ORIGIN

She ran. Through the darkness of an unfamiliar jungle — its emerald sentries cast in shadow, slouched and towering — she ran. Her breath plumed in smoke and ash, tendrils that whipped into the air and seared across her face. Her heart drummed perilously against the onslaught of fear and the delirium clawed through her mind. She ran still.

Harder.

Faster.

Not enough.
Through and through, the child tore through the foliage, their skeletal reach raking across flesh and bone. Her mouth opened to let loose a scream but silence condemned her, forcing the tension to curl ever tighter. Who? Who was she running from? She knew not the haunts that ghosted her wake but they were there, she knew it as deeply as she knew that she could not live without water, air, or sustenance. But how weary she grew. Anchors dragged along her feet and the pain, oh the pain that burned along her back. The act of breathing alone took its toll on its fatigued passenger but she did not stop, even when she felt the chill of teeth nip along her leg and hindquarter. Even when she stumbled over the unseen roots.

'Run.'

She stood, a tangled mess of blood and limbs and again she ran until her heart threatened to burst from her chest and the darkness still, swallowed her whole.

Delphine woke with a start; horror pressed beneath her flesh, terror ceased in her throat. Cries of dismay deafened her, their keening wails unbearable to the senses. She shook and trembled, her ears flattening against her crown as if to drown the lamentations from their pained aria but there would be no reprieve this night. When the creatures of the jungle flit about their daily rituals, none would pay mind to the child who cried from the grievous wound that burned across her back nor would they know of her hysteria. How she wished the sorrowing would stop, its tone so drowned in misery and torment only it hurt too much for there to be an end. She would moan until her throat tore, weep until the taste of iron and bile doused her tongue and when she could scream no more, only then would Delphine know that it'd been she who had wailed throughout the night; plundered into the silence of her night terrors.

( predated to post-baratheon attack. )

She woke again with bloodshot eyes and a raspy groan. The world was a mess of colors, its sharp lines blurred along the edges until everything was a kaleidoscopic mess; nausea-inducing. Her lips parted to let loose an experimental whinny that chafed along a dry and bloated tongue. She choked, gagging and gasping in a fight against the tides of pain that wracked her body and the sudden rise of bile. Without warning, the salt and iron ichor spilled along the ground, its bare contents expunged from her body until she was dry heaving and drained from the over exertion of even this much.

Everything hurt.

Blearily, the filly glanced from left to right, searching unknowingly for something, anything, but there was no epiphany to touch upon her dulled mind nor a panacea to stop the agony that lanced across her back. She stopped scouring the nothingness for answers and instead forced herself to consider her situation and contemplate what the next step was, even when all she wanted was to sleep away her despair. Her tongue, a ball of cotton, touched along the backs of her teeth, the roof of her mouth, voicing its silent anguish and utter need for water. So the answer came. Pulling herself to her feet, each move poured molten lava across her hide, ripping and tearing the open wound with wretched fingers but she pushed on until she was standing, her legs trembling dangerously from weakness. Thoughts, built from misery and self-pity, culminated perilously toward questions she knew were better left unasked but try and try as she might, there was no stopping the perpetuation of self-induced sorrow.

Where was everyone? Why had they left her side? Surely Magdalena would come. She'd seen what had happened, she was there to protect her when the dragon tore into her and yet... Her hooves drug across the earth, dragging her weight toward the body of water that lay against the far end of the wall. Her head hung low, too feeble to do anymore than this. That she even managed to reach the small pool was a miracle in and of itself and when she did, the filly collapsed. There was no elegance to the action. All strength had efficiently dissipated from paper-legs and with a graceless tumble, she fell into the waters with a splash. It would be there that she remained, taking what felt like hours to replenish her savage need for water before her head fell against the floors, moss and dirt collecting along one side of her face. Blood colored the pool a sanguine hue and though her body remained submerged within it, Delphine made no effort to extricate herself from the place. If the pain from her wound had not been bad enough, her head began to pound from her base attempt to sate her parched mouth and yet there was nothing to be done of it. She was too weak and too tired to care so it was there that she would remain, falling into what she could only pray was a dreamless sleep.

When Delphine came to she was exactly as she'd left herself, half-submerged in the waters. Unlike the day prior, there was less disorientation to greet her senses. Her sight cleared faster; her breathing not so afflicted by dehydration. Things were an iota better than it had been before but the ache along her backside was still present, vacillating between a dull pounding to the occasional sharp pangs. The filly visibly winced when she readjusted herself, pressing her forelegs against the earth to test her still-waning strength. There would be no going around the pain but she also knew that staying immobile was not an option. So she pushed, gasping with effort as her body lifted and the water cascaded along her hindquarters, a temporary waterfall seeking to return to where it came from.

