Posted by ETHEREAL on August 12, 2008, 10:10 am
205.188.117.65
Darkness loomed. And not just peaceful darkness filled with crickets. Darkness. True darkness. Far beyond what scared little children… We’re talking a total apocalypse of the preconception of what was dark. Ink black. Coal black. Jet black. Darkness. And then someone lit a match that burnt with the brightest flame, an all consuming flame that only seemed to make the dark that much more black as it burnt and rallied out of control in the cold, blustery, iconic bitterness of winter. So delicate, so light, so refined was the flame that danced and bickered with the cold that snapped and bit at it’s greater worth… But that cold, blustery, bickering air only encouraged the flame and turned it from a mewling into a wrathful, vengeful, vicious beast.
Ethereal… The name conjured up the stars and angels… But one look at the creature that bore the title instantly let viewer in on a little secret; the mare had long ago lost her cherub-like demeanor right around the same time her baby fuzz melted off the long romantic lines of her body to reveal skin soaked in blood and striped in coal. The first time her eyes radiated a bitter flame in their unfathomable blue depths. She did not shiver like most young horses engaging in battle with their third winter. She didn’t shiver at all, nor was she graced with the thick pelt of a horse weathering winter. Instead the bore but a callous simper as her inner heat radiated to bring the snow to melting, to pudling as she turned the ground beneath winter’s lore to tar and ash all at the cruelest of whims. This was a horse of true fire. born of fire. The creature had been birthed knowing how to control fire storms, how to roast creatures alive… Born of a savage being, cursed to be a savage being… Ethereal in looks alone was sheer Heaven, but beyond that the beast was Hell.
Regardless the hellion walked with balanced strides across land that sent the other horses to slipping and sliding without care or abandon. The ice curled away from her in fear… But that was not to say that she appreciated the snow or sleet or wet weather. She burned extra hot to have it dry and sizzle away from her body as quickly as possible in sheer loathing of her opposite element… But someday water too would fear her and recoil in sheer terror at the very sight of such a creature. Oh the beauty the future would bring. Oh the beauty indeed. But the future was just that; a dream. Today, tonight, that was what mattered most. Delilah was another tall athletic animal - but still she missed the true power of the stygian flame. Measured strides turned to a ground covering trot upon legs that piston into the snow to steal away purchase. This trot could have been longer, faster, but even with the advantage of having fire to burn a path to greater glory Ethereal was careful as she covered Delilah's bay movement by scent and smell and yes even hearing as the mare had been born more a predator then prey.
She could hear Delilah's heart beating deep within the bay mare's chest.
The taller flame chose to fight from slightly behind and at an angle as to avoid being cow kicked, but to keep the element of care and surprise on her end. From this point if Ethereal so wished she could have rammed the mare and kept her on a course constantly turning to avoid having the stronger built horse coming into her head or delicate ribs depending on how ever else she chose to turn. A horse never ever wanted to give up it's tender sides it's vulnerable sides, you can thank Pat Parelli for discerning that, and Ethereal milked that as she came in. Her delicate head snaked out on the end of her long luxurious neck. Her jaws gaped wide to feign a tragic bite towards the bay's ear, throat, ocular region - pick your poison, Delilah, because the bite will never land unless you decide you want to give Ethereal that extra taste of flesh. She merely wants to distract you and make you turn away to protect your sides with your back end since your front end was no longer an option. It was at the last in those last possible seconds before collision that Ethereal moved her body to come nearly parallel, after that feigned bite which should have sent Delilah's head away from those teeth. Ethereal's teeth snapped shut and her own head threw itself to the opposite side, tugging the front half of her body along with it in quickly measured time through the hissing, popping slush and balancing tar her white hot hooves had created. Her back end lifted in a powerful buck to send those dangerous branding iron hot hooves out in hopes of catching Delilah's stifle or gaskin or even the tender bit of flesh just before the stifle and just after the rib cage ends - pure flesh - pure soft tissue filled with nerves and capillaries and a ligament that joins leg to barrel. It was her hope to severely maim and injure the bay, to render that stifle and general region useless in battle. Combined with the burning power her full element had blessed her, such a smack regardless of where it landed would hurt if not partially cripple Delilah, there was no doubt about it, that region was not one to trifled with unless you wished to upset and destroy the beautiful kinetic motion of a Warmblood built for grace, not for battle. It's that exact reason why prized mares and stallions are catered to in such a way they never even get a scratch. It's why Ethereal would be grateful for her mixed heritage with only a touch of Oldenburg deep in her lines if she knew them if at all.
It was a quick move, but just as quickly Ethereal's limbs were back planted on the frozen loam and the black smoke tangles of her tail cracked across her haunches. Her head shook violently with pinned ears pressed tightly to her poll combined with gnashing teeth that promised pain and death towards her opponent. It only took a few fractions of a second before she was in motion again. From her new position all it took was a wide circle around Delilah's back to goad the mare from the other side as to avoid being kicked. There was no great speed involved. Just a hissing, snarling mass of blood red horse following along, observing damage, and deciding exactly when to spring upon her prey. It was a smart move, to avoid as much of Delilah as possible while continuing to stress the poor bay with the idea of pain being so close and yet so far - always a constant threat with her head low on her outstretched neck and pinned ears, pinched nostrils, and bared teeth under tight lips. Ethereal was the picture of a dominant mare threatening with her eyes, chasing with her body's posture and the cruel glance towards the piece of her enemies body that she wanted to destroy. She was flanking the mare from about the middle of the mare's rib cage before she rushed in for her new attack. Her body closed the gap at a trot complete with a roar as Ethereal as a whole rose slightly to throw her left fore hoof into Delilah's right fore in hopes of sending it's white hot chipped fury somewhere just above the delicate back of her knee, the knoll of the carpus that stuck out to connect to ligaments down the cannon bone. Perhaps her hoof would drag down the length of leg along the tendons, or perhaps even being forced to strike lower depending upon the trajectory and how Delilah moved to counter. That leg, that general region was Ethereal's target while she saved her own right foreleg to act as a counter balance incase the bay lunged into her. She have something to plant into the ground to stabilize her as it never left high enough to pose risk. It never would have. The horses were too close in height with the flame holding an advantage.
Regardless Ethereal landed and twisted away to move a distance off to watch and wait for retaliation from Delilah. Oh how sweet the bitter cold could be as the ice came back to freeze the pools of water and tar the tall dun mare had left in her wake almost instantly in the blustery freezing cold that blew and billowed out the black smoke of her mane and tail.
Ethereal really was Hell born on Earth.
FIRE III | Warrior | Andarin
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