Explanations for shortcuts:
Y/N- Your name
H/N- Horse's name
italic- your thoughts
Enjoy!
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"Come on, Y/N, you can finish the rest tomorrow," Your horse yawned and looked at you with an exhausted expression while you were working tirelessly.
"Sun's almost down, it won't be long now," You said as you were mucking out stables and putting down new bedding. Maya asked you to do so, due to her date with Alex.
There was nothing wrong about that though, you were glad they were enjoying their time together. You almost wished you could have someone to love like they love each other. Someone you could wake up next to, to feel the tenderness of the other.
You looked up to check if everything was finished. It was, and you felt the pleasure of relief. Finally, you could go home. You mounted your horse and slowly started making your way home.
The Moorland Stables were seemingly calm at this hour. No riders galloping around, no people rushing to their desired destination.
You breathed in the fresh air and the smell of the sea as you were passing by the Moorland beach. You focused on the calming melody of birds chirping and the soft wind blowing through your hair. You closed your eyes and enjoyed the moment of the long-needed quiet.
"Hey, Y/N, look," Your horse whispered. There goes your peace. You sighed as a sign of annoyance as you opened your eyes.
There was a horse. All alone, walking and looking around its surroundings. You watched as it made careful steps and buried its hooves into the sand. You've never seen a horse like this one, but it was extraordinarily beautiful. The horse's whitish mane was gracefully decorating its elegant black coat. It seemed unreal. You were mesmerized by such a sight.
You noticed it seemed lost, so you decided to step in. You dismounted H/N and carefully started to get closer to the mysterious horse. It didn't get scared, so you softly petted it. It turned its head to you, that was when you noticed a small note hanging on its neck.
You read the note out loud.
"Property of The Amazing YDRIS! If found, please return to Nilmer's Highland as soon as possible, and you shall be rewarded delightfully.
PS: Her name is Zee. If she refuses, use cookies that should be attached to this note."
You kept looking at the note. Ydris. You've never heard that name until now. You looked at H/N, who seemed as confused as you were at the moment. You looked back at the note and saw a bag of cookies tied to it. You took one out of the bag and gave it to the horse, or Zee, as you've already discovered.
"So, Zee, we're gonna get you home, alright?" You said and petted Zee again. She snorted while happily chewing the cookie, showing her approval.
While all of you made headway to the said location, you thought about that Ydris guy. He seemed a bit suspicious to you just when you thought about him. Last time you checked, there was nothing on Nilmer's Highland. Nothing, but plain grass.
Your eyes widened as you've arrived. A wagon appeared in front of you with a lot of boxes surrounding it. When this happened, you had no idea. A young man wearing rather exquisite clothing was standing next to the boxes having a conversation with someone you couldn't see through the package.
You meticulously got closer to the man, but he didn't seem to notice you at all. He looked...charming. Or, at the very least, not how you expected him to look. You admired his noticeably likeable features as you dismounted H/N.
"Uhm, excuse me," You hesitated, clearing your throat afterwards. He slowly turned to you and as soon as he saw you, a reassuring smile made its way onto his face.
"What brings you here, ma cherié?" He asked, seemingly forgetting about the conversation he was having. But when you looked around, the person he was talking to was already gone.
"Yearning?" You snickered "I'm assuming this horse is yours," You continued, softly turning your head to Zee. Oh, the excitement in the man's eyes was truly like when you give a child their favourite toy.
"Zee, my dearest! I was beyond disquiet, don't you ever disappear like that again!" He said as he rushed to embrace Zee. He seemed to really adore her, and you found that pretty gratifying. At least you knew the horse was now safe and sound.
"Please, do keep a better eye on your horse next time," You looked at the man, who was hopefully Ydris, raising one of your eyebrows.
"I surely will," He said, adjusting his cascade cravat after he let go of Zee.
"Now, I do not have to be worried about her, thanks to you," He took your hand and lifted it, in intention to kiss it, but you quickly pulled your hand away. He looked at you confused but regained his smirk not too long after.
What does he think he's doing?
"It was no problem," You gave him an awkward smile. His gaze felt like a sword piercing your soul, sharp and daring. It was almost like he could see right through you, inside and out.
