Most of us long to "Be" but when the path gets too costly, or steep, we take solace in what we "Have." Remove the trappings of what we own and then what is the sum of us?
They were the survivors, abandoned by the allies who swore to protect, in...
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To traverse the vast continent of the Nethris took great fortitude. Though the small of mind may see this place as being encapsulated within the bright blue sphere or mother earth, it was in effect more boundless than its daylight counterpart.
That idea would have made no sense to any who may have pondered the mechanics of this conundrum. However, nothing in the vast world of the Nethris made sense, at least not to the logical human mind.
Xonereth flew on the back of a zilant's swift flight. Past the open and endless fields of steel gray rushes that wavered and moaned like lost souls. The thrusting spear like rushes mature, velvet black and soft like the pelts of witches' kittens.
The beast that bore its proud ruler was inky dark with eyes of scintillant silver, pupils narrow and pointed like a cat. A coronet of twisted, malformed horns garnered its gargantuan head, large bovine ears were framed beneath this bony crown.
Its wingspan was of great size, the edges sporting claws for gripping and climbing the harsh rock faces that were abundant here, like a bat. A shaggy black mane not unlike that of a lion graced its powerful neck. The almost Cheshire cat mouth sported many rows of ridged and upright canine teeth.
Part of the fantastical creature was feathered, part scaled, and part fur. Its front legs were the powerful claws of a big cat, the rear manifest as the talons of a bird. It had a long sinuous scaled tail that mimicked a serpent with a tuft of twisted fur at the end like that of a bullock or a lion.
There were many other equally fantastic creatures who would have carried Xonereth on this journey. However the zilant or ajdaha as it was called by those of upper earth was amongst the largest and swiftest of all creatures here that soared the skies.
Xonereth would find the exiled Valefor. He knew exactly where his brother had been incarcerated to endure eternity many millennia before. It had been a different time then in his kingdom. A time of instability, a time of unspeakable deeds and betrayals.
His torn and suffering subjects had only uttered Valefor's name in whispers since that time. Mostly he was not referred to at all, except with a dark look or an obscure reference. Those exiled should in polite society truly cease to exist, and hence Valefor had.
The bitter bile, and darkened shadow that was Valefor, had indeed ceased to exist for an age. Though even in ensorcelled chains on the way to his exile, he had dared to mock his brother.
"I will live long in all your hearts in every black thought or deed, no matter how inescapable my prison." He had warned though a torrent of disheveled hair as he was dragged away. "You will not forget me even if you fear to speak my name..." He had screamed at Xonereth and Sheharizade in his exodus hatefully.
Valefor's prediction was right in a way, and the taint of his darkness was till this day a blot on the Nethris' collective soul. In many millennia they still had not completely shed his terrible legacy.
