sweet S O L I T U D E [open]

[Deleted]

Karii

Peace under an illusion is not true peace. It's only meaningful if the real world manages to accomplish it

The air around him was stuffy, dusty and hot, so goddamn hot that it made the horizon shimmer in wavy lines of heat. He didn't mind it though, despite being in the very heart of the desert, a place most did not dare to venture because of the stories of well, him. He had never learnt who had started those stories of him being a bloodthirsty monster and pushed him into this hell called loneliness. Perhaps it was his father, the one who had turned him into the beast he was or perhaps Terasi, the hawk gliding so high, so untouchable above him. They were the only two who truly knew him for what he was and would have the nerve to do such a thing. Only his father, actually. His every faithful guardian would never do that to him, never.

As quickly as his thoughts had turned to his father they switched to thoughts of the war he would have to fight so soon and his pace increased ever so slightly. A fight meant blood and blood to him was strength. More strength, more blood but at the same time more risk of losing control. He lifted his head to watched the harsh beauty of the redtailed hawk floating effortlessly above him and snorted softly. He could join her in a moment if he shed his earthbound mortal equine form and rose to her level on outstretched feathered wings. A sighed escaped his maw as he lowered his head and kept walking. He could not risk joining her because this form, this leggy earthbound form was his fighting form although he had always considered the jackal or coyote a better option as a fighting form but when it came to fighting other equines he needed to be at their level and so his fighting form was a horse.

The sandy dun stallion came to a stop and looked around with little interest. His home would be beautiful to most, with its red, gold and white sand scattered around and sparkling like glitter in the midday sun but to him it was a normal sight that had no affect on him whatsoever. A dry riverbed ran through the sparkling sand dunes and cacti were dotted throughout his sanctuary. A little way away there was an oasis with its pure clear water trickling slowly into a pond from the spring it welled in. A few palms trees grew around the water and emerald green grass made a strange contrast with the orangy desert sand surrounding the little island of paradise in a harsh, unforgivable world. Most of all the beauty of the place came from the God himself, who stood there in his divine form with his sky blue eyes looking ever so slightly annoyed and his red orchre mane being tugged by the scalding breeze that gave to resprite to the unbelievable heat of the very heart of the desert that would one day run with blood as it had when Karii had first fallen to the demon within him. The gold sand would be as red as the iron rich sand and the white sand would be stained a rich crimson. His home would become a battlefield rather than a haven for a weary god seeking shelter from the divine and mortal realms.

Red edged ears flicked at the sound of a heartbeat that was too slow and deep to be that of a jackal's or a desert cat's. It sounded more like that of a horse but how could a horse find his sanctuary? How could anyone reach this place without dying of dehydration or heatstroke?

[Velnias]

Jessica

The sand dunes were brutal to most. This was an enormous stretch of desert, and being as big as it was it was obvious someone had filled in the spaces. Travel to point A, travel to point B. Fill in the rest in the middle and hope you're right but be sure to go ahead and die before anyone tries to start doing anything to prove you wrong. That method had been tried time and again but at least We had figured out it didn't work!

My hooves were light in the sand as I trudged through the hot, golden desert snow. I moved with my easy, gliding gait that came naturally to my breed, my hooves making hardly a dent in the sand as they were swept away by the unending waves of harsh wind. I was nearly deafened by them but not worried. The wind could do nothing to me. The sand could not make me fall. I needed little water; I had taught myself to go without it for long periods of time. I was one of Mother's best students. She'd adopted me, in a sense. My real mother was a tramp, no outside life other than being a Gesserit. She had no more intentions to rise any higher than what she'd become. Imprinters, was what her kind were called. So she brought me to Mother and she sort of took me in. Acted more like a mother than the other one had.

Ahead the dunes peaked and I walked up the slope, my hooves heavy butalive as I trudged through the hot stuff. I smelled a stallion there, though his smell was strong but fresh. It was too early to judge much else. I walked up the hill, his smell growing stronger. When the hot wind blasted my brown and white mane, I snorted, defiant to the will of the desert. I peered down into the valley of sand noticing the multicolored grains scattered here and there, and I thought it was rather beautiful for so barren a place. It was an oasis fed y the desert itself and therefore, wouldn't see its dying day until the desert itself did. This desert had been here forever.

At first I didn't see the stallion, for his cost flashed, radiant against the sun's glare, and he sported a sand colored coat. He was a tall and handsome horse. It was obvious he was no ordinary stallion, or else he couldn't have made it this far out here. He had a kind of presence I found myself drawn to but didn't need to be near to sense. I found myself skidding down the loose sand on the dune, approaching to meet him. Curious, I was. But I was alert, still. There had been rumors...but I was skeptical. Although I kept an open mind. Anything different, new, out of order was to be paid full attention to. And this horse deserved my full attention. I watched as he went through a range of emotions and told myself: be careful. But I was interested, indeed. My eyes sparked with intensity ndmy face was simple but noble. Mother herself had told me I was beautiful if I looked it, and I had no trouble keeping my dignity intact. I looked up to meet his eyes and nodded in respect. Of course I realized it was his terra, and I was barging in unwelcomed although most stallions, normal stallions, would be fine when a beautiful damsel wandered in. Although I recognized this one reserved respect from me. My mouth was a firm line and I said but a few words, "Your land is beautiful, considering it is so dep in the desert. Is it yours?"

