[Quest] Pried from their cold, icy fingers

[Random Events]

the sea is an angry soul

Content Warning: Mentions NPC as potential drowning victim.

As the night crested, angry clouds began to gather in the sky at Praistigia Cliffs. In the dead of winter, the ocean was an abyss – dark, like spilt ink, and seemingly endless. Usually barren, and rightfully so, tonight a small flame could be seen flickering on the lip of the cliffs. 

Do you feel it?

A colt - who was now a fresh yearling - stood at the edge of the cliffs, peering down into the gaping, hungry mouth of the sea. Like the last fall leaf desperately clinging to its home branch, he quivered violently in the frosty wind, his chestnut and flaxen curls catching wayward snowflakes. 

“Stupid dare,” he mused through his chattering teeth, sending a spiteful glare back to a trio of ponies that stood safely on the sidelines. His frail chest grew as he swallowed a deep breath, watching as his expelled air clouded in front of his face before dissipating into the winter flurries. 

“If you want to be a yearling you’ve gotta do it! One of them chimed up.

“Just jump already –” agreed the second.

The third added, “We haven’t got all night. It’s only a matter of time before our parents – “

“Alright already!” The lone colt snapped; his little ears pinned to the back of his skull as he shook his head at the buffoonery of company he chose to keep.

Do you feel it now? It’s akin to a second heartbeat: a deep, foreboding pulse. It is ancient, yet feels familiar to you. It guides you towards the sea. 

Pale hoofs were placed at the crumbling edges of the cliff, he trembled terribly as he tried to somehow conjure the courage to take his leap – his test – this foolish tradition in order to prove to his comrades that he was becoming of age. The black waters churned far below him as if taunting him; the slushy seafoam licked and piled around jagged shaped stalagmites. The salt in the wind stung his eyes. Every fiber of his body was desperate to stitch him to the earth, begging him to not test the laws of gravity.

You must feel it. It is screaming at you now, demanding you, throbbing in your ears. It is instinct, and it is pressuring you to flee to the cliffs swiftly.

The colt squares his jaw and straightens his shoulders. He doesn’t fear death. 

Hurry.

He gathers all his might.

Faster.

He jumps.

Faster!

His friends cheer as he plummets into the black hole of the sea, but their shouts soon turn to horror as they have yet to see him resurface. The sea has swallowed him whole. Beneath the waves, he struggles to regain his orientation. Which way is the surface? It is all so dark and he cannot see. The frigid temps begin to seep into his skin, the oxygen is being strangled out of him, he is screaming for his friends but they cannot hear his cries. The water is rising in him, his body is being battered by the aggressive pull and push of the ocean, the cold is asking him to close his eyes and succumb to the motions.

Who has the power to save him? You.

---

In a brash - and pointless - dare, a small group of yearlings goad their "friend" to take a leap off the Praistigia Cliffs in an effort to prove his worth. He is hesitant, and in these mere seconds of hesitance... something is able to beckon for help. It calls to @Below Zero in a primal, unspoken urge — compelling her to get there, as fast as she can.

The colt's feet leave the cliff's edge ... then the water swallows him whole, and refuses to let go.

—
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This quest was written by @nastyalicorn!

[Below Zero]

B e l o w Z e r o

sister, i hear you laugh, my heart fills full of love
keep me please, sister, when you cry
i feel your tears, running down my face

Do you feel it? The whisper is carried on the wind, but it echoes through her soul like a whale song beneath the waves. Her head snaps up in confusion, looking around for who had spoken, who had so earnestly called for her attention - for surely she's the only one who could understand the words of those who spoke through the sea - and more importantly, the words were heard in her head. She didn't see anyone, however, and her head returned to the ground, resting in the snow, letting the cold embrace her blubber-warmed body, rolling onto her back and just enjoying the cold.

Do you feel it now? This time, the words come with a feeling, a familiar one, the pulse of the ocean, like the rocking of the waves in a storm. It thumps with urgency in her mind, in her soul. Her head lifts again, both sets of eyes suddenly turning towards the sea - to the cliffs that guide it. She rolls to her hooves, easily standing as the snow falls from her body, limbs carrying her with a touch of confusion towards the chanting feeling that echoed through her. There's a sudden whisper through her bond-link with Yukime, Bel . . . this feeling is off home. Bel startled at her bonded's word, and suddenly that ancient pressure, that push had her body tingling with energy, with concern.

But this time, the feelings, the odd whisp of a voice that seems to echo like a song through water carries her towards that cliff. It is pressed around her, filling her with a sense of urgency. Hurry Her gate picks up, her hooves carrying her smoothly through the snow with practiced steps of a being who grew up in much worse arctic conditions. Faster. The voice has a feminine quality to it, urging, and in the mare's mind, she can almost see the bleeding glow of dual sets of green eyes, pleading for her to get there. She sees them, a group ahead of youth around the edge of the cliffs. She can feel the angry churning of the waves below them, she sees, no she feels the way the colt gathers himself - and leaps Faster!

"NO!" The mare slams to a halt next to the others, staring down, worried, body tense. She sees the angry waters, the way they trash. The colt hasn't emerged, she spins towards the worried friends, "Stay here." She'd take them all to Liam later, but right now . . . her gaze returns to the water, and without a second thought, she leaps!

Her body is immediately arched, and her gills have already flared open, searing her lungs; before she even hits the water. She slides through, bubbles rushing around her as she dives deep into the water, eyes already glowing as she looks around the dark, angry waves. Her body begins to light up as well, glowing subtly in the water as she searches. It's a feeling, more than anything, that has her sensing where the boy is, but the water is angry, fighting her just as much as it clings to the soul it wants to possess.

No.

No, not like this.

She struggles to reach him.

No. She won't lose someone to the water.

Not again.

Never again.

No, she could do more.

She needed to do more.

She had the power to do more.

Her body began to glow. Her teeth clenched, and with a whoosh of sudden awareness, those glowing eyes take in the water, feeling it around her, every angry thrash, every cool wave, every fish sliding through it, and the section of water where the colt struggles. And at that moment, she urges her being to take control of that water.

She doesn't know how, how she urges, how she forces, how she is propelling herself through, how the water is suddenly rushing the foal to the surface. All she knows is she suddenly breaks the water's surface next to him, her eyes still glowing as she snarls angrily at the water still wanting to cling to them.

This wouldn't do.

This wouldn't do.

"ENOUGH!"

Her voice echoes with power, sliding across the ocean, and suddenly it stills, like a peaceful summer day, the gentle lull of a quiet sea. The waves gently push them, both of them to the shore, depositing them onto the sand with the gentleness of a mother laying a babe to sleep. But she's not done. "Release the boy. NOW." The power continues to control the water, to force it to leave the boy's snout, his nostrils, his throat, and lungs, coughing the water up. Only as he's coughing, and coming to does she finally feel herself relax, feel herself drop that connection with the sea, even as she almost drops to her own knees beside the colt. She's breathing heavily, looking down at the foal, "That was stupid and reckless." She chides if only to keep herself from collapsing in exhaustion. Well done. Her bonded's words soothe her exhaustion, I will fetch Liam. Stay with the hatchlings. The voice of her bonded disappears from her head, even as she turns her attention towards the colt who seems to be coming around faster. His friends have descended the cliffs, are staring at the both of them from a short distance away.

Bel gives in, collapsing next to the foal and rolling onto her back, breathing heavily. But as her eyes close, she wears a smile. The ocean didn't win this time. This time, she saved the life. And she'd do the same next time too, no one would die as her pod had always accepted. Because she could help, because she had helped. Because the rules have changed.

"Bel"
Yukime
@Random Events
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