Story
My story begins roughly thirty years ago. I can't remember how many years I've lived anymore. But I do remember my past, never forget the past, mark my words.
I was born in a quiet magical forest. Most unis there are dark, so they can blend in. But not me...I was as bright as the sun like my mother always said. But my colour brought complications. It was easy to spot me. Our forest wasn't stripped out of evil creatures, not even close. So my mother was forced to move with me. It was hard for her. I can still remember her eyes when she turned away from the forest, full of pain and sorrow. We finally found a heard of unis, they were a blend of many colours. I was happy to see that, as I had been so special and unique back at home. No one but my mother had admired my colour. Anyway, strange thing that everyone stared at me. Why?? I wasn't so different there was I??
Years passed and I grew into a teenager. Full of energy and curiosity C: I loved playing with a sweet mare named Thayla. We were best friends and we often got into trouble, but one day in particular was odd and disturbing. We were playing some distance away from the heard when we saw a uni walking toward us from the nearby mountain. I said to Thayla "This must be someone new to join our heard don't ya think??" and she nodded, but some sort of odd look shone from her eyes. I was excited to meet the new one but as they approached I saw that their eyes were made of stone! I was shocked and started seeing more disturbing features of that uni. He was so skinny his bones stuck out and he trembled. He looked me in the eyes and said very quietly "The chosen one...see the stars....find them...." then he collapsed, died. My mother came rushing to me and Thayla and commanded us to go back while the leader took care of things. Took care of what?? That uni just died, what could he take care of?? I decided to say nothing until I could talk to Thayla. But her mother demanded her to stay with her through the night. Next morning the leader took us more south, away from the mountain and the place where the uni died. I kept thinking what he had meant, I thought about his words hard and tried talking to Thayla about it but she shook her head and said "He must have been out of his mind" and that was it. I didn't talk about that again until years later.
Four years later I was full grown. A very handsome stallion I must say, everyone had stopped staring at me and everything seemed happy, even perfect. But that incident about the uni kept on bugging me so I decided to tell the leader about what he said. It was just a quiet sunset, I had no idea what was coming for me. The leader was staring down at the heard from a hill, watching in case there were predators. I trotted quietly up to the top and asked "Can I talk to you?" He just kept staring at the heard and the fields but he did nod. I came a little closer and started telling him about what the uni said, I almost whispered. I watched his eyes widen with terror, and he reared attacking me. I stumbled away and ran back to the heard, but he didn't stop there. Running back and forth with the heard terrified, mostly my mother and Thayla, I realised he wouldn't stop until I was dead. My mind started rolling towards my fate even more when he kicked me hard in the hind legs. I crumbled down and lay there on the ground waiting for him to strike but he just shoved the heard away and told them I tried to take over his leadership. I couldn't say or do anything, I just lay there waiting until I fell asleep.
When I woke up the next morning, everyone had left. I was alone with a hurt leg. I managed to stand up although I halted. My loved ones had disappeared, the only thing I cared about now was to find out what happened to the uni.
There was a long way back to the mountain, and I walked slowly because of my leg but I did reach it after some weeks. I had a bad feeling about this, but continued on. I would have flied to the mountain but I had to run to get enough air flowing under the wings so that option was out of the way. I had to walk, and did I for hours on end. It was near nightfall when I stopped in a clearing. I was nervous and heard a noise and childishly asked "Who's there?" when a little fluffy thing came out of a bush, I hurried on my feet despite of the leg and took a closer look. It was a little dandan. It looked harmless so I decided to rest, but it curled up and went asleep on my back. Cute little thing. And for the first time for weeks I rested, truly rested. I had slept but never so peacefully. When day arose the little guy was still at my side. And it followed me, I guess that was allright. Better to have some kind of companion. My leg felt better and I was optimistic, when the dandan sniffed the air and became scared, it started shaking and whining and buried it's claws so much in my back that I was thinking about throwing it off when I smelled it too, there was a fire! My leg wasn't good enough for running yet but I ran anyway, I thought about flying but I couldn't under the trees canopy. The dandan jumped off my back into the trees and I was even more terrified then. I reached the clearing I had slept the other night only to be embraced with even more fire, I thought I had been running away from it. I reared and neighed in desperation but I was trapped, this sure was the end. Only the next second I caught my horn on fire, or what? I shook my head to try and get it off me and then all the fire around me disappeared. If you'd only seen my face, I was so surprised. The fire on my horn still remained, I shook my head again and it went out. I walked away from the clearing, I wanted to find the dandan and continue on. I settled on the theory that I had somekind of powers, although it seemed ridiculous. I didn't have to find the dandan, it found me. That little thing jumped on my back from a branch and it seemed happy to see me. I gave him a name, Merry. I thought it was quite nice for him. He crawled up towards my ears and sat there as I trotted slowly up the mountain path.
