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 Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 6:00 pm
♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  
x Varian tilted a wing, entering a thermal over the Unthal Mountains and rising higher into the skies, blue eyes scanning the lands beneath him. The heat rising off of the lava pools in the Unthals created the perfect thermals for easy gliding, ensuring he didn't have to work too hard, which was just as well, really. The middle joint in his right wing was still aching from a battle not too long ago, and it was best he didn't push himself too hard. He was on one of his daily patrols, ensuring that no agents of the Six were creeping towards the Greater Herd or Avandere City. So far, everything was clear, and Varian set his sights to the glorious sunset painting the skies a myriad of colors. He loved flying this time of day, when the lands were beginning to settle down for sleep, and a sense of peace descended over him.
He had been out on the road, campaigning with the Army for the last six months, and this was the first leave he had taken since Azreth had sent his armies South. The stallion had been in too many fights, and his once-flawless coat was now crossed with scars, reminders of the near-failures and betrayals. Varian's nostrils flared as he let out a gentle sigh, happy to be away from all of that for the next few days, at least. All good things must come to an end, as he well knew, and in four days' time, he would have to pick up Azreth at Avandere Castle proper and take to the wing to return to the King's Army in time for their next push into the Enrias Mountains. Crossing those would be a pain in the rear, but it had to be done.
"And Spirits guide us through them." The stallion mumbled absently, his words snatched by the winds as they left his mouth. Varian dipped a wing, leaving the thermal, and pressed his wings tightly to his sides, dropping out of the sky as he headed back towards Avari. His wingtips brushed the tips of outcroppings of rocks before he backwinged gracefully, hooves clicking against stone as he landed beside Avari.
"All's clear for miles, Little Sparrow. No Agents of the Six are lurking, and there are no humans for leagues. You're safe, my beloved." For now, anyway. But if danger reared it's ugly head, Varian would fight to the death to protect his mate. "There was some odd activity at one of the lava pools, though, and I felt a Presence there; benign, but it felt...familiar, as if I had encountered it before. Would you care to join me as I check it out, Avari?" He nuzzled her behind an ear absently, the bells hanging from his antlers chiming softly.
[ [ O O C : ] ]
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 6:34 pm
Dozing off after that last thought drifted away, along with the deep concern that she was indeed being tricked, she found herself awoken not moments later to the harsh clicks of cloven hooves against the stone to her right and the bangs on her face being tickled by the wings of his wings. Lifting her head she raised her eyes to his own, already questioning his findings before he'd even spoken. Had he found the camp? No. Feeling the disappointment flick across her gaze she offered a nod and moved to stand to her hooves, already wondering where they'd be heading next. Though his next words caught her curiosity. "A strange presence?" She inquired softly, her mind trying to imagine what in the world it could be to have caught Varian's attention. He had said it seemed familiar. Tilting her head to the right under his nuzzle, she smiled at the kind gesture as she already began to succumb to the feeling of comfort he provided before moving out of reach of such affection. "I could join you. It'd be a lot better then waiting on this mountain any longer for you to return." Smiling at his words, she lifted her gaze to his own. "And I have never seen the lava pools before, are they beautiful?" 
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 7:16 pm
For decades, he had floated aimlessly about the spirit realm, seeing the Mortal World as if from a dream. He learned of things he did not know; of the Azrein, and the Floating Isle, the lands below and those who were Chosen. Time flowed endlessly, with no end nor beginning, as spirits of all different natures passed through the High and Low Astral Planes. Much knowledge was bestowed upon him, with little reasoning as to why, or the importance. He had watched the Mortal World as it changed through the years, as wars were won and lost, as humans and Azrein alike grew old and died, and when he wasn't learning, he was searching. Searching for the soul that he had burned, the soul of the friend that he had once had.
Not once did he find him. Not once did someone allude to knowing him. Slowly, he simply stopped asking. He began to mingle within the Higher Plane for longer, and longer periods of time. It never occurred to him that the souls he met would occasionally disappear. It never occurred to him that he might, one day, return to the Mortal World. He had nearly forgotten what it meant to be mortal; to feel joy, and pain, and sorrow, to love and to hate and to long. He had nearly forgotten what it was to live and breathe, to feel the wind's cool caress or the warm glow of the sun.
