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You really have no idea what you're doing, do you?
...
Come on. Just admit it.
I don't, but...
I'll be strong.
The Kingdom of Alternia always put you in your place, whether you looked up at the palace in the sky, at your own wretched home in the earth, or you looked at the freakly colored blood in your veins. Everything told you where you should be, what you should do, what you should like and how you should talk. Who you would spend time with, who you would despise, who you would look down on, and who would look down on you.
Equius listened to his blood color. He spoke in a very dignified manner, and had exquisite taste in various forms of art. He loathed the lowerbloods as he should, and admired those higher than he, save the Hightest, though he had deep respect for them once his hatred was placed aside.
He lived in the icy mountains as blue bloods were commanded to, even near the tops, as his was the highest of the blue bloods.
There were only three things that separated him exponentially from the other bluebloods.
He was exceptionally strong, wrathful, and couldn't arch to save his life.
To be able to successfully fire an arrow was what he wanted most in life, for with that, he would be able to serve at the Palace, taking the place of Darkleer as he felt he rightfully should someday.
But for now, Equius lived in a large, darkly-colored house on a cliff side, hidden amongst the heights of the Blue Mountains, far away from his own kind and overlooking the blue sea, a rare sight for the average Troll, but not for highbloods such as he.
His home was two stories tall, and was made entirely of black and bluewood on the inside and out. He had lived here his entire life, and only he knew how to get there.
On the side of his house his dark horse, Hecarim, nonchalantly observed nature.
It was a common saying that troll children raised by Dark Lusii were destined to be outcasted somehow, but Equius had always felt that he was a special case, that he was destined for greatness, and that was how he would be different, that was why he would be outcast from his fellow bluebloods.
It would be a small price to pay.
One early morning, long before the sun had risen, Equius decided to practice his archery somewhere out of sight from his fellow bluebloods, so he tightened Hecarim's saddle, packed multiple bows that he made out of bluewood and rode off. He took one last look at the blue ocean, dedicating it to his memory for the sake of his calmness, before turning down the hill towards the Green Forest, where the greenbloods resided.
He felt sick at the thought of traveling through the territory of a lowerblood, but it would be better for him to practice there, where he would be surrounded with potential material to make new bows and arrows, in the incredibly likely event that he would all of the bows. All of them.
He rode quickly down the stretch of blue stone through the territory of the bluebloods slightly lower than his own, hoping that the darkness of the night would seclude him enough to not be noticed, or at least recognized. One look at the dark Lusus would likely give him away immediately.
The air was icy cold against his face as his hair and cloak blew behind him. Hecarim was running well tonight. Equius wondered if Hecarim had been longing for new sights like this, and felt a sudden twinge of guilt. He made a mental note to praise him later, when his voice could be heard without him having to shout. He was such a noble blueblood, like himself, and he was to be commended. And perhaps given a treat.
Sometime later, they arrived at the edge of the greenblood's forest.
He halted Hecarim and looked at the edge of it, seeing that it was full of darkness.
"Good hoofbeast," Equius said softly aloud as he pat the back of it's head as softly as he could with his great strength. Hecarim huffed in agreement. Equius smiled.
They rode in slowly once they found an opening, traveling down a shady path. The light of the moon offered just enough light in the clearing for them to proceed, but not without caution.
"Careful, Hecarim. There may be mischievous greenbloods about. Keep your distance from the bushes."
In time, they came to a large clearing that he decided would be adequate for training.
He dismounted and unloaded a bow from the bag attached to Hecarim's saddle, along with a blue fruit, his hoofbeast's favorite. It had been some time since Hec had had one, for Equius was careful not to spoil him with sweets so as to help him be at peak strength, so he was excited to see his reaction. He smiled as he walked up to Hecarim's head.
"Hecarim, you displayed exceptional STRENGTH!" he exclaimed, then looked around cautiously as to find if his... outburst brought anyone out of hiding. At finding that it did not, he went on. "You are to be commended. Excellent work, my hoofbeast." He gently patted his nose. "And rewarded." He pulled the blue fruit out from behind his back and the hoofbeast snorted excitedly and lifted it's front legs off of the ground in celebration.
