how does failure taste.

[hellenistic]

Name: Narcissus Gender: Stallion Alliance: Fire Stables: Victory of Nike

the dust settled as ocean eyes gazed across barren lands, with lingering flames casting streams of smoke into the air. there was nothing left but the bodies of burning shacks, nothing but shells hulled out from their living- now likely dead inhabitants. what had he done.
narcissus snorted and lowered his head, beginning to walk but to where. this was all his fault. he couldn't hide from the guilt that churned his stomach, knotting his insides.
as he walked, he smelled an all too familiar scent. his rider. his person. fearing the worst, he picked up his head and gazed around, pinning his ears as he sniffed the air deeper. oh god. he whinnied, realizing it wasn't just the scent of his rider lingering the air, mixed in with the smoke and gore that polluted it. his rider was part of the metallic gore pollution. narcissus's eyes stopped at the sight of his rider, yards away and unmoving. he was still in his metal armor, all except his metal helmet missing. letting out another whinny, narcissus stepped closer, praying to whatever god there was left that his rider would somehow still be alive, but the site begged to differ. his riders complexion was that of a ghosts, with eyes glazed over and limbs stiffened. it was all too obvious that he was too far gone, and at what cost.
narcissus, in his shock, hadn't heard the crackling behind him. hooves angrily trotted to his side before narcissus felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder as teeth sunk in. he jumped, being careful not to trample his deceased rider. what have you done! narcissus's ears focused on before felling hard and blazing hot hooves kick into his stomach. it was janus, the stallion who could see all things past and future.
i warned you, and warned you again, but all you cared about was your self janus's thick accent beat into narcissus's ears as he felt more blazing hooves now kick into his chest. still shocked from his riders death, all he could think to do was take the stallions beatings.
it was true.

[ 354 ]

[hellenistic]

midday hit like a bomb while loud hoof beats galloped across an icy forest trail. the sun blazed down, yet did little to melt such thick amounts of snow that lay shrouding the land in all it's... glory, for lack of better wording. fast and thick puffs of vapor emitted from the stallions nose as he galloped along the trail, leaving steamy prints in the snow beneath his feet. aye narcissus's rider exclaimed, carefully tugging the reins and allowing the stallion to slow his pace. we're almost home lad his rider patted his neck, eyeing his flame protectant gear that covered his mane. i know it's against kingdom rules, but i'm so chilly the rider continues as he fumbled with the flame guard clips and pulled the guard back slightly, revealing deep black flames that puffed black smoke into the air among ignition. his rider warmed his hands quickly before clipping the guard back in place and tugging his coyote furred jacked back over his hands. narcissus whinnied at the sudden clipping of his fire guard, after all, he deserved his flame to be freed, not just for warming himself, but warming his rider too. who could care about the kingdom rules? when his rider wouldn't unclip his guard again, he snorted, causing a large billowing vapor to cloud the air in front of the two. now boy, calm down. once. we're home and you're in your stall, maybe we'll let you free. sound good? his rider dealt, only to be met with the steady beat of hooves crunching against cold snow. not a lot of time had passed when narcissus stoped his walking all together, his ears focusing in on more hoof beats ahead of him. his rider knew not to so much as speak when his stud were to stop so suddenly, instead he focused his eyes on the trail in front of him, noticing a faint warm glow growing closer and closer.
something didn't smell right to narcissus. something smelled odd... like the smoke of a burning shack, with an odd lingering metallic smell... what was that? could his rider smell it? narcissus snorted and began walking closer, keeping his ears pinned forward in complete curiosity, but keeping his guard extremely high. was that... another horse? narcissus bellowed out a loud whinny as he walked closer, making out a large tanned elemental with no flame guard on... the sight angered narcissus, making him pick up speed as he headed toward the stallion, his own thoughts drowning out the constant cursings of his handler. once he was upon the slightly shorter stallion, narcissus bit into the shoulder of the hefty dunalino stallion, his chest collar snapping in half from the collision. if i can't have my guard off narcissus whinnied, rearing at the stallion. you can't either narcissus bit at the air once his rider pulled the reins back hard, sending large, thick billowing vapor as the stallion huffed and chewed on the reins. control your horse a muscular man yelled, covered in thick animal hide clothes, woven with soft gold twine, giving a soft glimmer in the light. the man held the reins tightly of his furrowing stallion, angry and bleeding, yet still somehow calm. the golden stallion focused his eyes in on narcissus, they seemed to be glowing a deep bronze which made narcissus pull his head back, almost in shock. your name's narcissus the golden stallion huffed, his eyes seeming to glow brighter and brighter with each given second, yet with each second that passed, the smell of thick smoke penetrated narcissus's nose harsher and harsher, yet there was none visible. you smell like death, narcissus whinnied, jerking back in convulsion. it was then that it hit him, this wasn't a normal elemental. this was janus. a god, who would reflect on you what your future held, as well as knowing what your past held. why are you here narcissus whinnied, confused and scared. monster, he pawed the ground with heavy hooves, i need not know what my future is, nor my past he continued, ears pinned. you should fear, yet i mean no harm. janus began calmly. why do you smell of blood and smoke, narcissus interrupted. at this question, janus peered at him, seemingly puzzled. he could not smell this, but knew exactly why. i give insights on future, this includes visions but if yours is bad enough, some have told me they could even smell it without any need of me telling them. janus continued, calmly. come janus. his rider huffed. janus flickered his ears and began walking. you are great danger. you bring it upon yourself and in return, your rider suffers. he added, disappearing into the snowy forest.
wait! narcissus whinnied, ears still pinned. he wanted to dart after the stallion, yet he looked on in desperation. his rider nudged his sides gently before narcissus began walking back to his village. his stomach churned as he walked, mind racing as to what this entire encounter had meant..