"My name is-"
"Y/N? Oh, I already know that." He said in a mocking tone. You looked at him with wide eyes, mouth slightly open. Then, your facial expression changed completely as you tried to remember when you introduced yourself, unsuccessfully.
Suddenly, Ydris laughed.
"Never gets old," He said, putting his hands behind his back.
"I'm The indescribably Amazing Ydris! I can see all, and I already knew everything about you from the moment I saw you," He leaned in a little closer to you and said in his melodic voice: "But you can call me whatever you desire, as long as it's not ordinary."
You were startled. Even though it was really creepy, you were slowly getting annoyed.
"I know you've already helped me a lot by returning Zee, but I have one more request for you. Do you wish to know what it is?" He looked at you with his eyelids lowered slightly.
"If that's so then please, do enlighten me," You sighed, crossing your arms on your chest. Ydris chuckled and pointed at the mountain of boxes.
"I need help with unpacking these, and your company would brighten up my day like nothing else could." The sides of his mouth lifted. You felt like you would burn that smile to ashes any minute. It was almost nighttime and you just wanted to go home and take a long hot shower.
"Alright then," You gave up. Ydris explained what you had to do and both of you got to work. Or so you thought.
As soon as you opened one of the boxes, in the corner of your eye you saw Ydris sit down and do some weird gestures with his hands.
"Listen, I'm here to help you, not do it for you," You straightened your back and turned your head to Ydris.
"I'm aware," he said blankly and foreign, not even looking at you. He continued in whatever he was doing and didn't pay any attention to what you were saying.
Just when you were about to raise your voice at him, the boxes suddenly started floating. You blinked, thinking you were imagining things, but nothing happened.
In the air, the boxes opened and things slowly flew out of it and got where they were supposed to be. With another swift motion, a huge purple tent suddenly appeared in front of you.
Standing there speechlessly you looked at Ydris, who hasn't moved an inch during this whole process, back at the tent, and all over again. You haven't seen any sort of magic on Jorvik other than what you've seen as a Soul Rider.
"How the hell did you do that?" Your voice cracked as you pointed your finger at the tent.
"A true magician never tells his secrets" Ydris giggled.
Maybe, or rather hopefully, this was one of the tricks that he uses to impress people. That's what you tried to believe.
"Why so surprised, my dear? I thought you already had a rough idea of what I'm capable of," Ydris stood up, "But I assure you, it can get way better than this"
"Oh, I know," You decided to not let Ydris get over your head and to not overthink this too much.
"Thank you for your help, Y/N, I really enjoyed our time together," Ydris cheered, "And if I remember correctly, I owe you a reward,"
"Yes, but there's really no need to-"
"Nuh-uh, I insist," Ydris smiled. Out of nowhere, he pulled out a necklace. You looked at it confused as he handed it to you.
"If you ever feel lost, let this bring miracles to you and show you your way home," He said in a comforting voice. The necklace had an enthralling purple crystal beetling on it. It looked splendid indeed. You took it into your hand and observed it.
"Thank you, it's lovely," You admired the jewellery. You didn't know what exactly you did to deserve this, he used his hocus-pocus for everything after all. But to be decent, you gladly accepted the reward.
"I really should go now," You walked towards H/N and petted him/her on her head.
"I hope we'll see each other again soon, thank you for your help again" Ydris bowed slightly.
You mounted H/N and trotted away. He still seemed like a strange guy to you, but you already forced yourself to believe that all the strange stuff that happened were just illusions, and you refused to think that it was real.
The twilight was marvellous. With a flourish of romantic hand the sunset blossoms red and gold. With the setting sun came a sky of fire, the orange of every wintry hearth. It was the battle cry to the gathering night, that the only achievement of darkness is to show starlight all the more clearly. Under the hill, you could see gleam coming out of the windows of Moorland Stables. These lights captured your spirit, they gave you a real sense of how a home should feel.
You were pretty far away from the circus by now, but you still could see it when you turned around. In the distance, you noticed Ydris still watching you as you were disappearing beyond the horizon. He waved to you. You smiled to yourself and waved back. Somehow, in the deepest places of your soul, you were curious and wanting to learn more about this mysterious ringmaster.
You had a feeling that there was more to it than it seemed.