He would always praise the heavens that he had found his way down that day, for now it allowed him the chance to visit whenever he liked, if it took a little longer than for those with wings upon their backs.
So he stood now with his hooves in the surf, the sand beneath him and looking out at the ocean, to distant horizons and fanciful wonderings on the lips of his mind.
What would it be like, to sail out into the distance and never look back? To alight on distant shores and distant worlds? To meet folk who did not speak his tongue, to be welcomed into their fold and taught their ways? To see sights one might never have imagined? To drink from foreign cups and feast on delicacies unknown to the folk of Novus?
A part of him wondered what it would be like to set hoof on another world.
He wondered if he would meet other horses, or if he would find himself in the thrall of a different folk altogether.
Would they be equine, or would he find himself within a pack of wolves, skulking in the swamps as they worshiped their fire god and sought vengeance against their kin of the north? Would he find himself in a herd, or would he find himself in a pride of lions, wandering about woodlands draped in endless mist, a people of shadow as they worshiped their goddesses of day and night? Perhaps he would find a pack of minuscule fairy wolves, tiny creatures no higher than his hock at most that were just now realizing that the sheltered paradise they had come from was ever so small compared to the rest of the world's boundless reaches.
He wondered if he would meet himself in these other lands, for surely the soul must not be bound to one world, surely, if one traveled far enough, one would come face to face with their own reflection, having lived a different life in a different body but with eyes so very similar.
If he closed his eyes for a moment, he could almost picture it. Could almost smell the dankness of the wolven swamp as his paws sunk heavily in the muck, could taste the mist of the shadowed wood on his tongue as his whiskers twitched and he felt the soft brush of his pridemates against him, could almost feel the powerful blow of some of the larger of the small fairy creatures as they slapped his back, meaning to congratulate him on a job well done but not realizing just how powerful they were and sending him tripping over his own paws. He could almost hear the proud cries of the man who thought himself a god while he sat shackled in slavery and contemplated how he and the others would escape to the land of the good-hearted. Could almost hear the excited cries of the pups he had been left to look after while the parents went hunting, Auru the only member of the pack who was not a part of the small family, and having been put on baby-sitting duty while the other adults were busy.
"Auru..."
If he closed his eyes, he could almost hear their voices, smell their scents. Could almost hear them calling out his name. Some were happy to see him, others scornful. But each was different, and if he closed his eyes, and let his mind wander far enough into the distance, he could almost see the black panther girl who frightened him from his digging, hear the long forgotten whispers of a civilization that died before it ever lived, taste the flowers he harvested to bring back for treatment. He could feel the warm embrace of friends and family welcoming him home after a long day out, could almost feel the claws of his masters that struck him down.
"Auru..."
He almost thought he could hear their voices now, voices of a distant land calling to him, beckoning him to come forward and see what all there must be on the distant shores, just waiting for him...
"Auru..."
So many voices, they almost seemed to mingle into one with their growing urgency. The face of a red wolf seemed to bleed into view, cyan eyes lighting up the dark. Now it was a half-burned golden one, the clear one so handsome but the burned so ugly. Now it was a lion, a man of pale fur lined with kohl black, bone white antlers curving from his skull. A wolf of green and blue, another with piercing yellow eyes and twisting kudu horns. So many faces, they all seemed to bleed into one as they opened their mouths to speak.
"Auru, wake up."
His eyes snapped open, and he could feel salt encrusting his lips from how long he had been standing with his face to the distant horizon, and he felt everything that had coursed through his mind slipping away like a half-forgotten dream, and already the thoughts and memor-... no, thoughts... dreams... he didn't even know what he was thinking about, only that it had fallen away from him as swiftly as sand fell through one's-...
One's...
The crashing of a wave brought him to look upward before his mind could fade once more, and he stepped back from the water line, eyeing it with trepidation as he felt the unfamiliar fogginess in his mind begin to recede, his tongue sneaking out to swipe over salt-encrusted lips as he began to realize just how much his muscles were hurting and how far the sun had fallen, the end result of standing in one place for so very long.
@Ossian
OOC: Finally got their thread up <3