A sharp, flaring pain seared across his mind, jolting him awake. Pain? It was such an alien thing to him, and when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing but bright. There was no color; only blinding white that burned his eyes much as it burned his thoughts. He struck out, hoping to knock away whatever force it was inflicting these things on him, and found that his arms did not move like arms, and that they were sluggish and slow, and plagued with the same, vivid burning sensation as the rest of him. He gasped, and was surprised to find that he could gasp, then screamed as something hot and thick hit his stomach and lungs. Everything was hot. Hotter than anything he had experienced before. When he opened his eyes again, he caught the movement of what looked like liquid fire, and felt the very earth shifting around him.
And he realized that he was back within the realm of mortals, buried beneath the earth and slowly moving up. The tectonic movements of the plates were forcing him towards the surface, up, up, up through the layers of rock and stone. He could not help the low, heavy cackle that burst out of his throat, that carried up through the magma and the crumbling surface of hardened lava. It echoed, like thunder, past the valley walls and beyond the mountains, and did not stop for some time.
He had returned.
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 7:53 pm
♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
x Varian smiled warmly down at Avari as he set off, the tips of his primaries resting on the delicate curve of his beloved's back as they walked. She had been holding herself aloof from him for some time now, and he supposed he understood, though it hurt. Only time would heal the wounds he had created, and he bowed his head to his punishment. He knew eventually she would remember how much he loved her, but until then, he wouldn't push his luck -- or affections -- too far.
"They're quite beautiful, Little Sparrow, though dangerous. It looks as if the sun itself is coming up out of the earth, a lake of liquid fire, hotter than anything you could even imagine. The lava is the very blood coursing through the Isle's veins, and without it, our Isle would fall back down to the Lands Below." He went on describing the liquid fire to Avari for some time, a small smile gracing his features. She was so full of curiosity, of wonder, and it reminded him of a foal sometimes. A rather endearing quality, really.
When the pair reached the flat valley where the lake of fire was, Varian extended a wing in front of Avari, stopping her before she ventured too close. "If you get within fifty feet of the lake, it will sear the fur from your skin, my love. Be careful." He dropped his wing, having seen she took his warning to heart, and his blue gaze traveled over the rocky vista. This was a place of dangerous, barren beauty, and it always made him feel so small. As he opened his mouth to mention that to Avari, he inhaled sharply, his ears going straight up as he felt that Presence begin to wake. "Get behind me, Avari." Varian lunged forward, spreading his wings as the center of the lake began to bubble and foam violently, sending streams of lava thirty feet into the air. Ten-foot waves rippled out from the lake's center, and Varian lowered his head, antlers parallel with the ground. Something was coming, and even though it didn't feel dangerous, the stallion wasn't taking any chances with Avari.
The God felt a wave of pain and mingled joy blanket the landscape, and his blue eyes widened. He knew that Presence! He groped back centuries in his mind, far back to the days where he had just become aware of who he was in the Astral Plane, and the various Beings he had come in contact with. Surely this was one of them, but he couldn't figure out which of them it was -- it had been many, many years since then, and until Varian figured out who and what was coming, he didn't dare let his guard down. He heard Avari's nervous nickers behind him, and he sent a wordless wave of reassurance through their Bond, ensuring her that he would keep her safe. "There's no need to worry, Little Sparrow. Whatever is coming isn't bad, but until I remember who it is, just stay behind me, my love."
A rush of air buffeted the pair, causing the bells on Varian's antlers to ring wildly as the Presence coalesced, solidifying into a sentient being. Hot, bright light seared the stallion's eyes, a giant sphere of white forming over the surface of the lake. The Presence was inside of that, he knew, and it was only a matter of heartbeats before the creature was in the mortal world. Varian waited patiently, still on guard, but his wariness began dropping immediately as he realized he did indeed recognize them. Of course, it was only polite to allow the creature to come to them after it had finished forming, and the God was very interested indeed to see what shape the Presence would take.
"Here it comes, my love. No need to worry, now, I know who this is." A smile split the stallion's face and his heart began beating faster; even though it had been so long ago his memory was fuzzy, Varian distinctly remembered this Being was one of good humor, and he hadn't met someone like himself since being born into mortality. He was definitely looking forward to this.
