Desreal: This is our ungodly hour;

Wish upon a shooting star;
For dreams and things that never are.

Courage watched in horror as the events took place. The eyes, the terrible, glowing eyes of the hellish beasts that swallowed Solira in its beauty haunted her. But after today, their images would not be the things that taunted her, that bore with their memory the nightmares that would tear her soul apart in such emotional anguish. No, instead it would be this.

As she stepped into Desreal, the golden mare knew. It hit her like she was being kicked in the stomach, only it was far worse than any physical pain that could take over her body. She watched Kratos step up to Kurai full of a rage that she had never really seen before. And with his final stand there came a scream from her tragically beautiful features. She trembled. She cried. She sobbed for the absolution that death brought over her. Connor had already left Legend, and Courage had come here to find Kratos and take him with her to where her mother Genesis was a goddess. There, they would be protected and happy. She was certain.

But Courage’s happiness had been short-lived, just as her beloved Kratos.

Tears streamed furiously down her golden, exquisite cheeks. Her oceanic gaze watched, and her scream echoed through the depths of her soul as she fell to her knees in heartrending horror. She couldn’t see, and there was no comfort her elements could offer her. The daughter of Genesis and Fantome was once again alone in the lands of the elements. She shook, trembled with the grief that overtook her. But even in such a heartbreaking state as this, she is beautiful – angelic even. Her head shakes, and she defies the logic that has presented itself before her. Inside, there is a dull ache that begins in her soul and proceeds to spread to the rest of her body. Something inside of her wants to break, wants to lay down beside where her beloved was murdered. Courage is lost, and she is without direction in this moment. The only thing that had been keeping her here is now gone. Her tears inundate the obscure hero that she had loved for longer than should have been possible. And finally, when she can cry no more, there is a dull numbness that takes over her. The ache is still there, but for the first time in her life she feels alone.

She rests next to him and curls her body into his while her fire continues to warm the body as if it were still alive, wishing she had been just a little quicker to get here. Maybe then she might have been able to do something. She whispers something softly, so sweetly as she smiles through the salty, burning tears. It is a hushed lover’s voice she carries. To a passerby Courage might seem to be talking to someone that lives still, but the tears in her eyes register the truth, the reality of what has happened. The words themselves are poetry of love and adoration, of respect and honor, of things that words cannot fully describe, and their tone can only provide a glimpse of what she feels inside of her – for inside she aches.

Oh, how she aches.

In her life, she has been abandoned and hated by her own father and has been thrown to the wolves on many occasions. But it is only now that Courage becomes a damaged being.

And that is perhaps the most heartbreaking part of this story.

SE: C O U R A G E

Water III | Fire III

Nidor Nex

Greek Fire