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 Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2015 7:28 pm
 Fire.
Ash.
Dust.
Death.
Destruction.
All encompassing, all and forever scarred into Mataius’ psyche. He remembered the screaming. The frantic calls of his brothers and sisters as they tried to keep order within the chaos. And yet no matter what his fellow Daeva and himself did, nothing could stop the utter obliteration of their herd, their home. He watched as the vast valleys burned in hellfire. He watched as the large trees, hundreds, if not thousands, of years old fall and perish in ember. He watched as his family, his friends, his confidants, scattered. Many, if not the majority, falling not the hands of fire, but to the ones who had caused all this destruction.
The Balaur.
That herd of ulun’suti had become the bane of his existence long ago. But for vastly different reasons. Long ago they were just mere thorns, causing minimal problems that Mataius and his guard could, for all simple purposes, keep under control. Keep them at bay and keep the Pandemonium herd lands safe. Unfortunately that control had been shattered when one of their own failed in their duty. And to compound that the failure came from his own flesh and blood. His own family. His own little sister, the middle child. He had felt loss before. He had felt the burning anger at the failure of one’s duty. But it was only compounded by the flames of darkness and the fact that his own mate was on the casualties.
To fail in one’s duty was one thing. To lose his soulmate was another entirely. Mataius can only remember his second in command come to him, telling him of the loss, and in knowing that nothing could be done to change his soulmate’s fate, he felt his carefully constructed command face fade into shear unadulterated anger. A deep, centered anger that Mataius has never felt since. Not that he wanted to. He could remember that because of this failure his flesh and blood was exiled, and a part of him felt vindicated that she was punished. And yet, another side of him, knew that this was not the right thing to feel. Anger could only carry you so far.
The Dragon Lord of the Balaur, their leader, Tiamat had been captured and imprisoned keep within their mountain cave system. Always surrounded by guards, covered in chains. The dragon was never left alone. Mataius always saw to that. Yet somehow, even with him pouring his entire being into keeping the darkness from touching those he cared about most, somehow Tiamat escaped his clutches in a large explosion of fire and shadow. Mataius had no idea how she did it. Nor did he really care. However he couldn’t deny now that Tiamat had escaped to the lower lands, those lands they knew as the Kawani, those who resided there were no longer safe. He had to put an end to it.
But his sister was also there, ordered to never pass the range and into the northern lands again. He wasn’t quite sure what to feel. Anger? Maybe. Sadness? Sort of. Nervousness and a hint of guilty. Yes. He helped the others decide Matania’s fate, was one of the deciding votes, and now here he was going down into her new homelands, seeking her out, and asking for her assistance to take down the Dragon Lord once again. And this time he would not allow the Darkness to live. No. She had to die. But the question was, would Matania help him? Or was she jaded now, possibly out of practice, and less than willing to help her blood. Mataius wasn’t sure if he wanted to find out. But he had no choice.
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 11:28 am
 Mantaia hadn’t expected to find much out of the little nymph known as Tanzi. Quite frankly the mare didn’t really think that such a small creature could pack just a punch. Yet Tanzi, despite her stature, was very brave and quite smart when she put her mind to it. It couldn’t help but bring a small smile to Matania’s lips when Tanzi would try to mimic her battle stances, her movements, and try to be a smaller version of the hippo’suti mare. And as time went on Matania began to realize that Tanzi was becoming someone that she could consider a friend.
Friend?
It was a concept Matania hadn’t realized still existed in her world of hurt, pain, suffering, and death. Maybe there was a small light to her darkness. And Tanzi was one of those small lights. Matania could handle that, not that she thought she deserved any light at all. Not that Tanzi would be aware that she thought these things. The one time the little nymph had she went on a rant for TWO hours. And, at the time, Matania turned a deaf ear to it. But now, maybe now there was something to the rant the nymph went on those few months ago.
Maybe.
