Tisiphone stood in front of the notorious cave, which featured prominently in her childhood adventures. Despite the numerous caves located in the forest's cave system, only one cave was known for its notorious cave inhabitant.
As a foal, she was mesmerized by the stories of the monster in the cave. In a daring fashion, she had escaped from her parent's protective outreach and sought out the soq called a monster by all the local inhabits. If Tisiphone had been older at the time she might have had a stronger survival sense. Her fearlessness was due to her youth and naivety, yet the adventure did not end in tragedy. Surprisingly, her youthful adventure had ended with a positive resolution. Tisiphone had found the soq called the monster and faced the legendary soq with red eyes and foreboding black wings. Like the rumors implied, the stallion's grasp on sanity was tenuous at best. Realizing her mistake Tisiphone had been prepared for the stallion to hurt her or even kill her. After all, at the time, she was just an ill-equipped foal who had no protection against even a full-sized adult let alone a giant soq. Yet the red-eyed giant did not hurt her, and he even seemed afraid to come near her. She returned to her family but kept her adventure secret.
She soon started dreaming about the mystifying cave dweller. His glowing red eyes haunted her dreams. Yet, despite the eye's eerie appearance, there were depths of sadness contained within, which made the stallion's eyes otherworldly beautiful. Tisiphone young mind could not relieve itself of the mystery that surrounded the cave. After all her dreams or nightmares of the stallion were a constant reminder of her previous adventure. Truthfully, her subconscious mind would only be appeased if she faced this mystery.
Tisiphone knew that she needed to return to the cave, yet her second encounter with the giant soq played out in a similar fashion. Her proceeding meeting followed a similar pattern as she secretly steak past her protective family and sought out the giant soq. Never did he hurt her instead he tried to avoid her, which proved impossible because of Tisiphone tenacious spirit. Instead, the little filly slowly broke down certain barriers, until a sort of friendship or perhaps more honestly a tolerance was built.
As a foal she called him Shadow since all soq needed a name and he seemed disinclined in sharing his name. It would take many visits to the cave before Tisiphone was able to get the giant red-eyed stallion to speak with her, which only happened because her continued visits wore down his patience. His voice was surprisingly deep and raspy from misuse. He warned her against returning to the cave, which she ignored. Eventually, she learned that his name was Himmel, which meant sky or heavens. This was ironic since he was presently cursed and his ability to fly was now limited. He explained that he had been a secret oath keeper for his herd, yet he knowingly broke his solemn pledge to protect his herd from a murderous psychopath who had confided in him. An oath keeper must never break their silence for they would be dealt with magical repercussions. None of the herd elders could save Himmel from the magical onslaught that had chained up his mind and limited his abilities to fly.
Himmel's tale had fascinated the young foal though she only learned his personal history a bit at a time. Though she paid head when he told her to avoid the cave if she heard screaming. He confided that his mind had also been affected by the magical rebound that was caused when he had broken his oath. His mind was a twisted beast that sometimes controlled his actions which was the reason for his dwellings. The cave's location was largely isolated away from other soq. Still, the occasional visitor to the area would note the screams that would often fill the air. Quickly, the cave had a notorious reputation that further kept soq away from the area. An occasional sighting of Himmel's rare outside activity also worked to create the legendary tale of the demonic cave beast. All of these factors had worked in Himmel's favor in keeping his self-imposed isolation. That was until one courageous foal had continuously imposed herself and had broken some of the barriers Himmel had created. While Himmel had allowed the filly to intrude she was still kept at a distance out of concern for her safety. Somehow her foalhood name of Shadow had stuck even into her adulthood. While she now knew he true name, she still called him by the name of Shadow.
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"Shadow" Tisiphone whispered in a slightly apprehensive but reverent way. Shadow was an enigma an impossible mystery who was both beautiful and fear-inspiring. A part of her was wisely afraid of the mysterious/unworldly being.Tisiphone knew that Shadow was in pain a pain that had damaged his soul and had left him bare to all injury. Her relationship with Shadow had always been difficult but they had formed a bond of friendship or at least she hoped he regarded her as a friend. She knew that in his find he would always requarded her as a foal, which chaffed but neither side had wanted anything other than friendship. It was another mare that fully broken Himmel's barriers and with her ageni abilities had slowly healed bits of Himmel's mind. The night-colored shy maiden had healed him in a way that he returned to being a vessel, a bit like a ceramic jar whose pieces were glued back together. He had never fully healed but his chaotic episodes were fewer and more controlled. Eventually, through the healing process love had bloomed between Himmel and his sky maiden. Until, the day that she was gone from the planes her absence felt on those she had touched. Tisiphone laid a flower in front of the cave in remembrance of the Sky Maiden. The flower was a pure white Lilly with a thin green stalk. It had a slightly sweet smell that rather than being sticky sweet was instead refreshing. Only now could the memento be given for this particular type of Lilly only bloomed in late spring and early summer
While Tisiphone had not known the mare well she still missed her presence and knew that her friend Shadow was suffering. It seemed that the healing that had been done on his mind had faded. He was more prone to outbursts of insanity and quick to become angry. While Tisiphone cared for Himmel, she knew that her presence would not help the stallion. There was nothing she could do for him except to avoid him. After all his pain was causing his outbursts to increase in intensity. He could easily hurt her or perhaps even accidentally kill her. If such an occurrence happened it would be her fault, and Himmel would never forgive himself for hurting her.
Maybe the changing seasons or years would mellow his grief and cool his rage. Tisiphone knew that loss impacted each soq differently and she could not predict how Himmel would handle his loss in the future. For his sake, she wished that he would find a new love eventually. Though perhaps that wasn't in his future, if a new love couldn't fill the hole in his heart she hoped that time would eventually soften his grief or he would form a connection with another soq who would help heal or council him through his grief. Time could never take away his grief nor would new love but perhaps he would slowly heal. She hoped that he would not be trapped in a cycle of madness. He had always been an honorable stallion and it seemed unfair that such burdens and tragedy had continued to befall him. When that day happened she would return to the Stallion with a soft smile and with an open friendship. She hoped they would form a bond of true friendship if they didn't already have it but for now, she would support him the only way she could and pay hommage to the night-mare that had changed his life. As she walked away from the cave the air behind her was filled with the sweet smells of lilies.
edit: fixed accidental repeating section (Wordcount: 1,389)