[Deleted]

Karii

Perhaps the companionship of an evil person is preferable to loneliness?

The last thing he had expected was a mare to be there, her coat chestnut and blinding white among the sandy tones of his home. Sky blue eyes traced over her, cold annoyance at the disturbance the only emotion his eyes showed as he decided if this mare was a threat to him or not and if it would be within his rights to crush her to death. Probably not considering the way Terasi was screeching above him, her harsh war cry making his sensitive ears twitched at the shrill sound. How much he hated that hawk sometimes but he did love her, in a way. She had looked after him, taught him and generally kept him from destroying a lot of things while he had been working out how to use his strange new abilities, but she was still annoying as hell. Hopefully this mare wouldn't be like that.

"Your land is beautiful, considering it is so dep in the desert. Is it yours?" she asked as she came closer, her posture the demanding respect. The God snorted softly at the way she thought she could just march into his home and demand respect of a divine, not it would be known he was a god to her. Red tipped ears flicked around as he decided how he felt and if he really wanted to have a conversation with this mare. Really it would be that much easier to challenge her and kill her in a few minutes. Actually being social was something he so rarely did but he guessed he could give it a try for once.

"What do you think?" he asked and he looked around at his land, the heart of the desert and a haven to the lucky wanderers who actually managed to make it this far out into the desert and not die of dehydration, heatstroke or being crushed to death by a rather annoyed desert God. "Its not like anyone else could lvie out here"

---

notes; so she hasn't been crushed to death...yet

[Velnias]

Jessica

I curtly nodded. "It seems fantastical, a place like this in such barren a wasteland," I commented with a nonchalant nod to the tall stallion. His brow was furrowed in a harsh and intricate way, though from the hard set face and the sharp, stony eyes it looked like this was just his usual way. He didn't look at all tired, either. In fact, there was a hint. About the way this place breathed, shifted in the wind, it seemed to shift with his deep breaths, to breathe like he did. There was something curiously different abou the horse. My attention, though it never left him, was drawn upwards into the sky where my ears heard the flap of wings and the shrill screech of the hawk circling above. Circling the stallion.

He looked anxious of my being there, like he hadn't expected me. He didn't seem like much of the social type but he wasn't all that standoffish, either. He just acted a bit taken aback when he saw a mare like me out here. I was tired and my coat felt sticky in the heat, but I hardly ever sweated. It was something I'd learned years ago. I'm not joking at all; it was a training technique we'd practiced. I could live out here for weeks. I knew how and where to find the water, how to travel by night, rest during the day, use as little water from my body as was possible, and simply being resistant to heat helped me as well. I'd also heard that a lighter coat reflected heat, whereas a darker coat absorbed it.

In the not-so-far distance, there was a shimmering in the sand. Inside the stallion's boundary or his land, I thought I saw water. But I closed my eyes, and my mind was churning, thinking of the possible chance there could be any water out here. I self-checked my pulse, my body's temperature, and reasoned it was no doubt, a mirage. When I'd opene my eyes gain, the vision had faded. So many unfortunate souls had been lured into that trap. It was difficult to repress the desire to drink, but I knew I must. "It really is interesting, considering it isn't all that difficult, you just have to learn how to survive in a place like this." I agreed with the stallion, watching for his reaction. By some divine purpose or other, he was strong, a quick thinker like I was. He had the build of a desert survivor and, as anyone shuld know, a sharp mind.

I again lowered my petite head a fraction, casting a harmless smile across my face. I looked around, stepped just past him without ever letting my senses fully leave him. I felt he was watching my every move, or would be wherever I went in this terra he called his own. It was a small place, a small valley hidden my tall sand dunes sloping around it on all sides. I thought I vaguely recognized the place, or the dark rock cliffs in th distance suggested I'd been here before. My mind churned, and I knew of course that the scenery I was seeing was real, not just the sun's glaring rays. With a quiet sigh I wondered how it could, ad would, all come together. My hooves were delicate, pale as they made dents in the hot sand underfoot. Soft footfalls, surveying his valley of sand. And as I did this, my mind was hard at work, carrying on thought after thought train, thinking about the stallion briefly, then my location and where Mother expected me to be, where I was to meet her, how it was all to work. And this thing, this feeling of unnervity that churned in my stomach. I was in the presence of something great here, as was not new to me. And I thought of the plot, how crucial I was to it all.

Indifferent, I turned back to the horse. "Supposing you've claimed this land and I'm just a passerby, it may be necessary we establish whether you wish that I stay or leave." My voice, soft and quiet, questioning but patient. I felt a pull that kept trying to drag me on with my task. Come on, Jessica. You've no time for fool games with the burden you're now carrying. I'd ignored the voice or I hadn't needed to. Now, I was reluctant to stay, but I was curious about the sand-colored horse. He was different in an immeasurable way. Of course, so was I. But if I was told to stay I would undoubtedly respect him, working towards my own goals in his shadow. We Bene Gesserit were like that; never trying for the ultimate position of power where all we did were noticed. However, I could promise the horse one thing he did not yet know about me, in exchange for the mystery about him. I could help him achieve greatness, far greater than any normal mortal could know.