[ [ O O C : ] ]
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 8:39 pm
When the bright pools came into sight she was stunned momentarily into silence, it was different then she had imagined. Her mind had called up bright images of white and golds, flowing like water through many crevices and pooling as though a lake at the bottom of a waterfall. This, was so much different. The pools stung her eyes, and seemed to creep rather then flow along the ground. The heat had been mentioned briefly, but she hadn't really been able to imagine how it would feel in the area. It was as though it was the middle of summer at high noon when they'd approached. How odd. So focused on the imagery around her, Avari was jolted back to the presence by his wing suddenly crossing off her path forward. Eyeing him in brief confusion, she felt her eyes widen and quickly took a step backwards away from his wing. "It is that hot? I can't imagine.." Brows pulling together she sighed softly and felt herself take a small step closer to him as worry filled her.
Not a second later he snapped for her to move and she was blocked by his great wings and body. Tail tucking as she peered between his feathers to try and see what was going on, she backed up another step as the lava began to churn and bubble suddenly. "Varian.." She whispered worriedly, her ears pulled down to her skull as the lake suddenly blasted into the air causing her to shake and quickly move closer to his form once more. Great Mother what was happening here? It had all seemed so calm and sluggish earlier. Now it was as though their presence sent the lava into a friendly, had they upset the lake somehow?
"We should leave Varian." She commented with a worried nicker, as she moved nervously behind him. They shouldn't be here, whatever lived in this area was obviously not happy that they had approached. Though the soothing comfort he sent her way stilled her shaking limbs and she simply moved to rest her cheek against his side, hiding her face behind his grand wings. "Isn't it the lava that is angered? If we upset it any further it may decide to drop the isle." Voice soft, she flicked her tail behind her as she closed her eyes tight and focused on matching her breathing with his own and relaxing. He seemed too calm for this situation. Wasn't he worried the searing lava may try and claim them? It was the sound of mad cackling that set her nerves off again. That sounded far from pleasant and good. Though the god at her side seemed to finally realize what was before them. Lifting her head from his side, she peered curiously at the smile on his face and whatever lay before them. "Are you sure it's a who?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:11 pm
Lava churned and bubbled around him, rolling over his head and pushing him down again as he fought the waves, like an ocean. He could still feel the earth's fury, beneath him, shifting and thrusting and grinding as plate collided again and again with plate. He rode those movements like a bronco, reaching out of the lava to grasp at the shore, only to find that his arm fell away from him. What was happening? He tried again, and his arm extended before his eyes, covered in molten fury, only to collapse and return to the lava around him. His blue eyes widened; his arm was lava. Panic struck him, irrationally and uncontrollably, and he screamed as another wave of lava shoved his head back beneath the surface. His throat seized, and he thrashed wildly, spraying molten rock around him in an arc as he fought for his breath.
He was breathing. He could feel the heat of the air sear his lungs, leaving his throat dry and causing him to let out a hacking cough. Stars above, he was alive, but somehow not. He struck for the edge of the lake again, and felt himself make contact. Lava dripped from his limb and pooled against the hardened stone, and he saw that it did not bend the way his arms were meant to bend. Quickly, he reached with his other, and once again, it bent oddly, almost broken, but he felt no pain other than the burning, engulfing sensation of fire across his body. He attempted to pull himself up and immediately lost footing, only barely keeping himself above the surface and grasping desperately for the ledge again. Behind him, he felt lava rise, and when it did not collapse on him, he cautioned a glance over his shoulder and was shocked to find what looked like wings extending from the pool, and his shoulders. His neck felt disproportionately long, but he paid no further attention as he once again tried to clamor out.
His chest stuck the stone hard as he fell forward, and he clawed at the edge violently, finding footholds amongst the rocks and hardened lava there. He used these to pull himself up far enough that his legs could find their way up. He struggled, shifting and pulling and feeling bits of himself fall away and coalesce all at once, the panic and the fear driving him to push harder, and harder, until he felt himself on solid ground. There, he laid, panting heavily and bobbing back and forth almost drunkenly, and watched as the lava receded from his arms to reveal their new form; legs, with nobs for knees and ankles and paws on the end. The fear parted momentarily to give way to awe as he stretched and wiggled his new toes, eyes following every movement. Excitement suddenly seized hold, and he looked over his shoulder to find wings - his wings - curving from his spine and over his back. He fumbled to spread them, unknown muscles spasming wildly as he attempted to control them. In the end, he gave up, and looked further, finding cloven hooves and a tail beyond that.
"... Holy s**t..."
