Desreal: do you remember how her eyes would shine? [I]

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD:

"Where is our father?" A lavender eyed Shay peered up at her mother from behind Saga, her face sad and drawn. Saga turned away from his family, glaring at the gravedirt beneath his small hooves. Their father was never around. He was always-

"Running errands for Lethia, Shay, you know that." Illiana looked tired, her coat dull and her eyes dim. Saga briefly remembered a time when his mother's eyes were bright and full of the stars - it was when his father was home. She lit up like no other, and they seemed to breathe love into each other, forgetting the whole world. Even their children.

Shay was not prone to pouting, but her mouth did draw into a tight line. "Why?" She finally asked, her voice bordering on whining, "Why does Lethia always send him? She has so many other minions." The filly narrowed her eyes and stared even harder at her dappled mother. "She could send that other mare, the one with half a face. She calls herself 'Monster'."

Illiana looked sharply at her daughter, ears drawn back sharply in diapproval. "Don't call her that," the adult mare chastised firmly, though her feelings towards this 'Monster' weren't all that fond. "And Lethia sends him because she trusts him," the mare replied demurely, tucking her chin slightly and resting it against her chest.

Saga snorted derisively, catching the attention of his twin and dam. Shrugging his shoulders, Saga began to explain: "I think she does it on purpose. Lethia, that is. She sends father because she hates that he only wants to spend time with you, and not her." The colt sneered, an awkward look on his young face. "Father was always devoted to her before you, mother."

Shay looked surprised. "Momma, is this true?" She asked excitedly, turning to her mother in awe. If her mother was powerful enough to rival even their Queen then she must be very powerful indeed.

Illiana smiled at her children, that old spark of life re-entering her blue-gray eyes as she affirmed the speculation. Most people wouldn't call Illiana a fool, but she was a fool in her love for Benediction. It was almost too big and vast for the two of them to shoulder, a timeless romance, perhaps, but a cruel one. "Your father loves us more than anything in the world." She said softly, her heart beating with the truth of that statement. Saga watched his mother closely, noticing when her eyes got starry and a glow kissed her cheeks. He recoiled from her slightly, shaking his tuft of a mane.

"I don't think he loves us at all," the colt grumbled, his gray-blue eyes shifting away from his family, "or he wouldn't leave us like this."

The reaction from Illiana was a physical one. The light drained from her face, and she stared at her son like he was possessed. She withdrew into herself, taking a few steps away from her twins. "Saga, Shay-" she said calmly, not unlike the voice she had just been speaking to them in, only the warmth was gone. "-go. I have to- I have to go."

Saga simply stared at his mother's retreating figure, even as Shay (who had already forgotten the whole incident) tugged on his mane to play.

Saga wakes up with a sharp inhalation, his gray blue eyes bright and clear. For a moment he looks as young as the colt in his memories, all fresh faced and new to the world. But that moment passes, and Saga neutralizes his face, shaking away his prickly dreams and rising wearily to his feet. Today he would explore Legend a little more. The sand was warm from where he left it, but dawn was still a few hours off and the air was cold. Shivering, Saga decides against the Sea and the Forest. which only left the humid jungle. A smile works its way along his mouth, quirking his lips in a strange way as if puppeteers were directing it. The Jungle, Desreal, the Rogues. He wastes no time in leaving the desert, slipping into the moist heat that descended along his back and made him feel kingly in a very wet way. He sneers a laugh at his ungainly explanation, but is quite indescribable, this silky feeling of power. He slinks along like a cat, avoiding shadows and alcoves and sticking to the lazy stream that cuts down the middle of Desreal. He floats along as if still caught in the dreams of his childhood, forcing back the hurt that still lingers. It makes him angry, this hurt, but he can't seem to erase it at all. It's all tied up in the tangles of his mind and heart, their looping patterns a near-torture for our big bay colt. Feeling rebellious, Saga bears his teeth at nothing, growling out his agitation to the Jungle.

He walks for a few more hours, now deeper into Desreal than he had meant to go. The trees are thick, as is the air, and Saga feels like he's struggling to breathe. Grumpily, he thinks that this place was like Phlegethon in the summer, a blistering heat, and in certain parts an unyielding humidity. Cross, Saga twists to follow his tracks back to civility (or as civil as this place can get) when something catches his eye. It's bright, it's too bright and it hurts his eyes. Squinting away the pain, Saga tries to focus on the bright spot. It looks like it's hovering but - he can't tell. It's brighter than the sun, he thinks to himself, inexplicably drawn to it. It moves away. He follows. It moves away, he follows. This goes on for a half and hour until Saga is lured into a wider clearing in the jungle. The brightness disappears, and Saga leans his head against one outstretched foreleg in an effort to ease the burning in his retinas. It fades, after a time, and our colt is finally free to lift his head and take a good look around. He wonders if he's imagined all of this, if he's finally snapped and his mind is playing tricks on him, because there is nothing here. Groaning, Saga realizes he's even more lost than before, having wandered away from the stream to follow that - thing. He turns slowly in a circle, front feet crossing over each other as his hind end stays in place. Three hundred and sixty degrees until -

Saga's savage head snaps back, realizing that there was someone here with him. A figure, burning much too brightly to be normal. The bay colt could practically see flames licking up and down this other creature's legs and sides, like a lover's touch. Alyss never had that kind of power. Sometimes he could see sparks in her eyes, and sometimes her mane and tail singed like she'd been burnt, but not this - this - oneness with the flames. It takes him a minute to find the outline of a stallion behind the flames (or maybe the fire was simply dimming for his benefit) but when they do, Saga has to suck in a breath as a name leaps to his lips unbidden. "Nicodemus?"

SAGA
I am the alpha and the omega