❝this tree was grown with rotted roots.❞
Nerluce is Darkest Shadow. He is that great and terrible entity, prophesied over a thousand years before, more like a hurricane than a man. His hair falls crooked, poorly cut by his family's blade. His finger...
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The children of Cain were feral and free.
Nerluce's fingers tangled in Eden's mane as he urged the Greater Stallion—like a stallion, just greater; greater lifespan, greater intelligence, greater speed—forwards. The Ever Forest had no real paths for them to follow, just currents carved by all the creatures who'd dwelled within the Ever Forest before them. To find these currents, all Nerluce had to do was follow the spirits.
Wind spirits ran beside Nerluce and Eden, tangling their hair and mane. Their bodies, though small, were made of pure magick and able to match Eden's pace with ease. Water spirits giggled as Eden's hooves splashed through their puddles. Groggy dirt spirits woke for only a moment as they rode over them before they returned back to their slumber. Or, the spirit equivalent of slumber. Spirits weren't alive and therefore couldn't sleep but they also weren't not alive. They existed in the strange realm in between.
Eden ran with the spirits easily now. They used to startle him but after so many days of being around them—and the Ever Forest had more spirits than any other place in the world—he'd gotten used to them as he'd gotten used to the new terrain. Eden had never ridden through forests before but the Greater Stallion was nothing if not adaptable to any environment.
He was less adaptable to different riders. In all his life, Eden had only allowed two people onto his back. Nerluce was Eden's second rider. Before him, was his elder half-sister, Coam. Besides the father they shared and the Greater Stallion they'd both ridden, they didn't have much else in common.
With Coam, Eden had waged wars. With Eden, Coam had won those wars. With Nerluce, Eden played with spirits and had his potential squandered. With Eden, Nerluce clung to sanity.
Some days were better than others. Some days were remarkably worse. Nerluce couldn't tell what type of day today would be. He just knew that he'd woken and then decided that he wanted to ride Eden. So he had. Nerluce had not needed to ask for anyone's permission nor did he have to worry about someone getting upset with him when he returned from his ride. In the Ever Forest, Nerluce had no responsibilities.
In the Ever Forest, he was free.
Nerluce urged Eden to go faster. It was likely a bad idea. Neither Nerluce nor Eden were fully used to riding bareback. Nerluce had sold Eden's tact a couple of weeks ago. He had a feeling that the man he sold it to had cheated him, but Nerluce was not in a position to haggle. He needed money, any amount of money, so he'd accepted the cheat's terms.
Learning to ride bareback wasn't something Nerluce wanted to do, but he didn't mind it so much as all the rest of the things he'd been forced to learn how to do in his life—learning fire Magick, surviving battles—since it was his decision to sell the tact. Nerluce didn't mind doing anything so long as it was his decision to do so. Besides, the Horse Clans in Riedith had been riding bareback for centuries.
Nerluce was not from Riedith or the Horse Clans, but if they could learn to do it then so could he.