Everything felt heavy. From the water that still clung to her onyx pelt to the tremor that stalked up her legs, it was impossible to have been anything else but this. Nonetheless, she walked. There was no destination or end-game to her thoughts. It was hard to say if she even understood what she was doing but something told her that if she didn't move, even the act of walking would become impossible. So she did.

Forward. Turn left. Turn right. Make a circle. Do it the other way.

Over and over she pushed herself, stopping only to take the occasional water break or to rest when her legs quaked and would not move. Then, she would do it again. She would ignore the gentle pull and tug of unhealed flesh, yet again reopened from lack of tending to. It was not that she did not wish to heal but that she knew not how. What could she do to close the gaping tear along her back when she herself could barely reach the affected area? Her head bowed and she chewed tentatively at the emerald blades and moss that constituted for all of Eridanus. Thoughtfully, the filly contemplated her options. It was not difficult to wash the blood when all it took was to plunge herself in the depths of the pool but stopping the wound from being exposed to air and bacteria was another matter altogether. Someway, somehow she needed to fill the gap with substance that would prevent it from reopening beneath even the slightest duress of movement.

Delphine took another mouthful of moss, deciding the grass too dry and considering herself with leisure enough to choose between the two. She chewed and chewed, grinding the plant until she deemed it suitable for swallowing and that was when it hit her. Thankful that she was alone for this, the filly opened her mouth and spat her food onto the floor. A dark green substance, wet and gooey, lay there for her perusal. She carefully dipped her hoof into the remnants of her food, poking and prodding to see if it would hold and indeed, the concoction (simply chewed up moss) proved malleable enough in form to be the answer that she sought. Optimistic for the first time since the incident, Delphine rewarded herself a small smile. "Yes!" Then she got to work.

Bite. Chew. Spit. Sift.

Bite. Chew. Spit. Sift.

Bite. Chew. Spit. Sift.

The entirety of the process took only all of eternity to accomplish but when it was complete, Delphine could not help but to admire the final product. A fairly substantial strip of masticated moss extended from one end to the other, longer and wider than her actual laceration but that was so when she made the attempt to roll it along her back, she could afford to be somewhat off in her measurements. At some point, she'd halted mid-chew to soak herself in water, sifting in the small pool to cleanse her cut. That way, she still had time to dry before everything was done. She was proud, not just a little but extraordinarily so for even managing to think so far ahead in spite of the pain and weariness that threatened to fell her determination. She won.

The filly folded her legs beneath her and slowly turned to her side, arching her neck to see behind her. One squirm and two wiggles later, she deemed herself a good distance close enough to roll onto her back. With a pained heave, Delphine rolled with her legs in the air and winced when an audible squish sounded from below. "Ugh..." She groaned, frustrated with her circumstance. Though it hurt significantly to press herself any further into the ground, days of enduring pain had prepared her for these few seconds more. Finally, she righted herself so that she was lain on her stomach once more. A part of her was frightened that all her effort was for naught but when she cast her emerald-eyed gaze to her back or at least the part she could see, relief was all that greeted her sight. There to besmirch her midnight coat was the green concoction she'd worked so hard on and seeing it there made everything well worth the effort.

Delphine sighed, too drained of energy to do much else but rest. When sleep came, she would dream of a world of verdant hues and aching jaws.

For the first time in days, Delphine woke without pain. Her head lifted and craned to cast a backward glance to the moss-covered scar along her back. She allowed herself a moment to appraise her handiwork and took the numbness as a sign of healing. With an experimental roll of her shoulders, the filly winced against the foreign stretch of raw flesh that threatened to break from even the slightest of pressures. "Careful..." She muttered to herself, mauling over the word with a contemplative roll of her tongue. Gradually she pushed against the ground and lifted, fighting against the rising desire to rest any longer than she already had. It seemed that of her many battles thus far, the biggest was the one constructed by her own mind. A soft sigh sputtered through her lips and her ears flicked with irritation at the long process that was still to come.

Initially, the young Gembound had been in too much pain to care or think on much else outside of the utter need for survival but now that the fog of agony lifted, there was only her mind to contend with. Her thoughts drifted first and foremost to the Gembounds she had met in Polaris and she dared to wonder how they were and if they thought on her at all. "Magda..." Her voice croaked with disuse; frustration mounting. She knew that when she fainted the dog had been by her side but now when she woke, there was no one there. There hadn't been for some time and while the filly had grown depressingly accustomed to her own company, it was not without bitterness.

