tardust shone across the blackened landscape, like a thousand tiny candles in the darkness. It was a wonderous thing – but then, Mephisto was not a stranger to wonder. Indeed, her life had been a storied one. The lands where she’d called home had been tumultuous and changing – not unlike the mysterious island which had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, shifting and twisting in the throws of dark magic. There is a bite to the air which whispers of a strange and an old sort of enchantment. It is a place of marvel and intrigue – and the dark Pegasus thirsts for such things.
She is respectful of the land, knowing better than to let complacency drive her forward. For behind each dark corner, there is a hint of something dangerous. Hackles raised, her cobalt eyes are sharp and shrewd. She is watching – always watching – ever the spy looking over her shoulder. As she sidesteps the winding fog and delves deeper into this curious place, fluted ears flick to and fro, gathering any sound that might pierce the eerie silence. Not even the wind dared to blow in this place, hushed to a whisper as it teases her curls.
Soundlessly, she rises to the sky on great black-blue wings. Stars kiss at her feathers as the world falls away and she fully embraces the endless abyss. Without shackles to hold her down, Mephisto feels freer than ever, with stardust brushing hotly against her skin. She never wants to let the feeling go, but knows still that she must. That duty will call her home once more.
Home.
The Dusk Court was a place which had likely already forgotten her name. In a way, she had abandoned the place she vowed to serve, a thought which gave her pause and guilt. Gone now was the king, and in his place, Marisol reigned. Would she remember the Halcyon recruit? Would she demand an explanation for Mephisto’s absence? Time would tell.
Truly it hadn’t been her intent to go – but as strange magics seemed to emerge in her, Mephisto had been afraid. She had stolen away from the others, unsure of how to define the changes within her body… within her mind. What was once her strongest asset now seemed a thing which couldn’t be trusted. As the warg took over Mephisto, it stole away her will and her ability to choose. It had left her helpless and exposed. In time, Mephisto had learned to cope with the sensation, and had come to realize that her visions could be an asset instead of a vulnerability.
But would they welcome her back? Would they see her strange gift as a strength, or would they cast her aside as an outcast? Mephisto couldn’t know… but she had to return home. She had to make amends. For now though, she wanted nothing more than to remain in the starfield, lost to the cosmos. Lost to something more to herself.
There had been word whispered, tales spun of the land that didn’t remain the same and it was a sight that the siren kelpie wished to behold. She made the journey from the Court of Dusk, from spinning her tales and singing for those who would stop and listen, those who asked, from craft and art made for the purpose of enjoyment alone. Indrani went, dancing upon long legs that carried her strangely over the earth.
And upon the star-touched landscape, the foliage upon which she walked blackened but so full of life, Indrani wound her way along. She walked with her head craned back as she drank in the starlight above. She bathed in the light, and felt for a moment like she was suspended in the deep dark of the ocean where the light filtered down just enough to illuminate the marine snow that always cascaded down around her. She’d remembered dancing through the currents, twisting around and creating patterns and trilling loudly as she’d felt so alive.
Here, she replicates this in the best way. A dark shadow moves above her, and she saw wings. A winged equine! Indrani let out a single whistle, calling and cheering all the same to the figure as she rose up upon hind legs and danced forward, with forelegs tucked to her chest. Her hair was flying, light glittering across her, and as she lands she swings to the side as she followed the shadow, using it to weave.
And she sang to the stranger, not knowing they were of the same ilk, oblivious to any intent they may have beyond her own dance upon the skin of the world… and yet Indrani continues, always singing, and wanting to bring the same feeling of adoration in life to those around her.
ephisto loved to be alone – but there were days, more days now than ever, where she wished for company. For too long, she had hidden herself away, afraid of what they might say of her strange and unusual magic. Would they think her an aberration, or worse, untrusted to peek inside their most private moments? The dark warg could only hope that they would see her talents as a means for good and not for abuse. She certainly wouldn’t use such things against those in her homeland, albeit the magic might prove useful against an enemy in times of war.