OOC - As I was on the third paragraph I realized-- what if she's carrying a foal? I could run with that; she's originally Jessica from the Dune books...she'd have the plottage for it but how would Karii accept that, even if I came up with an explanation?

[Deleted]

Karii

I finally understand… I'm alone. I won't believe in anyone, or love anyone. I'm alone

Karii watched the mare as she walked past him, the white patches of her coat glaringly white in the harsh desert light. He ignored that overbright reflection of the sun and instead focussed on her hooves on his sand. Each time a hoof struck those tiny, minute rocks his ears twitched ever so slightly as if she was jabbing him with a fine needle each time she touched the multicoloured sand and with each step he smoothed the dents she made in the flat expanse of sand. She was surveying, he knew and for some reason that annoyed him. His land was beautiful, with the glistening pebbles in the dry stream bed and the clear pool that was fed by a spring. Even the sand sparkled with life that no other place in the desert had, life that came from him, from each breath he took.

This mare had broken the unshattered coating of divinity in the land, which somehow made the place seem even more alive. Like the last piece of the desert haven had finally settled into place and finished off the picture of the desert God's home. Perhaps it was because every stallion needs his mare, even if that mare wasn't actually his, to make his land seem like home. Dark tail flicked in annoyance at that single thought. He had promised himself long ago he wouldn't become attached to anyone or anything in anyway even if he so often felt lonely out in the desert with only a hawk who often was absent for company, but that was the life of a god. No friends, no family, no company. Just alone. Truly alone.

"Supposing you've claimed this land and I'm just a passerby, it may be necessary we establish whether you wish that I stay or leave." He hadn't heard her turn back towards him or felt her hoves churning up his sand. Unconciously he smoothed the hoofprints she had made and the same sand he had smoothed formed tendrils that wrapped around her legs this time with conscious thought, stopping her from going anywhere until he decided the answer to that question.

"I suppose I could let you continue on whatever suicide mission your on..." Karii paused for a moment as if to think then continued "...or maybe I won't let you leave this land alive" The sand crept around her bodice, keeping her perfectly still while he just watched her with a bored expression. More sand crept around her body, coating her legs completely and tightening like a noose to cut off the blood supply while he just stood there waiting for her to react to his slow crushing. His ears twitched as the sand around her barrel started to clench slowly, pushing the breath out of her with each breath she took like a python wrapping tighter around its prey until it was dead.

Then he suddenly stopped, leaving the sand rock hard around her but no longer constricting everytime she let out a breath. It wasn't a change in heart that had made him do that, it was Terasi who had landed on his wither and dug her talons into his skin until blood ran in clear lines against his sandy coat like his markings when he shed his mortal colours and took on the form he was as a god. He turned his head to meet the sharp glare of the bird of prey and snorted in her face for her disturbing him. Reddy brown wings flared to catch the air and she released her bloody grip on his wither, floating above his back before circling up and screeching her annoyance at his murderous tendancies.

Bits of sand flew around him as if caught in a whirlwind but no air moved to change the stifling desert heat. Still he left the mare trapped without her bonds of rock like sand, his indecision leading him to trapping her until he came up with his answer to her question. Although perhaps by the time he did she would no longer by able to use her legs. That thought made him slightly loosen the sand around her legs but only enough to let blood flow back to them. He didn't want his prey running away while he was deciding whether to let her live or not.

---

notes; he probably wouldn't care all that much. And bad Karii! Crushing guests is not polite

[Velnias]

Jessica

I topped, sensing he was flirting annoyance with me. There was a sliding noise under me, around my hooves. A scraping, gritty noise just barely audible. It was then that I felt the sand climbing up the walls of my hooves, crawling over my silk skin, up my forelegs and hind legs, up past my knees, around my flank and chest so that I started to lose feeling in them below me. Fear...told me to panic, to be wild, rave, go mad, escape! Fear is the mindkiller... I calmed myself, closed my eyes for a shudder of a second. My legs were still there. I couldn't feel them, but they were there. I was alive, still breathing -although the sand I'd noticed, had begun slowly, ever slowly, to push the air from my lungs- and my heart still beat. I could still think, I was alive, I would be perfectly alright.

With my newly refound serenity about me, I thanked Mother for teaching me her art. I looked down at the columns of glittering, gold sand rock hard and trapping my legs, and the first thought that came to mind was, Well, this could certainly put a damper on our relationship. I asessed the situation and reasoned it would be unwise to try to resist this horse that had such surpeme control over the sands. I didn't dare grasp the conclusion yet, but I was beginning to think only an exceptionally powerful and strong horse, or otherwise some kind of god, could have such control over his environment as a whole. I raised my dark and violet-tinged eyes to meet his. The glowed with a fire I couldn't subdue. Someone told me once they'd fallen in love with me for my eyes. But I wasn't much for romance; it was too fickle and couldn't be trusted, that thing called Love. Although somtimes, it had its advantages.

