Thread: Souls Bound in the Sand (Closed to Armphid/Misanthropiclove)

Taredo was flying back to his homeland of the South, at the moment in the form of his totem the steel shadow. He had left when he had Exalted and had been found by his mentor who had sealed his Caste. She had told him that like several of their kind, his Caste was not under the same auspice of Luna that it had been in the old days. She had been a cryptic old lady, prone to riddles and jokes which had left Taredo rather frustrated. She had even had the gall to tell him his new dreams were some type of prophecy or perhaps a window into the past. All his life Taredo had been able to control his dreams with complete lucidity, yet since he had Exalted his dreams had resisted his attempts to question or change them, leaving him feeling oddly helpless even as he felt so empowered. His mentoring had ended, if not only because she had not been a Full Moon, but also when she gave him a prophecy to follow. There is one who would help you in your quest. One born of the cold and savage lands above and gifted with the might to melt the ice. One who's cold logic will help your heated passion with your people. Then she had smiled and turned back to the stars in her typical infuriating way like there was some great secret she was leaving out, And perhaps one who's heat can melt your own inner cold. It had been a blessing and he had left rather early. He had easily found his people but had yet to rejoin them, and even to keep too much of a track on them. He knew he was about three days away from them since he had seen them last. He just knew it would be a waste of time to come before them without anyone to help. He knew his limitations, and being a chieftain was one of them. Besides, how long would they follow him into the desert searching for some person from a cold world that he didn't know where was? How many would die while they left their designated hunting grounds for this errand? No, he was here to serve his people. It was not the other way around. His sharp night eyes spied something in the distance, perhaps a mile away. His wings shifted and he began to dive, more curious about this speck that didn't look like it belonged on the desert dunes. His bird form flitted about, the feathers dotted with what could be said was picturesque vitiligo, the white spots on the feathers imitating his silver tattoos on his other true forms. The bird got closer and saw that what was on this dune was a man. Then the visions began. A woman, himself?, running in the woods, jumping from branch to branch as a horde of creatures followed her. The creatures were like nothing Taredo had ever seen, or even thought of. He couldn't get a good look at him, but the woman's laughter echoed in his head before the vision flashed away. A swarthy Western man with purple hair, checking out the sea in front of him. Another man came up behind him, one of the sun children. He was turned around and kissed romantically and felt the love of equals sparking between them. The Western man again, angry beyond reckoning, chasing down something that smelled of tainted copper and irreverence. The ships were surprised by some gigantic saw-bladed tail and the boat beside his shattering into a million fragments of wood and steel. They should have brought the magical boats. They were too foolish. Support wouldn't get there in time. The Western man's corpse held in the arms of a sobbing man. The same man from before? A new life, such grand senses! Yes, a fresh Exaltation like before. No confusion from the Castelessness...what was this? Worry. Why is he doing this? How many lives have they had together? Has he died before? Why can't I remember? Why? Too many doubts. Too few pieces to the puzzle. Pain. Fear. Anger. Betrayal. Shifting woods. Shifting rivers. Land that follows no rules. Pain. Unbearable pain. A woman in white weeping for her wounded children. A sound of reality breaking, the laws of Creation warped to their very breaking point as a screech of unimaginable agony and sanity. Then there was no pain. No sanity. Taredo found his eyes opening and looking up at a man he loved with every once of his body. A man who he knew immediately to be of the Unconquered Sun's brood and someone he had shared a deep, deep connection with before. Several times. Yet it was a sense of deja-vu that just couldn't be put back together. It was so overpowering that Taredo did not even question how he had ended up landing on the sand from his flight. He also looked so...different. He was not from the South. He might be the one who his mentor had meant. There was only one way to find out. He shifted, small flickers of pale Essence radiating from his body as he took the form of a Southern female, her dark skin melting into the night. Taredo didn't quite trust to use his true form. Not yet at least. You, child of the Nightmare Lord, are you searching for the Dune People? Do you come from a land of cold? It was direct, Taredo wasn't much for stepping around. His left arm held a bracer of crystal bolts, signifying that he was most likely not a spirit, not this far from Rathess.