Solo Once Upon A Midnight Dreary

[Septimus]

Fall 55th, 512AV (Midnight) It was early morning and preparations for the battle had already begun. The horn was sounded and all the soldiers, Knights, and defenders were all suited up and even now were already getting in order and lined up for the battle lines. The sun was just starting to peak over the treeline as it his Septimus' face. She was in horse form, gurgling down water to hydrate herself for what was to come. Her armor was rattling on her large figure as she began to stretch her large limbs, kneeling, bending, rearing, and just a few things to make the muscles tender and ready for the battle. Then the horn sounded twice and she slowly approached the line, walking slowly to see her rider there to greet her with a rough pat on the neck and a scratch on the cheek, then he mounted. "Alright, I know you ain't no regular horse now, so I expect more from ye." Her rider was light but with a good muscle tone. Not to say he was a toothpick. He, by the looks of it, was human at first glance, not to say he couldn't be something else. He had a light complexion with sandy brown hair and pure brown eyes. The man looked to be around mid aged, like he had climbed the hill already and was beginning on his way down. They came around with a trough in a wheelbarrow, watering the horse's of the cavalry so they could drink up now and get it absorbed into their systems before sending them off to run for their lives. Each horse drank eagerly but their rider's would pull their reins up to tell them when enough was enough, and not all the time too nicely. It made Septimus mad to see that, but the void, what could she do? They came to her and the thing was halfway empty. Or perhaps in her state right now, she needed to be looking at it as halfway full. The men lugging it around looked at her, then she turned her head to look at her rider for his approval in which he nodded. Septimus then took a few drinks before pulling back without anyone telling her to. She knew her limit and respected it. Plus, she had already filled her tank up earlier when she had just arrived. By this time, she examined her surroundings and more closely, the body language of the other horses. Septimus was nervous and anxious at the same time, but for the sake of her rider, she stayed calm and relaxed. The other horse's were stamping their feet, tossing their heads, their ears were pinned, and they were just agitated and scared. They sensed something was coming or something was soon going to happen. They just didn't know when. They just didn't know what that something was and they just didn't know their possible fate that lied at the end of this. Then Septimus heard it, it was a large thundering sound. It reminded her of her own steps as she ran but this was multiplied by a thousand; a million more like. The horse's heard it too for they began snickering and whinnying at one another. Was that a tear she saw on one? A dappled gelding actually had a tear! The horn sounded and the cavalry charged. Her rider's knees bore into her sides, applying pressure to get her to go forward, as well as whipping the reins and pushing his weight forward. Septimus responded to all of these as she entered a fast canter then a full out sprint as she took to the middle part of the cavalry. The Kelvic didn't want to be first neither last for the first people would be picked off first, and the last were easy targets. As they charged down the hill, what did they face? Humans in leather armor. There had to be several thousand and soon the frontline clashed with the frontline of them and then it started. Each one of them had some primary weapon with a small dagger. Boom. A horse fell as Septimus rode past, his rider was getting torn to piece by the opponents. Then Septimus felt pressure on her left side from her rider. What the void is he doing?!?! Septimus bared right, clashing into the opponents that were tearing apart the man. But how would that help him? More just came in and and took the fallen one's place. The man's horse was lying on the ground with a javelin through it's forehead, blood spilling everywhere. As Septimus ran past, some blood was kicked onto her legs and her snow white legs were now splattered in warm blood that decorated her large frame. It was an eerie sight for those whom she faced. To see a blood splattered horse charging at you full speed. Boom. Another horse down, this time right in front of her. As the horse's rider fell and the horse stumbled, Septimus felt her rider's knees tighten and the reins grow shorter as her Rider thought the same thing she did. Septimus leaped over her fallen comrades, only to catch a glimpse of the reason. The rider had a javelin through his chest and the horse had a short sword through it's heart. Her rider was fighting off some of the opponents as well with his sword but Septimus was ordered to continued charging faster and faster. As he did this, more blood splattered from his victim's necks, decorating her coat. The only noticeable difference was that her socks and the blaze on her face were now almost fully painted with a bright red. The metallic smell entered her nostrils. It was one that would never be forgotten. More blood was shed and another fallen horse in which she had to move her way around found it's way to the ground. It made Septimus wince to see her brothers and sisters fall each time they hit the earth, but Septimus knew she had to continue on for her and her rider's sake.

