The Balinor Chronicles: The Celestial Herd
Chapter Fifty-nine: What Becomes
This Chapter is dedicated jointly to Horselover2323 and Talkofthetowneva4. The original inspiration for The Balinor Chronicles belongs to them and their (highly recommended) fanfictions and ideas. Anyone who has read the first two chapters knows this.
The Blackened Unicorn,
Origins Unknown
Told on The Night of the Shifter's Moon
Once upon a long ago
The was a Valley safe and sweet
A magic Herd of Unicorns
Grew and prospered there -
…They lived among the mountains
…Which guard the Rainbow Herd.
There lived a blackened Unicorn
With eyes of sea-spun blue
Who forsook the calm sweet coolness
Of the land he held so dear.
…He went beyond the Mountains
…Which guard the Rainbow Herd.
He wandered far in 'braveness'
Though he knew not the way
He didn't know what lurked for him
What lured him onward still.
…Further deep into the Mountains
… Which guard the Rainbow Herd.
He crossed beyond the Mountains
And discovered nothing there
Except for one stark figure
Who waited, waited still,
…What lies beyond the Mountains
…Which guard the Rainbow Herd?
He crossed beyond the Mountains
And what did he find there:
A man made out of skeleton;
A horse wrought of solid white--
…They lurk behind the Mountains
… Which guard the Rainbow Herd.
So when he crossed the Mountains
And Death was all he found
So the little blackened Unicorn
Wept in fear and grief;
…But he stayed beyond the Mountains
… Which guard the Rainbow Herd.
He looked into the eyes of Death
And he confessed his life
His hopes; his fears; his dreams; his dreads
He gave it all to Death.
…So they spoke beyond the Mountains,
… Which guard the Rainbow Herd.
And the little blackened Unicorn
Knew what he feared most
But still he held the eyes of Death
And Death returned his glare.
…He delayed beyond the Mountains
… Which guard the Rainbow Herd.
He found the truest bravery
And measure of oneself
Lies in facing what you fear
So Death had no more need for him
…Though both dwelt beyond the Mountains
… Which guard the Rainbow Herd.
The little blackened Unicorn
Journeyed back to home
He began a long eternity
Of life lived without a fear
…He left the shadowed Mountains
… Which guard the Rainbow Herd.
But what remains for he
That saw and vanquished Death:
A lonely life of nothingness
Cur-sed Immortality.
…He ne'er roamed beyond the Mountains
…He stayed beside the Rainbow Herd.
So if you crave adventure
Heed the blackened Unicorn
He went searching but to find
The thing nightmares adore
…Death….
…Death lives beyond the Mountains
…Which guard the Rainbow Herd.
The Evening of Mulciber's death, Raiden returned to the Celestial Herd. After all, someone had to warn them of Mulciber's death, since Moloth would hardly do it himself.
The Herd was covered in darkness, but most awoke when Raiden approached. It's kind of hard not to notice when your worst enemy, a Twilight, comes wandering in. Raiden ignored them; instead, he started up the slope that would lead to Solaris' cave. The Herd unwittingly fell into the Rainbow behind him. Still the lone black Unicorn climbed the hill; and he was not unduly surprised when Solaris appeared on his outcrop of rock.
"Solaris, you hate the very sight of me. No, don't object, we all know you do. But hear me out. For I bear you word of Mulciber."
"And what of him?" Solaris asked, feeling he was once again on the edge of one of those bottomless pits. "What of Mulciber, King of Fire?"
"I regret to say that he had joined his brothers."
"Murderer."
Raiden glared at the Golden One. "Not I…. Not him at least. I do not deny that I have killed, but Mulciber was slain by no horn of mine."
"No," Solaris sneered, his voice condescending. He moved off of his rock and…stalked – that was the only word for it, Raiden thought, and stalked toward the black Unicorn. "No, you didn't kill him. You just watched and waited for your Twilight friends to do their jobs."
Still the Herd behind the two remained silent, watching the showdown between the two giants among Unicorns. Raiden's only defense was himself, and he grew bitter with regret.
"I would never kill any of this Herd," he all but spat in Solaris's face.
Solaris leapt at his opportunity. "Ah, the Twilights, they were of this Herd, yes?"
"You can't have it both ways, Solaris."
"Oh?"
Raiden chose to ignore Solaris's last comment. "And I offer you congratulations, Solaris."
Solaris paused. Another giant pit. "For what, may I ask?"
"For destroying your Valley."
"I have done that as much as that foal yonder has."
"No. You have brought destruction upon it. By allowing the evils that entered it to remain. And by fighting a war in which there was no chance of winning. And what happens, Solaris of the Sun, when you loose?"
Solaris paused, gazing out over his Valley. He walked down the slope and began circling Raiden, silently challenging him. "There are other places than these - the world of Arioch, for starters, and then hundreds of others. We don't even have to leave here. We can just go beyond the mountains."
Raiden spoke with the conviction of one older and wiser than his years. "There is nothing for you beyond the Valley. Only Death waits there." He paused. Solaris was still orbiting him. "Were you a vulture in your first life? 'Cause you keep circling like one."
"A vulture?" Solaris' voice had a slight chuckle in it. If such things existed, the chuckle could've been compared to a lawyer who just proved a key witness suffered from hallucinations. "A vulture? First you accuse us of foolishness and stupidity, and then you gibber on about rubbish?"
"Vultures live in the Mortal Realms. They feed on the flesh of the dead and the dying. Worse waits for you beyond the Valley."
"How-?"
Raiden cuts Solaris off in mid-sentence. "I have seen it." He twists his head so he can glare at the remaining Elemental, and his solitary blue eye can do more damage than six from any other Celestial. "Death waits on the other side of the mountains. I have stared it in the eye, and I have passed unscathed. Will you, Solaris, be able to do the same?"
Raiden's question goes unanswered. He keeps his back to Solaris as he speaks again, his voice steady and measured and hardly above a whisper. "I have come to warn you. Use it. Or discard it. Do however you wish. I wash my horn and soul of it." Raiden turned and began to leave, the sea of Rainbow Unicorns splitting as a true sea would have before Moses.
And like said Moses, the Pharaoh came charging after him.
Raiden retreated. Solaris lunged. But the Raiden Solaris now fought was not the same Raiden he had chased away some six months earlier. This Raiden was hardened, battle scarred, wiser and more sure of his convictions – and at the moment so frustrated with Solaris that the blackened Unicorn would not hesitate in striking a killing blow. Alas Alas!
Solaris was merely fighting for his honor. Raiden was fighting for eternity.
Those who know not better say that brains always beat brawn. They lie, however unwittingly.
Solaris is still is still Elemental. He still has the brute strength over Raiden. He is still King. He is still the Sun….
Raiden is not any of those. He is a Sentinel, yes, and direct son of an Elemental. But his blood is a mishmash of Fire and Water and Earth. He is only Unicorn…
In the eyes of those who watch, namely Lorn and the still young Arhennus, who still know s naught of his heritage, they see a tragic case of déjà vu flash before their eyes.
Déjà vu in a mirror – for this time Solaris scores a chance on the other eye – the one still the shade of sea-spun blue, the one still true to sight.
And Raiden ran.