the colosseum

It was the middle of the day when the sun stopped.

At its highest part of the day, it simply ceased its arc through the sky, as if Solis had simply abandoned his charge in its time of need. As the hours passed, the day stretched longer and longer, heat blazing through the auburn skies.

A single golden figure, whose mane burned brighter than fire, walked between the walls of the Canyon. His hoofprints seared the sand, turning it glassy and reflective. His hoofprints could be traced all the way back to the capitol, a distinctive trail leading south. No matter how the wind blew, the trail remained in place: it could not be buried, it could not be hidden. The god would not allow it.

He stops at last, scrutinizing an unremarkable section of canyon walls. There was nothing that would outwardly make it unique, and yet…

Solis stomps his hoof, and the ground rumbles softly. The walls of the Canyon shake, tossing off decades of dirt and grime and gods know what else. Bit by bit the Colosseum is revealed, as if shaking off its cowl and revealing its face to the world.

With a smile, the golden figure disappears back into the Canyon. His mirror-like prints lead directly to the entrance of the grand building before stopping: the god wishes not to be seen himself, but to show his creation to his people.

Welcome to Solis’ Colosseum.

The Colosseum is officially open!

Your character is welcome to be discover the hoofprints and follow them to the Colosseum, see Solis’ figure in the distance, or stumble upon it in a new manner, but pls no interaction with Solis directly. C’x

You can reply to this thread anytime before July 31st to claim partial participation in a SWP, but one post max per character if you choose!

RE: he walks alone. - Teiran - 06-27-2018

Teiran did not walk, she prowled. Like a wildcat, like a predator, over the desert sands. There was nothing casual about the rolling of her muscles beneath her fine coat, or the sharpness in her sage green eyes. She had felt this sense of something being wrong before, when Tempus had sent that falcon to the court. Then, she had stayed, watching over the people of Solterra while her sovereign and the rest of the regime had gone off to heed the god’s call.

Now, however, she would not sit still. Not as the sun froze in the sky, no longer following its path across the heavens. Change was coming and the rose hued warrior had no idea how to feel about it. There was a limit to her adaptability, like being thrown into a world she had no experience with and expecting to somehow assimilate without help. There were still some kinks there to be worked out.

The heat did not bother her, the blazing of the sun on her back was almost a comfort in this desert. But she could not sit still while the marrow of her world seemed to be breaking along fault lines, shifting inexplicably, inevitably. So, she moved, stepping past the sandstone walls of the court into the desert and beyond.

It was out there, among the gilded sea of sand, that she saw a figure in the distance. Immediately on alert, Teiran trailed the mysterious stranger, following their prints in the sand. She could not tell who they were, could see no remarkable details from where she was, but she registered their direction was southern facing and her determination only grew stronger. Why would they be headed for the canyon, she wondered. It was not any easy place to traverse through, unless one knew what they were doing.

By the time she arrived there was no sign of whoever it was she had followed, and if she had believed in things like ghosts and spirits perhaps she would have wondered if what she had seen was real at all. Perhaps, except for the large edifice her gaze was now looking upon in as much disbelief as she could muster.

Made of sandstone and towering far above the walls of Elatus, Teiran simply could not fathom how she was looking upon the colosseum at all. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she thought: divine, but she did not linger on those thoughts for long. The gods were not something she gave much of her time to. Steeling herself once again, not sure what she would find once she stepped past the threshold, Teiran entered the structure.

And to say that she was blown away would be an understatement

When she looked up at the imposing walls, the age worn stone, the deep pit in the center of it all, she felt dwarfed. She had never seen anything like it, and she couldn’t understand how something that seemed to have just materialized from thin air could look centuries old. As she stood there, eyes roaming over every stone rough inch, she could not help but wonder how, and why.

@Random Events

RE: he walks alone. - Kauri - 06-27-2018

burn through my love, i've had quite enough

Above the land, he watched below. A week or so has past since returning upon this climate he cherished greatly. Kauri lay atop the canyon, basking in the harsh desert sun. Hind legs were to his side while forelegs awkwardly rest unfolded. His time here within this sector would be bittersweet. It was not his home, but how he wished it was. Once the colder seasons pass, the stallion would be back out wandering the world. He dreaded the thought. However, his mind could only appreciate this place for so long before tolerance became hostility. Memories to grow into pain, and so the bitterness flood from his form. These people knew not his tale; he was worthless upon a land so similar. That is what was painful.

