Desreal: to start a new; to remember; and to forget;

It is raining, the thick fog of the rain as it banters against the ground. The Earth, turning from soil to mud, and he walks, alone within the steaming darkness as night decends upon the trees, shadows weaving as the moon is forgotten amongst rain clouds, buried inside itself as the storm quite’s but for only the moment. His Air swims around him as his earth touches for almost the last time each leaf as it dips letting the water fall to the ground, the mud cakes itself to him, but his earth cradles it, hardening it as his air and earth work together and create a path.

The Painted buckskin stallion, once known as no one, once a nothing among the shores and in the hearts of kind. Micah, The Warden, makes this his last visit to these lands for many unshed reasons.

But he falters, each step hesitant as the last, his past, so old, so almost forgotten, yet so alive.

He remembers Delilah and their run across the shores of Solira long long before it had fallen. Finding the cave and taking refuge there before making their way through the shallowness of it continuing to its other mouth as it opened up into a meadow, so fresh from the rain, dew stricken and lush. He sighs but memories, so many of them spread through the fog. He remembers Aian, his teacher, his once lover, and mother of his first daughter Sarai. Although he has only seen her once, and his heart feels the sorrow as it rips through him. He would never get to know her, the red and white child. But it is Rowan who shines through the darkness, his ghost within the fog, his cat-like lover who e abandoned and she too abandoning him. Their black and white painted Daughter Epos, who has forever hated them, but can here her calls through the night of forgivness.

But they fade, and others shine through, of Lycrois the only other he could possibly ever love, his heart reached to her, and knowing her has proven he could never be with one person. He was not a one-love man. His heart cared to much, and his daughter he couldn’t see, and her twin laying dead amongst the ferns and foliage. But it never ends there, The Warden knows as pictures of hips and skin, and heavy breathe and elemmire become known through his mind, and his two boys, his only boys, his Seer children, he has yet to find. Both gone from the land and his heart.

Some how a memory forgotten but now he remembers, like the fog begins to lift and you see even more clearly then ever before.

He walks and walks and behind him, he hears footsteps.

His head turns as his earth, air, and mind reach out, calling, waiting, almost wanting. Their earths so familiar. So similar to Sarai and Epos. He holds his breathe as the twins come into view. Both the same size and shape, both painted, but one a trembling darkness, and the other a dull grayness. It is not a smile that forms upon his lips but a twisted expression of sadness at his ever growing children. All five of them, he felt so old, so weary. He feels a tear streaking down his cheek and the unnamed children walk towards a father they never knew. The darker one brushing his lips across his cheek. The lighter running his nose across the dampness of his neck. The three stallions mingle together, their bodies twisting together and there is nothing but silence.

And through the darkness she too comes. The black and white mare, so elegantly shaped so much like Rowan walks towards them. SIlence hung thick upon the air but she accepts them, her half-brothers, and her fathers and includes herself.

Micah knows their names now, The Warden knows and watches all. The Darker of the twins, a roany black with pained splashes streaking across their bodies pulls away first. It is then he notices the marking on his shoulder and quickly looks at the other, almost identical. The Darker one nods one. “Ryan“ Micah breathes into the atmosphere. “Shh, Warden, we have come to realize this place is dying, and we wish to show you a way out.“ Micah confused and feeling almost light-headed turns to the other. “Thomas..“ He all but nods at him. Micah can feel the elements so alive in his bones, but clashing, fading, and flickering.

Epos steps forward, touching her fathers nose, and he knew she forgave him for leaving and she had been hiding within the shadows, watching him, her brothers, everything. “They told me long ago, it is time, we shall explain along the way.“

Micah cannot help but shake his head almost furiously, he could not leave the element was his home, it was all he had come to know. But for once he puts his trust to them, he has never done it before, but now, it is time, and his children are the only ones he feels like he can trust. “What of your mother Epos? And Lycoris? And your sisters Hesper and Sarai?“She smiles, it is soft and reflects rowans almost perfectly. “I feel, the may come with time.“

He sighs heavily, feeling old bitter, and disoriented.

The Warden is quite for one last time before her looks up at his twins Ryan and Thomas, and Epos. “Just one stop first.“ And with that The Warden turns around, heading back to Andarin for one last goodbye.

Nimir-raj Micah's faithful companion, who has been hiding in the darkness follows him, as the children set foot behind them.

micah; ryan; thomas; epos
deception is charming,
liar, condescender, words born as bastards.