ORIGIN

Suddenly she was angry; unspeakably enraged at everything that'd gone wrong. She didn't want to justify her friends nor did she want to play a saint and rightfully blame herself for what had already come to pass. No, Delphine wanted to sit and fester. She wanted to scream and shout. It all seemed so ridiculous when no one was there to witness her struggles, to attest to her character. There was nothing to be gained and the futility of it all fed further into the darkness that grew in her heart, manifesting and spreading its malevolent presence. Despite the fact she'd spent so much time attempting to placate the unrest and turmoil, she knew it was all for naught when the savage infuriation bled her dry. Then it all became too much too quickly.

She rose forcefully from the floors, her legs shooting upward and her muscles growing taut with rage. She stomped her hoof against the ground, wringing minor satisfaction from hearing the scuffling of rock and dirt. Not enough. Her head swung from left to right and she reared onto her hind legs as she did so often before. Each physical gesture meant to be a corporeal manifestation of her frustrations only worsened the situation, amplifying her wrath until all she saw was red. Delphine snorted and keened into the wide expanse of Eridanus, demanding for an audience to hear her cry but she knew there would be no one there to answer.

It was impossible to say when it happened but in midst of her tantrum, the young mare had tapped into her latent power. What greeted her was not the usual sight of earthy hues but a searing red that burned across her vision and jolted through her one hind leg tearing a wretched shriek from Delphine. Pain. Pain that could nearly rival that of what Baratheon had inflicted upon her shot through her hindquarters, collapsing the Gembound against her own weight and throwing her to the ground in a plume of rising dust. The filly cried piteously, wailing as she had the first night she woke alone because it was only now did the gravity of her loneliness sink in against the backdrop of searing white pain that lanced through her whole body.

She did not again attempt to right herself. Instead, her face dropped unceremoniously against the cold, hard earth and her breath shuddered with her waning consciousness; faded to black with the one singular world that she feared most, "Alone..."

The notion of coming to was as unappealing as it was inevitable. With a pained and weary groan, Delphine attempted to stand, applying pressure first on her forelegs before deigning to do so on her hindlegs. White spots flashed across her vision as pain speared through her hindquarters where her one leg had quavered against her weight and lifted in a knee-jerk reaction that rendered her a three-legged creature. Her gaze dropped to examine the fractured limb, frowning at what was surely a cosmic joke forced to her breast. "Great..." She grumbled to herself. But a week or so ago, she'd been forced to immobility and healing by an attack on her persons and now this. The filly laughed dryly, once again reminded how piteous her whole situation was and how foolish she'd been for growing so angry.

In an agonizing pace that moreso resembled a crawl, Delphine hobbled from one place to another. A few times she'd barely managed to right herself, others she'd managed to fall face-first onto the hard floors. Every now and then she'd whimper and cry, drown in a bout of self-pity and welling frustration but she was just as quick to recover, forcing herself to try and try again until she could accustom herself to this new trial and tribulation set before her. She knew not how much time had passed but that her muscles ached with the exertion of energy was indication enough that she'd walked for a fair amount of time through the dense jungles of Eridanus.

When she attempted to lower her head to quench her thirst, her balance was thrown and in one fell movement, the filly was cast into the pool. Bursting forth from the aquatic surface with a gasp and a shrill scream. There was only a bruising pain that throbbed all around but otherwise, she had cried for the sake of crying. She wallowed in self-misery and wondered why the fates were so cruel to deal her the hand that they did but all of this would be to no avail. The melancholy, anger and self-pity only served to heighten her hatred to no one yet everything. It was a darkness that festered like an infected wound, so much so that even as the filly dragged herself from the waters, she refused to stand and settled instead for resting. Her mind overworked itself and when at last she found reprieve, it was from over exertion of her mental faculties. Even if she wanted to be upset, she was simply too damn tired to do so and she relished in what she would deem a small victory.

In a short period of time, Delphine had come to experience a vast range of emotions, none of which were particularly rewarding when they tended to lean toward the darker end of the spectrum. Despair, agony, infuriation and now, restlessness. Pressed and burned to her muscle and flesh was an antsiness that would not be shook. She tried to calm the implacable machinations of her mind but it was an endeavor lost before she even deigned to try. Then she resorted to shaking her head and limbs as if somehow, the niggling feeling would simply fly off of her as a fly or pest upon her coat. When the futility of her actions became clear, she resorted to standing and limping about. She quickened her pace when her heart beat too fast, thinking that if she were to tire herself out, there would be no room for her thoughts or fleeting fancies.

Then it wasn't enough. Walking was a temporary cure to a problem that was more mental than anything else. There were no other explanation for the crawling sensation beneath her skin or the overwhelming desire to shake and pace and jump and move. She dug her heels into the ground in an effort to see how far she could dig but the project was just as soon abandoned when it very simply was not enough. She limped toward the waters and peered into her reflection. Green eyes gazed back. Sharp horns poking more prominently from in front of her ears. Everything seemed fine. There were no creatures worming upon her, no reason to explain the anxiety that suddenly leeched upon her.

