full sentences. But there were a few members in their group that seemed intrigued at the idea of seeing just what awaited them inside, so he supposed it was worth a peek. It seemed a perfect time to prove that he'd been paying attention to Eniah's lessons. He approached the door after Acorro and Eniah, seeing their struggle at trying to budge open the old, heavy doors. Strength was Tumble's strong suit but there was no doubt that multiple bodies working together would help. Bek hopped up onto his withers as he grabbed at the handle of the door closest to him and pulled, mustering every ounce of strength that he had. Tumble turned his head away, closing one eye as a soft rain of dust and sand showered down from above as the massive door finally gave way. Almost instantly he lets go, taking a few steps back before a small sneeze seizes him. "I hope these dusty old books are worth it."
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Post by ThatDenver on Aug 11, 2019 9:25:31 GMT -6
The great doors groan as they open, but do not deny you entry for long.
The library stands open, for the first time in what must be hundreds of years. You step inside, and are immediately struck by the strangest sight: a skeleton display.
But not just any skeleton.
From the rafters of the entry hall you are in hangs a massive, avian skeleton. Some of the bones have fallen to the floor, the strings and glues that held them giving way, but the main shape is still clear to see. It reminds you of a Thunderbird, but it is not. The neck is shorter, head somehow even less friendly looking – and the legs much shorter.
The size of it is the most striking. The wingspan must be 70 feet or more – an absolute monstrosity.
The bleached teeth grin down at you.
Onward you go. Beyond the entry hall are hallways and rooms, but you follow the main pathway until you come to another great room.
There, on a pedestal, stands a staff. From its tip, the barrier surges upward – you notice that there is a hole in the roof just above.
The relic seems aware of your presence, and for a moment, you feel its tiredness, its pain. It has been here for so long.
A heavy parchment book falls from the shelf in front of you, open. Some of the words are too worn to read, but there is enough for you to gather the meaning.
It tells of your history.
And of the fate of the city.
The War is over. Many Serorans choose to remain behind in Eithne, where they set up a colony on the southern shore, where strands overlooking the sea provide an ideal location.
They call it New Osulas and as their leader they choose the Fury commander Foehn, who had led them there.
New Osulas, a colony under Sedo, makes laborers of the war criminals, and decrees the punishment for their children, and children’s children, until none alive remember their traitorous and foul crimes.
You read meticulous recordings – via letters and via notes – of the development of New Osulas in Eithne. You read of her governors who took the little settlement from edges of survival to soaring agriculture.
But you also read how Sedo, slowly but surely, declines. The scars left in the Sear soon spread across the land. Droughts come. You leaf through the great book until you come to the year 845.
A great meeting is called between governor Aella of New Osulas, and the leaders of Sedo. The colony wishes for the heavy taxes on them to be reduced, for a spot on Serora’s Council, and an ability to govern themselves.
The Sultan says no, and a war begins.
What follows is a clearly biased account of the war, detailing Seroran attempts to quell the rebellion in a nation that now calls itself Aodh, and is led by Aella, the self-proclaimed King Soleh Soleil. You read of how, for almost ten years, Serora fights, until she has to forfeit.
The colony is lost. New Osulas is no more. There is only New Valore, and a people who bow to the sun.
The bitterness pours from the page.
Soon, it turns to worry. The war and the loss of the colony have made Serora weak. Osulas, in the lusher lands, is safe, but Alhaj has come under siege by creatures wielding wind and sand as weapons.
The book details the fights. The rising sand. The terrible sand storms that lasted for days.
Many choose to evacuate. Most of the Star District is abandoned.
The barrier is raised. Storms still rage.
The very final entry, written in a hasty scrawl, tells of another great assault. Reinforcements from Osulas are not expected to come on time.
The rear entrance is almost sealed. There is screaming outside as people fight and clamber over one another to escape.
The author has chosen to stay.
Someone must.
