Another end. Another beginning. Another portal. Another world.
The same old struggle.
Surrendering to the swirling gold, the landscape around him dissolved into the familiar void before a new place coalesced into existence. A forest, light and airy. He liked forests. They tended to be big and empty and let him get away from the company of others. He could lose himself in the subtle sounds of nature for hours on end, forgetting for just a while the constant ache of separation that had pained him for countless millennia. It was ironic, really. He loved learning the new worlds, their peculiarities and inhabitants and discoveries, but he could never be a part of them. They lived for but a blink of his eye, countless generations over and gone. Attachment meant pain, he had learnt that a long time ago. Far too long to remember.
Of course, the thing with forests was that, in magical worlds, they often had inhabitants all of their own. His shimmering golden wings flicked gently as he thought of the elves he had known. Slender, pointy-eared magical beings. Long-lived, but still nothing compared to him. This world was laden heavy with magical energy and he drank it in, stocking up his reserves. He could retain his own magic in non-magical worlds, but once he used it, it was gone. He knew his hungry absorption would draw attention, but he could live with that.
Even as the energy cascaded in, he was moving, stretching out the soreness that came with a transfer. Muscles rippled under tanned skin as he ran through a series of stretches, wings expanding out to their full twelve feet before pulling back in again. During this time, he was lax, paying little attention to his surroundings, so it was little wonder he was ambushed...
The same old struggle.
Surrendering to the swirling gold, the landscape around him dissolved into the familiar void before a new place coalesced into existence. A forest, light and airy. He liked forests. They tended to be big and empty and let him get away from the company of others. He could lose himself in the subtle sounds of nature for hours on end, forgetting for just a while the constant ache of separation that had pained him for countless millennia. It was ironic, really. He loved learning the new worlds, their peculiarities and inhabitants and discoveries, but he could never be a part of them. They lived for but a blink of his eye, countless generations over and gone. Attachment meant pain, he had learnt that a long time ago. Far too long to remember.
Of course, the thing with forests was that, in magical worlds, they often had inhabitants all of their own. His shimmering golden wings flicked gently as he thought of the elves he had known. Slender, pointy-eared magical beings. Long-lived, but still nothing compared to him. This world was laden heavy with magical energy and he drank it in, stocking up his reserves. He could retain his own magic in non-magical worlds, but once he used it, it was gone. He knew his hungry absorption would draw attention, but he could live with that.
Even as the energy cascaded in, he was moving, stretching out the soreness that came with a transfer. Muscles rippled under tanned skin as he ran through a series of stretches, wings expanding out to their full twelve feet before pulling back in again. During this time, he was lax, paying little attention to his surroundings, so it was little wonder he was ambushed...