Further West

After bidding farewell to the leagus family, you cross the river at Kaath Falls and continue west. Nine Points is far behind you at this point, and you can still walk a good ways before the sound of the falls fades behind you. The trees close in again, their foliage thick with leaves and birdsong, so the water's roar is not sorely missed.

After a time, the trees open up once again into another meadow. The trees here are subtly different from what they were only a few moments up the path; most are fruit trees, some in bloom and others bearing fruit. A creature is currently nibbling at a ripe apple, and as it turns to face you to abandons the treat.

Unlike the leagi, this creature appears mostly equine; four gleaming white hooves and a horn to match, the latter mostly hidden under a wealth of Mediterranean blue mane, but it's far from a unicorn. It - her, for it seems female - has a sleek, powerful body of pure black, three of her legs shaggy with cobalt fur and the fourth, her left fore, crimson. Dark blue eyes glare at you as she swishes her tail, long and silky, and then flutters her iridescent-seeming cerulean wings.
"Darkness!" she whinnies, the word like thunder, and suddenly blackness envelops you. There's a galloping of hooves, and as far as you can tell, the creature is gone.

You stumble forwards a few steps, caught off-guard, and search feebly in the dark to find some sort of anchor. Your hand eventually finds something soft, furry and warm.
"Are you alright?" asks a new voice, this one apparently from whatever you just sank your fingers into, and sounding cheerful. "Don't worry, it'll dispel itself in a few minutes.
"What was that?" you ask.
"Sea of Shadows, a Magewynd. She.... doesn't like strangers just traipsing into the meadow." The voice sounds sheepish. "Although if she really wanted, she could've just moved off the path.... Ah, here we go!"
On cue, the darkness lifts just as suudenly as it fell. The dark creature is gone, but in its place is another - the one you've got your fingers tangled in the mane of.

This is another female, but much smaller and more petite - where Sea of Shadows was intimidating in her power and strength, this little one is positively adorable. Her coat is light blue fading towards her underside, with white shaggy legs and strength purple and black hooves. Her eyes are bright green, her horn deep purple, her wings raven-black; her mane and the tip of her lionlike tufted tail are bright butter yellow. This colour seems to match her personality, as she cheerily licks your face.
"I'm Moment of Truth," she grins. "Just Truth."
"You're not going to call down darkness on me, are you?" you ask, sheepishly removing your fingers from her mane.
"Me? Oh no. I'm just a Changewynd, I don't have that kind of power." She smiles and nudges your hand. "Don't be afraid to pet me, I'm not like Shadows. I don't bite." A wink.

"Changewynd?" you ask as you scratch behind her furry ears.
"There're lots of different kinds of Wynds," says Truth, leaning into your fingers. "Aaah, that feels nice.... ah, right, Wynds. I'm a Wynd of Change. Shadows is a Wynd of Mage, which means she has powers according to her body colour."
"So... darkness?"
"Yeah." Truth grins happily as you scratch a particular spot. "Though it's not just that darkness spell she used just now. She can also shadow-conjure."
"Shadow-conjure?"
"....it's kind of complicated. But it's one of her most flexible and powerful abilities."
"What are the other kinds of Wynds?" you ask. Scritchy scritch.
"Umm.... War, Chaos and Warp. Warwynds are built for battle.... Chaoswynds are wild and crazy, more like dragons than even Warwynds... and Warpwynds... well... I've only ever heard of one, and he's in Kynn. They've got powers like Magewynds, but are a lot stronger."

Moment of Truth is certainly talkative, and in need of a friend. By the time you and she finish talking, the sun is low in the sky and night threatens the Meadows. She scoots off to find Shadows and bed down for the night; you have the option of heading farther west, heading back to Nine Points, or trying to find a safe haven for the night....

Name	Sea of Shadows	Moment of Truth
Gender	Mare	Mare
Sire	Wild	Wild
Dam	Wild	Wild
Power	Darkness; immunity Fire
Birth Dynce	Unknown	Unknown
Current Dynce	Restless Time	Restless Time
Type	Wynd of Mage	Wynd of Change
Origin	The Everrealm

Tárakyna (C) me, Jessica Dragontamer. Critters (C) their respective creators. Background courtesy of ABTA.