Being put into the sort of situation I now was in, I instinctively clamped down my tail against my rump. I hadn't said anything but the stallion's dark eyes had been watching me. He gave me the no-nonsense bravado, but without probing too much I was curious as to whether he really meant it. "I never said...I was on any mission. Let alone suicide, who would want that?" My words were as cusiously innocent as could be, soft and hesitant at first, but then there was that fire in my eyes that kept me from acting fake and quivering. But at this point, I didn't dare try to act rebellious against the horse. Without looking away, I finally lowered my gaze steadily to watch his hooves standing stock-still. My voice was the wind, or at least it carried my words, and I had an alluring voice. I didn't mean it that way, but it was better than a trembling, quivering voice. "If that's what you wish, there isn't much I could do about it, is there?"

When I looked up I heard wings beating the air, slightly muffled by the sand clouds rising constantly with the wind. The stallion threw the bird a look, grimaced, and finally the bird alighted from the place she'd landed, digging her claws into his shoulder. It was at that point I realized the sand had loosened around my legs and chest. At first they'd only stop suffocating me. But the stallion looked from the bird and then to me and slowly I felt the texture of the sand grains loosen around me. The bird, I thought. She desn't control him...but she can sway him and he listens to her! After that I thought about the stallion's friend, but more about the stallion. About what he would do next. I'd planned it out already, had he?

I took advantage of the looseness of his grip and inhaled a deep breath, not allowing myself to be fazed by the encounter thus far. If he was going to kill me, he would have already done it. A stallion of his quick thinking and rash decisions? I'd be dead now if it weren't for the hawk. Although I was at his mercy and I wasn't about to overextend my welcome. Solemnly I looked to the mountains, knowing my trip would have to be postponed for a little while. I looked at the stallion, swishing my tail uncertainly, as we'd reached a still point in our talk. He was thinking, as was I. "What would it be, then?" I calmly asked. "I didn't doubt your power, and still don't! But as you see, we've reached a stalemate. I'm only in a position to wait." And so wait I would.

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[Deleted]

Terasi

even if I had the courage to tell you who I am I don't think you'd understand why I did it...

Dark reddish brown wings held her streamline feathered body aloft on the strong desert thermals as she glided above the moody God of the Desert, her golden eyes looking severely annoyed the way birds-of-prey always looked. She was not truly annoyed, well ok, she was a little annoyed that Karii had caught the poor mare in his sand and had been slowly crushing her to death when the quicktempered hawk ahd landed on his wither and warned him that what he was about to do would have no good outcomes and so he had stopped his slow constricting of the mare. At least he had not crushed her quickly. In many ways that was much, much worse than when he killed like a python with his sand, slowly stopping his prey from breathing until it passed out and then died. When he killed quickly the extreme pressure his rock like sand put on the body made blood fall like rain over an area around the site. In everyway that was so much worse except that his prey felt nothing. It just died with no pain or even understanding of what happened.

Watching him do that without any emotion on his face was the scariest thing she had ever seen and probably ever would see. Just watching as blood rained down on the sandy gold and ochre red stallion, his face emotionless and his sky blue eyes uncaring, even slightly annoyed. That was the only time the hawk was ever scared of the easily annoyed god. When blood rained from the sky because he had killed.

She kept circling above, tilting her head to one side so she could hear them talking. "What would it be, then?" the two toned mare asked, sounding calm as if she was not in a position that could very well end in her blood splattered all over Karii's paradise. The redtailed hawked circled lowey slowly "I didn't doubt your power, and still don't! But as you see, we've reached a stalemate. I'm only in a position to wait."

As if. Just because Terasi had warned the God about the consequences to his actions did not meant he would listen to her and just because he had stopped crushing the life out of here did not mean he would not simply pull her pretty little body under the sand and crush her like that. The hawk knew that Karii was unpredictable in things like that but when it came to being annoyed by stupid little comments...well, that was a different thing entirely. Stupid comments made him mad and would always make him mad, especially if they mentioned his parents or past. Anyone who dared mention that would be dead before they could take another breath.

The hawk wondered how he would respond to that and how he did surprised her greatly. "Then I suppose its not polite to be restraining a guest" he said like he was apologising and the redtailed hawk watched the sand creep its way down her legs and return to its inanimate state around her hooves. What had she done to Karii? He never let his prey go and absolutely never apologised. Never. It worried the hawk so she circled down and landed on his neck, right behind his ears.

"Karii, are you ok?" she asked, concern showing on her permanently fierce face. This was just so unlike the sandy dun stallion that she could not quite believe it was the same horse but the same horse it was. His ears flicked back, brushing her chest and blue eyes rolled back to glare at her. "I'm fine" he snapped. "now go watch the borders"

She sighed and took off, her dark brown feathers carrying her high into the sky. Golden eyes watched the ground for jackals, coyotes or any other being that Karii might need to get out of his desert home. Worry still clouded those amber eyes, worry for the stallion and his sudden change in heart that she could not understand and there were not many things about him she could not comprehend.