[Septimus]

Septimus felt something pull on her tail and then soon realized she was dragging it along. Tossing her head up and high so her rider wouldn't fall off, she bucked at the thing, whatever was on her tail. Septimus began neighing loudly and whinnying a distress call. Little did she know, it was a toothpick human, hanging on for dear life. What the petch!?! Get it off of me! Damn it, get it off! Get it off! The horse and rider behind them were too busy to ride up and deal with whatever it was on her tail. Her rider soon realized something was going on or the Kelvic wouldn't have been acting as she was. Her rider looked around after slicing the head off another attacking human (which then bounced off and hit Septimus in the neck). You could see each tiny drop of blood that flew from it's head. The blood wasn't just covering her, but it was covering the other horse's too. From head to toe. Soon the hue of the battle field changed and it was ankle high in flowing metallic blood. The sky had a reddish tint to it and everything was covered in blood. What was once her white socks and blaze was now a dripping crimson and black colored horse galloping through the pool of blood. As she ran, guts and intestines from the fallen ones littered the battlefield. The opponent ahead stabbed the horse in front of her with his longsword then it's rider only to then rip out the rider's heart with his bare hands then to cut the horse's chest and rip it out, still beating, only to throw it into the charging herd stampeding into the remnants of the opponents. For this act that he had committed, Septimus wanted to make him suffer. Despite the orders of her rider, this human was isolated and she charged him with sharp hooves and an open mouth. The human just stared at her, pulled out his dagger and cut her stomach before he could reach her. The man was already bloody, but when Septimus stepped on him with that much speed and momentum on his stomach, it was almost like a puddle of smushed guts, blood, and stomach acid from hit's smushed stomach. However reader, you must remember this was only a dream. The pain was searing and brutal. It was a deep and bad burning sensation and it felt as though someone had stuck hot pieces of burning coal on her sides and pushed them inside on her skin. Right on the meat. Septimus knew she couldn't slow down but she had to. It was too bad to bear, too bad tpo bad to handle. Zulrav! Sir! Help me! Please dear almighty Zulrav, please save me! That's when she heard a roar. An ear piercing, head clenching, get me out of here roar. A black shadow in the shape of a lion was leaping and bounding through the humans like wildfire, striking a rider off his blood covered horse. The shadowed lion ended the rider's life then looked directly at Septimus through red and glaring eyes that seemed to be filled with bloodlust. A gust of wind blew the shadow to nothing and Septimus continued to charge Thank you, Zulrav! Thank you, thank you, thank you! The Tiaden War Horse was striking on the battlefield, a newfound need and want to survive. Her rider stood up on her back then jumped off in front of her onto the ground. Then right as Septimus would have trampled him, he turned into a hundred crows in which then flew off. What the petch?

[Septimus]

Soon, the weight that had quickly left Septimus' back was replaced once more. Septimus didn't know what the Void was on her back but when she looked, she soon regretted it. Her mother was riding and smiled at Septimus, then urged her on by putting pressure where needed. The woman never touched the reins, and only held onto the small tuft of her mane that protruded from the bottom of her neck's armor, then began whispering into her ear. "Hello baby. I'm back now, you'll never be alone ever again. Septimus, I'm so proud of you, just look at what you've become. Your father's stupid mistake killed him, and that poor brown gelding we had." Her mother urged her on faster with much harder pressure than she had experienced, and shifted her weight forward "You've become a beautiful woman and a beautiful and fine example of what a Tiaden War Horse is supposed to look like. Now go on. I'll always be there, right there," she patted her heart area, then stroked her open part of her neck. The blonde woman then whispered "Goodbye, Septimus." Her mother floated off her back and in front of her, hovering with Septimus as the Kelvic knocked more of the unprepared opponents down with clamoring and forceful hooves then got back in the herd to feel her mother kiss her nose then disappear into a fine mist seconds before being slashed by a human on the opposing team. Septimus didn't cry, she didn't whine, she only kept on but that human had it coming for him. Septimus still felt as though it was uncalled for and leaped at the man her hooves, crushing his head in when he fell to the ground and her weight ended the impact. The Kelvic jumped back up despite the searing pain of her wound and managed to buck at a human running for her with open arms, daggers in each hand. The man was tossed back, only to then be trampled by the horse behind her. The pain from the wound was getting worse as each movement tore it open even more than it was in the first place to begin with. The ravens flew overhead and clashed with some of the humans but their attacks proved useless against the humans as they sliced them with swords and ripped apart their heads. However, the ravens only turned into black shards once pulverised. Then a human came running towards her with a bastard sword full on charge. The distance between them was closing fast and as much as Septimus tried, he was aimed for her and was miraculously charging faster than any of the other humans. His helmet fell and revealed a black snake head with open and hissing fangs that then spat out an acidic venom on her neck which caused another severe and brutal injury as it ate away at any exposed flesh. Septimus whipped around despite the pain and bucked at it full swing but the attack proved useless as it darted away and sliced at the horse's neck in front of her. The blood sprayed all over Septimus, making her bright red markings (previously white before the battle) turn into a more deep and rich crimson color. The pool of blood in which they were running through soon fell up to the sky. It was like rain except reverse the direction like the sky was sucking it up in tiny little blood droplets. This helped her blood colored marks no better for it was now a very dark and rich crimson. What was once a white and black horse was now a crimson and red tinted jet black horse. It was quite an eerie sight to see all of those horses now coated in blood.