Finally I reached the rocky road and the trees were gone, it did seem though as some of them had been burned away. I was frightened but managed to calm myself by thinking that I had atleast one faithful friend, sitting on my head. After quite some time I found a cave, well hidden it must have been once, since there had apperantly been trees and bushes around it hiding it's entry. But now they had all been burned so I out of curiosity made my way inside it. It was very dark, I couldn't see anything. Then I remembered I could make fire appear on my horn. I shoved Merry on my back again and thought about how I could make it appear. "You have to really want it" a quiet voice said from a corner. I was startled, and did as the stranger said. And it appeared, I was surprised to learn that the fire didn't burn my skin at all, in fact it was rather comfortable. Then I started looking around the cave for the stranger, I saw a dark draik in a corner. "My name is Valia and I'm the only one to survive" she said. She looked rather old and wise. "I'm Remc...survive what? Can you tell me what's happened here and why can I control fire?" the questions circled inside my head and I needed answers. But the sound of my name had only made her eyes grow big. "Oh you deserve to know the truth. I will tell you. But first, you need to see your reflection" she said and started walking towards a cavern, I followed trying not to bump into huge rocks or anything. When she stopped further inside the cave and my light was cast upon the wall I could see massive ice covering it. I was looking at my reflection for the first time. And I didn't look like I thought I did, I had red dots on my face and legs and purple stripes and dots on my neck. Also some dots on my wings. "Why are those..." but she interupted me "When you weren't even born strange things happened here on this mountain which was once home for many creatures. A meteor crashed on the top of the mountain, first we didn't notice any changes, but later strange fires started. They appeared out of nothing. Much like your fire but this was evil fire, water did nothing to stop it once it started. This is why all the plants on this mountain are burned. The trees further down the valley aren't harmed. I don't know why. Then some creatures started to behave odd. And ultimately their eyes turned into stone, anyone who came too close to the mountain or tried to climb it either died or fled before their eyes turned into stone completely" she told me and paused for a second. I remembered the uni who had stone eyes and had whispered those words that had haunted me ever since. "Draiks weren't affected, that's why I still live in this cave, I'm too old to move. But everyone else left before more bad things happened. I've been waiting for you to come." She paused again. "You can only see your reflection in the ice, but I see more. I can see into the future and presence, not the past. What I saw when everyone had left, was you. As a young foal, you were standing beside your mother looking at a heard of unis. Then the sight vanished. But somehow I knew what I was looking for and tried to see more things, more into the future. What I saw was you, on the top of this very mountain looking at a dark thing curled up beside the meteor or what was left of it. I used the very little power I had left in my old bones to fly looking for you. I knew you were going to stop the thing that has disturbed us. I found a uni that was willing to look for you instead of me. He helped me back to this cave. I wish I had seen him again, he was such a nice fellow." she paused. I didn't want to tell her what happened, she must have seen many die. "I have to teach you how to read the stars" she said to me with a kind look on her face. "Uhm, thanks. But why do I need to?" I asked, she just shook her head and smiled. So she taught me for a few days the basics of star reading but the questions were still burning inside my head and I needed to have them answered. I asked her again why I could control fire. "That's because you are the chosen one, he who can vanquish the evil that has spread around this mountain will be able to control the fire element. That I am sure of" she said and looked in my eyes. "It's magic my dear Remc" she added since she saw that those words didn't answer my question. "I think you are ready" "Excuse me?! Ready for what? If you think that I'm going to vanquish some evil then you are wrong!!" I said firmly. She just turned her back at me and watched the ice. I mumbled a goodbye and called Merry over. He jumped on my back and sat on his usual place behind my ears. And walked out of the cave leaving Valia in the dark.
