She was alone, seated on a decaying log with a jagged granite dagger clutched in her right hand. Far from the eyes of all humanity, Talekynei, a woman deformed at birth, but twisted and ridiculed during the many of the eighteen years of her life. Taking refuge in the dark forest, the very wood said to harbor the last unicorn, Talekynei would often dream of a life like the other, normal humans, where she was slender and beautiful. But today, Talekynei's dreams were much different. She thought deeply about death, and how delicious interminable sleep would be compared to her present day life. And once the sun retreated to it's nightly abode, Talekynei decided to convert her fatal dreams into actions.
And so here she was, hunched over her left hand which was slashed up, and covered in blood. Gazing up at the starless heavens in self-pity, Talekynei moaned out several undecipherable words, then once again brought her improvised blade to her crooked arm, pressing it onto her skin and with a quick movement, slicing the dermis. The hunchbacked woman shrieked, and began to rock back and fourth, humming various off-key descants as if trying to ease the pain.
Intending to lacerate herself once more, Talekynei rose her dagger to her forearm, but was stopped abruptly by a suspicious rustling in the nearby bushes. Pivoting on her bottom, Talekynei turned to discover her interruption, but only saw her natural surroundings. With a lopsided shrug, the woman twisted herself back around, but was startled by a white mare standing in front of her.
Of course, this was no ordinary equine. The horse's muscles quivered under her tender pale flesh, and she tossed her glorious head, on which was displayed a single horn of shining opal. Her long free-flowing mane and tail were of a stormy gray hue, much like that of the occasional rain clouds that would hover over the forest canopy.