The Watchers
My breathing is too heavy. I cant- I cant hear where it is. Focus. Deep Breaths.
Pause.
A leaf moves, the slight sound of sandpaper tells my body what it needs to know. My legs are inflamed, I think there's bone coming out of my ankle but I can't focus on it. I must run again. It's still on my trail, It's been hours and it's still chasing me. My sword rests in its deformed chest yet now I think I must have only enraged it, given it the drive of revenge it needed to pursue me for all these hours. The ice beneath me is slippery which usually wouldn't be a problem, but my cursed ankle makes any movements slower and more complicated than they should be.
I must nearly be at a settlement, I can rest soon I'm sure. That's the one thought that gives me drive in this darkness.
And then I see the light, a bright yellow aura of a newly illuminated path for me. I speed up, the pain is insufferable but I refuse to die so close to my goal. The light gets closer and closer, my view of the entrance to the town is still obscured by icy glaciers and thick bushes. I look dead ahead toward my salvation, I focus on the light, the warmth, other people to talk to so I can stop going mad talking to whispers in the trees.
And I remember, some of the wisdom I was given about traversing these lands. I'd already ignored most of it by choosing to travel alone. But the mentor, he had said something was of utmost importance.
"These are the Dark Lands" He had said in his gravely voice, "The light forsaken us many eons ago, and so, if you are to see their bright light you must pause. You must take in your surroundings. Before you let your heart cling to hope."
I slowed my pace, the light was so close, only a hundred meters or so to go. I looked around and understood what that old man was telling me. In the woods around me I could see many of these bright yellow lights, in every direction these patches of golden hue beckoned for me to come. A silent promise of warmth and comfort and of safety. And then I looked up, It was hard to truly understand what I saw through the creeks of branches and leaves. Dark silhouettes cast from these great lights over at least a hundred meters high navigated through the land. They were humanoid, or at least they had long skinny legs and arms that almost dragged along the forest floor that seemed to protrude from a neckline. And sitting upon that neckline were heads like organic lighthouses, where a face should be there was only a great light that cast these yellow spotlights onto the ground.
I had come to a full stop by now. My drive had left me, and I was waiting for whatever creature was chasing me to catch up. Yet it didn't. Maybe it was also afraid of these tower-sized monsters. The light I had been following seemed to glow brighter, it was getting closer. Whichever being it belonged to must of caught wind of my terror and it was coming for me. I collapsed to my knees, I wondered what the light would feel like.
It reached me, it was blinding like looking straight into the sun back when I was a child. Except this time my mother was on the other side of the continent, she wouldn't tell me to stop, tell me I could go blind. So I sat and the light engulfed me. And that brilliant golden-yellow light paused atop of me, and a few moments later, its colour changed to that of a deep crimson red. I was found.
Pause.
A leaf moves, the slight sound of sandpaper tells my body what it needs to know. My legs are inflamed, I think there's bone coming out of my ankle but I can't focus on it. I must run again. It's still on my trail, It's been hours and it's still chasing me. My sword rests in its deformed chest yet now I think I must have only enraged it, given it the drive of revenge it needed to pursue me for all these hours. The ice beneath me is slippery which usually wouldn't be a problem, but my cursed ankle makes any movements slower and more complicated than they should be.
I must nearly be at a settlement, I can rest soon I'm sure. That's the one thought that gives me drive in this darkness.
And then I see the light, a bright yellow aura of a newly illuminated path for me. I speed up, the pain is insufferable but I refuse to die so close to my goal. The light gets closer and closer, my view of the entrance to the town is still obscured by icy glaciers and thick bushes. I look dead ahead toward my salvation, I focus on the light, the warmth, other people to talk to so I can stop going mad talking to whispers in the trees.
And I remember, some of the wisdom I was given about traversing these lands. I'd already ignored most of it by choosing to travel alone. But the mentor, he had said something was of utmost importance.
"These are the Dark Lands" He had said in his gravely voice, "The light forsaken us many eons ago, and so, if you are to see their bright light you must pause. You must take in your surroundings. Before you let your heart cling to hope."
I slowed my pace, the light was so close, only a hundred meters or so to go. I looked around and understood what that old man was telling me. In the woods around me I could see many of these bright yellow lights, in every direction these patches of golden hue beckoned for me to come. A silent promise of warmth and comfort and of safety. And then I looked up, It was hard to truly understand what I saw through the creeks of branches and leaves. Dark silhouettes cast from these great lights over at least a hundred meters high navigated through the land. They were humanoid, or at least they had long skinny legs and arms that almost dragged along the forest floor that seemed to protrude from a neckline. And sitting upon that neckline were heads like organic lighthouses, where a face should be there was only a great light that cast these yellow spotlights onto the ground.
I had come to a full stop by now. My drive had left me, and I was waiting for whatever creature was chasing me to catch up. Yet it didn't. Maybe it was also afraid of these tower-sized monsters. The light I had been following seemed to glow brighter, it was getting closer. Whichever being it belonged to must of caught wind of my terror and it was coming for me. I collapsed to my knees, I wondered what the light would feel like.
It reached me, it was blinding like looking straight into the sun back when I was a child. Except this time my mother was on the other side of the continent, she wouldn't tell me to stop, tell me I could go blind. So I sat and the light engulfed me. And that brilliant golden-yellow light paused atop of me, and a few moments later, its colour changed to that of a deep crimson red. I was found.
Type
Journal, Personal
