04-25-2019, 04:20 AM
The Mountain and the Well
----
The craggy path was patched with snow, absent of coherent rhyme or reason. The path slick from congregating moisture. Gasping I slipped, my hands slapping painfully onto stone. The cold start jolted from my palms and into the bones of my arms. Breathing without end I looked at a patch of snow. Undisturbed at this altitude of the pass for we were the only travelers of this way. With the stiffness of an automaton my palm became a meteor of flesh that impacted the white surface.
Arms slipped under and about me. Locks of blue hair waved and swished about us, ferried by the mountain's wind.
"Are you okay?" There was no white cloud that puffed out and away from her lips. Cold had no effect on her.
"Yes."
"You know we don't think any lesser of you if you stumble sometimes."
"I know," I smiled and allowed Esdeath to help me back to my feet. Hooves clipped and clopped up to my left flank and instinctively my arm embraced Nightmare. Fingers found purple hair. Even in this darkness the night sky still lived in her mane.
Lupusregina hummed quietly from the back alongside Zero Two. Her inflection merging with the harsh wind but only her voice remained after. Reassuring and absolute. More serene than jovial.
We went up the path further. My legs weary but the ever presence of them bolstered my muscles. My soul. My heart pumping the heating blood throughout my person. The sky was dark, no patterns nor trails of timeless stars. But there apparent absence was something that did not trouble me. To my left were the stars of the night. We walked on for awhile. Hooves and boots and shoes creating a song that the mountain wordlessly listened to.
Reaching the apex we were greeted by a well. It jutted from the smooth surface completely free of erosion. Forged from the very body of the mountain itself. Unknown maker and unknowing time.
Letting go of Nightmare we approached it and were surprised to find it filled to the brim with crystalline water. It rippled with the wind. The blackness at its end stiller than statues atop a castle's battlements.
"How far down do you think it goes?"
"Dunno," Zero Two shrugged and her hands cupped the water with the care comparable to how one carries china teacups. Smiling she gulped it down. Each of us followed suit, Nightmare and myself simply lowering our lips to it. The chill was refreshing.
Beams of moon light broke through the formless abyss of clouds and as I lifted my head the water shone white. Our reflections distorting in the liquid and the limitless darkness at its bottom blotted out by us and the piercing lance of the moon's brilliance.
Reaching over, Lupusregina thumbed away two stray droplets on my beard. The werewolf smiling as she always did. My gaze returned to the now stilled water and we all looked back. Zero Two swiped a finger through it and we turned our attention onward.
There was a path leading down and eventually out of the mountain. None of us looked back at the well. The moon illuminated the future we would walk in certain areas. I did not have to look at my loves and companions to know they too looked on with no hesitation or fear. It was expansive, bright and dark but we would get where we needed to go. Together.
"Let's go."
----
The craggy path was patched with snow, absent of coherent rhyme or reason. The path slick from congregating moisture. Gasping I slipped, my hands slapping painfully onto stone. The cold start jolted from my palms and into the bones of my arms. Breathing without end I looked at a patch of snow. Undisturbed at this altitude of the pass for we were the only travelers of this way. With the stiffness of an automaton my palm became a meteor of flesh that impacted the white surface.
Arms slipped under and about me. Locks of blue hair waved and swished about us, ferried by the mountain's wind.
"Are you okay?" There was no white cloud that puffed out and away from her lips. Cold had no effect on her.
"Yes."
"You know we don't think any lesser of you if you stumble sometimes."
"I know," I smiled and allowed Esdeath to help me back to my feet. Hooves clipped and clopped up to my left flank and instinctively my arm embraced Nightmare. Fingers found purple hair. Even in this darkness the night sky still lived in her mane.
Lupusregina hummed quietly from the back alongside Zero Two. Her inflection merging with the harsh wind but only her voice remained after. Reassuring and absolute. More serene than jovial.
We went up the path further. My legs weary but the ever presence of them bolstered my muscles. My soul. My heart pumping the heating blood throughout my person. The sky was dark, no patterns nor trails of timeless stars. But there apparent absence was something that did not trouble me. To my left were the stars of the night. We walked on for awhile. Hooves and boots and shoes creating a song that the mountain wordlessly listened to.
Reaching the apex we were greeted by a well. It jutted from the smooth surface completely free of erosion. Forged from the very body of the mountain itself. Unknown maker and unknowing time.
Letting go of Nightmare we approached it and were surprised to find it filled to the brim with crystalline water. It rippled with the wind. The blackness at its end stiller than statues atop a castle's battlements.
"How far down do you think it goes?"
"Dunno," Zero Two shrugged and her hands cupped the water with the care comparable to how one carries china teacups. Smiling she gulped it down. Each of us followed suit, Nightmare and myself simply lowering our lips to it. The chill was refreshing.
Beams of moon light broke through the formless abyss of clouds and as I lifted my head the water shone white. Our reflections distorting in the liquid and the limitless darkness at its bottom blotted out by us and the piercing lance of the moon's brilliance.
Reaching over, Lupusregina thumbed away two stray droplets on my beard. The werewolf smiling as she always did. My gaze returned to the now stilled water and we all looked back. Zero Two swiped a finger through it and we turned our attention onward.
There was a path leading down and eventually out of the mountain. None of us looked back at the well. The moon illuminated the future we would walk in certain areas. I did not have to look at my loves and companions to know they too looked on with no hesitation or fear. It was expansive, bright and dark but we would get where we needed to go. Together.
"Let's go."