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Post by leaftail on Aug 13, 2019 9:53:30 GMT -6
Taeith | Folk
Taeith followed as the group moved towards the large library door, noticing the higher entrances on some of the buildings as they walked. Pegasus must’ve used those entrances, a sight that was common among homes and structures back home in Osulas. She lowered her gaze as Acorro, Eniah and Tumble started to open the door. She stood back, smiling to herself as she noticed Tumble’s familiar even was helping out. As the door finally came open, sand and dust wafted into the air, a stale odor filled the air. Taeith let out a small sneeze as dust entered her nostrils, twisting her head away from anyone who was nearby. “ Heh...excuse me,” she said, her purple teke rubbing her muzzle before following those in front of her into the library. The first thing that caught her attention was the giant skeleton. “ W-woah! Look at that! It’s huge!” She trotted over to some of the fallen bones, her gaze sweeping over them. “ This is definitely not a Thunderbird! Look at how short that neck is! Oh my, those teeth!” She visibly shuddered. “ I’m glad there aren’t any of these...things...still around. It’s so scary looking!” The thought of looking for a rock to chuck at one of the teeth to take home as a souvenir crossed her mind, but she decided not to desecrate the skeleton. Ayla probably wouldn’t be too proud of such an action. Moving away from the giant bones, Tae continued along the main pathway. She glanced into the rooms as they passed them, eyeing all the books and looking for more displays of objects. She came to a pause as they reached the staff, a small gasp escaping her lips. “ Oh! This is what’s making the barrier! It really is just like back at the Oasis!” She wanted to reach out and touch the staff, but once again she held back. “Kind of sucks it has to constantly keep the barrier up…” She jumped as something fell from a shelf, taking her attention away from the staff. “ What in the...oh...that isn’t creepy at all…” Taeith walked over to the book, leaving room for the others. Her eyes scanned the page and slowly her expression changed from curiosity to confusion. “ What?” Her knowledge of the Great War was limited to just stories told around campfires and the recent exposure of the kirins massacre. What happened after was always something that seemed to shift depending on who told the story. According to this book, Serorans were responsible for the creation of Aodh and the cruel practice of slavery. It also explained how the land came to its current form as well. Taeith started to read the passages out loud, remembering that not every Seroran present was literate. She felt a lump form in her throat as she got to the end, her shock and sadness present in her voice. She tore her gaze away from the text, forcing herself to walk away from it. This was just as bad as finding out about the kirins. “ It...doesn’t make sense...we…” She looked to the others. “ We, as a herd, couldn’t...do that to others. Our culture doesn’t...why? Why did they...how could they...why is it still going on?” Tae felt her back legs give out from shock, falling back onto her rump and shaking her head. “ Oh Ayla...this doesn’t make any sense…”
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Post by Zookcan on Aug 13, 2019 18:51:18 GMT -6
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ENIAH
your scars will be remade in gold.
________________________________________________
He half expected sand to come pouring out, but with another good tug and help from Tumble, the doors slid open the rest of the way quite nicely, and with only a fine layer of dust stirred up from centuries of abandon. With a clack of his hooves, Eniah took slow, careful steps into the old library, gritting his teeth under closed lips at the feeling of ages-old dust on the bottoms of his feet.
Though the dirt and age was sneeze-inducing, the library itself was nothing to sneeze at. Eniah had never seen a thunderbird, save for one he thought he saw at the gathering in Osulas' ruins, and he didn't expect to see anything that looked like one within the main foyer. A massive skeleton with an impressive wingspan hung above their heads, some of its aging bones having fallen to the floor. Was it a dragon? It sure looked a lot bigger than any pygmy he's come across! "Perhaps it is a dragon...but, I've never heard any stories of dragons existing this far down south. They're all extinct," a pause. Eniah glances back at Sauron, almost as though for confirmation. "At least...that's what I've been told..."
He walks further with the others until they reach deeper into the library, where which the source of the barrier lies in wait. Eniah sees the staff, and immediately, he can sense its fatigue and loneliness. The relic must have been stuck here for ages, with no one to find it and no one to end its suffering. "...But we can't move it." He observes. "Like the Oasis, this barrier is up for a reason. We don't know what could happen if we do." The ruddy colt looks on sadly towards the staff, wishing there was something he could do. The sound of paper hitting and rolling across the ground catches his attention.
A book.
He's about to pick it up and place it back on the shelf, when a little bit of the unveiled text piques his curiosity. The war is over. Brows raising, Eniah quickly slowly begins to scan the page. "It's...about Serorans in Eithne." The colt pauses again, before he decides to read aloud the text to the others, squinting steadily and growing more confused with each word he reads.