---

notes; i wasn't gonna write it in terasi's pov but i kinda wanted a change so here it is in the hawk's eyes

[Velnias]

Jessica

Then the hawk was there, suddenly. She swooped down upon the scene with more grace and less ferocity than she ad done the last time she intervened. It seemed more and more as though the hawk was the one who was trying to keep the stallion from doing something rash. The hawk looked at me when she communicated with the stallion and her eyes were dark and shiny, piercing like ice, but warm with feeling. Although from the way she looked at me with accusations written on her face and questions in her eyes, the warmth was directed at the stallion, not at me. I met the hawk's eyes with a fierceness of my own, that identical will to fight on, to not die. But I looked away first, proving to her I was no threat.

When I felt the sand falling from my legs or rather snaking back down them, I sucked in a deep breath through my nostrils. At first I was a little unbalanced but I closed my eyes to let the blow flow back through my patchwork-stained legs. I lifted a hoof and was about to stomp to shake off the sand that stuck in the hairs of my coat. But then I stopped, considering the kind of attention I'd get for doing that, and softly placed my sole back down. "Thank you," I said softly. The stallion looked strangely exhausted. I could see why his hawk friend had looked so concerned and she obviously thought I'd done something. There wasn't any use to deny it if the question came up; I'd just have to practice killing two birds with one stone, so to speak, by proving my intentions otherwise. Err, wrong analogy, Jess.

"What would you like me to do?"

[/b] I watched the stallion as the hawk took to the air and flew away. I knew in the stallion's eyes he was holding something back from his friend and she wasn't used to him holding back. They were obviously very close. It was as though I was a third wheel of some kind here in their little paradise. I shifted uncomfortably from one hoof to the next, knowing that if the stallion took offense to something else I said, this time he wouldn't wait for his hawk to return. And the more I looked at him the more I realized that he seemed to breathe the desert. His land was so beautiful and full of power, the same that he'd harnessed moments ago.

I didn't know his name, nor did I ask. He'd give it if he chose. If he asked me, well, he wouldn't ask me unless he thought I was worth remembering or wanted me to stay. So I cast a second glance over his land, if only to reacquaint myself with its beauty. I threw my face to the wind coming from the west, in the same direction the hawk had set flight towards. "Surely..." I began, "you've something meant for a place like this? A herd...an army..." I hesitated, knowing that I knew absolutely nothing about him other than he was very powerful, and he didn't like to mess around. "Or...to escape it all." My voice trailed off and I looked away, still feeling as though I'd intruded on something sacred, something his.

"If I'm allowed to stay, maybe I can help you. Just tell me how."[/b][/size][/font][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Deleted]

Karii

Bonds with others… Up until now, I only known them as hate and murderous intent. But I wonder, what is that bond they longed for? Now I understand, even only a little. Pain, sadness… and joy. These feelings allow you to understand others

She wanted to help him somehow. Just help him, nothing else, nothing more. Almost as if she wanted to earn her stay in his barren desert paradise. Dark edged ears twitched slightly and amusement washed away the annoyance in his sky blue eyes and smoothed his features so the lightheartedness he had as a tiny foal shone through the dark clouds of his past and lit his face in a dull radience. It was only his eyes that showed that emotion, though. Just those bright sky blue eyes that seemed to light up all his handsome features as an emotion other than annoyance filled those light blue orbs. What he found funny would be a mystery to most, probably everyone actually. Except for him. He knew why this painted mare had made his emotions change so radically.

"Surely...you've something meant for a place like this? A herd...an army...Or...to escape it all."

Once again those ears twitched ever so slightly towards her, showing his focus on her and only her. The emotion in his eyes changed from amusement to beckoning and he looked at her as if he was expecting her to follow him. "come with me" he said softly, his deep voice strangely kind. "there is something you need to see if you are going to stay here" he started walking away from her, towards the oasis. His hooves left no prints in the sand and the blazing sun made his sandy coat seem like it was made out of gold. Then edges of his mane and tail were red in that fierce light, almost like he was in his divine form. Slow that red spread through his coat, eclipsing the back and dying him red and gold. His eyes remained that bright blue like the sky and they held simple serenity rather than annoyance or any other emotion he normally displayed.

With each breath he took the desert seemed to come to life. Dark rain clouds started to form on the horizon and the winds became stronger. Animals began moving around, searching for sanctuary from the coming storm but the desert god simply looked at the horizon with a smile in his eyes. The upcoming storm would bring life to the normally bone dry desert, creating life where once there was only sand and bones. His eyes settled on the cactus scattered around the little desert haven. After the rain they would come in full bloom to bring some colour and life to his secluded home much like the pretty little mare had. Confusion briefly alighted on his features. Had he really just thought that the mare had brought life and colour into his empty land? That could not be right. He liked his solitude and the freedom that came with it.

Blue orbs shut momentarily to give him some time to reconsider his thoughts on the mare who had been so bold to walk into a god's land and expect him to decide if she could stay or not. So, one-she annoyed him to no end but for some reason he found her interesting, two-she was quite pretty even if he would never admit it to anyone, not even Terasi and three-he had not killed her even though he was very close to crushing the life out of her. For the antisocial God that was as good as him going down on his knees and asking her to marry him. Ok, so maybe not quite that but it was quite welcoming for him. Normally his welcome was a cold glare then being pulled under the sand dunes and crushed to death quickly. The way he had actually tried ot hold a conversation with the mare was something strange.

