Shell had been sleeping in the sun near the beach, enjoying the sound of the waves, his silver mane drifting in the water like seafoam. The stallion was quietly humming to himself, the movement of life his own type of music. No one would ever say that the male was 'all there', but he was happy. Happy in knowing this was home, and his mate was not far away. At least...He was happy, until the sound of life seemed to quiet save the wind and waves. Slowly, his bright gaze opened and he looked up, feeling a sense of apprehension that seemed...heavy. What was happening? Something about the sky, he supposed. Sliding himself from that settled place at the edge of the ocean, the Kelpie's tail moved idly. Serpentine patterns moved behind him in the sand, near-erasing his hoofprints as he slowly made his way. Higher, he thought, he needed to get higher so that he could be close to the sky as he needed to be.
It wasn't often he was alone any more, not when his beloved Life Mate kept him grounded in his own way. To be alone now...Was it a portent of some kind? Shell had to wonder if it had to do with the wonderful things Oterma was teaching him, showing him the ways of a world he'd never known before. Bright green scales glimmered as he reached the peak where another creature was watching. He noticed, idly, that she looked beautiful in a strange way. Leaves for hair and the lower half of a deer or cerynei. Her eyes glowed golden, glimmering like the sunlight that was now somehow seeming different. Darker? Was the daylight going away? "Shell thinks that the sun isn't supposed to be hiding her face..." The female's gaze slowly swept to him, looking him up and down in idle wonder. Strange way to speak, the ancient female noted, and yet she didn't mind it. All creatures great and small had their peculiarities.
"Something is eclipsing the sun, little one, and it is slowly intending to devour it whole." Her voice was slow, smooth and deep with a knowledge that the Kelpie didn't have. Her short tail flicked as she looked back up, Natyre rather sure that Shellai'doan did not really understand this odd occurrence. Who could? Never in any of their lifetimes had the sun been so devoured. The event itself seemed to be going slow, and yet the fear it brought...well. The silver haired Kelpi's fins fluttered in the wind that graced them, watching with bright green eyes as it moved yet again, darkening the world further.
This couldn't be good.
For it to be good would mean that this sensation of dread would not be so permeating, that it would not strike fear in to the hearts of both the wise and foolish as the pair stood side by side. The Dryad was the first to speak as the sun became half-covered, looking at him, "Likely we shouldn't be staying here in the open, if it is to be such an event. Would you be so kind as to lead me to a nearby cave or something? Surely you know all the seaside crags that might be easy to hide within?" Shell nodded his head and turned, "She can follow Shell. He knows the way to a home that will save us from the dark one." Because clearly this must be some dark influence, a god or a being that sought to frighten them all and plunge them eternally in to darkness!
His particular breed of idiocy was something Natyre would be able to tolerate for a time. To her, this was a portent of what was to come, hardly something immediate. To him it was the coming of some being of evil and darkness. Her hooves picked carefully along the rocks, following his sure hoof steps as he led her along the way until at last they came to the mouth of a cave only just opened by the lower tide. The little pools around it seemed to have friends for the Kelpie, who leaned down and idly talked to them. Ah, the follies of youth, she thought, to be so distracted during such a time.
She, however, had her eyes upon the quickly deepening sky. Blue was fading, gold was disappearing. Something told her that to be out when it all finished would be a poor show to be sure. Worse, it might end in their deaths if they weren't careful, "Come along, Shell." He looked back at her and smiled passively, following her in to the cave that he'd shown to them both. All but dancing on his hooves, it was clear that this was a place he stayed sometimes by small stores of food. Instead of hiding, he settled at the mouth, looking upwards in such curiosity. Oh, but what was this dark being that was devouring their source of light? Would it leave the moon behind, or was she next?
"I think it's some sign of a darkness soon to come to our world, Shell." Natyre's steady voice broke his reverie, bringing bright eyes to turn to her in wonder. A sign? "Is it not some powerful being itself, miss? Warning us about something? Surely only something full of power could make our sun go so dark!" She gave him a rather exasperated look, before moving to lay beside him. Small purple butterflies fluttered between the vines that made up her mane, settling near her long ears as they watched the darkness finally engulf the light.
Finally, their world was dark, and alongside her, she could feel his fear. He was terrified by the darkness, likely thinking the light was not to return. Natyre, however, was rather sure it must. A portent eventually passed once it had been seen by the one for whom it was meant. If he was right though, and something had devoured their sun...What a frightening thought. What could be so large or so cruel as to leave them without warmth or any assurance of life beyond this moment.
Beside her, Shell watched the sky, his eyes avoiding the sharp corona that was the sun now. His own thoughts were vastly different from hers. She might think it to pass, but he? Oh, he knew better! This was no sign, this was some grand being that was furious with them that had taken the sun from their sky and would keep it far away. What would they have to do that the being might return it, he wondered? Would he have to undertake some grand quest? Would someone else? It must've been obvious on his muzzle or in the way his tail thumped up and down what thoughts he had. Natyre shoved him with her shoulder, huffing.
"Calm down. This does not feel good and certainly is an omen that heralds dark things coming, but it's no reason to think our world will be ended! You need to take a moment's breath. Watch..." While they might be on opposing schools of thought, Natyre was nothing if not a patient mare. Her tail fluttered again, small flickered back and forth as she noticed something that she had not before. It was like the world made no sound. Her butterflies were settled on her mane, the birds did not sing, and even the ocean seemed eerily still.
Now that. That was something that bore paying mind to, for even darkness was not such a large to do unless the creatures of the world fell so silent around them. Her ears perked, seeking any sound, the glow of her eyes the only true light about them as her hooves raised her up. Oh, this was not going to be good. This COULD not be good. Her concern drew Shellai'doan's attentions too, the stallion's ears pinning back. What did she hear? What did he not notice? Oh, surely it was a sign that they were truly at the end of things!
His panic went rather unnoticed by the mare who moved to the cliff's edge, looking up at that sky and letting out a low keen of a whicker, seeing if anything dared answer her. If anything spoke beyond the confines of this stifling dark, they would be bold indeed. When an eerie whicker met her ears in reply, she bent down to nuzzle the stallion. "Wait here. Surely the male you smell of will return for you soon." She would seek out what had made that strange sound. What called from the depths of darkness for her attention.
This would leave him there, alone. He looked after her with a low noise of discontent, settling at that cave's mouth to pray. Let the sun return to them, let whatever sought to bring them harm offer them some small mercy. Let them only be happy once more beyond the omen that now glimmered above them. All Shell wanted was for the sun to shine again. Let it meet the sky, turn it beautiful blue.
Word Count - 1511