" the colony was lost. New Osulas is no more, there is only New Val " Eniah cuts off. His lips become dry, his tongue suddenly tastes hot, bitter air in his mouth and his ears fold in bewilderment. "New Valore..." He says slowly. His birthplace. The city that had branded him and forced a bit in his mouth. Tore him away from his mother, even allowed his father to disown him and sell him like he was property. The horses who, even though they bowed to the sun, cast shadows onto horses like him, and tied up any and all whom they were lucky enough to round up and turn into an item. They had done so to the Serorans, what was now his herd, his home, the kindest place he's known since he first stepped out of those suffocating walls.
How could monsters like some of them be descended from horses like these? And better yet, how was any of this true? "No...that's a lie." Eniah drops the book, letting it fall with a dull thud. His blood begins to burn, golden, scarred frame shaking, his gentle voice shivering with denial. "It must be a lie. Aodh cannot be descended from Alya's children, it's said House Soleil was descended from the leader of the kirins herself!" But his voice does not drip with venom. Eniah did not care so much for the validity of his masters' bloodlines as much as he cared for his fellow slave companions. They were, after all, still trapped within Valore. Probably still suffering or living unfulfilling lives as another's pet. He thinks of the Labor division, who toiled in the sun, and whom he pitied the most, for they would sooner die of exhaustion than see freedom.
Ingeras rumbles from his hiding place. The furia feels his anger and despair.
"Their children? Their children's children? No, it's not true It must be a lie " Eniah stammers with pain and confusion, wavering betwixt and between sadness and fire. "A Seroran could not have damned a million horses to death!"
The boy hisses, for he might have been one of those many. "It's not true! It mustn't be! I've been told time and time again! Tell me it isn't true...!" For once, he wants to disregard it all. Frantically he begins to search the shelves for more books. He reaches for a scroll, but the paper, riddled with age, easily begins to tear, so the boy looks elsewhere with more fragility. He doesn't want it to be true. For once Aodh's pompous history sounded better to him, because at least it solidified them as the bad guy.
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Post by taebun on Aug 13, 2019 23:08:08 GMT -6
Tumble | 16 | Windracer
The young windracer's previous dread of entering a library of all places was snuffed out once the large doors gave way and revealed it's wondrous interior. His sky blue eyes almost instantly found the massive skeleton that hung above their heads and his mouth hung open in awe. In all of his life and throughout all of his wanderings, Tumble had never come across anything like this - not even close. He kept his gaze upward as he walked in a large circle, the soft clicking of his hooves filling the room until he came to a slow stop and stood still. When he finally lowered his head, pointing his chin back to the ground he turned his eyes towards the rest of the room, taking important notice of all the books that littered the shelves. Was this place really Seroran? The buildings and paintings outside, depictions of Alya on every wall; it had to be. But this didn't feel like the Serora that he knew... the Serora that he was familiar with. As the group moves on he follows, albeit quietly and looking more uneasy with every minute that passes. The room they come to is far larger than the previous and Tumble could only feel all the more overwhelmed. The familiar colors of the barrier they saw outside drew him to the staff sitting upon a pedestal and the colt visibly winced at the sight of it, as if he had been stung. How long had it been holding up the dome above this city? His worrying thoughts disappeared as the sound of loud thud nearly scared him out of his skin. Tumble quickly scrambled to turn around and saw both Taeith and Eniah approaching the cause of the sudden sound; a large book that had fallen from one of the nearby shelves. Slowly he walks over to them, every muscle in his body almost tense. His eyes scanned over the words but what he was reading and hearing from both Taeith and Eniah was something he never thought he'd hear. "That isn't true." The words leave Tumble's mouth before he had any chance of thinking them over. His long ears flick towards his back and he shakes his head. "That can't be true, that's..." His head aches. Tumble takes a few small steps back, his expression giving way from confusion to despair as his brow lifted, blue eyes full of hurt and confusion. Bek, his familiar, rubs his feathered head against his neck in a gesture of comfort. But it does little to settle the storm of emotion that flooded the boy all at once. "There has to be something else." It was difficult to keep his voice from cracking, but his words wavered with emotion.. "Seroran's would never... they could never do something like that!" He only echoed Taeith's words. Alya allowed her children to do something like this? "New Osulas, New Valore... Aodh?" Tumble drew in a shaky breath before his expression changed, softening to one of worry once his eyes settled on the last entries on the pages. "Something else happened. There has to be more that we can find here, isn't there?" His voice rose and he looked up towards Acorro, as if searching for some sort of reassurance from someone older. "This doesn't sound like us..." Tumble's shoulders slumped and he cast his gaze back down to the book. "I can't accept this."
