It had been a long time coming since Only reconnected with his friends here in Novus - as time drew on he had learned that many of those who had been trapped in the Rift managed to come out on the other side.  Most of them had gone long before he did and the man had been left alone in the darkness - too long - long enough to feel a different kind of sickness settle deep inside his bones.  It had poisoned his mind in ways he wasn't sure of just yet - but the Gods here knew.  Perhaps they could help - but even if they could, it wasn't like Only had been praying for it.

Perhaps he should have been all along.  There were things scribed in the pages of Fate that could make angels despair the Good Word.  That said, he felt like the outlying areas were his only option for living on or near Delumine without interfering with those who sought to keep their libraries quiet and peaceful, their civilians as docile as possible.  He was just some young punk making too much noise, at some point however, he wondered if he too could ever find his own sort of peace.  Maybe finding this Oriens fellow might be a decent start if he was to carve any kind of path in Novus.  Lord knows he certainly wasn't going to leave anytime soon regardless of whether he was a criminal or not.

Veneror had been an all night task, he began his ascension at dusk and struggled in the dark so as not to be seen.  Only had grown accustomed to making all of his movement at night and being out of sight during the day.  How could he get caught if he flew under the radar all the time?  Would Veneror be any different than places like Solterra? Would this so-called God grow a pair of feet and kick him off the top of the peak? There was only one way to find out.

Dawn brought him to the flat points where he stood to rest - the light gathering on the edges of the peak filled the dark with a rosy pink glow, with it, the realization that he was not alone.  Looking more closely, he realized at once that he was not unfamiliar with her - her button eyes gave it away.

"Well if it isn't divine intervention."  Only said smoothly as he came up behind her.  The stallion looked worse for wear, scarred, underfed, and the cuts on his face were recent enough to still be pink and sore with healing.  Coraline, the girl who knew his most dangerous secrets, was here of all places and he had yet to catch up with her since his arrival. "I miss Pandora."  He added after having looked around her feet to try and spot the vulpine trouble maker, his eyes lifted to meet her face with a genuine grin.  

"You live in Delumine, too."  It was not as excited sounding as it could have been - should have been.  Especially here on the peak where one would often come to celebrate their union with whatever God that delegated them through this thing called Life.

"I may not be around there for much longer.  I fear that the one you've called for may not take pity on a soul like mine.  I do not feel like his child at all.  If I am, I am not worthy."


@Coraline   HIIII hope you don't mind us cutting in for some Coraline time in this worship.  He could probably use some hella guidance right now anyway!  :D!

.only
si vis pacem para bellum

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called but few are chosen.

"Sorry to hear about Pandora - "  Only continues, he supposes it is safe to assume that the rest of her entourage has also flown the coop (literally, they are birds after all).  Out of comfort he reaches out to touch her shoulder gently with his face and to his surprise, he himself is comforted by her warm and familiar feeling.  It calms him down to know his friend is here as well.  "I've seen a few others of our troupe - I might have been the last one out of the Rift but I cannot be too sure.  I've been wandering these past few weeks, but like I said before in Neverland, I don't remember all that I've been doing."  Only pauses to simply frown.  "I suppose I've gotten into a little trouble.  I miss our home - I got away with so much more mischief."  

Only bumps her shoulder playfully, he would much rather entertain Coraline than upset her and it is an understatement to say that her life has been hard.  He cannot imagine what it must be like to lose someone close to him at such a young age.  His own life has gone down a much different path and while Coraline learned of betrayal and heartache as a young child, he learned how to hunt his abusers and how to hide their bodies in the snow so deep they'd wouldn't be found until spring.

"I've been looking into the desert for a lot of my answers - and have been finding them.  Perhaps I should be looking for the one who poured all of the sand into the desert."  He laughs but it isn't a joke.  Only is begging for a miracle while Stephan sits back and sharpens his knives.  Coraline is safe but that is only because the man she knows is not the one she should fear.

"I have found Florentine, she tells me Pan is here as well.  Have you seen any others?  The Rift brought me here, to Delumine, I don't know if I want to call it home just yet - like i said, the desert has been calling to me.  I spend a lot of time there and they seem to need more help than they let on."


@Coraline  I am very sorry I dropped out for a minute - had a rough patch IRL.  I hope you'll forgive meeee

.only
si vis pacem para bellum

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called but few are chosen.

I would really like to see a miracle.

"Me too," Only bumps her shoulder and looks up into the sky where the spires of the very mountain they stand upon continue.  "I wonder if this mountain touches the sky all the way up there.  Maybe that is where you'll find what you are looking for."  The black stallion decides today will be the day that he spends with friends and not with himself - Stephan - for the darker half of his mind loved nothing more than to torment Only.  In places like this - his antagonist's voice grew quieter and quieter until it was no more.  Even now as he walks with Coraline, a relieved silence spreads across his mind and he enjoys the quiet between them.  