[Septimus]

Scarier than anything she experienced just yet, a large shadow figure about twice the size of any Akalak was running towards the cavalry. The shadowed figure had large glowing red eyes much like the blood that had been spread throughout the battlefield. There was a slit line rather than a pupil that reminded Septimus much of a snake or cat's eye. He had large claws and one large petching dire flail. Are you kidding me? The shadow swung the flail right at her, the large and spiked ball coming to crush her bones and splatter her skin beneath it's large and heavy weight. The shadow towered over her, and her speculation of it's size was underestimated for this shadow was many many feet taller than her highest point. Five humans began to surround Septimus as the weapon's head went to make contact with her bloodied skin, to put her out of her misery. Zulrav! Have mercy! --- AH! Septimus flung herself out of bed, breathing hard and sweating. She touched her face, blinked several times, then breathed a sigh of relief, swallowing hard. Her heart rate was that of lightening and thunder repeating itself many times with just a small interval of seconds. In other words, it felt as though her heart was in her throat and pounding against her chest like a caged animal. She had to calm herself, she had to talk to herself in soothing words "You're fine, Septimus. Look you're still alive. It was just a dream. It was just a nightmare. Just go back to sleep, and think good thoughts." But the worst was still come. As she lay her head back down on her pillow, she tried to catch sleep but it was slow to come and as she closed her heavy eyelids, the nightmare was soon to continue on. Only this time, much much worse than before. --- Septimus took her last breath, then was knocked out of the way by another riderless horse, and the fail struck between the two. The stallion whinnied as if to say "You're welcome. My rider is gone as well." He was a large white stallion, with several dapples that outlined his skin. Parts of his armor was missing and he had many scratches and wounds on his exposed flesh. Many very deep wounds that unless paid medical attention to, would kill him. But how could one survive in this mess already? Septimus snorted a thank you, but the stallion simply looked at the hovering shadow before them, snorted a painful goodbye, and the giant flail crushed the beautiful horse into a bloody splattered pulp pile. Soon, the crimson red sky turned into a darker shade, the clouds were now a deep deep almost black red and that's when it literally rained blood. Everywhere small tiny ruby colored droplets littered the battlefield and large blood puddles adorned the battlefield. The once green grass they ran upon was dripping with scarlet colored liquid. It was awful sight to send those squeamish closing their eyes and crying in the corner. Soon the guts of the fallen were being thrown around like hail. Intestines were being thrown at them from the humans and after fighting them for this long she was sure that these creatures were not human.

[Septimus]