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Post by buffyandbramble on Aug 14, 2019 9:47:50 GMT -6
The doors held fast as he pushed them with no indication that they were going to shift and Acorro snorted in frustration. How rude. He gathered himself up, sitting back on his haunches and preparing to throw his full weight against them. Forcing them open probably wasn't the perfect solution, but hey. Just before he put his strength to use, Eniah called out for him to wait and the roan pulled up, turning to look around at the younger stallion with a quizzical look.
Oh.
Pushing a pull door might explain why it had been quite so reluctant to move. It was a good thing that they had such analytical thinkers in this group, it really was. After a moment he lent his strength, properly applied this time, to aiding the two younger horses as they heaved on the door and between them the doors finally gave way and let them in. He almost immediately stopped short at the sight of the great looming skeleton, instinctively reaching for his sword and shield with his teke. Fortunately common sense kicked in before he could actually draw them - it was only a skeleton after all. It was a giant, unsettling skeleton, but definitely a skeleton and short of it dropping a bone on them it probably wasn't dangerous. He whistled low at the sight of it, staring up at it from a few different angles and trying to wrap his head around the size of it. He wouldn't like to meet one of those things when it were alive.
"You're telling me," he said low in response to Taeith, flicking an ear as Eniah mentioned dragons. "Well, let's hope that whatever that was is extinct too," he said matter-of-factly. "Thunderbirds are bad enough, thanks." He counted himself fortunate that he'd not had many run-ins with Sedo's flying monsters, they were most distinctly his least favourite thing to deal with. He did not need a giant cousin of theirs to worry about as well.
They continue on and as they reach the staff, with all of its suffering plain to feel, Acorro drops his head in respect to it. It must have been here for so long, protecting a city in which there was nothing left to protect. Long forgotten, but carrying out its duty regardless with no respite, no thanks, not even a memory of it. His gaze follows its light up through the ceiling, watching as it continues to literally hold up the sky. He doesn't have any words for it, just sympathy, and then the sad realisation that they can't even retrieve it - to remove it would collapse all of the sand above them. It's stuck there.
The book that drops is of little interest to him but as the others gather around it he settles in for what could be a long reading session. He picks a spot near to the relic, feeling that it could do with some company. He listens in with half an ear to the history lesson, more interested in gazing about the grand room about them and picking out odd little curiosities whilst the others read on. As records of the war come to light he pays a little more attention, drawing a few grim comparisons to the war that had just ended, and eternally grateful that it didn't go on for 10 years as that one had. He might be a warrior, but he was a warrior to protect others, not to engage in a decade of fighting other horses for what... politics? He had to admit he hadn't paid that much attention to the causes. Something about taxes too? Horses really did like to complicate life sometimes.
As the history turns darker and the past is revealed he is suddenly focused completely on what is being said, surging to his feet and drawing his head back with snort, indignant, confused, angry and suddenly he found himself pacing back and forth in small circles as he tried to make sense of what the others had just said. This was why books were stupid. What nonsense were horses writing down?
He saw Tumble looking to him and immediately his pacing stopped, his anger at the sort-of accusations on the pages subsiding in the face of the colt's distress. His demeanour softened and he walked over, bumping the younger softly with his nose to offer reassurance and if Tumble let him, pulling him into a hug.
"They weren't Serorans," he said fiercely. "Well, maybe they were, but they aren't Seroran now. You said that was what, 800 and something they wrote that? That was nearly a thousand years ago they wrote that, and even if it's true, it doesn't mean it's true-true." Even he realised that made no sense and he paused, thinking over his words for a second. "What I mean is, you can't believe everything that you read on a page. Someone could write down now that we threw a giant party here and now, it doesn't mean it happened. Or that there wasn't another side to it, or that someone understands it correctly or... something." Truthfully he couldn't think of any scenario where condemning the children of war criminals could ever be justified, but then he'd also thought that rounding up horses to sell to Aodh could never be justified and hey, they'd done that even if only briefly. "And you know what, even if that did happen, it's not like it happens now, or that Serora is responsible for what Aodh became. Sounds to me like they cut all ties, so all that ash? That's on... whatever her name was. Eela? And then everyone that came after that, them too."
