[EVENT] Rapture in the pathless wood

[Below Zero]

Below Zero

my frost philosophy will put no curse on me

Bel had strong opinions on her perceived lack of confidence in the face of danger - a response cultured by the life of run and hide instead of stand up and defend. But in these woods, Bel's potential stirred in the shallows of her personality and being, it churned the still waters of her mind, and promised of a storm that she could one day brew up that would carry the waves with fever, and flatten the boats that attempted to hold her hostage in fear and dismissal. She was growing stronger in these woods, fighting for history to not repeat itself. Fighting for another soul, so they wouldn't be lost like her dear Pol had been.

And so she ignored generations of taught behavior, and she lunged at those shadow beasts - even if she was built more for defense than offense. Her curved horns protected her skull, even as her muzzle seemed to unhinge in that moment, elongating in the way that may have reminded another of a snake, or perhaps more appropriately - a dolphin, her smile stretching farther back to her cheeks than might be suggested by the more closed mouth form used when talking and not on the hunt. She lunged and pushed, and struck, and watched as the shadows dissipated like the smoke they resembled. And suddenly her attacks changed - less on aiming to harm, more towards disrupting. She burst through them in fits of speed, the charge of a shark. Her tail crashed through them with the force of an angry whale. Her hooves struck out towards the targets, and as the shadows seemed to come undone, dissipating and tainting the air like a blanket of oil in the water. But this oil didn't stay to poison.

As the smokey fog started to reform, Bel took a step back, watching as the form shifted, growing lighter, and lighter. Once it was no longer a shadow, but a light, did the form take shape. The soft eyes came in first, warm with the glow of the softest blue, so light it was almost white - and Bel's breath caught in her throat. The face came next, slightly unhinged and opened wider than normal - she'd always been fond of full mouthed smiles. Her long horns curved back much like Bel's did, but they twisted in a ways hers did not, curving in a larger spiral as well. Her white face seemed to glow, and Bel never noticed the vapors from her back pitch lower, never noticed the tear as it touched her features.

The creature moved closer, seeming to grow more into shape with each moment, and as Bel stood there with uncertain the light-shining mare smiled reassuringly, nodding for her to follow. Bel didn't move, "Mother . . ." Her voice was pained, uncomfortable as she stared at the figure, but then another image suddenly seemed to become super-imposed, the creature with red rivers flowing over her form, eyes on seeing, bites taken from her hide from a feeding frenzy spurred on by the touch of crimson-hued waters. The mare who'd defended her and Pol after Pol's tail had been bitten while they escaped. And Bel's heart hardened against the light, "She's dead, and you should not disgrace her with that face. She is with the stars now." She whispered, her voice suddenly sharp, her body suddenly tense. As if understanding, the wisp shifts, and becomes a beacon of light again, but with her mother's vibrant glow, and Bel nodded, "Thank you . . . ." The glow was warm, and welcoming and a glow she hadn't seen in so long.

She followed it almost wistfully . . . a part of her wishing she could see her mother's form again, but knowing that for a healing heart - it was too soon. The creature floats through the air, drawing her through the forest and up to a fork in among the trees - to paths to choose. She doesn't know how she knows but she senses the wisp look back at her, as if curious for her choice between the two. Both show shadows, and she can hear the crying again now, echoing ahead of her, "You're not going to help me are you? Point me to the right one?" Bel asks, not expecting the answer: she wasn't surprised when the wisp stays in place firmly between the two.

Bel takes a moment to sigh before she turns towards the sky, glancing towards the stars as her cyan glow seemed to lighten the shadows closest to her. She had to trust in her own judgement, hope she could help the one who cried, and so she turned to the left, her hooves carrying her forward with determination. She'd find them, she'd help them. She had to . . . . Where was the crying coming from?

Thoughts
Speech

Notes: Bel chooses to go to the left.

i feel no cold, i feel no fear inside my mind
Now I'm full of energy