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CW | Kanu | Objective 4 Phase 3

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~:iconchevalin-wanderlust:~


+5 Tier and +15 WG

I'm sorry if the animation takes forever to load, I tried to make it smaller for you guys!




:bulletpurple: Kanu's Objective 4 Phase 3 Image! :bulletpurple:

[Story-

:bulletred:Ruaridh- 
The sky was bleeding. Crimson, cardinal, burgundy, every tone of red to reflect the sanguinous affair below her gravid clouds. Pale, frigid shards of light tore through an otherwise bruised cluster of graying clouds, and the rain pelted relentlessly over the battle field. The sheets of light bleached the scenery, and then retreated almost as quickly leaving everything cast in shadow. Over and over again the light flashed, swiftly followed by the low rumble of war drums in the distance. However war-torn the sky appeared to be was surely a reflection of the desolation, and the blood spilled by those desperately fighting for their causes. 

He'd won the last battle. He'd done his herd another strong turn, and had come off less scarred than he had thought. The stallion had come away with somewhat of a prize as well, for in winning his battle, he also managed to retain his opponent. Ruaridh had left the Olde mare, Ari, in the safe confines of the copse where he knew she would be watched over by Aurelie. He had bested her, he had marked her and he had captured her. Granted, the thought of him capturing anyone against their will, so to speak, left a bitter taste in his mouth, but he managed to swallow that particular lump in his throat. It was a lump that threatened to choke him, but to choke would be a weakness he'd not let surface. He had demanded she follow him, more for her own safety. Being in the field with so many bloodthirsty stallions would surely have put her in an awful position. So it was that he had stowed the sweet young mare with his most trusted, and he'd returned to the anguish of war. He cantered from the copse, leaving the safety of the sentinel trunks behind him and launched himself back into the fray.

A flurry of panicked voices, and screams met him as he surged into the fray. Pairings fought hard to win for their side. The heavy metallic taint of blood soaked through the onslaught of rain, turning his stomach. Despite his nausea, and the ache and sting of bruises and skin-deep laceration, he charged forwards nonetheless. The shadow of a frown cast across his features was dower. Dark and lusting for some sort of satiation for the beast that stirred within. He snorted, gusting a torrent of water from the vibrating edges of his smoked muzzle.

"Blasted rain..." He grumbled to himself, chin pressed to his chest and his ears pricked resolutely forwards. 

Many of the faces he had recognized had remained, which suggested that his side were perhaps doing better than he had dared hope. With his forelock across his features, he caught a familiar scent and tossed his head sending the sodden lengths of black and cream strands into a frenzy. His eyes locked on a lone stallion in the distance, one stood pacing amongst many other groups of battling individuals. The dilated pits of his nostrils sampled the rain moistened breeze, and his breath came in great gusts with every pumping action of piston like legs. His steps sunk deep, displacing water in great plumes. On closer inspection, the lone stallion appeared to be an Olde member, which seemed to stoke the fire of determination to greater heights. He kicked his pace up a notch, only to notice a movement out of the corner of his eye.

On an oblique trajectory, one opposite to Ruaridh's, Kanu was flying at that characteristic pace, towards his own target. With a flinch of his eyebrow, and a gentle lip-tlt of a smirk, Ru roared a guttural whinny and threw his head high as he adjusted the angle of attack such that he might meet the Olde stallion's shoulder with the full force of his. Without so much as a warning, or hint, Ru aimed to take the attention of the Olde stallion, to give Kanu the space to make first impact. The question was would Kanu pick up on the game? Would their shared target open the flood gates? Ru could only hope as he hammered forwards, with little thought as to his own safety. This was for his herd. This was for his home. Somehow, he would end it.