WC: 949
Post #9
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Post by ThatDenver on Aug 16, 2019 10:38:32 GMT -6
Could it be true?
It sounds impossible, but why would such a tome lie?
Could it be planted? A scheme by some nasty trickster?
But how?
So many questions. A library of answers, but perhaps not the answers you want. You really wish there was someone here to explain it all to you.
“Ah, there you are. You kids, running up and down a city like this, and not even taking proper notes!” a voice sounds behind you, loud and clear and somewhat out of place in this ghost town. You look behind you to see two equines – an older, compact common horse, accompanied by a very tired looking fury.
“Magnificent, isn’t it? Shepherd, I hope you at least have made notes. Now then, what have we here?” the Mullah, Salome, putters over to the shelves, picks a tome at random, quickly looks it through, mumbling ‘interesting’ and ‘my my’ as they go. Returning the tome to the shelves, they pick up another one.
“Arno, don’t just stand there. Get to work! This library will be my new office”, Salome calls to the Fury. You swear he rolls his eyes hard enough that it makes a sound, but he goes off to move some loose rubble anyway.
“I was at the Sear until just a few weeks ago, you know. But Alya came to me and said that it was time to leave. Terrible things, mhm, terrible things you see. But this place will do. More than do”, Salome goes on, picking out tomes and putting them back. Finally, their eyes land on the relic.
“No one has let that poor thing go back to the Mother? Honestly, you people”, she scolds you, and walks right up to the relic, unceremoniously plucking it loose.
There is a rumble. The city shifts and moves as the earth quakes, and the barriers come down. You can hear masses of sand move outside, but nothing falls in.
Instead, from a crack in the damaged roof, you see the evening sunshine. It seems the barrier has come down clean, the sands pushed safely aside. The city is once again revealed.
From the gap, you see a brief glimpse of starlit wings.
The relic in Salome’s grasp seems to emit an audible sight, and turns to stardust, dancing upwards and through the open hole into the sky.
“Well, where did that Arno go now? There are messages to send and hallways to clean. There were bodies in the street! And that roof needs repair”, the Mullah goes on, apparently entirely unphased. They deputize you to do various duties for her and is more than forceful enough that ‘no’ doesn’t seem like an answer.
Two days and several curious locals later, you manage to slip away from the city to tell the Sultan what you have found.
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Post by Spectre on Aug 16, 2019 10:54:53 GMT -6
She wanders in after everyone else, eyes being drawn to the skeleton grinning down from above. She shrewdly glares at its grinning maw as she shuffles her way inside.
Her eyes dart around the massive rooms and halls, hooves itching to explore every nook and cranny of the place. She wanders with the group and stutters and halts as she enters the main room, her eyes drawn to the staff.
For the briefest of moments, a painstakingly long moment. She feels a well of exhaustion and pain. She heaves a shuttering breath, she knows that kind of grief in pain. She drifts forward, only an ear flicking at the sound of a falling book. She comes to stop in front of it, eyes drifting from the staff and into the barrier.
She's snapped from her trance at the sound of Eniah's alarmed voice. She whirls around and stops at the grief welling in his eyes and the words he spoke. She feels cold horror in her gut. She only moves when Eniah begins his frantic search.
She drifts from the staff and trots over to the colt's side. She slows as she reaches his side. With soft movements and even softer teke, she attempts to draw the scroll from his grasp and put it aside. Her eyes are soft and voice faint "Eniah, please-" She pulls her head up at Acorro words. "He speaks the truth. Whatever... this is, its happened so long ago and ties were cut. If anything, history is always biased."
She smiles down at the colt- only for her to whip around at the unfamiliar voice. She steps forward and, slightly putting herself in front of the colt.
She pauses- "Salome?" She only watches as the Mullah twitters around the room. Confusion reigning her features...
She's glad to return home to her family after those stressful few days.
WC:322 | Post #1 |
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