Tor and @Teiran finally get to meet ;D
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
He had grown so used to the taste and grit of the sand between his teeth. It coated his tongue, becoming a welcome, creeping disgust that dwelled at the back of his throat.
Despite the bitter taste, here he stood.... alone in this massive structure he had never before laid eyes upon. The Colosseum was vast - there was no denying it. In the time he was gone, no one could really explain how the stone walls had come to be seemingly overnight. They were neither new nor old, the test of time wearing the corners of each brick and only adding to the confusion of the Colosseum's birth. But the Warden knew one thing... when he stood here, he felt it. Knew it, in all its predatory glory.
Felt the surge — of power, of raw emotion, of the audience's howls of encouragement. Years past, it may have been — for now it all lay empty, barren and dusted in frigid snow — but the call still lit his nerves on fire, even now. The color of the blood that ran rivulets in the sand so long ago, they matched his eyes beautifully.
For a few minutes, the grit of sand had fallen away from his tongue. He could smell the age-old sweat as gladiators clashed, teeth and hooves and pure strength battling for the crowd's amusement. It reminded of a not-so faint memory that rose to the edges of his subconscious, that warmed him while the blizzard raged on above and around them.
In the Colosseum's raw power, he felt his own when teeth and anger met the Stormsinger's (trigger warning: gore). Oh.. how beautiful a day that was, in all its sadism, its blood, its fury! How feeble arrogance made you when it blinded your eyes with white-hot lightning... arrogance that felled you at the knees, that sent you running far away from Novus not long after.
So there the Titan of Solterra stood, in the middle of the empty Colosseum ring as he reminisced, the cold nipping angrily at him. Nipping at skin muddled by scars and fresh wounds — a testament to his journey in his own time away from Novus. And for a brief moment, everything — memories of his own, memories that haunted the halls of the Colosseum, the anger and copper blood that soaked into the sand, the sweat and tears and clash of metal upon metal — all coalesced into something beautiful.
Peace.
His mind lulled, and for the first time in ages... the spines that split his sternum jostled ever so slightly. Their jagged maw split, laying bare the gruesome-looking cavity to the subzero air, its beautiful red a stark contrast to the muted sand and vivid white snow. Behind those strong spines, thrummed a heart. Its beat drummed a heavy tune as it raged through his veins, filling his ears and nearly drowning out any noise around him.
It never felt so good to be back.
art © memuii — coding © inkbone — texture stock © ofruin-stock
[ please tag @Torstein in all replies ]
I have three eyes
TWO TO LOOK ONE TO SEE