[ 837 ]

[hellenistic]

soft sunlight peered into the window, leaves falling from trees as the warm autumn breeze danced through the streets. it had been months since the encounter with janus, it had been winter then. spring had bloomed, summer had came and fall had chased the two away with its cooler weather. the sun peering in landed on narcissus's shoulder, warming his chilly figure to the core while he lay there, eyes closed, enjoying the peace and quiet. he flickered his ears when the soft creak of the loft doors interrupted the quietness. aye, a soft male voice called. sleepily, narcissus gazed towards the doors, landing on the face of his rider. his smile being the most easy to make out aside from his long blonde hair which was roughly pulled back into a bun. without saying anything else, his rider made his way over to him, sitting down next to the stud who would normally stand nearly towering over him. this would always be the only chance the man got to nearly be at the same height of his fiery companion.
work day's never end. the rider continued, rubbing his rough, beaten hands on narcissus's soft, colorful fur. there's been a report of a wyvern behind castle gates. narcissus's ears perked in disbelief. how could this be? beasts had never been reported in the entire kingdom of angela, others witchers surrounding the kingdom were good on keeping them out. narcissus and his rider on the other hand, were commonly called outside of the kingdom for bigger beasts. just how big was this wyvern, and why couldn't anyone stop it ?
mid-day came bringing with it warmer temperatures. in the breeze, narcissus's tail swayed back and fourth as he carried his rider deep through the forest, on the trail to the east angela castle. the closer the pair got, the more nervous narcissus grew. picking up on this early into the ride, his rider sang song's learned from many taverns and songs passed from his mother to him. they were comforting, just listening to his soft voice, yet the nervousness still grew in the pit of narcissus's stomach. something wasn't right, and he was sure his rider knew it, just didn't want to come to terms with it, yet narcissus continued on his way, companioning his rider as he did with any other beast hunt. it was odd this time though... even the forest was quiet aside from his riders singing, and the closer the pair grew, the quieter the air would fall...
crash! narcissus spooked, perking his ears up and jumping nearly out of his skin. come on boy, his rider comforted, nudging into the stallion's sides. we've done this a million times. it was true. the pair had fought many a beast in their time together, so why should this be any different? busting through the castle gait, the destruction was indescribable. buildings were flattened and the orange glow of fire illuminated the darkening sky. an enormous roar erupted from the sky, leaving narcissus nearly deaf for a slight second. this wasn't good. was this even a wyvern ? from here all hell erupted.. other witchers and their horses raced past, seemingly chasing an entity narcissus hadn't seen. hurry! a female witcher called, racing by on her dark paint horse. narcissus whinnied, scared of everything he was seeing, he didn't want to fight this war as it was the worst he had witnessed. his rider nudged into his sides, making narcissus pin his ears and snort. his rider nudged his sides once again, making narcissus bolt into a gallop, following the path of the female witcher.
once the beast came into view, it was clear this beast was no wyvern, it was a full fledged eastern dragon, with almost golden wings that shimmered in the light of the destructive fire. narcissus refused to move, whinnying our to the other horses who fought along their riders. narcissus, his rider called, trying to make the stallion to move. it's okay. but even his rider knew it wasn't. none of this was okay. once his rider realized narcissus wasn't going anywhere, he huffed and dismounted the tall stallion. fine his rider snapped, unsheathing his sword and carrying with him different potions he stashed into his armor...
that was it..
blacking out, narcissus awoke to tragedy... only to learn he had spooked from the scene, which influenced other horses ridden by witchers to flee as well... it was his fault the witchers had failed their mission, and been killed in the process... even his own rider..

he'd kill the dragon... even if it were the last thing he would do..


[ 774 ]