Violets peered through lids and down to the base of this canyon. There, he saw a figure passing through. Tiredly, he watched them go along, closing his eyes and continuing on with his nap once the stranger left his view. Minutes were quiet, peaceful. Although as he lay down onto his side, a rumble vibrated through the canyon. He remained still, awaiting for an explosion to come next. Unfortunately for him, nothing severe followed. Struggling back onto his legs, he scanned the area for any oddities. Looking to the sky, he huffed and bowed his head. Gathering himself, he then began to slink the gorge’s wall, keeping his eye out.

As he walked the walls, sight was met by a figure once more. Kauri observed them as he passed over the stranger going the opposite way of him. Nostrils flared and chest rattled; senses taking in any energy present. Now looking forward, he halted when noticing a particular structure. Was this always here? He hadn’t explored much of the canyon to really know. Tilting his head, he continued onward, intrigue within his mind.

How grand. Coming close to the walls of this structure, head peeped through one of the many openings. A window into the inside, seeing the stone spiral down toward a depression in the midst of this building. Never in his nearing century has he seen anything like this. He wasn’t sure of its purpose, if it had one to begin with. A monument, an edifice withstanding the test of time. He stood at this window, gazing at everything; uncertainty biting at his heart.

"Speaks" | Thinks
—

•••

RE: he walks alone. - Seraphina - 06-27-2018

☼ s e r a p h i n a ☼

and we wear out all out prayers
when the work runs out

Naturally, she would notice the sun stop in place.

As a desert-dweller, Seraphina was well-accustomed to keeping a careful eye on the sun’s path across the sky. It was the only way that she could keep track of the time of day, and, considering the permanent, stifling heat of the Mors, time was a valuable commodity. So, when all of the sundials in the capitol stopped working simultaneously and the sun visibly stopped in its long arc to the horizon, she was naturally inclined to investigate – particularly knowing that the god of Day had broken free of the statue that once housed him and now walked the lands of Novus. For good or for ill, she knew - knew - that it had to be his work.

There was something in the far distance – towards the canyons. She could see it from the ramparts. Something luminous, bright, blazing, like a star crashed down to the ground. No, not star. Sun. Wordlessly, thoughtlessly – she raced down the stairs, into the city streets, and beyond the great walls, flying across the great expanse of red-gold uninhibited and urgent. That is no foreign glow; she has seen it before. She had just reached the edge of the Elatus when the ground shook, and the walls of the canyon vibrated urgently with it. Seraphina froze, muscles tensing, and backed away, ears flattening against her skull, but the tremors were over in a moment, and she was free to move forward – albeit with far, far more caution.

What greeted her eyes as she drew further and further into the canyon was so unfamiliar as to be alien; a great colosseum stood in the midst of the path, carved into the stone that she would know in a dream. She stared up at the towering walls, and it was all she could do not to gasp. However, the sleek sandstone walls and hints of ruddy clay were not nearly so distracting as the glass hoofprints that marked the sun god’s path. It occurred to her, as she stood, wide-eyed and silent, that everything she hoped for was hopeless. Even if she did have magic, – and she remained woefully unblessed – her powers would be pale in comparison to the touch of a god, however momentary. She didn’t know what she wanted from them; she was half-desperate for solitude and half-craving for something like love, and she was sure that they would offer her neither. She couldn’t fight them, she couldn’t get away from them, and no amount of blind faith would make them love her. (And her god, if she could still call him that, was not a loving one. None of them were.)

All that she did know was this: if they had come to do her people harm, she would fight back with whatever measly strength she had to offer.

Almost reluctantly, she edged into the Colosseum; it seemed even less fathomable than she had imagined from the outside, vast enough to eat away at the sky. In spite of its relative simplicity, the sandstone featured more ornate details than she had anticipated…and it was ancient. She wondered if it was a stylistic choice, or if the god had unearthed the great structure, rather than making it from scratch. She supposed that it didn’t matter. Her gaze lit upon a distant figure – unfamiliar – and the closer, recognizable shape of Teiran, and, even further in the distance, she thought she saw small figures among the stands. She watched, for a moment, then turned away. This was a gift, or a promise, or a warning, a place made for the violence that Solterra bred. The trouble was that she didn’t know which.

It was something that would haunt her as she made her slow trek back to the capitol – just like each glimmer of golden sand hit by sun on the horizon, a little god.

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tags | @
notes | a bit scant on the details, but. sera's in and out, just because I wanted her to pop in.