TORIELLE
It's only me who wants to wrap around your dreams
The heat is unlike any which I have experienced in my long years within the temple walls. Though I have walked deserts and volcanoes in spirit and mind, my body has never felt the torrents. This day, however, I am wholly myself (or nearly so) and the sun beats down on my blackened pelt like an arrogant master to a disobedient slave. Sweat gathers on my brow and rubs my coarse hair against my neck. The sweltering heat does not help the newly healed flesh, perfectly hidden from view, unless I toss my head back or turn in such a way as to display the scar. It’s an ugly thing, crawling desperately out from a single point where my vein bulges. Even in the heat, I am thankful for my thick mane to disguise the mark. It is a harsh reminder to not forget myself in these lands.
I am mindful of my footing, having heard of the terrible tragedies that befall those who do not watch themselves near the Rapax. I have been roaming the lands of Delumine for nearly a year now and my encounters with others have been relatively few and far between, all considered. I still do not feel as if this land is my home, and I harbor a deep ache in my chest for that which is familiar to me. I know that it cannot be. No one who traverses the space between is ever seen to set foot in Ameyal again. Besides, I do not think I would ever be welcome there again. I have been gone far too long, and they would not believe me if I told them I had managed to travel far and away and return. They would think I had forsaken my vows and I would be treated as a thief of knowledge and a traitor in their eyes. I had no home to return to now, and I had almost made my peace with that. I sighed deeply, my gaze following the swift current of the river below me. Still, it did not prevent me from feeling that dull tug for something more. A home that was familiar, with sights and smells and music to dull the homesickness that had nestled in my breast.
I close my orbs, breathing deeply in an attempt to ground myself. The only good it did me was to amplify the distinct feeling of loneliness. Those I had met so far had made their home within these lands since birth or long past. None had been displaced as I had, and there was little kinship to be found in that vein. They were kind (or not) and while each encounter had taught me much about the peoples that lived here, they did not soothe my soul in the way that I had hoped. Perhaps that is why I was here now, wandering dangerously close to the edge of the water.
I shook my head, the bells twined around my antlers fluttering and giggling. What was I thinking? I could not allow myself to get lost in grief. Death lays at the end of that sorrowful road. It did me no good to dwell on such morbid things. I forcefully pushed a lungful of air through my nares, imagining the dark forces at work in my heart being blown away on a grateful breeze. I stepped a bit farther from the river, keeping a safe distance from the edge that still tempted a part of my heart.
art by the-day-of-shadow character by scapeh table by sunny