"I'll take you higher."  Only offers with a grin, his blonde tail swishing lazily back and forth.  Today is a good day and he has faith that it will be good for Coraline too.  "If we don't find what you are looking for - we will have to come back with Pan and Flora."  Only continues forward and patiently climbs with Coraline, some of the rock faces are steep but it is nothing compared to the Rift.  Even now as the air grows thinner and the air becomes cool enough to chill his skin, he wonders what it is all for.  Sure, he wants to help Coraline find her way and for her to find answers to the questions she wishes to ask but what's in this for him?

Nothing, he thinks.  Nothing can save him from his own Fate.  There is no miracles for the things he wants - neither are their miracles for the things he needs, like a shrink or maybe even a prescription for schizophrenia.  It would be nice, however, to find faith.  

And that makes Only think.

"I'd like to find Faith without a miracle one day, when I am ready.  I want my life back and I want Stephan to go away but I feel like that kind of a miracle is made by something other than Gods."  His admission is honest, Coraline above all would know to whom he speaks of.  The tyrant that haunts his mind, that drives him to do bad things, that insists on his own irrational, self-loathing ways.  It isn't as easy as quitting smoking or drinking either, he knows he cannot survive without Stephan because Stephan made Only up the way children do with their imaginary friends.  

"I'd like to time travel like Florentine, that way I could find the younger version of myself and talk to him about the choices he'll have to make - and the choices he should have made.  My dad was so mean. I think the other half of me became a monster just like him."  He frowns, he remembers admitting it to her once before about how unsafe his friends were around him.  "I'd like to not be worried all the time about whether or not something is going to happen."  

@Coraline   EXPLORING TIME <3

.only

What do you suppose we'll find all the way at the top?

"Clouds."  Only looks back and sticks a tongue out at her.  Only tosses his wild mane of blonde hair and surges forward.  They pick up speed once they clear a steep slope that has them concentrating more on their own feet than the games they oft-times play.  Only hums loudly to himself as well as to Coraline as he dutifully climbs and climbs, stopping every now and again to look back to make sure his besilvered companion is following.

"Veneror Peak begs to be discovered, temples are beautiful but I think I like nature more."  The sun rises behind a veil of gray - and while it does not rain or shine - the world is brighter and brighter yet as they gain altitude.  "You doing alright back there Coraline?  We are almost there."  Only encourages her with a nod of his head, the peak is just a stone's throw away.  The ledge looks near impossible to get over but Only moves towards it with a fearsome determination.  

He'll reach the top even if it kills him.  He has nothing to lose anyway.

"Maybe we'll find some hope - Gods know we could use some, don't you think?"  He says then as he tries to put a positive spin on things.  Foolishly he keeps walking without paying much attention to his terrain - he's never really climbed mountains before and he knows very little of what deadly traps they keep to maintain their mysteries.

Reaching the top is treacherous, it proves to be dangerous when he loses his footing on an unexpected patch of ice.  If there are Gods, he wonders where they are in the split second it takes for him to fall down before Coraline with a great yelp of pain.  He lands hard on his shoulder and side, his back is turned towards the massive drop but rocks roll from the shift and pin his leg just right.

 The ice splinters into shards and the mountain seems to growl like a dog on duty.  Only imagines that he must not be worthy of finding hope or learning of the powers that might be able to help him.  

As if to drive that point home, the slightest shift sends Only sliding down where he snags his side on a sharp rock.  The man hisses in pain and clenches his teeth, the warm blood dribbles as a warning that it is very real.

"Coraline stay where you are."  Something is cracking beneath him, the ice that was bridging two stones together grows weaker and weaker from the stress his weight puts on it.  If he moves too quick it will give away immediately - if he doesn't move soon enough it will take him down with him.  Only tries to think as quickly and as carefully as he can.

"It is ice and it is breaking, my foot - I think..." Only can't hide the panic in his voice but he tries to get up and cannot.  "Coraline I think my foot is stuck in the rocks."  The man's eyes go gray with fear as the colour drains out of him when he realizes he is truly caught.  Only lays his head down on the cool stone and listens to the ice rumble deep below him, fear fills him and makes him numb from the jabbing pain shooting up his leg.  



@Coraline  8D  Dramaaaaa

.only

The rocks move, he struggles, Coraline manipulates the energy around her like an alchemist.  While others turn pages to books or turn sheets down to their beds - she rolls stones as big as bunnies away from the foot that is pinned between rocks.

Oddly enough, it hurts more for his foot to be freed than it had been stuck.  It hangs sadly, pitifully, blood seeps from the broken skin where bone reveals itself in glistening bloody fragments.  He'll never get off the mountain at this rate, now that the stones aren't holding him steady, he slides again.

"Oh Coraline!"  He yells, more worried about putting her in danger.  "Coraline please stay ba--ack!"  The ledge is thin, it tips towards the cliff-face, his good foot hooks and curls around an old root.  Already the wood is splintering into soggy shreds, Fall has done its worst to all hope.

"I'll see you again.  We always do?  Don't we?"  He promises, a wave of his energy, warm and gentle the way a summer breeze might be, caresses the side of her face sweetly, lifts her chin, and lets go.

The root breaks and Only slips off the ledge without so much as a squeal and disappears into the mists far down below.

@Coraline  <3 remember what I told you

.only