Equius smiled and held it up for it to eat. It devoured it in seconds. Good beast, he thought, but decided to refrain from further praise, to prevent Hecarim from tiring of it or becoming overwhelmed by it.
He looked up at the dark blue sky and inhaled deeply. I will fire an arrow, he thought to himself. The bow will stay perfectly intact, despite my excessive STRENGTH, and I will remain calm in the event that it does break.
He turned to his target and the bow broke in seconds.
He looked at the broken bow in his hands blankly, before the rage inside of him began to surge, and he angrily broke it further into smaller pieces.
Feeling a measure of satisfaction having broken something intentionally, he decided that he was calm enough to once again attempt to fire an arrow.
Because the tension in his body, this one broke even more quickly than the last.
Outraged, he began to take his wrath out on surrounding trees, and uprooted a bush that he sent flying into the air in pieces, all while screaming manically.
Several minutes later, once he had taken out a great measure of his rage out on his surroundings, he sat down, breathing heavily, sweat running down his face. It felt remarkably unpleasant in the cold night air.
"...I need..." he said softly aloud as he rose from the ground and began to search through Hecarim's bag.
A few moments later, he realized that he had forgotten to bring any drying cloths, which sent him into another wrathful episode.
Suddenly Equius felt something hit his left side hard, sending him falling to the ground. He landed hard on his back and looked up to see a feline-like face far too close to his.
"You're scaring my dinner away! Stop it or I'll scratch you up good!" she shouted in his face, then growled.
Equius immediately realized that she was one of the mutated greenbloods, the forest dwellers called Felins. He began to sweat profusely, and he felt like vomiting up days' worth of food, having even touched one.
He slid out from underneath her, ignoring the scratch that she managed to make on his face. He lowered himself down to his hands and knees and panted. It was the first time a lowerblood had ever touched him, and he felt... Dirty...
After calming himself down a bit, he realized that it wasn't too bad, considering she was technically considered a mid-blood. He took a measure of comfort and rose from the ground.
"It is not befitting of a blueblood to take orders from a mid-blood such as yourself," he said as he stood proudly.
"Blegh," she responded, sticking her tongue out at him. "You're a Blue Mountain person? What are you doing here then? Aren't you afraid you'll catch our sicknesses or something?" she said, rolling her eyes at the word "sicknesses."
He didn't hear a word she said, as he was distracted by the dead animal that she had draped over her body like a cloak, that matched the green-grey fur on her small top and shorts, as well as the large animal paws she wore over her hands and feet. A black tail swished playfully behind her, and her black cat ears twitched. They appeared to be rather redundant below her horns that were also shaped like cat ears.
It was sickening.
"You… You…" He couldn't even find the words he wanted to say to her.
"Wow, you have a dark Lusus too?" she said, sounding amazed.
"I—Yes," he replied as she ran up to Hecarim's head, sniffing it. "You… Have one as well?"
"Oh, yes! Nidallee, come out!" she called.
A very large, black cat leapt from the bushes, then circled around the clearing. It stretched it's, curled up and rested.
Equius' face flushed blue; he had never seen another dark lusus before.
"It's… Beautiful…" he said aloud. He took a step forward and reached out to it, overcome with a powerful urge to touch it.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, she'll think you're food!" she laughed. She walked up to it and nuzzled it's head.
His opinion of her improved suddenly, seeing that she was capable of love for an animal, aside from loving it's fur.
He thought back on the saying that dark lusii marked an unusual individual, and wondered if, perhaps, she would be an exception to the rules of the dirty greenbloods. The saying was credible, as it came from purplebloods.
"…my name is Equius Zahhak, greenblood. I will learn more about you."
"Hi Equius!" she said happily. She got into a pouncing position, but Equius didn't recognize it. Moments later he found himself knocked to the ground once again. "My name is Nepeta!"
What do you think of that greenblood that's always with you?
…
Well?