Mortis

10.

                  

10.

            I looked around and saw only the high-grass filled clearing. The sky was beautiful and cloudless as the sun shined down on my skin, warming the surface slightly. As far as the eye could see there was some elevation up ahead, but aside from that I was in nothing more than a vast expanse of land. It was golden and green, as if spring came early and decided to drop its beauty in this spot only. The landscape before me looked like a painting, its vastness slightly overwhelming. I ran my fingers over the tops of the waist-high grass, feeling the bristles against my bare skin.

The only sound was that of Cobalt's jaw munching on the tall grass slowly. He had no bridle or saddle, he was completely free and so was I. He was free of any tack or show grooming.

            He was free.

I looked down at my bare legs and embraced my nudity, my hair bristled against my bare breasts. There was no one around to tell me where I was or how I got here or how I should go home. It was just Cobalt and I in this empty field of sunset colored grass. The openness felt infinite, a feeling I was unfamiliar with until this very moment.

            I turned to him and ran my fingers through his thick mane. His coat was beautiful in the sunshine, gleaming radiantly in all its midnight glory. I sighed deeply, feeling overcome with the love and adoration towards my beautiful stallion. He lifted his head abruptly, his ears perked in that cute way of his, his blue eyes staring straight into mine. I couldn't help but smile as I placed my lips gently on the pinkish-white soft spot between his nostrils where his whiskers were beginning to grow again.

            As I pulled away from him, Cobalt jumped away from me, his giant body lunging away as I were on fire. He neighed loudly and reared with a menacing gaze in his eyes. If I hadn't pulled away from him, his shift in position would've knocked me over.

            "Easy boy!" I called.

All I could see were the whites of his eyes as he came back down and bolted away from me at full speed. "Cobalt!" I shouted, "come back!"

I had never seen him so afraid, I always saw him as a fearless stallion with too much personality. His hoof-beats drummed in my ears and began to dim as he put more and more distance between us.

            I stared up at the sky in horror as it went from blue to black in the direction he ran off in. Stars began to appear on the sky like spattered silver paint on a black canvas. The further he ran, the darker the sky became as if he were in control of its shading. I stared off in the distance but could only see Cobalt's distant figure encapsulated in the little bit of sunlight left over as he galloped away. I looked up at the star-filled sky and suddenly felt very alone. I wanted to go home. This was no longer a place I wanted to be in−not alone anyway.

            I turned around and nearly screamed at the figure standing about twenty yards away from me. I had not heard anyone approach me in this deafening silence, all I could hear was the wind picking up and the grass bristling against fellow grass blades. 

            I was paralyzed by fear and knew there was no where I could run to. Even in this vast field there wasn't enough room for me to take off running. My feet felt glued to the floor, how I wish I could've mounted Cobalt and taken off with him.

The figure was completely illuminated by the large and beautiful moon that seemed way too close. Nearly every crater and crevice was visible on the moon's silvery surface, never had I seen something so lovely, so large and illuminating. The figure walked towards me slowly, dressed in a black cloak and nothing more. The hood was pulled firmly over its head, casting a dark shadow across a shockingly pale face. The grass parted for the figure before it stepped, as if it were some sort of Moses of the grassland.