She drank from the pool of water and ate from the harvest of Eridanus. At this point, the motions were automatic and executed with a heavy heart. When sated, Delphine walked about the place, exploring as far as she dared before she tired and rested. Sometimes she spoke for the sake of practice. Other times she did it simply to hear something besides the din of silence and natural symphony.

"Delphine." She murmured first as if to validate her own existence, to make sure that her name didn't sound alien to her own ears. It did. "Magda. Booker. Khloros. Adeyemi. Willow." Names ticked off a list. Faces that came and went. "H-Healing. Scar he-healing." Her emerald gaze flickered again to the putrid concoction lain along her backside. Finally, a sigh ruptured past her defenses.

"Lonely."

And for the longest time, Delphine very simply continued this routine of eating, drinking, walking, resting and sleeping. She spoke when she felt depraved of sound. The notion of friends became ancient.

Priorities changed. As time continued to elude her in the monotonous humdrum of routine, Delphine found herself born with a different company, less malevolent than loneliness but more deadly in its existence. Boredom. It'd been easier keeping it at bay when she actually had things to do like survival. Now it was unrelenting in the way that it clung to her like leech to blood. She could practice speech for hours on end but the restlessness would not waver and soon enough, anxiety became an inevitability. Often times, she found herself running through Eridanus just for the sake of it and other times, she dared to contemplate the notion of leaving. Fear was the only inhibitor and perhaps the reality of acknowledging that she was not yet ready to confront the world again. Not like this.

So she sat and festered, not unlike her gash when first she'd attained it. Delphine had redressed her wound a number of times. If anyone ever wondered as to the strip of bare ground in Eridanus, the filly would have happily taken credit for it. Her jaw certainly felt the after-effects of her handiwork. Yet now, when even that was deemed unnecessary, she knew there had to be something else she could do to fill her time here in this emerald prison.

The idea descended upon her as an epiphany; it hit hard and fast. It started with a train of thought that came from how all of this came to in the first place. She'd been too weak. If she had the proper physical and magic training perhaps there would not have been collateral damage. Following that strand, it then became clear what she needed to do. As it was, she'd been running consistently during her waking hours but her magic remained untapped. It was a source of power that was so unknown to her that it hadn't occurred to her, until now, that perhaps she could attempt mastering it. Her eyes lit with this newfound discovery and suddenly, her day no longer seemed so bleak.

She would practice magic.

Finding suitable training grounds within Eridanus came easily enough when the criteria constituted minimal debris and no chance for casualty. Given the nature of her solitude, the risk of hurting anyone else was already nonexistent. Debris, on the other hand, were harder to avoid and it was only in discovering a small clearing was she appeased. "Okay... I can do this..." She murmured. Her words came slowly but confidently; a part of her speech-training regiment was the deliberate pace with which she spoke to ensure perfection. If anything it was more of a small game to fill her time with but it served its purpose even in a moment as trivial as this.

The filly straightened and her head raised. In what was supposed to be an inward reflection of how she intended to practice magic, the child seemed more to scrutinize the air with furrowed brows and emerald eyes. As with the few times prior, Delphine focused her attention toward the life energy that coursed through them. It was not necessarily understanding where it came from — she certainly did not know the answers to the questions revolving around their conception — but simply knowing that this was the necessary step toward harnessing her magic. And just as she suspected, something came alight. It was a small awakening of a heat that burned deeply within her and as she centered her thoughts on controlling this coiled energy, the effort visibly shook her. Then she raised into the air, legs kicking forth and slamming upon the ground in the hopes of shaking the earth as she had before.

The earth trembled gently, like a rebellious shiver from a deceptively warm wind. It was hardly what she'd hoped for and certainly not as powerful as what she thought herself capable of but it was a start and one she was willing to settle for. With a shake of her head, Delphine snorted against the residual ache along her limbs. She wondered if all the physical theatrics was necessary, it seemed so flashy yet impossible in any other way. Her gaze flitted across the upturned stones and rustled grass, victims to her assault. Would there come a day where it was not inanimate objects but another Gembound before her? Would there come a time when she would have to fight or perhaps kill someone? She kicked at a nearby stone and watched as it angrily rolled away. There was not much that she knew. No answers to the questions that floated about in her mind but of this she was certain, when she made the decision to practice her magic, it was more than just an attempt to ameliorate boredom but to protect. Be it her desire to protect herself or someone else, she would only ever use her magic for good. This was an indisputable fact to her character and one she would carry with her to death.

After allowing herself a moments rest, Delphine found herself rearing for another attempt. That though she'd permitted herself a fragment of celebratory success for her first attempt, it seemed it would not be enough to sate her desire for more. So it was she settled into her mind's eye and from there, she harnessed that same magic that'd first come to her in shades of earthly hues.