These thoughts plague her often now, but she wills them away and instead focuses on the beauty of this wild landscape. Wind filters through her feathered wings, and she glides like a bird on the air currents, diving and swooping in the feeling of freedom. Her mind is stilled now, thoughts fading away as a sense of calm washes over her, and a smile creases her lips. And then, she hears the song.
It is a voice as pure as the sunrise, ringing as a claret bell against the silence. Drawn like a moth to the flame, she pauses to listen, and then lowers herself to find the mare who calls. In the wrong hands, her gift could be a deadly one (not unlike Mephisto’s), but today it seems a friendly sort of call. She finds the siren in the darkness – shades of ocean blue and brown – and offers a kindly greeting. "You have quite the gift.” She steps toward the stranger, dipping her head in a quiet greeting, dark curls cascading over her cerulean eyes. "And this – the most marvelous of stages… what do you think of this strange magic?”
Mephisto thought the landscape grand – elegant with its silver stardust and shadowy skies. It was endlessly curious, and she wanted to know every inch of it… especially since she knew such magic spells could be temporary. Like the shifting scenery at the Rift, the island would change its appearance again – and interest would drive her here once more, to know what secrets the land of shifting faces held.
Oh, how she dances, stepping clear of the grass below and feeling the caress of the wind as it wove patterns upon her flesh. The feel of it, the scent of the air and the strange sensation that the very open sky around her was humming along with her, giving its voice to her, made her feel so alive. Her own voice had become louder, though Indrani’s forward motion had slowed and she was watching the dark shadow of wing and feather come downwards.
There was a moment when Indrani’s song hesitated, pausing but the breeze reflected this, steadying itself as she then burst into a whistle - and the shadow is there, standing tall upon four limbs. The wings were tucked at her sides, but the siren was so entranced by the neat way that the strange shadow had materialised before her as a flesh and blood being... And who was like her but able to ride the currents of the air rather than the ocean deep.
She cannot help but give a wild smile that reaches into her eyes, as she bows her head, ever demure.
“Your own gift is marvellous - I have not seen one like me who can ride the wind in the same way I follow the currents of the ocean,” she speaks, and she truly means every word that she says. Her tone is bright despite the dark, a strange absurd optimism about her.
And she throws her head back, looking towards the sky and for a moment feels like she might sink into the water should she remain still. Yet there was no water here, and the ground did not swallow her whole. She laughs lightly.
“I have never witnessed a magic like this. It reminds me of home, if not for the feeling of the ground beneath me to remind me where I am. Do you live in this strange place?” She asks the stranger, bright eyes returning to her - and she was still marvelling over the beauty of the stranger; she was truly unlike nothing she’d seen before.
hen Indrani mentions the sea, Mephisto quirks a brow, looking her over and noting that she seemed quite comfortable on the land. Perhaps she was a shapeshifter, the winged mare decided – for in her lifetime, she’d seen all manners of strange magics. It wasn’t beyond the pale, but it was something which she found quite curious. “I have heard of those who swim in the sea – tell me, what is it like, down in the depths beyond the waves? I’ve never been much of a swimmer myself, but the sea looks a wonderous place from the skies.”
She’d never given much thought to how envious it must be, for those who cannot fly to watch others soaring in the heavens. In a way, the dark mare had always taken her gift of flight for granted, swimming among the stars as others might do in the sea. She could not imagine a world where the freedom of flight did not exist – for it is in the heavens where Mephisto finds her peace. There, she is held back by nothing, given the liberty to explore a whole world which existed beyond land borders and constraints. She supposed it was a gift, though she’d never really considered it any particular talent. It was certainly more a gift than her magical curse of late.
At the question, she offers a silky laugh. "The island is home to no-one. It belongs to Tempus alone, and it’s countenance is never the same. The next time you return, this world will be gone, replaced by something far different. Where we stand is not ground at all – it is magic, pure and raw.” There is a tone of respect in her voice – for Mephisto (while not being overly religious) knew to respect old magics such as this. She’d had many a home torn asunder by magic, developing a healthy respect for the unpredictability it bore.