Something had happened. Something had changed. Where once he was human, now he was... something else entirely. His head felt heavy, and it swayed on that same disproportionately long neck as he tried to gather his legs beneath him, unsure of how to use them to actively stand and walk. He managed it, though barely, and stumbled and tripped for a moment as he remembered that the lava was still just behind him, jerking away unsteadily and turning to look at the pool. It was settling, now, though the story of his birth was written across the stone around them. He spun in a slow circle, taking it in, and only stopped when his six blue eyes found another; a brightly colored horse with wings and large antlers. In the recesses of his mind, he felt him, and instantly, knew him. He blinked, hesitating, then uneasily strode towards him, like a newborn child trying to reach it's mother.
"You... I know you," he murmured, pausing six or seven feet from him and taking little notice of the mare beyond. "You got... fat."
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:47 pm
♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
x The stallion turned his gaze from the lava, his long neck bending as he nuzzled Avari on her cheek, feeling her pressed to him tightly, shaking against his side. Varian draped a wing over her back, tucking it around her protectively, wordlessly comforting her. He knew this must be terrifying for her; she had never seen the Lake of Flame before, let alone the eruption of a volcano, and she couldn't understand that, though violent, what was happening was actually far calmer than a volcano sending spews of liquid rock eighty feet into the skies. The bells on his antlers jingled as the stallion raised his head, blowing a warm breath into Avari's mane.
"Don't worry, Little Sparrow. The Isle will remain as it has since it's birth; as long as the fire in its veins remains hot, it shalln't ever drop down to the Lands Below. The Isle isn't angered; in fact, what you're witnessing is the birth of a God, my darling." The stallion smiled down at her before returning his attention to the spectacle before them, watching as the figure solidified and began making its way towards the half-solid bank of the lake. Blue eyes narrowed as the creature began to take it's shape, completely at odds with what Varian vaguely remembered; to his surprise, the being was an Azrein, not a human like he had originally suspected.
The stallion held back the urge to go over to him -- it was clearly male, now -- and assist him in rising; when a Deity was born, they had to do it on their own, finding a balance of mortal body and immortal soul and power within the first few moments of birth. When the Azrein finally came over towards them, Varian heard Avari gasp and press against him. To show her everything was alright, the stallion removed his wing from her back, tucking it against his side, a hind leg lazily cocked in relaxation. His body language had a calming effect on the sweet little mare, and he felt her shaking begin to cease.
Varian took in the sight of the Azrein, rather pleased with his form. Elegant, curling red horns extended out of the being's skull, their bases hid by a fluffy black mane. A golden collar and anklets constrasted niely with his black fur, matching the gold feather-tips in the middle of his wings precisely. The transition of feather to membrane in his wings was dignified, the crimson of his wings slightly reminiscent of the magma he had been born from. The stallion felt a smile split his features at the creature's words, and Varian arched an eyebrow, tossing his head as he laughed.
"And you became an Azrein. I must say, it's quite becoming." Varian stepped to the side, revealing Avari. "Sparrow, this is my old, old, old acquaintance, Cain. I knew him before I came into this world." Varian turned back to the stallion, dipping his head and motioning to Avari with his antlers, the golden bells hanging from their tines chiming merrily. "Cain, this is my beloved, my heart, my very reason for living and my Lifemate, Avari." Varian smiled and leapt the distance between the two Azrein gracefully, landing in front of Cain. He dipped his head and touched his nose to the stallion's cheek in greeting. "It's been far too long since I've seen one of my own kind. Welcome to the Floating Isle of Azreth, Cain."
[ [ O O C : ] ]
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Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 9:26 pm
[I accidentally edited this post....... Fuuuuuck ><]
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 10:33 pm
With his self-confidence in tact and boosted, he began to focus, instead, on the little white mare that stood well behind Varian's imposing figure. He dwarfed her, and though he was not much shorter than the higher deity, he could tell that she was absolutely miniscule compared to the both of them. Another surge of confidence roared, unkempt, in his veins as his testosterone flared wildly. It was followed by another, entirely foreign sort of feeling; a need to protect, to guard, to keep close. It caused a frown to crease across his lips, his eyes narrowing in thought as he continued to peer at her, only half hearing the stallion as he spoke. It would take another thirty or so seconds for him to finally pry his eyes away from her and let them settle back on the stallion, his expression changing to one of a flat, blank stare, some slight confusion dancing in his blue irises. The word he used was bizarre, and alien, and again, his lips creased into a frown as he considered it in his head.