She was walking again and this time, Delphine found herself barreling haphazardly through the underbrush. If she bumped against a tree or scraped against a rock, she did not show any signs of acknowledging the dull ache or the sharp pang along her body. Her only goal was to walk and walk she did. Every now and then, she dared to put her fractured leg against the floor. Tested her weight upon it. It was too much and she resumed her excavation, a physical manifestation of restlessness and boredom. Then her lips parted and very suddenly, words flitted in the empty space around her.

"My name is Delphine." She began, "I was born in Polaris and met very kind... G-Gembounds. There was Magda, Booker Khloros, Adeyemi and Willow." Pausing for breath, her heart had in fact begun to slow so she talked ever the more. "We were... Pppaarted?— when the monsters came and then I was attackid, no... Attacked in Eerahduhnus. I would have died if Arkrael, a strange dog and Magda had not come. They saved me." It was difficult sorting through her thoughts and attempting to match the right words to convey what had transpired. Her tongue tripped and stumbled over syllables that required more effort and backtracked when she thought herself wrong. It helped that the act of speaking required not only physical but mental stamina. She welcomed the distraction with open arms. "B-But I woke alone and have been since. It's... Lonely and I hurt myself. I didn't mean to. I wish someone were here." By then she'd halted in her path and gradually lowered against the roots of a particularly large tree, finding comfort in its chilling embrace.

"Tired... I think a lot when I don't want to. I miss everyone." Delphine stopped to dam the pain that lodged in her throat, a cry that would not be released but in the smallest voice that trembled in the grand silence. "I miss everyone."

She was running short on excuses to stay angry, upset and petty and even then, that was assuming her previous justifications were at all viable. Delphine would eventually peg it to her youth and lack of experience that she had allowed things to fall so perilously; blindly chasing after the white rabbit of her passing fancies only to return empty-handed. anergia had become a staple for her, forcing the child through the processes of waking, standing, walking, eating, drinking and sleeping. Over and over she would indulge this cycle, watching as it played on and on until the humdrum of her everyday life was mechanical in its execution. She had barely registered when she'd begun to hobble on her wounded leg or how it had escaped her altogether. Surely she would have known when the distribution of weight was readjusting to the healing process except, her mind had shut everything off and inadvertently put itself on hold.

The coping mechanism itself was effective. Instead of time wasted drowned in self-perpetuated misery, Delphine was efficiently trying first and foremost to recover physically. Only then did she think she would be able to confront the demons of her mind, only then did she think she wanted to address them at all. So she traipsed about Eridanus, a feat she could accomplish with her eyes closed if she so desired. Sometimes she was almost certain she knew where every root, stone and hidden spring was. Perhaps she would make it a game some day where she would see if she could make it from one end of the jungle to the other with her eyes closed. The idea didn't seem so terrible and perhaps by then, someone would find their way to her or she could leave. The fact that her leg was already walkable was a miracle in and of itself but it also stripped her of her one final reason for not departing Eridanus. Her scar had healed and so too would her leg.

Delphine forced herself to think positively, to believe that what lay beyond her verdant haven was something good. It was by chance that she'd encountered the dragon and after all, there were others who were quick to rescue her so surely there was something to be had outside. All she needed was a little courage and the willpower. So it was decided, the filly would leave the jungles of her sanctuary in three sleep cycles.

The time had come. She could no longer delay her departure and in truth, a part of her was excited to again embark into the world. Although she was no longer so foolish in her beliefs that there would be no dangers to welcome her, she also could not fend away her child-like inclination toward wanderlust. From Polaris to Eridanus, the two rooms were so vastly different that it had made her wonder what else was out there. What secrets did this world bring with it? With these thoughts tucked to her heart, her doubts were easily buried beneath a welling excitement that brought her ever closer to the tunnels. Perhaps she would find the others now that she had the opportunity to explore and look for them. There were just so many possibilities that immobility had not offered her before that she could not refrain from letting loose an eager whinny.

Though she still limped ever so slightly, Delphine was for the most part recovered well enough. The scar, raw, pink and puckered, was an unforgiving sight that she did not oft look upon for that sole reason. That and given its location, it was entirely unnecessary for the child to remind herself of what had rendered her inert in the first place. Instead, she would focus on the yawning exit and marvel at the already changing geography. How had she allowed herself to miss so much? The times that she wallowed in anger and despair could have been spent searching the tunnels and beyond for something more. Delphine chastised herself for her tendencies toward sentimentality but just as easily dismissed her mistakes in the face of the new world. Just once she cleared her throat before taking one step forward and another, reveling in the changing topography. Before disappearing into the shadows, the child's emerald gaze peered back toward her oasis.

"Be back soon." She whispered with a finalizing smile and an eager heart.

exit delphine!