and horror in the halls of stone
In his brief time in Delumine as part of Orestes’ guard detail, Jahin has encountered the most alien, otherworldly experiences of his entire life, which is really saying a lot, considering Jahin has done battle with a giant sandwyrm and survived to tell the tale.
First, the seemingly endless forest and its unmapped maze of lush foliage, foreign flowers, and tangled web of shadows and leaves. He has seen the scarred faces of trees a thousand years older than anything in Novus, save perhaps the sand that blows across the Mors. In just a week’s time, Jahin has come to respect the forest deeply as a living, breathing thing that merely tolerates his fleeting, mortal presence.
Perhaps the desert of Solterra and the forest of Delumine are not so different after all.
And now the river. Jahin has never seen a river before--not like this. He has experienced the raging, dangerous flash floods in the desert from unpredictable thunderstorms that cast torrential downpour of rain once or twice a year, but never has he seen something quite like the River Rapax.
He is lured forth from the edge of the forest by the gentle sigh of the cool breeze murmuring in the willows and the sound of the water sluicing upon the pebble-embedded shoreline. Beneath the full moon the glass-like surface of the river glimmers like molten liquid silver in a blacksmith’s forge.
He stares across the wide expanse of the river, entirely captivated. Sahar, too, seems bewildered by the sheer amount of water that the river holds. Do eggs float? she asks in his mind, coiling in the tangles of his mane excitedly. He shrugs, unsure how to answer the inquisitive little snake. Sahar is a new hatchling, and as of yet, can only seem to relate to egg analogies.
He lingers by the river’s edge, curiously observing the festival-goers from a safe distance. Even though Jahin is not alone, as there are many drunken celebrators from the festival staggering down the forest path to the river, he still feels as though he has been stranded on another planet and the Delumine citizens are the living, breathing aliens of this new world.
They all seem to be searching for something as they laugh and dance beneath the moonlight like ethereal fae-folk, chasing fireflies that glow like stars in the night. Their voices rise and fall in song, completely in tune with the soothing melody of the murmuring river, attracting fireflies to their skin like the pied piper with his rats. Why do Delumine citizens seem to have some bizarre, storybook connection to the earth and its critters? Jahin cannot help but feel sorely out of place with his primitive Davke spear strapped to his back and his silly little snake asking if eggs happen to float in rivers.
J A H I N
look at last on meadows green
and trees and hills they long have known
First, the seemingly endless forest and its unmapped maze of lush foliage, foreign flowers, and tangled web of shadows and leaves. He has seen the scarred faces of trees a thousand years older than anything in Novus, save perhaps the sand that blows across the Mors. In just a week’s time, Jahin has come to respect the forest deeply as a living, breathing thing that merely tolerates his fleeting, mortal presence.
Perhaps the desert of Solterra and the forest of Delumine are not so different after all.
And now the river. Jahin has never seen a river before--not like this. He has experienced the raging, dangerous flash floods in the desert from unpredictable thunderstorms that cast torrential downpour of rain once or twice a year, but never has he seen something quite like the River Rapax.
He is lured forth from the edge of the forest by the gentle sigh of the cool breeze murmuring in the willows and the sound of the water sluicing upon the pebble-embedded shoreline. Beneath the full moon the glass-like surface of the river glimmers like molten liquid silver in a blacksmith’s forge.
He stares across the wide expanse of the river, entirely captivated. Sahar, too, seems bewildered by the sheer amount of water that the river holds. Do eggs float? she asks in his mind, coiling in the tangles of his mane excitedly. He shrugs, unsure how to answer the inquisitive little snake. Sahar is a new hatchling, and as of yet, can only seem to relate to egg analogies.
He lingers by the river’s edge, curiously observing the festival-goers from a safe distance. Even though Jahin is not alone, as there are many drunken celebrators from the festival staggering down the forest path to the river, he still feels as though he has been stranded on another planet and the Delumine citizens are the living, breathing aliens of this new world.
They all seem to be searching for something as they laugh and dance beneath the moonlight like ethereal fae-folk, chasing fireflies that glow like stars in the night. Their voices rise and fall in song, completely in tune with the soothing melody of the murmuring river, attracting fireflies to their skin like the pied piper with his rats. Why do Delumine citizens seem to have some bizarre, storybook connection to the earth and its critters? Jahin cannot help but feel sorely out of place with his primitive Davke spear strapped to his back and his silly little snake asking if eggs happen to float in rivers.
look at last on meadows green
and trees and hills they long have known
@Maeve