Magnify.
Intensify.
Vibrant.
It all flashed from behind closed eyes and when she kicked up again, it was with a different sweep and force that would bring her thundering down against the earth with a momentum that should have but did not hurt as her first attempt did. It was then that the grounds shook, not with a tremble or the slightest of tremors, but something far grander as what few debris around her danced and jumped as if a fire were lit beneath them. Her heart thundered uproariously within her chest and in that moment, there was no describing the ecstasy that surged through her. This was what she wanted, the power that she'd been searching for and though the only testament to the fading quakes would be upturned rocks, it was more than enough for the child of shadows and darkness.

Delphine threw her head back and let loose a victorious whinny. She knew how ridiculous it must have seemed to outsiders that a child should practice by herself and feel as much as she did with these trivial collection of successes but to her, it was everything. For someone who strove toward distracting herself from the loneliness that sat at bay, from ignoring the questions that gnawed away at her heart, these little things became her saving grace. Where else would she find such paramount reprieve? Had there been a loved one by her side, she would have been equally bound in joy and exuberance but as there was no one there, she could only compensate with reassuring smiles and the sound of her own voice. "You did well, Phin. You did well."

She was not ignorant of the fact that her power was not an unlimited source that could be tapped into. It showed in the way her breath came and went with more constriction and energy prior her training session. It was prevalent even in the heaviness that clung to her form, more mental than physical in its leadening existence. Yet even so, Delphine knew herself to be capable of at least one last push before she exhausted herself completely and it was with this unwavering determination did she ground herself and allow her eyes to flutter close. "One more. Just one more time." The filly went through the motions with more ease and familiarity than when she'd first started; falling easily into the place where her magic rushed around her in a sweet, double-edged promise of power and she invited it in.

What came next was a rush that drowned the filly so readily that she had barely registered touching the ground when she came to with the realization that the earth shook with a power even stronger than her second attempt. Though she'd deliberately chosen a clearing to avoid any collateral damage, the tremble spread across the edge of the emerald jungle and her heart lurched with a mixture of anticipation and pride. "I did it..." She whispered in awe. She'd done it. As the excitement ebbed away so too did her energy. It was not a gentle extraction but one that brought her so suddenly to the earth that Delphine had neither the heart nor desire to right herself. Her strength was a series of paper-legs and the rise and fall of her chest, rapid but steady as she caught her breath.

With an experimental roll of her shoulder, Delphine confirmed that her wound was healing well and had not ripped open in the midst of practice. She was glad for the reassurance and relieved then to know that she could rest without fear of repercussions. Her eyes shuttered close knowing fully well that she was much too spent to dream of anything but the pitch blackness that awaited beyond and in that, she found her consolation.

Drunk with fatigue, Delphine woke with a weary sigh. She had known that practicing magic would take its toll on her body but not this much, not to the point of absolute weariness. A part of her was thankful for the nothingness but she would come to regret this for her thoughts had a tendency to wander to dangerous places and wander they did. It was a slow, agonizing realization, one that spawned from her reflections on how she'd again managed to get here in the first place. Alone and abandoned. It hadn't started this way. When she first opened her eyes it was to the sight of many a Gembounds, all of them kind and unique in their own respective ways. She had come to love them instantly and unquestionably. For her, this was an indisputable fact yet somehow it didn't fit.

This was a strand of thought she often found herself tripping and stumbling over, unable to work through the hiccups as she did everything else in life. She couldn't wrap her child-like mind around the idea that love came in many forms or that it could be one-sided. Her naivety made her believe in a utopian world where everyone and everything was united and inseparable. How could she have known otherwise? There was no one to disillusion her but with the cruelest weaponry of absence and negligence, whether intended or unplanned. She had not considered that she was being melodramatic, wanting for attention or downright needy because she did not understand vices for what they were. Delphine knew inherently the distinct line between right and wrong but to define them was another task she was altogether unequipped for.

She knew she was wrong for placing so much blame unto others for something that they could not control. Magdalena had left and returned to her side, though she was not here now. The others disappeared because she'd been frightened by the unknown and run off before they had a chance to regroup which in hindsight made her at fault for her current isolation but she could not accept this fact. Surely she was right to love and care as much as she did the others. Surely her intentions were from a good place. Surely her quick escape was not so selfish a move as it was instinctive, spawned from a fight-or-flight reflex that was born within her. Could she be blamed for her nature?

Delphine groaned, her mind wrought with questions, doubts and concerns. She wanted for her mind to cease its endless ramblings but alas no such reprieve would come to her. Not this time so she fell deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, consumed by the haunts of her mind and too rapt with self-pity to salvage logic and reason.