T
here was more to Danaë than met the eye, this much he knew. But he could not know what darkness she hid behind her quiet observations – what else she wondered when speaking of the cold world from where he’d come. “There is a beauty to winter, yes… but it was an unrelenting thing, and many perished in the wake of the cold.” For a time, Nightwish himself had wondered if he would see the sun’s warmth again, waking each day with a tired feeling that it would go the same as the day before, and as the day which would follow. Only the stories had changed, growing wearier as his companions lost hope. He, for one, was glad to see summer coming to Novus, the spring days growing warmer every day.He smiles a sad sort of smile at her question, one which waned nostalgic as he drew a breath to begin. "Once there was a man – an adventurer of sorts. He traveled the world in search of exotic things, of places which only legend had seen. He climbed the tallest mountains, searching for a fabled temple know only to an ancient cloister of monks. He wandered through the dense jungle, following a ratted treasure map which led to a cursed ruby, big as a grown man’s fist. He set sail on a seaswept voyage, guided only by the shining stars, to find an underwater civilization long lost by the tides of time… Nothing could tame the man’s explorer spirit – until he met a girl one night in a garden, fair as the summer moon. It is said that her beauty captured the man, that in the moment, she was the only thing that mattered to him. They shared what only lovers could know, giving everything to one another for a fleeting night of passion.
In the morning, he had vanished without a word, and she never saw him again. But he had warmed her with his tales of adventure, and had given her the greatest gift of all… the gift of new life.” He smiled then, lost in the romance of it all, understanding the wanderlust which pulled the man from the promise of love even as a piece of him mourned for what might have been. “She would tell me of his escapades, and as a boy on my mother’s knee, there was nothing I wanted more than to see the world. Some nights though, I wonder if he was more a knave than an voyager, for leaving us without a word.”
When he pauses, Nightwish finds the unicorn’s gaze, something unreadable in the depths of his eyes for only a moment, flickering softly in the firelight. “And you, Danaë… where is it you come from? Before Delumine, I mean… What is your story?”
Nightwish
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@Danaë
