Dark Road to Nowhere Chapter 1

It was like running at full tilt into a brick wall, and it stripped the air from his lungs. In pain and fear he screamed into the darkness that enveloped him, to his friends, to his goddess, to anybody who might hear who might be able by some miracle to save him.  It was to no avail, he fell seemingly forever, his body torn and bruised his mind racing in terror, unable to flee, the utter silence raging in his ears, drowning him in the absence of light and sound.   He thought he was going mad, and laughed at how absurd that might sound to somebody other than himself.  He wondered if he was still alive, or in his own body, perhaps the tearing he had felt had been just that and he was now simply a tortured spirit free floating in purgatory.

He cried out again for his beloved goddess Iris, but knew somehow that he was too far from her or she too far from him.  He didn't notice at first that he was no longer surrounded by pure darkness, here and there flecks of light appeared and disappeared, more and more of them flickering into life in the distance, ones closer to him sped by whilst other fainter ones lingered.  Were they stars?  Perhaps he was only dreaming! He tried to shake himself awake but only succeeded in somehow twisting what must be his own body into a different angle, with the movement came the stark realization that he was himself, and he was falling towards a darkened land.  Wind now streamed his mane and tail out around him and sensing a return of his power he enveloped himself in a bubble of air flowing opposite to his fall.

By some miracle the death he expected when he hit that hard dirt was escaped, his only salvation his power over the wind and an unfortunate tree which he hit, and continued to smash apart as his weight took over.  The tree groaned and cracked around him, breaking his fall just enough but he knew without a shadow of a doubt as he tried to cram air into his aching burning lungs that he'd broken bones.  He dared not to move until his head stopped spinning and he had been able to slow his racing pulse down, but he shook like a newborn foal and each lungful made his ribs burn further.

Fabio's gut instinct was to call another Cavitto with healing powers to him, but there was no response to his call.  He was no longer in Olympus that was for certain. This land had a strange, almost stale smell, his magic felt diminished, pale in comparison to how he had been in Olympus.  As painful as it was to simply drag breath into his lungs it was nothing compared tot he pain of getting unsteadily to his feet.  At first he thought he had broken one of his front legs and it took him a long time before he managed to get his rump underneath him enough to heave his bulk off the floor.  The pain made him feel sick and exceedingly dizzy, the tree again came in useful as he leant drunkenly against it feeling like he had drank far too much water from the river by Dionysus's temple.

Desperately he tried to take his mind off the pain, to reorder his brain and try to make sense of what had happened, though try as he might he could only recall that he had been dozing in a large pasture near where Iris and Hera liked to sit and talk in the sunshine.  He ached in a cold sense of loss when he realized he might never see either of them again.  There had been sunshine and freedom and contentment, and then nothing.  The nothing had turned into blackness and falling and fear that crashed up to overwhelm him all over again and it was all Fabio could do to remain upright on 3 shaking, sore legs.  He gingerly tried to put weight on his leg again and squealed in pain as tendrils of fire shot up to stab him in the heart.

For the first time in his long life Fabio was lost, alone, injured and very very frightened.  He sank back to the cold ground and turned his head away from the light of the stars above him waiting for the peace of death that must surely come.  

He sensed her in a way he sensed fresh grass on the winds and her familiarity shocked him out of his melancholy making him raise his head, searching for her.

"Iris?"

"I am here my beautiful Fabio, but only as a ghost of a memory for I can not come to you as flesh in this world."  She appeared before him like smoke rising slowly from a cooling fire.

"Please help me!" He almost wept as her insubstantial fingers touched his face, her rainbow coloured wings curling around him protectively.

"Would that I could my dearest one, but Zeus would punish me, something terrible happened, and he hath banished all Cavitto from Olympus and I can not go against his wishes." She whispered.

"I am so sorry.  I know in my heart you did nothing wrong, and that you have been taken from me cruelly.  My heart is bereft with your loss, and the loss of all our friends, but they are here on this world with you, somewhere.  I will try to find them as I have you, but I do not know that I can do any more."

"I fear I will not last the night, though your presence makes my heart beat stronger. My leg is too injured to bear weight, and if I can not walk I can not find safety."  He watched as her ghost shape moved to run pale hands down his front leg which looked swollen from the knee down.

"It is not broken dear one, but sprained, you should be able to walk, but go carefully, this will need time to heal."  The goddess Iris paused as though she were listening to something far away.

"I hear another of our herd call me, I will try to help as many as I can dear one, but you must fight for yourself too, I will come again to you if I can soon.  Zeus is in such a rage I worry that the slightest transgression by any of us will be met with swift and harsh punishment.  Be well Fabio, I will miss you."

"And I you goddess, thank you for hearing my call."  He whickered softly to her as she faded from view once more.  Still in pain he struggled once more to his feet, but knowing his leg was only sprained made it easier for him to trust a little weight on it.  He knew he couldn't stay where he was, the human scent was strong around the whole area, and he would need quiet, and safety to recover.

He hobbled away through the woods his senses fully alert for danger whilst his mind mulled over what his goddess had told him.  Banished.  All of them banished.  He shook his head absently in dismay and kept moving.

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Chapter 1 of Fabio's story
TAS Fabio #93

Story  = +1 veritas
Word count = 1208