Time was slowing down for the gladiator since her first run in with the kalona Proserpine and saving Tanzi from a rather bloody death. There wasn’t much going on. It couldn’t help but make Matania’s coat itch uncomfortably. It was in her blood to fight, to be on the front lines, but in her exile, fighting was no longer a part of the equation. The ghosts of her guard still haunted her, taunting her in her dreams. But she deserved that haunting. None of her guard should have died that day. Her brothers in arms made that very clear when testifying in front of their lords, the Shedim lords, in favor of her punishment. Her eldest brother was among them.
Mataius….
His very name left a pit of disgust in her stomach. Blood should never go against blood. Even in the darkest of moment. He had allowed his love for another to break the bonds of brother and sister. One bond that should never be broken. And yet, Mataius did, and Matania was not happy about it. It both angered her and confused her. She understood why he did it, the bonds of love are strong. But a family’s bond should forever be stronger than that. In this case, Mataius had failed. And when Matania left the herdlands, coasting over the mountains that would be considered her prison, she made a vow to never allow love to dictate her actions. She was a warrior, not a mother. Kids would never be in the equation for her. Settling down was for others, not herself.
As she took a look at the curved shaped glen she and Tanzi had taken residence in, Matania realized that this was the longest time she had stayed in one place. It felt strange, and yet it was the strangeness that brought a small ironic smile to her face. Maybe she could try making this her central hub, where others could come to her and ask for her services. Maybe Tanzi’s idea wasn’t so bad after all. It would give her something to do.
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 12:25 pm
“Thank you for the information, I appreciate it,” Mataius rumbled lowly and watched as the stallion couple turned and moved onwards away from him, his eyes scanning the western lands he was about to travel across.
They had said a mare matching his sisters description was around these particular lands. And apparently she had been a busy body. It wasn’t just the two stallions who had come across her apparently. Those who called themselves Kalona were causing multiple different problems, one in particular, and his sister apparently had taken multiple on to help others. Despite himself Mataius couldn’t help but smirk at the thought. She was of one of the strongest warrior bloodlines in their society. And she continuously reminded him as a young foal that she was just like their grandsire. A strong Templar a part of the guard to protect the Shedim lords. If she hadn’t allowed her thirst for strength and naivety towards the true danger of Tiamat he would have seen her rise through the ranks and make something of herself.
But enough of that, he shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. Those were nothing but a pipe dream now. Her title of gladiator was gone. And he had a mission to fulfill. The Lords demand it and the demands must be met with conviction and no lip. And the fact that his orders came from Lord Azphel himself made Mataius wonder just how dark things were going to go. Their leader did not give orders unless in the most dire of circumstances. In fact, it was Lord Marchutan that Mataius has worked with the most. It was him who helped Mataius and his guard seal Tiamat in her rocky prison.
Now, though, Mataius had to follow Lord Azphel’s orders. For it was he who walked as the Lord of Shadow. It made sense in a way, the Lord of Shadow taking on the Dragon Lord of Shadow. Poetic justice if you will. But he had to rid himself of his musing at this point. He had to focus on the orders at hand. And that was to find his sister, to bring her into the know.
“You will be my hand down in the lower lands Mataius. Find your sister. Tell her what has happened. Set aside your anger towards her for the greater good of the souls below. If she wants redemption, have her take down the Great Shadow of Tiamat. If she does this, the Shedim lords will grant forgiveness.”
The words so simple, the orders, however, were far from it. To take down a Dragon Lord was no small feat. Mataius just hoped that Matania was up to the task. Mataius’ claws caressed the tall grass as he covered the valley with his flight. The scent of his sister suddenly permeating his senses in a way that almost made him sad. She was very close. He could sense it, literally. She had marked this territory as her own. Had she settled down? Didn’t seem like his sister but anything was possible at this point.
So, he landed right at the tree line of the forest ahead. Matania may be only a few paces ahead of him. It felt so weird to feel her after all the time that had passed. In a way it didn’t feel right at all and yet the bond of older brother to little sister still pushed its way into his heart. So, he steeled himself and broke through the territorial wall that his sister had created.
