He would never decide if he despised mankind...or loved it. For ages, equines had just been distant specks - things he could observe, but never related to. To Kaladin, they had been objects of intrigue, entertainment, and yet envy, as he'd wished upon himself their experiences. He'd watched them build empires powerful as mountains, then tear them apart brick by brick. They were stars, winking in and out of existence while he observed, ever eternal. Over the years, they had become a source of frustration. Adhering to the same cycles, errors repeated like mantras. He'd wanted to change their world, break the endless circles in which they walked and set them on new paths. In a way, he'd felt them his own - like unruly children who did not respond to authoritarian hand.
He'd been foolish. A newborn with grandiose plots but no understanding of their execution. He had wanted to feel the way they did, to love and to touch and to build and ruin. Cold to the emotions that drove that infected mortals, he had thought himself above them. And yet here he was, tracing circles in the sand, burying himself in deep with the creatures he did not understand. Trapped as one of them. A weak body, a mind that barely recalled his past. His days in the cavern were but flickers of looming stones and building fury. And yet, he'd endured then. He would endure now. But he did not want to endure. He wanted to live. Make his own destiny, follow a path as the boy had said. He was simply unsure of how to achieve that.
Another voice sounded out behind them. Greetings to you both! the pleasant tone grated against his ears, and he was reminded of exactly why he avoided mortal contact. Without thinking, he turned and snapped, "You know what is considerably more rude?" he growled. "Interrupting conversations." Not even glancing at the stallion to see his reaction, he turned his eyes and attention back to the kid, expression as if set in stone.
It took the adolescent's surprising burst of emotions to stun Kaladin out of his dismissive demeanor and send him headlong into realization. As unarticulate as the boy was, he was right. The idea frightened him. To these mortals, who had never known what he had, he was as free as any soul. They did not know the joy of thrumming power, of shaping and destruction. It was all he remembered. A short burst of exhilaration as his plans came to life, short lived before crushing failure and metal about his neck. It seemed like another life. This is your life now, he realized, the idea haunting him like a man's dying words, creeping their way up his spine. A free man, but a trapped one. Ironic.
He glanced at the aliferous boy, formulating a rather shellshocked reply. His spark-like eyes were glimmering now with a mixture of both fury and genuine discovery. "I suppose it would be lost on you, explaining what it is like to be trapped the way I am. However...." he lowered his chin, covering the twinkling diamond once more, his hair falling unruly over his face with the motion, "You are right. I should not compare my pains to yours. You did not deserve your shackles. I... his voice crackled, like a dying fire. "I deserved mine."
He turned, eyes glancing towards the mountains ahead of them, then glanced over his shoulder towards the kid. "If you ever repeat that to anyone, I will unleash the apocalypse." The words of small truth and less threat made him grin, somehow only amused by the youth's fury. It was with that smile that he realized that a weight had lifted off his chest. Had he spoken truly? Had this lowly mortal forced him to admit something he had locked away? Perhaps he was giving the boy too much credit. Still, his heart beat steadier, and he once again felt the evening's joy brush upon him like the night's cool breeze. A smile touched his lips, genuine this time. "Let us try to work together, then. You suggested the mountains - let us search there. And if we do not end up at each other's throats over a relic, I will owe you a drink."
@Damascus also my apologies to @Venari Kaladin is pure trash
He'd been foolish. A newborn with grandiose plots but no understanding of their execution. He had wanted to feel the way they did, to love and to touch and to build and ruin. Cold to the emotions that drove that infected mortals, he had thought himself above them. And yet here he was, tracing circles in the sand, burying himself in deep with the creatures he did not understand. Trapped as one of them. A weak body, a mind that barely recalled his past. His days in the cavern were but flickers of looming stones and building fury. And yet, he'd endured then. He would endure now. But he did not want to endure. He wanted to live. Make his own destiny, follow a path as the boy had said. He was simply unsure of how to achieve that.
Another voice sounded out behind them. Greetings to you both! the pleasant tone grated against his ears, and he was reminded of exactly why he avoided mortal contact. Without thinking, he turned and snapped, "You know what is considerably more rude?" he growled. "Interrupting conversations." Not even glancing at the stallion to see his reaction, he turned his eyes and attention back to the kid, expression as if set in stone.
It took the adolescent's surprising burst of emotions to stun Kaladin out of his dismissive demeanor and send him headlong into realization. As unarticulate as the boy was, he was right. The idea frightened him. To these mortals, who had never known what he had, he was as free as any soul. They did not know the joy of thrumming power, of shaping and destruction. It was all he remembered. A short burst of exhilaration as his plans came to life, short lived before crushing failure and metal about his neck. It seemed like another life. This is your life now, he realized, the idea haunting him like a man's dying words, creeping their way up his spine. A free man, but a trapped one. Ironic.
He glanced at the aliferous boy, formulating a rather shellshocked reply. His spark-like eyes were glimmering now with a mixture of both fury and genuine discovery. "I suppose it would be lost on you, explaining what it is like to be trapped the way I am. However...." he lowered his chin, covering the twinkling diamond once more, his hair falling unruly over his face with the motion, "You are right. I should not compare my pains to yours. You did not deserve your shackles. I... his voice crackled, like a dying fire. "I deserved mine."
He turned, eyes glancing towards the mountains ahead of them, then glanced over his shoulder towards the kid. "If you ever repeat that to anyone, I will unleash the apocalypse." The words of small truth and less threat made him grin, somehow only amused by the youth's fury. It was with that smile that he realized that a weight had lifted off his chest. Had he spoken truly? Had this lowly mortal forced him to admit something he had locked away? Perhaps he was giving the boy too much credit. Still, his heart beat steadier, and he once again felt the evening's joy brush upon him like the night's cool breeze. A smile touched his lips, genuine this time. "Let us try to work together, then. You suggested the mountains - let us search there. And if we do not end up at each other's throats over a relic, I will owe you a drink."
@Damascus also my apologies to @Venari Kaladin is pure trash
