the river
His laughter echoes in your ears, trickling down your spine like ice water. Perhaps it is rage, or disbelief, or panic -- perhaps it is even a mixture of all three -- that has you turning and racing for the river. Maybe it is only desperation, the realization that the stranger from the beginning of the maze was right, the sudden knowing that danger lurks in places you would not have imagined.
Through the grey-twilight forest you race like a wild thing set free and perhaps, in this moment, you are. There are no branches to snag your mane, no roots to catch the tips of your hooves. Your body passes harmlessly through them, mist exploding in all the places you might have bled before.
Maybe it is only now that you realize this is real, and no longer a game.
The forest feels endless, and the river a lifetime away, as the shadows creep ever deeper and mist floods the ground around your hooves. But step by step, stride by stride, you press on and on and on --
The river seems to be glowing in the moonlight, beckoning you to leap into her open arms.
Whether you leap from the rocks or you wade gently in from the shore, it will welcome you like a mother welcoming her prodigal child home. It will caress your sides and shush your trembling heart, and when your head lifts from the surface it sends a dozen fireflies to alight upon your skin in comfort (or is it an apology?). And yet when you look down --
Your reflection stares back at you from the water, but it seems different to you now. Like the world has been turned, and you are not looking down at the water -- but looking up from it.
You are not the same Leonidas, or the same Aspara, that began the trail tonight.
Even when the mist begins to drain from your body (be it now or tomorrow, when you leave the river or while you wander confused through the forest), something feels -- wrong. Like there is some part of you missing, some part that is still as formless as the mist.
Is it your heart? Your soul?
Or is it something more important than that?
The forest is unable to re-transform you, at least right away. And yet, the ghost-colt was not quite right in his prediction; the effects will not remain permanent. It is up to you how long it takes to transform back to a normal horse again (but please note if you'd like them to remain misty forever, it will require a passive magic purchase! please reach out to @sid to discuss if you would like to go this route), feel free to interpret this prompt however you wish!
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