So when those blue eyes opened after a moment of internal debate he parted the golden, white and red sands to reveal the bones of many horses hidden beneath the innocent looking sand dunes. Each had many broken bones, some had every bone broken and all of them were tightly packed together as if they had been crushed(which they had). Bloody red hair drifted in the dying breeze as he turned his head to look at her with piercing blue eyes. "there is nothing that needs to be done here" he told her, his voice deep and quiet and very very creepy in the suddenly still air. "you shouldn't even be here. You should be resting with these souls but you are very lucky-or unlucky, depending on how you look at it- that I allowed you to live."

Those blue eyes softened ever so slightly but his undeniable power still showed in them, making them light up like twin torches in the suddenly darkened land. The purplish black blue storm clouds had covered the sun and the normally sunny desert had become dark like it rarely ever was. The wind picked up again, this time chilled and it tugged at his crimson mane and tail. "I don't particularly care what you do while your here but do remember that I am Karii of the Desert and I am a God. Do wrong by me and you will not live to see another day. Now, how about we find some shelter from this storm?"

---

notes; he's never really had a horse as a companion before so this could get really awkward

[Velnias]

Jessica

Karii turned his back to me and expected me to follow. I did, like a dog follows its master, which was meant as a sign of submission to him. All eyes were on me in this terra and all of them were his eyes. I held my head up high but just lower than his. He walked with a proud gait but his head swung with his shoulders that looked heavy, as though many burdens were placed upon them. I took care where I stepped, but instead of trying to dodge the sand I let my hooves slide into it. Not crush its grains, leaving a hoofprint, but rather like leaving soft notches on its surface. It was like walking on a beach with your ankles in the water, each step slow and careful. Whether you picked your hoof up and set it down again extra carefully, or simply let it glide in the water, you tried not to break its smooth surface by causing splashes with your steps. An art.

I walked up to Karii's shoulder when he stopped. There was a pit in the dunes before us. It opened up, the sand parting, a great red sea opening like a cavernous mouth. But its teeth were made of razor-sharp bits of broken bone, concealed under the dunes for who knew how long, and it was then, before he said it himself that I fully understood. This pit of bone was old and young, from varied times, varying age, but all preserved by Time and Sand. Karii was Sand, the Desert God. The one who posessed such complete control of his homeland that it seemed only perfect sense. I stood without speaking for a moment as I stared at the dry bits of remains, feeling his eyes watching me after what he'd said. "You truly are master of this realm," I said. "But why?" It was to a much different question.

I looked at him, my eyes searching his proud face but trying not to peel away the layers too raw, though I had the feeling we passed the offended, I'm-going-to-kill-you-because-you-said-just-the-wrong-thing stage. Still, I didn't want to push too far, considring what I'd just learned. The red sun in the distance made my coat pinkish and soft as my lips moved to the words that emitted from them. "Why unearth the jewels of your land," I said of the gems littering his terra, shining in the sand, making his terra a sea of sparkling beauty. "And hide the real story of this place's history?" The bones, from centuries or mere years ago, were hidden again under folds of golden-brown sand. "Keep your most beautiful treasures close to your heart; don't brag of them, for a thief may be tempted by them. Show them their mistakes, instead. So maybe they'll learn from their predecessors." I hoped he wouldn't give me the answer I was not at all wishing for. That he preferred it this way; his pride was greater than his power. That he enjoyed bringing a quick -or slow- death to any he saw fit. If it was his way, so be it. But even I didn't take pride in my line of work.

It was then that I also noticed his coat, that had before shimmered as if radiating heat, golden dun like the desert sand, had now grown darker. It wasn't just a trick of the light, but his coat shone with the reddish glow of the sunset sky. The clouds were dark streaked and I could feel the smell of rain, a rare thing in a place like ths, in my nostrils. I couldn't help but wonder if I'd had anything to do with it. It was very possible; the weather here, even, was directly under the god's power. This was his realm. With a new understanding in my eyes, though they had grown no darker and full of no more thought han they always had been, watched the stalion with intensity. "Lead the way," I said softly. "I'm no stranger to the desert, but I can't pretend you aren't the master."

[Deleted]

Karii

I think of you as a friend. I used to think "friend" was just another word… Nothing more, nothing less. But when I met you, I realised what was important was the word's meaning

Silence filled the air the clouds crept ever closer, their bellies dark with rain. The wind grew stronger as if it was trying to warn the two horses of the torrential rainfall that was about to occur. The God needed no such warning. After all it was him who called upon the so needed rain to wash clean his bloodied land and perhaps allow something new to grow from the infertile sands. It was strange for him to think like that, very strange indeed but he did. He wanted to change, to see the world in a new light even if it were only for a few moments. Just a few moments of light in the darkness that had always been his life and if those moments lasted for longer than just that brief flash of time maybe he would know what it was like to live a normal life. A true life that was suspended in a cloud of darkness and hazed by the scent and sight of blood and death.