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Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 8:57 pm
Matania’s head snapped up in high alert. Her ears swiveling frantically, catching the wind and any sort of noise in the general vicinity. Her senses catching in an intense combination of stress and nervousness. Someone was coming. Someone had the gall to cross into her territory. And what made it all worse was it was clearly a stallion. Was probably there to try and take over her territory, claim to be the “alpha stallion”. Like hell that was going to happen. Tanzi gave her a concerned look as Matania got up from her resting place, eyes glaring into the forest trees.
“I’ll be back. Stay here and make sure nobody else comes close. I’ve got a stallion to run off.”
The look that Tanzi threw her way was one of clear confusion as Matania took off into the trees, her wings held tightly to her side, giving her a better angle to sharper turns. Nobody was going to encroach on her territory. Especially no male. Their ability to piss her off with their egotistical attitudes of needing to “protect the female” was not something she wanted to deal with today. Hell, she never wanted to deal with it. Color her vindictive but she had her own crap to deal with. Swerving to the left Matania gradually picked up speed, preparing her body to meet the male coming towards her. Did he know she was there? He should, they weren’t too far apart. And a confrontation was upcoming so he better be ready.
And then she got a sniff of his sent.
Immediately her blood ran cold. She knew that scent way too well. It was the scent of a stallion who used to say that he'd give his life to make sure she stayed safe. The one stallion who would protect her from the bullies. The stallion who, above all else, was of her own bloodline.
It couldn’t be….
But before she could stop herself she burst through into a small clearing, claws digging into the dirt to stop herself before careening into the stallion. Coming to a halt just before they were a tangle of feathers and claws.
Her own brother.
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Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 9:23 pm
He hadn’t expected to run into his sister so soon after he crossed her scented barrier. Hell, he definitely didn’t expect to come bursting out of the brush at high speed with her claws extended ready to fight. But then again this was his sister he was thinking of. She’d been taught from birth how to fight and protect what was hers. All of them, himself, Matania, and their three other siblings were taught from birth. But that just came with the territory of living in a world of constant conflict with the Elyos herds. Asmodians were designed to be fighters, designed to be strong and intimidating. He should have expected nothing less of his younger sister.
However, Mataius could not deny that seeing her like this after all these years, it was daunting and nerve wracking. Nor could he deny that seeing her eyes filled with anger and distrust made a low growl come forth under his own breath. If she wanted to dance, he’d be more than happy to dance with her. They had always done so when they were children, always paired together in their morning spars. Mataius drew back to full height, his wings flaring out in a display of dominance. He wasn’t going to dance with her yet. He’d dance with his words first. And then, if she still wanted to fight him. He’d oblige her.
“Always the one to use her claws before her speech. I thought our masters taught us better than that.”
His words reminded him of a time during their childhood. A flashback to simpler times when he was an aspiring sorcerer, a conjurer of ranged battle with raining bombs of death upon the battle field. And her being an aspiring gladiator, a melee fighter who used her claws to speak, up close and personal. They were so different, and yet they were the closest siblings of the five children. But that was before they were baptized in the blood of the ongoing war. Before Matania became so full of herself she defied orders from her superiors during the battle of Gelkmaros, the now dead legendary herd. The herd where his eternal love lost her life. And it was all because of his sister.
Anger seeped into his gaze before he could stop it, a harsh glare directed at the one person at the root of his pain. He couldn’t deny that seeing Matania was a relief, that a part of him was happy to see that she was alive. But the fact that she was alive, and his mate was in a grave made his blood simmer in hatred. He watched as Matania’s gaze locked with his own, her pink eyes matching his gold, no fear, only caution and anger within her own. She was not afraid of him, that was for certain, and Mataius internally grinned in wry amusement as she too drew herself to full height, still small than him, and flex her feathery wings in her own show of dominance.
“Never was the one to allow anyone to intimidate you sister,” he added tensely, “you really are of my blood.”
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