You are strolling through a cool, dark forest, enjoying the feel of the springy grass under your feet. The branches of the tall trees whisper softly in your ears as you peer through their closely interlocked trunks. You have no desire to wander off the path, for while this forest is beautiful and quiet, there is a slight eerie taint to it. Something feels... wrong.

This feeling grows and twists inside you as you continue down the faintly worn path. You begin to hesitate and consider turning back - but then you see light at the end of the trail. Sighing in relief, you hurry towards it.

Then you reach the source of the light and stop dead in your tracks, shocked.

The line of trees ceases right where you stand, but not as it once did. The part of the forest that was once here has been burned; by natural or deliberate fire, you cannot guess. Mesmerised, you stare out into the charred and barren valley - and fail to hear the faint hissing of fire behind you.

Too late, you smell the acrid stench of burned flesh and smoke before whipping around to face the figure standing behind you.

You recognise the form and shape of a muscular Uni stallion, his hide black and glossy like charcoal, his horn the colour of molten glass.

However, instead of a flowing mane and tail, flames grace his neck and fill the space where his tail should have been. The texture of the fire looks almost like hair... but you can feel the intense heat emanating from them. His long legs are the same colour of the flames.

He shifts closer, and you notice that his hooves scorch the ground where he walks; a nearby tree bursts into flame as he passes.

He does not have normal wings as a regular Uni does - not in the biological sense, anyway. Robotic wings extend from his powerful shoulders, fake, transparent feathers ruffling in the hot breeze generated by his mane.

The Uni fixes you with a white, glowing eye - like the heart of a candle flame - and appears to look you up and down.

Who are you? he demands. His voice screeches discordantly in your head.

You cringe at the horrible sound; it's like someone scraped his vocal chords with a rusty knife.

Um... guest..." you stammer, the stench of burning flesh rising as he steps evern closer.

He does not reply, only bares rather pointed teeth. His snakelike tongue flicks the air threateningly.

It is then that you realise his tongue is a snake... an actual snake as a tongue. What sort of twisted creature is this? Then the horrific stallion speaks.

What are you... scared?

NearDark was once a deep red Uni, with dark points and an arrogant disposition, believing that pets less beautiful, powerful and intelligent as him were beneath his notice [and in that respect, not much has changed]. Ever since he was born, a marking in the shape of a flame stood out on his left hindquarter.

He used to live alone in a dark, cool forest, along with his petpet Erotomania, shunning the world as egotistical creatues tend to do.

Then the flames came to swallow him.

His transformation into a fire Uni generated heat so intense that it consumed most of his former home, leaving the valley barren and singularly populated by blackened, stunted trees. Not only this, but it scorched his coat from deep red to black, burned off his beautiful, long mane and tail, and incinerated his large, sweeping wings.

As a result, robotic wings were implanted into his shoulders, causing him to be stronger and faster than ever in flight.

Some say that his already pale eyes were turned white from staring for too long at the flames as they consumed him; that his horn turned into glass from the overwhelming heat.

He is now racked by a constant fever, alternately shivering and sweating, his concentration undermined by the incessant heat - his only weakness. Although his strength and intelligence grow daily, he often becomes slightly deranged and reckless if the heat overcomes him.

Possibly the worst change forced upon him was that his tongue was, oddly, turned into a long and venomous snake. Another weapon, perhaps... but also a curse in that he constantly feels it shifting inside him, restless and deadly.

This is my only constant companion, Erotomania the White Airax, named after a Dream Theater song. She is quite intelligent for her species, and I consider her my equal.

Curious at this seeming interest in another living thing - a trait NearDark does not usually display - you ask the Uni where he found her.

My memories of my past are slowly returning, but I cannot recall how she came to be with me...

You think you detect a trace of melancholy in the Uni's metallic voice.

Name: NearDark

Gender: Male

Age [in human years]: Twenty-eight

Age [in Neopets time]: 17525 hours

Colour: Fire

Temperament: Arrogant, egotistical, indifferent

Level: 17

Strength: 27

Movement: 17

Defence: 18

Intelligence: 45

HP: 27/9

You look around. There isn't anything here.

By myself, divinitysickness.

ooo

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