Then Septimus' hopes soon flew higher than she thought they could as they shadow disappeared and the opposing enemy numbers decreased. The cavalry could see the end of the line and hopefully swing around and cut into them from behind. Septimus, despite her wounds and scratches sighed loudly with a large and thunderous neigh to her comrades celebrating their victory. It was over! It was done! They had won! Or the cavalry had at least. Another slice through them again and they'd be done for. It appeared as though they all thought that but as they were about to turn around to strike again another row came charging in. This time, on hundreds of metal and rock horses, each carrying a heavily armed and protected rider. Petch. Their faces of happiness and sanguine soon fell to the claws of devastated and horrific as the red rain fell and clashed upon them, soaking absolutely everything in blood. It was so deep and thick that it was hard to even see through. It was excruciating and hard to even breath with the metallic aroma burning lungs and sucking up oxygen of the ones who needed it most. Septimus, looking up into the reddened sky, saw a large evil and twisted looking eye. They were slit black pupils, the rest surrounding that a bright red. The wave behind them in which they had just previously considered swiping through again was soon dying down. They were nothing compared to what Septimus and the others were about to face head on. If Septimus thought their cavalry was eerie, this one was just plain out horrific. The metal and stone horses were charging into the cavalry head on, dripping blood with every move they made. They were about the size of a Windrunner, but Septimus knew it would take a lot more to get these guys to die. Especially if they weren't even real. The Kelvic hesitated before she picked up the pace and began to watch as the cavalry members from her side began penetrating through the separation line like bullets in a firefight. The rock horses could easily be smashed with the right amount of force as Septimus was seeing, the horses being forced to run into them by their riders. However, the metal ones on the other hand needed to be literally kicked in. They were hollow, but the outside layer was thick enough so that a sword could not penetrate it. Luckily for them, there were a lot more fragile rock and stone horses than the harder to subdue metal look alikes. Septimus was doing most of the fighting for the metal horses, as the other riders were skimming past them, trying to avoid them at all costs. They were much lighter than Septimus had expected, easily soaring through the air with a powerful kick to never once get up again. After most of that wave now gone and demolished, another wave was soon to follow behind them, quickly closing the gap. Most of their cavalry members were still intact and well alive, but other unfortunate members had fallen dead to the knees of battle. Septimus noted this in her mind, then took note to the new texture on this wave of horses. But they weren't horses. They were far from it! They had heads of horses attached to armored human bodies with bull feet and man hands. They had many different colored faces, hair, and bodies all resembling those of horses, but they all had red glowing eyes. The bloody rain fell harder, shading Septimus' vision even more. However, the charging bodies of those mutated and freakish compilations and conjoined bodies were soon visible as she came into contact with them, and now she saw their weapons. Their fists had large sharp and pointed bones that stuck out of them and they bared teeth much like those of wolves. As Septimus bucked and reared and snapped at the opposing victims, the other members of the cavalry had already begun retreating. Retreat, Septimus! Retreat! Septimus ran full speed, luckily still being at the front for her starting spot. Anything to escape those horrid bloody creatures. Most of the line had already destroyed some. Right now, Septimus' vision was already blurred and obstructed by the blood, and it had covered many of the dead bodies on the ground. This gave one of the monsters a chance to trip one of the more violent members of the cavalry, sending Septimus into a downwards spiral towards the ground. Jumping back up, the Tiaden War Horse tried to leap free of the oncoming monsters but several had been thinking the same thing. They were about as tall as her withers and had about twice the amount of muscle of any man nor Akalak they had seen, and with this they grabbed Septimus' legs and snatched her back sending her falling towards the ground once more. Septimus rolled on her back trying to kick away at the monsters, in which several flinched. These flinches gave her a large enough interval to once more get up and run, but she was too late. The deep, bloody, incredibly strong, and protruding bones coming from the monster's knuckles soon was stabbed into her shoulders and her hindquarters, piercing the thick metal armor and turning Septimus into a full sized shishkabob. Four of the monsters had each used one hand full of the bony weapons to stab her. Two on each side, two stabbing her shoulders, two stabbing her hindquarters. When Septimus realized this, her armor was ripped off by a much stronger one. This is it. The Kelvic looked at her murderers with hateful eyes, then slowly fell to the ground. Her front legs, falling to her knees, her back legs collapsing completely. Septimus had lost too much blood to fight back. She was dying and she knew it. Septimus' breathing soon became hard and she was suffering for her last few moments. Then the larger one, a longsword in his hand, a devilish smirk on his face, carved the word "death" into her neck. Septimus whinnied in pain but it was small and weak for she had lost too much energy to the point where that almost ended her life. She was fighting harder than she thought she would've survived and soon her breaths would become her last ones. Her mother appeared again in front of her "Do not be afraid, for you will soon be with me, your father and the horses from our home. Come home, Septimus. Come home..." she had a slight and closed smile on her face where she then disappeared swiftly into mist and Septimus saw the large beast rear back the sword, then stab it into her heart. "I'm coming home, Mother!" The large and courageous war horse soon fell, her body losing heat soon to become stiff and cold, never to move again. --- "NO!" Septimus screamed out, waking up, gasping for breath. She laid her head back against the bed in which she slept upon then grasped her chest, then the covers. The sound of her heart beating sounded almost like the very thunder that was sounded when the cavalry ran and for that time, that's all she thought about; her dream. Her dream that sent chills down her spine and sent her inner self cowering into a corner. And she hoped to the Gods that the battlefield would not be anything like that. She could do without blood raining from the sky.

[Jackalope]

Septimus

Award

Skill	XP Earned	Lore Earned
		A Nightmare of Battle

Witty Remark Here

Nice description on the gory parts. Intense! I gave a lore, but since it was a dream thread, I can't give XP. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.