:bulletblue:Charlie-
He couldn't feel anything. His body was numb with cold and pain. His bones felt dry and wasted, like sticks bleached by weeks of constant pounding from an relentless summer sun. He couldn't believe it had only been a few hours. It felt as though he'd spent a lifetime on this battle field. The only smells he could remember were the intoxicating musk of blood and the gritty fumes of muddy rain. 
Charlie pushed back the urge to close his eyes and sleep for a millennium. This was neither the time nor the place. The battle still raged on all around him, the tear of teeth and the wailing of the dying -- but the heavy silence of the dead hurt his ears the most. Corpses were littered across the ground like autumn leaves, all red with blood. A morbid carpet of faces both foreign and familiar. He had known some of those glassy-eyed carcasses. 

The tearing of flesh filled his ears. His eyes saw nothing but clouds of steam wafting lazily from shredded, bleeding bodies, painted across a canvas of morning light. This was war. Not the glamorous imaginings of the naive little lamb he'd been before today. This was real. The screams, the blood gushing from open wounds, the shattered limbs and broken skulls . He gritted his teeth as a hot pain shot through the gaping wound in his chest, left by hard hooves and washed clean by a passionate rain which longed to wash the world clean of dirty deeds like this one. Every time he moved, something burned. He was exhausted, every ounce of adrenalin had abandoned him, and for the moment, so had everyone else. Despite the guilt that chewed at his throat like a starving lion, he was okay with that. He didn't have the energy to fight. He was done. All he wanted to do was fall down on his knees in the mud.

A roar tore at the his ears like thunder, shattering the serene world he'd built around himself. Almost lazily, his head turned to face it. The stallion barreling towards him didn't seem real. Charlie could see him getting closer and closer, blowing up like a balloon with every long stride, his golden coat splashed red by the morning light. 
It took everything Charlie had to pull together enough of his wits to fight back. But he didn't pull fast enough. The other stallion slammed into him, and Charlie staggered backwards and tripped into the mud. 

The whole world came back into sharp perspective. It was as though someone had flipped a switch that shut the doors to self pity and fear. A sweet voice whispered in his ear, "Get up. Fight back." Despite the exhaustion he wore like a cape around his body, he pulled himself up and fought back. "Hit him," the voice commanded, and Charlie did. He lashed his teeth out at the stallion's leg. 
"Make him bleed," the whisper demanded. 

Charlie's teeth flew at the stallion, aiming to tear. Aiming to drain him of his juices. Fear welled up within Charlie as his mind raced, trying to take in everything that was happening. Where was the stallion going to hit next? How was Charlie supposed to defend himself? He was bleeding like a butchered pig from the deep gashes in his chest and neck. His head was light. He wished he'd paid more attention to strategy. 
"Stop thinking. I'll think. You fight," the mare's voice whispered to him. Charlie fought back the babbling strain of thought and dammed it up behind a brick wall. 

"Who are you?" Charlie muttered out loud, blinking rain out of his eyes. He felt as though he was floating, watching the battle field from up high, nestled safely in a bed of clouds. He wasn't, of course. He knew that. He shook the thought out of his head; how much blood had he lost?

"Does it matter? Lunge," the mare's gentle whisper commanded. Charlie did, throwing all his weight at the other stallion, his ears faintly registering the wet drumming of hooves running closer across the muddy ground. 

:bulletpurple:Kanu-
Flattened ears drowned out the bestial sounds of battle, the frenzied screams of those being tortured and trampled in the mud, the viscous clap of thunder that rolled across the sky with such ease as to mock those struggling below it's glorious presence and Kanu's own foreign thoughts. His heart pumped so hard he could feel it in his cheeks, forcing blood through his system at an extremely fast pace. He wasn't used to this strain on his stamina, but it felt marvelous, guiltily pleasurable. He flashed his teeth from under his bloodied lips, the inside of his mouth coated in a thick crimson liquid. He had gnawed the flesh inside his mouth so much that it was now mangled and grotesquely oozing blood and pus. So down his chin dripped a thick river of scintillating saliva and hot blood. His feathered hooves rhythmically pounded deep into the soggy mud, every step was bitterly taxing but his mind was elsewhere as his body fought against the unfortunate element the soldiers had all been suddenly placed in. 

