Shadow and Light by Feral_Hedgehog -- Fur Affinity [dot] net

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Shadow and Light

By Feral_Hedgehog,
posted a year ago Sojourner



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”… It was said that where he walked, the sun was sure to follow, as though beckoned. Gleaming in the graceful light of the sun, his golden antlers signaled prosperity to all that bore witness. All manner of blooms would spread from beneath his hooves, and wheat would grow tall and strong, and no blight could touch it. The warmth of the sun’s glow was said to lend determination and fervor; the blessing of Dominus Solis. And all, both the men of the land and the creatures to whom faith had no meaning loved him.

And where she lingered was found compassionate dreams and rejuvenation, the mercy of the stars granted to the weary faithful. When the sleep was broken, so too was sickness, and anxiety of the mind. Glimmering in a sea of starlight, her shimmering coat of stars guided the restless and wounded of body and soul to peaceful dreams, as the stars above brought the lost sailors and wanderers home; the blessing of Filia Siderum. And all, both the men of the land and the creatures to whom faith had no meaning, loved her.”

-Excerpt from the creation myth of a long forgotten people

~~

She woke to the gentle warmth of the first rays of dawn on her fur as it crested over the mountains, their golden glow cascading into the valley below. The stars in her coat shone faintly in the gleaming morning light, drowned out by the sheer radiance, but glittering under the light of the star all the same. She blinked the sleep from her eyes, her eyelids feeling heavy. She had laid down to rest only a few hours prior, sleep had eluded her once again. Her dreams had been plagued by visions again. Dreams were want to slip through one’s grasp, like the grains of sand of an hourglass. But she always awoke with the memory of it burned into her mind with perfect clarity, a nightmare that refused to fade simply because her eyes opened:

The air was hazy and gray. Though the sun still shone, its light was stripped of its warmth, its once golden hue absent. Each breath felt labored, as though the very life of the air had been drained away with the color. Snow fell from the bleak sky, though its touch brought no more cold than the blackened sun did warmth. Gray snow slowly piled up, smothering all it cursed with its presence. Leaves withered and fell when it clung to the trees, flowers wilted, and animals grew still. Countless footprints in rank and file, left by the men in their metal boots, led towards the mountains before vanishing with nary a soul to be found in their wake. She wandered the snow covered wastes aimlessly, stricken by how deathly silent the valley had grown. Eventually she came upon the smoldering remains of a ring of fire. The light of the fire was smothered by the falling snow, sapping it of its warmth and color, rendering it the same grim shades of gray as everything else. The lashing tongues of flame did not melt the snow, quite the contrary, the snow itself seemed to smolder like the embers of a dying fire. What lay within the ring of fire caused her heart to sink, though she somehow had known she would find it here. Slender protrusions emerged from beneath the snow, placed with the cruel mockery of reverence within the circle. Though their color was stolen she knew with a certainty beyond repute that what she gazed upon was a gilded crown of antlers.

The warmth of the sun had stirred her, a silent reassurance that it was still a dream… for now. The world still had warmth, it still had light. But a day would come when she would wake and she would feel neither light nor warmth. There would come a day when the sun would die; and with it a piece of her, leaving a world of neither day nor night, but one of only gray apathy.

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Artist:
Noxeri

Noxeri
Character:

Fiadh



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