New Beginnings

Thundering hooves made the ground shake. Shining portals flickered and shone brightly in the twilight, blue light cascading from the arch of pure power. What lay beyond was obscured by the shimmering light, leaving the horses to trust that when they leapt through, their hooves would touch ground on the other side. The Nordanners were beautiful, strong, and powerful—confident even as the earth threatened to fall away. They leapt through the portal one by one…and vanished. All the world was silent for a brief and terrible moment.


Everything crumbled. If an entire world could scream out in defiance, this one did. Then it was gone.


When the announcement had been made that the magic holding their beloved world afloat in the universe had become unstable, it had been simply unbelievable at first. But it was a simple fact: Change was coming, whether they liked it or not. Some of the residents wanted to move to a new land and simply take the name Skagenrak with them. Others wanted to start completely new. When it became clear that the population was split on the decision, it was agreed that the werewolves, seraphs and all the other creatures would take their Rooks and would evacuate the planet first, and find a new home to call Skagenrak. In fact, they did one better: they found a world identical to the first and quickly headed there. The dragons took their own way, and none had been even seen since the discovery of the fragile magic. The others decided to find an entirely new world, and start anew—with their Nordanners in tow.


Most had evacuated far in advance. Powerful magic built shining, temporary bridges to a newly discovered land ages away. With the time constraint the exodus was a steady stream of warhorses, wagons and people carrying whatever their horses couldn’t on their already laden backs. But that left the wild horses. While some were brave enough to lengthen their time on the doomed planet to try and round them up, to herd them toward the bridges, it soon became too dangerous to risk their prized horses in the desperate attempts. So it was that the bridges faded away, and the wild Nordanners were alone. Days before the old Skagenrak began to fall apart, the portals sprung up. The people had banded together and with the Queen’s magic, combined with the power of all the joyous hearts who still held love for their proud dragon hunters, allowed the magic to stretch between worlds, to spring up in places all over their old home. It would allow only Nordanners through, and wouldn’t last long…but when the first wild Nordanner, mane flying and eyes wild, leapt through the corresponding portal into their new world, they knew it was all worth it. Hundreds had gathered to watch with bated breath, and when that first stallion's nose broke through the portal, a cheer rose up.



Coats flashed in new sunshine. Hooves fell on new grass. Mutations never even seen before leapt through the portals, one after the other. Their natural brothers and sisters were close on their heels, whinnying to each other as if to make sure they were all still alive. Hundreds of wild horses sprang into the new world and happy tears were shed all over the land. The portals shuddered and snapped closed behind them. But they were safe. They were saved. They were home.


Realizing they were not alone on the new planet and that far too many eyes were on them, the horses snorted and fled, disappearing into the trees to discover the rest of what would now be their world. Everywhere you looked there were smiles and laughter. Tack jingled where Nordanners tossed their heads with their owners’ approval. One whisper raced through the ranks of everyone gathered to watch.


“Welcome to Aleria.”


Somewhere in the distance, a dragon roared.


___


Because Skagenrak is no longer part of Nordanner in any way per the express wishes of Dane, I had the honor of crafting a bit of a story-bridge to ensure Nordanner still had a backstory that includes wild horses, dragons, and love for these amazing warhorses. Skagenrak remains the same, but is entirely separate from Nordanners. We will still have dragons, but none that are breed-specific to Skagenrak's. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!