Those were irrational thoughts. He flicked his ears almost as if he was shaking his head and thought of a place to shelter from the coming tempest. There were the caves beneath the jewelled sands but they tended to flood when the water seeped beneath the sand. No, he needed to find a place on higher ground that was still sheltered and in this land that was nowhere. It was all sand and nothing else. To get to good shelter they would be travelling for several hours and by then the rain would be falling to hard to even consider moving. So he led her higher, to a plateau that was hidden beneath the dunes. When the rain came it would not flood like the rest of the desert. Now for shelter.

Focus filled those sky blue orbs and one by one grains of sand piled on top of each other and tendrils of sand rose from the dunes. They slowly merged together and spread into a wall that formed into a dome. The dome cut off the weather but air was still eddying around them. Sand continued creeping along the underside of the dome to strengthen it and reassure Karii no rain would be able to make its way into the little sanctuary formed from hundreds of thousands of millions of grains of sand that were packed so tight together they could almost be called stone. Almost. Every so often tendrils of sand would move over the walls like snakes, proving that the dome was indeed sand, not rock.

Unfortunately the young god had forgotten one thing. Terasi. She screeched in annoyance and circled above the dome but made no move to swoop near to the smooth sand until it seemed to almost peel back, allowing her inside. With her wings folded close to her body she shot inside, a blur of reddish brown and white, circled around inside a few times to control her speed and finally perched on the red wither of her charge. The hole that he made closed up as quickly as it had formed and not a trace was left of the small gap he had made in his sand dome but still he shifted his weight to a different side as if anxious about the strength of his shelter.

The hawk preened herself to pass the time but the equine had no such thing to do. All he could really do was talk to the two toned mare. Copper and white, white and copper. Like snow and blood. Almost undetectable shudders went through him as he imagined the salty iron smell of blood against the fresh, clean smell of snow. Bloodlust bubbled just below his conscious thoughts, rising slowly with each moment he was trapped with the mare and her beating heart. Blood, rich red blood that promised power. No, he was beyond that. He no longer killed for power or for the lust. The driving, insane lust for that crimson liquid in the veins of all living creatures. He wanted it, was driven mad by it but he could not give in at that moment. The mare trusted him-somewhat- and he had no intention of betraying that trust.

"You asked me why I hide the story of my land, so I might as well answer you now while there's nothing else to do," there was something almost friendly about the way he spoke now that made the hawk stop her grooming and stare at the god with surprise and confusion. If the stallion noticed her staring he did not show it. “I don’t care about who comes to this land, nor do I care what they think of it. It is merely a place that I stay when I can’t stand the world as it is. Anyone could come and try to make it their home but in the end the desert will always belong to me, so why not hide the story? I don’t need to be reminded everyday of what has been done and I would rather not be remembering how I have been in the past. I was immature back then, immature and annoyed at the world for letting me live”

As he spoke the rain began to fall like a monsoon in the desert but not a drop fell through the sand dome that hid them from the storm. The feel of the liquid sliding along the minute ridges in the rock like sand was a harsh reminder of how blood had felt when it ran in crimson lines around tendrils of sand that slipped away from the bloodied pulp that had been only seconds before a proud equine fighting for his home. Then the mares that ran screaming from the crimson and ivory mess that had once been their leader. Each one of them had been crushed lifeless and their bones hidden beneath the sands.

Cover up the evidence to keep the bloody history unknown

Before that, the first one. His mother, her blood staining his petite hooves. More history that he hid from the world with a superior demeanour and blood chilling glares. Then his own blood, staining the golden brown sands with the crimson of his life force. He had been saved then, saved and changed to a divine being with sky blue eyes filled with annoyance and control of the desert sands. And there was his life. Simple, easy. His life was death after death, one drop of blood falling after another.
crimson tears flow to mingle with the sands, bestowing greater power on the demon god…

[Velnias]

Jessica

There was a sickening second feeling that mingled with the adrenaline rush that was just now dying in my veins, and the serene kind of calm that washed over me. Once the three of us were safe under his sand dome, I realized how, even though I had just broken through this sand God's barriers - or in fact, he'd allowed me to pass, for when it came to gods there really was no brute force that could work with them - I still felt like our conversations were slightly one-sided. If he was true to his word as I sensed, deep down, he was, then he really and truly might not care at all whether I stayed or left. And now I was viewing him with a stranger's perspective, an outsider to his beautiful hidden world. I perhaps could not matter to a god like him. He had all he wanted, as it so seemed to be, a world to master and a terra to call home.

The sense of pride within him was endearing and it quelled my curiosity, but if he was anything like me I'd already pushed that button; now that we were hidden in some kind of concealed place and I was faced with the thought that maybe in fact, he did not care about me, then anything may still happen. It was all part of his mood. But I did admire that sense of self-posession he had. He held his head high, his face grim, and didn't grin like a fool at every interval for laughter. He was calm, analytical, and almost sensible. But it was hard to pin him with a word like that. He'd killed many, all for his own personal reasons. His vendetta againat the world. I could be the same eventually, just a pile of bones. It didn't matter where. But as these thoughts dragged me down and down into my own mind I was at a loss of words, content to hear the rainfall's humming. I thought of my tasks.

