Plot 002: Traitors in Our Midst

Taishen | Guardian

He was a Guardian, an elite defender and representative of his herd, his Divine, his goddess. He would sacrifice his own blood, his body, his very life to defend the very essence that was Talori. He had trained for this, and although fury beat against his chest in pounding waves that never receded, only redoubled, only tore more furiously against the rock of his discipline, Taishen would not give in to the emotion. He had to be more, had to stay in control of himself, his blessing. Had to rise above the roiling sea of emotions like bobbing flotsam that refused to be pulled under but rather harnessed the currents, rode them.

"TAISHEN!"

A scream, one of many, but it cut through the cacophony of battle like an arrow, slamming in to him, and he was not flotsam any more, but he was dragged under, pounded by the waves, swept in to the emotions that ran through the battle like ocean currents. Eden, and he was screaming for Taishen, desperation and fear lancing from his voice to Taishen's heart, filling it with ice.

And in that moment, Taishen was himself, nothing more than a chestnut stallion who loved his brother, loved his herd, and loved fighting- in that order. In that moment he was Taishen, who was already turning from the battle, muscles gathering and releasing in increasingly large bounds as he flew to protect his brother and Seven- and leave the rest of his group, the majority, to fight the pegasi without him. For just in that one moment, Taishen's soul resonated with his truest, selfish desires to protect those he loved above all else, to guard his own heart, his own soul. He was only mortal. It is not sin, for  a mere mortal, to look to his own kin even as other bled and died in the periphery. 

But Taishen was not just mortal; he was Talori. He was Guardian. He had duties, responsibilities to the herd as a whole, not individuals. The needs of many, outweighed the needs of-

An attacker, with a knife, going down with Sinclair in a tumble of hooves and blood. The attacker standing, Sinclair not. The attacker moving towards Sinclair- and towards Eden and the cowering Seven.

The needs of the many were nothing, nothing to a knife that descended towards Eden and a helpless, wounded foal. Taishen bellowed, the primal, wordless sound crashing from his lips with all the gentle delicacy of a whitecap. Streaming arrows of water proceeded the stallion as he leaped, and crashed visciously against the pegasi-

And then Lukan was there, engaging the rebel, fighting him away from Sinclair even as Eden moved to her side. In a few short strokes, his fellow Guaridan had disabled the pegasus, was shielding Sinclair, Eden and Seven.

And Taishen took his first breath since he'd heard his name torn from Eden's lips. He was in control of himself again, he was Taishen the Guardian. As the air whooshed out of him, his mahogany eyes cut to the side. Naveen, the pretentious idiot, was admirably engaged with his own opponent, and had it under control. Surprisingly. Tai's gaze moved again, to Sven and Kenneth, who looked weakened, injured. They were circling a taunting pegasus.

Naveen, Taishen decided. Naveen needed his help more. Of course. Tai had just started moving towards him, eyes had just widened as Naveen lunged, when out of the corner of his eye Tai saw another spell flare, shooting again towards Kenneth. Pivoting, Tai let loose a guttural shout, a bolt of water streaking from him, whizzing inches from Kenneth's nose. The spell hit the water, was swept away by it. Turning, Taishen looked again towards Naveen, a sick feeling in his gut that he'd see the blue roan splayed across the ground.

Her eyes flared open and she scrambled, hooves kicking out. Gaps tore from her as pain rushed back. Her neck was run red with blood, her eyes wide with terror, her mane sopping with sweat and blood. Eden was there, the cleric. Sin immediately thought of her flashing hooves, she might have hurt the Cleric should the horse had been in the way. She blinked rapidly, clearing small tears from her eyes and surveyed the area. The horse that had attacked her was now battling in a fierce lock with Lukan, the guardian in her original group. She had no words, she had nothing that she could even try to say, she tried to do something. Nothing was working properly. Her blue eyes rolled again as Taishen bellowed from a little ways away. She could hardly focus, no she was having too much trouble keeping her eyes on one specific horse.

Her head dropped down against the stone again, almost as if she'd given up. No, she had not, but there was nothing else in the moment she could do. She was too weak at current moment to stand, too light headed to do anything. Too pained to bother even moving her head again. Wispy magic trailed along her throat, Eden was probably trying as he might to help her. Perhaps they were too weak, had they already used their blessing. She couldn't remember. She locked onto the other horse's eyes and just watched. The fight raged around them. Lukan and her attacker in a deadly dance. Naveen slitting the pegasus mare's throat. Kenneth dodging lightning yet again. Tai joining with him in their fight. Sven darting in and out of a duel. It was all too much at the moment, but Eden's eyes kept her focused. Her mind buzzed, her ears rang, but her eyes had found her hope.

Kenneth | Agriculturalist

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A streak of hot energy shot from the extremist, and Kenneth saw the paint stallion act quickly. He rocked back and launched himself forward, assaulting from the front and keeping his attention. Kenneth knew his mark would be within a small time frame, and shot up quickly. His hooves slipped slightly on the stones, but he still managed it. While Sven's hooves dug into the pegasi's skin, the appaloosa latched his teeth onto the extremist's wing, and thrashed his head. He could feel the bone fracturing between the force of his jaws, and the ringing in his ears changed to a tortured scream. The pegasus had not been expecting Kenneth's attack. He had to admit, the sudden movement gave him a bit of vertigo and his shoulder throbbed, but he would think about his own injuries after.

When he had grabbed the pegasi's wing, Kenneth raised his front legs and struck forward, the sharp point of his hooves digging into the extremist's side. He ripped downward, trying to create deep lacerations. He glanced over to Sven, releasing the extremist's wing to see what the next move would be. They could easily kill him at this point despite the fact that the pegasus now knew to defend both. Kenneth decided to just attack again, this time snapping at the pegasi's face and neck.

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Word Count: 222 | Post 6