The night would be lonely if Felume didn’t feel so close to him. Where once there had been endless blue was now shrouded by the dark cloak of night, sprinkled tastefully with glittering stars and the moon, hanging full and low, providing enough light to assure him safe passage. Kratos mirrored the image stretched out above him, resembled the image of his God – and he likes to think that He looks down on him now, His eye the moon which guides his way.

Somewhere deep inside his soul stirred, scratching at its cage and biting at the steel bars that contained it, yearning for something it did not have. Kratos wasn’t sure what that thing was, but he was certain that it was the reason he had traveled beyond the comforts Denocte had effectively offered him. Sometimes the dull, empty ache would creep its way into his heart and sour the wretched fool’s mood even more than it usually was, to the point where not even Pryna could help pull him from its dredges. Oh, she knew precisely why his heart ached so, but fate kept her lips sealed. All she could do was be there for him and offer what advice she was able.

Turning down one path that led to two more, Kratos paused, taking note of the path carved out down one of them. Company was the last thing the unicorn thought he wanted, and so he made to continue down the one yet to be disturbed, until a flicker of light beckoned for his attention somewhere in the distance. His eyes strained to make out the distant figure and the firelight which dimly illuminated them. He wondered if it might be Azrael, the stallion whose path he had crossed upon first crossing the mountains, but it was impossible to tell at this distance. Far more curious than he had been that first time, he pressed on, using the already hollowed out path that he could only assume had been made by them.

Above them, something flew in circles – something big – and Pryna looked critically toward the sky, lilac eyes growing wide when she spotted the being responsible. A monolith of a dragon, the likes of which she hadn’t seen in an excruciatingly long time, surveyed the mountains like a sentry from above. The simple occurrence of seeing another dragon makes her want to call out, but for now she kept reluctantly silent. They couldn’t be sure whether this one was friend or foe, but Pryna knew that if it was the latter, then she and Kratos would already be gone. The unicorn himself eyed the beast cautiously, but like his bonded, he assumed that if the dragon meant any trouble, they would have been descended upon by now.

Drawing closer to the temple, Kratos was surprised to see that there was only one standing within it. For a moment he was almost positive that it wasAzrael, but unlike him, the stranger standing up ahead wore a horn upon their brow. The gentle light reflected off of the bay’s speckled belly, glorious shades of blue and green that were reminiscent of a dragon fly’s wings. At first he wondered if it might simply be a trick of the light, but as he drew nearer, it became obvious it was anything but. Were it not for the dying candlelight around her, he wasn’t sure he would have seen her at all enshrouded in shadow as she was.

“Pardon us.” He speaks, and breaks the eerie silence that had encapsulated the mountains outside of the crunch of snow underfoot. “I was only curious what a dragon might be protecting so far into the mountains.”

"Speaking."

@Isra <3

There are many words that could describe the woman as she turns to face him, but one stands above the rest as he looks on at her; ethereal. Something about her seems otherworldly, and yet impossibly ordinary at the same time. The feeling isn’t one he can remember experiencing nor thinking in the past, and so for the time being he plays it off on a simple lack of proper rest as well as the anomalous temple.

Pupiless eyes track skyward as she speaks of her dragon, looking on as he wound effortlessly through the sky as though it belonged to him. Perhaps it did, in a way, for who would dare to cast somebody like him from it?

“I cannot fault him,” Kratos speaks as he returns his glacial gaze back to her, “I’ve always felt they covet some kind of secret from us. Maybe he’ll be the one to finally uncover it.”

As she reaches out toward him, there was a moment of hesitation from Kratos before he shifted to return her kindred form of greeting. This land was different than the one he had come from, foreign in its customs, he had quickly learned, but he did his best to acclimate to them. “I am Kratos,” he returns with a terse nod of his head, “A pleasure, Isra.” From atop the first gentle curve of his horn came a trill as Pryna crept further down, bright eyes of lavender looking from him to Isra before she puffed up a little, attempting the best smile she could conjure, and from Kratos’ lungs escaped a gentle sigh. “And this is Pryna. We are new to Denocte, simply trying to find our place in this nook of the world.”

"Speaking."

@Isra <3 Sorry for the wait!