"I understand that." My words might make little or no difference to him, simple as they were, uncoded, unangled to turn the conversation one way or the other. Imbalanced. I threw them out into the underground space and they echoed. The reddish hawk's sharp eyes glistened and scanned me and the sand cavern. You might think I don't, I continued in the strong voice of my mind, but I think you're aware I know more than I show. I at least hoped he did. Because next I had a second leap of faith to take, and if we were not aligned on the same page it could take a dangerous swerve.

"I like to be hidden. I have nothing to prove to the world; that is how I often feel. And yet I haven't found a way to ease my work from my shoulders. It's why I've been traveling, why I happened upon your terra, because my work still calls to me." I paused and clenched my jaw, reliving some of Mother's words the las time she'd spoken to me. "Shall I..." I swung my head to look at Karii, my gaze met by the fierceness of the hawk's. "Shall I call you by your name, or title?" His title was Sand, the powerful name alike alll those the gods posessed. Death, Love, Fear, Truth. It was said you cold invoke their support or presence by using those names; not many mortals were familiar with the gods' true names. And when I looked at Karii I wanted to comminicate to him the gratitude I felt for him sparing me and his sheltering me. I could stay as long as he needed or while the storm lasted. True, I did want to help him. However, by now he must have been able to understand only a fierce spirit could've survived the ordeal he'd begun to take me down. The ordeal of the others.

And when I saw the hawk with her proud eyes perched on his wither, I met her eyes with respect. But then a new emotion clouded my eyes. I stiffened, looked away, and quickly masked my face again into smooth, delicate composure. Karii was handsome. He was gentle and strong on a clear day, but his rage was furious like a tempest. He breathed the Desert. And it was I who wanted to be his queen, standing at his wither, looking over his ingdom tht he'd allowed m watch over; and also, over the lands I'd soared to and conquered in my far travels. But eventually, a good-natured stallion's mare would play her role as queen, trusting her stallion, thinking as one with him, and sacrificing adventure for the future. The future of her heirs.

[Deleted]

Karii

Silence fell inside the dome of sand and sky blue eyes remained on the patchwork mare, assessing her, analysing every part of her so he could determine her strengths and weaknesses to determine how intimate he would allow her to become. She seemed self respecting, dominant and confident, some things that were quite useful when dealing with him but from what he had seen she was also smart enough to back off and be submissive when she saw him getting annoyed. There was something else to her too, something that intrigued him as much as it annoyed him; she could survive in the desert. Very few horses could do that and yet she had overcome most of the obstacles that his harsh world had. The only one she would never defeat was him, the God of the Desert. A creature that was born from sand and lived only as the harsh terrain did, with no forgiveness and no second chances. One wrong step and that was it, game over. So far he knew she had treaded the path carefully but gracefully, like a dancer.

“Call me Karii,” his voice tore through the blanket of silence with razor blades, leaving long gashes but leaving it intact. The stillness, the silence inside the dome was something he felt should not be disturbed by too much chatting. Not that he was the type to chat anyway, even though this copper and white mare sparked his curiosity and lit a desire in him that he was having a hard time understanding. If he did understand he would know that it was the desire to connect, to share some like past or emotions with the mare but so far he did not even know her name. So even if he had understood the strange desire driving him to be friendly he could hardly start off a nice conversation without knowing her name.

That thought entered his mind a few moments after he had suggested she call him by his true name, the one he had been born with and so he spoke, his low and somewhat intimidating voice hardly audible over the staccato drum patterns of rain on the outside of the dome. “What should I call you?” It was a simply posed question, asked out of politeness but still his crimson tipped ears flicked towards her to show that she had his full and complete attention even though his brain was a million miles away. Within his mind he was the millions of raindrops falling and the individual grains of sand separating to suck in all the moisture possible until the parched ground could take no more and it started to pool and flood the sandy expanse of living deadness.

Also in his mind was the creatures of the desert both undercover and out in the now lake like desert. He held the living and the dying at the same, their cries of pain filling his mind as did the songs of relief. So many creatures in the desert safe and in danger. He could save none of them nor reassure them that everything would be ok. No, that was Death’s job and the young god would rather not be involved with the mysterious ancient immortal who was among the first to walk both the mortal and divine realms. See the antisocial desert god had once had a close brush with Hades in which the ruler of the Underworld had been denied the young stallion by the last of the Ancient Ones, the last of the spirits; Saani. That was why Karii avoided any interaction with the bringer of the end.

Despite his thoughts ranging through everything his eyes never left the patchwork mare and they never those their slightly warm intensity that could transform instantly into a glare that could rival a basilisk’s. His red tipped ears remained pointed towards her and a small part of his attention remained on her, ready to bring the rest of his thoughts back to attention when she opened her mouth and let words spill. Hopefully she would speak again sometime before the rain stopped falling, so he had a chance to tell her what could possible be seen if he dropped the dome quickly enough. Or maybe he would not tell her perhaps the rarest wonders of his realm, the wonders that were only revealed after a rainstorm.

notes/other; my muse is having a fail.