"Azrein," he murmured, testing it on his tongue and debating it's meaning. He could not recall having ever heard it before, even in the time he had spent in the Astral Plane (and the thought of the place gave his heart a fearful squeeze, that he might one day need to return). He could find no memory of it amidst the haze that clogged his mind, the bits and pieces of things that he was supposed to remember, but couldn't. An overwhelming sense of sorrow weighed heavy in his heart, though he knew not why, and a sense of something very dear forever lost to him. He struggled, feeling his eyes close and the world darken around him as he tried desperately to figure out what. It eluded him, like smoke, and after a minute, he gave a heavy, frustrated sigh, his wings subconsciously drooping along his sides. It was only Varian's sudden movements that snapped him out of his reverie, and without warning, he jolted backwards, his hooves and paws skittering against the stone and sending pebbles and coals scattering around him. He stared, eyes wide, before shaking his mane out and pawing at the earth unsteadily.
Natural reactions from a past life he could not remember...
Cain cleared his throat, passing it off quickly as if nothing had happened, and glanced once more at the mare, thinking that Varian had introduced her somewhere within the past two minutes. Quickly, he nodded in her direction. "Huh? Oh, yeah, uh... Nice ta meetcha." It didn't take long before his eyes snapped back to Varian as he spoke, narrowing as he mentioned things as though Cain should know them, when he did not. Floating Isle? How could an island, which in itself was a very large chunk of land, possibly float? "Sure, sure. What do you mean, 'your kind?' What's an Azrein? Or an Azreth, unless they're the same thing..." The stallion scowled at him, snorting and kicking a paw in his direction, seeming upset. "Damnit, Varian, you always do this. Talk in a language I can understand, or explain s**t to me. I ain't one of them higher souls. Fancy talk means jack s**t."
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Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:00 pm
♞x x x xL o r dxxV a r i a nx x x x♞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
x Varian felt Avari's confusing at the way he introduced her, and though he frowned, the stallion chose not to say anything; that was a discussion for another time, when they were alone. He knew the mare was doubtlessly a bit overwhelmed at the violence of Cain's birth, and he supposed he should explain it. "Avari, when a Lesser God is born, they need massive amounts of energy to transfer to the mortal realm. Because I'm a High Deity and was born from the sacrifice of my father, he paid that price for me." The stallion lifted a wing in a shrug. "So all Lesser Deities are generally born amidst confusion as opposed to calm."
Varian once more turned his blue gaze to Cain, his elk-like ears laying flat against his skull. He had seen the way the stallion looked at Avari, but now was not the time for a pissing match. The Deity was new to the world, and as such, he couldn't know the etiquette and unspoken rules that governed everyone yet. He would learn that with time, but until then, Varian would keep an eye on Cain and Avari. He knew the mare felt disconnected from him, and he didn't need the added worry of someone moving in on her when he was away fighting. The God stifled a sigh and put the thought out of his mind, grinning at Cain's words and trying to explain it so he could understand.
"Apologies, Cain. The place we are now is the Floating Isle; much has changed since you were mortal. There was a Great War between Mages, and a big chunk of land was blasted from the world and rose into the skies, remaining there by the magicks that caused it to float." The stallion motioned towards the clouds on the mountains at the horizon with his antlers, the bells hanging from them chiming softly. "And all three of us are Azrein; horses with mortal souls who are able to Choose a human to Bond to. And even though we Deities are Immortal, we're still able to Choose a human should we wish." Varian smiled and waited for Cain to accept this information, and went on when the Lesser Deity nodded.
"Azreth is the King of the Floating Isle, and I Chose him when I first inhabited my mortal body. I'm sure you'll meet him at some point, Cain. I know it's hard to process all of this right now, but as time passes and you grow accustomed to this world, you'll see that everything falls into place quite neatly." But how to warn him of the War threatening the peace of the Isle? "However, I must tell you this; there is a war plaguing the land right now, and it affects all, from the greatest God to the smallest insect. And though you might wish to simply ignore it, that shalln't be possible; eventually, you must choose a side."
Varian wasn't going to pressure the Lesser Deity into allying himself with the King's Armies; Cain needed to weigh and make the decision on his own. He had been dragged from the High Astral Plane because there was an imbalance in the world somewhere, and he would make the decision that brought that balance back in order. One way or another, Cain would restore the balance unconsciously, and Varian wouldn't -- couldn't -- hold it against him, even if he allied himself with the Six. "May I suggest we all find somewhere to lay our heads? The day grows short, and there are dangers at being caught out in the open after the sun has set."
[ [ O O C : ] ]
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Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 3:58 pm
[ -dies- ; ^; ]
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