The Balinor Chronicles: The Celestial Herd
Chapter Fifty-Six: Blood
Blood is thicker than water, but love is thicker than blood.
--Garth Brooks
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in.
--Robert Frost
The Heir of the Mountain came to Mare. And the Mare took the stallion of night and transformed him. No longer would Raiden, Stallion of the Mountains, roam the edge of the Valley. For the heir of Fire, Mare, and Water has come into his own. That land is patrolled by the Stallion of the Waterfall. For at the center of this Stallion's power lies a single pool whose floor is littered with jet black stones. A pool that resides in a cave known to very few and entered by fewer. A cave, that, once central to the Valley, retreated beneath rock and stone, so as to be accessible to only those with the magic of he earth.
Many strange things litter the floor of this second dream pool. There is a bed, a table, and a nest. There is the pool itself, plus a variety of gems – the diamonds and rubies, mostly, of the Unicorns who once sought refuge there. There are the words of a deadly prophecy, cast inside an eight pointed star through a combination of blood, magic, and brute strength. And engraved stiffly into the floor, as if with a horn, is one, single, solitary set of bloodlines. It is long – over a dozen generations in length- but only the name at the end is important. For it is who Raiden is, in blood.
There's a funny thing about bloodlines – and families in general. Most of the time, you can run away from them. A lot of the time, the present is stronger than your past. Some of the time, the bonds that aren't by blood are the strongest. But all of the time, once they call to you, you must return – even if you bring a little bit of who have become with you.
ORCINUS X THE MARE
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RAIDEN