For a split moment Kanu felt like he was the only one out in The Summer Fields, like he was the only living, breathing organism beneath the grey and angered sky. He loved it, he craved it. This was where he belonged. There was a sense of harmony in his momentary oasis that caused him to smile like he was deeply in love with the idea of war. He was deeply in love with the thought of killing another; ripping their throat out and swallowing it without so much as a blink. Dangerous were these thoughts, thoughts that had the power to not only engulf those around him- but himself too. Forever. He was slowly losing his own battle, letting the darker sides of him take control was now taking a gruesome toll on Kanu, who was merely a soul in the form of a fleshy being. He not only had to keep intact with the reality of death around him and that he had to win this war, but the reality that he may lose himself forever. 

Suddenly it felt as though a spear had been driven slowly through his chest and into his jittering heart, he snapped his head up and faltered slightly, regaining his constant pace soon after as he shook his head and once again rose up against the demon that wanted more than to win this war. A figure beside Kanu caught his eye, and he flicked his irritatingly wet forelock from his eyes in an attempt to spot what had hastily snatched him from his dream and back to the fact of existence. It was Ruaridh, one of the Bachelors whom he had chosen to fight beside. Looking between the light colored Bachelor and the dark colored Olde, his mind processed what was being set up for him. Teamwork? Well, Kanu felt as though he'd be perfectly able to take this wounded soldier down on his own but he was honored to be apart of something such as this. He felt exhilarated, he could feel his veins eroding from his skin as he picked up his pace. His legs were a mere blur underneath his strong body, and he was forcing himself to go much faster than anything he had before. Maximum concentration was needed in order to safely make his way to his- and Ruaridh's- target, and not toward the ground in a drenched heap.

As soon as Ruaridh opened his mouth to reveal a burly whinny, Kanu did the same, feeling obliged to let the Bachelor know he was willing to work along side him. He opened his mouth and let a deep growl escape the pits of his stomach. It was rather vociferous, and didn't sound remotely like a whinny, or anything that had ever rolled off his tongue before. He clamped his mouth shut as soon as the sound drummed through the air, but once it was echoing through the bodies of those who lay motionless upon the ground, he let another one free into the chilled air with minimal effort. Everything fell into place. Ruaridh was engaged with the Olde stallion, distracting him as the desperate soldier fought back, latching onto Ruaridh's leg. Kanu moved in, leaping off the ground. He was mid-air, his hooves leaving the muddy ground with ease as he extended his front legs and planted them fair in his subjects side, tackling him with all the force could conjure on such short notice. He went down too, but he had done this many times before, so he remained unscathed for the most part and- with some resistance from the soggy earth- jumped to his feet again, lurching back for precautions sake. He packed a lot of weight and muscle, so hopefully the lunge managed to mar the blood covered Olde stallion. There was no hope for this stallion, especially when Kanu was willing to ram his head into the ground and turn it to pulp.]



:bulletpurple: THIS TOOK FOREVER. The end.


Credits-
Kanu, art (c) Me 
Ruaridh (c) hypnocampus
Charlie (c) LeavingNeverland
Naphtali/Obscura (c) pony-bones
Evalynn (c) stray-thought
Kyanos (c) NaporieRizia

Tools-
SAI/PS
Tablet
7 hours-ish

THIS IMAGE MAY NOT BE COPIED, TRACED, CLAIMED OR REDISTRIBUTED ANYWHERE FOR ANY REASON UNLESS PERMISSION AND CREDIT IS GIVEN
Image size
2800x1367px 14.15 MB
© 2015 - 2024 DrunkPelican
Comments12
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ValiantShadow's avatar
I have no idea why I'm just now seeing this; it's amazing.  So.  Many.  Horses.

I love the little animation you added too!

Who's that I see in the corner?  Could that be a little Bachelor goofball covered in mud?