“Terrestella is my home.” It still felt strange to say, for Mephsito had never really thought of it as a home… but it was as much of one as she had, so she’d resigned herself to becoming more active in Marisol’s court. “And yours? Beyond the sea of course…”
In there, in the space of that moment, Indrani wished for nothing more than to race her newfound companion - one winged, one finned, and see who was the faster in their element. Yet there was no water, and should she change her shape she would simply suffocate here, and she didn’t want to learn the hard way how dangerous it was. So instead, Indrani dances a little in place, and it shows in the way she moved that while she looked like one of them, she was not able to move as they did.
Her limbs seemed to splay as she moved, although afraid they should not actually support the motion she did.
And her face lights up like the light of the nebula around them, as she answers the question with an absurd amount of cheer.
“Where you were, up there, is how it feels! But there is much more light here, just… picture the stars and imagine them falling around you, as the light from overhead fades as you venture deeper. Soon you can’t even see the snow as it falls with you, but then the world below lights up, as it shines like it has been soaked in sunlight for eons before being submerged. So many coloured lights, and so many different kinds of fish and animal swim around you. It is like flying in the sky here,” she repeats the end, but then giggles.
“Only, much more pressure and the water works against you,” she says as she swings her head through the open air. “And it feels like a strong wind sometimes.”
It wasn’t cold to her, it wasn’t unwelcoming. It was her home, as much as she felt this starlit place was.
Yet the notion that this place made of shimmering starlight and astral magic, a welcoming embrace that felt truly like one was moving upon an interstellar plain, did not belong to any one who walked like they did was something of rarity to her.
“It will change? I will miss this world - it feels like home but feels so strange, all at once. It is a wonderful sensation,” she says. Indrani spins slowly in a circle, as she gambols slowly in an arc and enjoys the din she creates in the void.
When the stranger mentioned Terrastella, Indrani stopped and spun back to her. She grinned, wide and true.
“I know that name! It is where I call home, on the surface. My beloved sister lives there and I joined her, I was so happy to find her! I am also of Terrastella. My name is Indrani,” she says, introducing herself with a flourish of her head and horns, to the winged wonder who shared the same home she did...
er smile comes easily, for it is impossible not to get caught up in the rush of excitement which Indrani presents while speaking of her sea. She can see the love and the wonder, closing her eyes for a moment and almost picturing the corals bright and bold. If only Mephisto could, she would marvel at the diverse world beneath the waves. It was impossible for one to know what lie beyond the surface without witnessing it firsthand, so she would never know – only hear through stories. Shame, she thought… but then, Indrani would never know the sky the way she did. Life’s constraints could be a cruel thing.
“It is true – this land is as beautiful as it is dangerous. The stars are like this… different formations, but bright and warm. This is certainly one of the better faces I’ve seen on this land.” She would miss it too, though if she missed the stars too much, the night sky was always open for her to explore.
As they stood in the magic’s cradle, a thick fog began to roll in, curling around their ankles with a whisper of magic. Mephisto’s warg leaps within her, a whisper edging in her mind. It’s coming… the warning was brief, but enough for her body to tense in anticipation. ”Indrani…” she repeated the name with an apologetic smile. “I am Mephisto. As much as I would love to hear more about your sister, I fear our time here grows short. The magic is coming.”
In the distance, there is a roar like a distant train, concern edging in her eyes as she scans the horizon. It grows louder as it approaches them, the starfield which stands beneath their feet trembling. In mere minutes, this world would break apart – and Mephisto knew from experience, it would steal away those who remained, turning them under as the land folded in on itself – trapping them until such time as the land would shift once more. “Come.” Her words carry a warning as she turns toward the south. “to Terrestella then – it’s not safe here anymore.”
As the magic tosses and turns in their wake, they flee this place, Mephisto flicking one final look at the land of stardust with a whimsical sigh before heading for somewhere more familiar.
ooc: sorry for closing this out so soon, but I think the posts are due by June 1 for credit… we can continue this at Terrestella if you want, or we can start a new thread in the new season <3 Definitely want to get to know her more
