Participants:
Scene Title | The Eternal Forest |
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Synopsis | The whispers grow louder and lead Eve to The Hub for the first time. |
Date | September 15, 2013 |
A battlefield
We all have forests on our minds. Forests unexplored, unending. Each one of us gets lost in the forest, every night, alone. - Ursula K. Le Guin
The early morning sky was clouded with black smoke, the air rank with the smell of war. A few hundred yards away the tall pile of fallen soldiers were being buried by a crew that had been working overnight, the smell of the bodies settling over the slumbering encampment. Of the Evolved and Non-Evolved. There weren't many people awake yet. The battle had ended yesterday, Mitchell’s forces were defeated but not without significant loss on the rebel forces side. One battle of many, the seer had seen some of them and how they might end.
She had helped where she could, a bullet there, grenade(s?) over there. There were chickens involved. A screaming, gun toting crazy woman. She saved the life of a soldier who would have lost her life. She couldn't save everyone. That wasn't how this worked.
Trudging booted feet through the muck that is a mix of morning dew and the tall untamed grass of the surrounding area. The moisture enough to make the ground more mud than dirt and it clung to her heels. Her clothes were in tatters, a midnight blue dress frayed at the edges with scorch marks all burned through it, her vest made impact with a bullet that had sent her sprawling to the ground. She had thought she moved to the right enough, Eve Mas still missed things. Admittedly, she had a lot on her plate.
The slits she had made in the sides of the dress flapped against her leggings, a fresh gash bandaged from the grazing of a bullet. Eve had moved far enough left for that one, but just barely. She was lucky the dream of the past day was of the more literal sort. Like that dream with Feng and Else, the memory of that encounter. That stupid mistake that wound up saving Else for the moment at least, makes Eve snort as she shakes her head.
The pages of music Else composed and left behind to Quinn might have been worth that mistake. But Eve sometimes wondered if she had just shoved Else into an even darker direction, a more terrible death.
At least she had died with friends. And left behind a legacy.
Listen Listen
Eve’s head snaps to the left where she thinks she might have heard the voice. This game had been going on for a few months now. She could never find the source of that whisper. It always felt like someone was bending down whispering right into her ear from behind. “Well? You can't just ask me to listen and stop talking.” Her tone is put out, Eve is tired.
Go there, follow the water
Don’t you want to see?
That question was a hard one. Did she want too? Maybe not though she had accepted who she was now, had embraced herself. Ability, flaws and all. But did she need too? That was a different question. Some would say her visions are just the catalyst for that impending future to be caused. And the seer would agree at times with that theory.
The whispers seem to grow in number, bombarding her with their questions and teasing.
Come on, you can do it
Take the plunge
That last whisper echoes loudly in her mind making Eve wince as she cries out and throws a hand to her temple.
A pair of overnight gravediggers are having a smoke not too far off. One of them steps towards Eve a confused expression on his dirt covered face. There were so many Evolved running around you never knew that someone was really going through. He did not want to blow up though from some crazed woman with a deadly ability so he takes a step back, something Eve is grateful for anyway as she waves her hand dismissively at the man and walks on.
“It's just the whispers! They’re loud today.” Eve calls out the end of that sentence in a grumble.
Take a walk in the forest
Those flowers are pretty
“Pretty flowers are nice, I have my own.” She snaps back as she starts to hike up a steep hill. Her breathing labored as she hefts the messenger bag on her shoulder full of supplies and stops midway. “I just want to go back to the beach.” Back to the where she met Otter Eyes, she hopped he was okay.
As Eve finally makes it to the top of the hill, she flops to the ground. Sprawled out in an awkward angle her eyes twitch as she's hit with another wave of whispers. They are pushy today.
Reaching a shaking hand out to her messenger bag she blindly feels around for her metallic cigarette case. Finding it and the lighter, Eve takes the joint out with a shaky hand. Her eyes snap open wide as the whispers continue. They’re louder now. Pounding on the inside of her mind.
A light whimper escapes her as she puts the joint to her lips and lights it. Inhaling deeply before she exhales with a soft sigh, waiting for the calming effects of the herb to take over. It helps with the onslaught of echoes of her dreams. With the not sleeping much.. with the delusions.
It takes a few puffs and a couple coughs but she starts to feel her body tingle and go slightly numb. The edges of her mind dull as she looks up towards the sky. Maybe a short nap, that will stop the whispers. That will make them go away.
She wonders idly how Otter Eyes is doing. What's he up to..
It's waiting for you here
Her eyes snap open and her eyes fade to that milk white color. Her mouth drops open, “A forest..” she says softly..
???
The forest was eternal.
The leaves on the trees vibrant and green, lush and so full of life. A stutter and the leaves are brown, decaying at a rapid rate. The grass at the trees base do the same. Another stutter. Weeds overgrown, each healthy green plant decaying until death, ending in a rustic red color before beginning anew.
As the last bit of life drains from the vegetation another stutter and a burst of green as the process restarts again.
Eve stands in the center of the forest the wind caressing her back like a lover, the moisture in the air thick and manifesting itself as a thick mist. The raven haired woman moves forward at ease. Something about this place feels right.. feels home.
There are no animals. There is only the wind, the constant flux of the environment around her and Eve herself. Her bare feet pad over leaves and fallen sticks, they vibrate with energy. This place of power.
Her pale skin now dampened by mist she continues ahead hearing the trinkle of water in the distance. Feet wade through fallen leaves and upturned tree roots. The smell of lavender is heavy in the air. Light gray eyes take in her surroundings as she comes to a clearing.
The source of the sounds of water found in a river. The river is calm, multiple ripples spay the water’s surface, it being a iridescent blue with shadowy depths. Just how deep does it go?
As if drawn like a magnet Eve walks slowly up to the river kneeling before it’s edge. Whispers trail through the air circling her as she leans closer to inspect her reflection in the river. Except there is none, just a shadow barely resembling her silhouette.
Take the plunge
Follow the Riddle
The whispers seem to grow in number, growing in power and as Eve plunges her face into the river the water erupts beneath the surface.
The water hits her face, cold, warm, acid, rejuvenating. All things, all at once. For a moment, she nearly pulls away— but something whispers, tells her it's all right.
She opens her eyes, looking down into the blackness. At first it's black, then it swirls and slips and little lights start to flicker by, both vivid and blurry all at once. Each of those little spots of light seem to hold something, but she can't focus on it at first…
Until she sees an otter. Twisting, spinning, under the surface. Eyes closed, body limp, pulled along by the river. She doesn't need to see more to know that that otter is gone. Dead. And not her otter.
The river seems to split, forking off into one direction— a second otter, not otter— slicked fur paler, little claws grasping at something as if trying to find a hold— it slips away and he's pulled further and further, until he disappeared into an underwater forest, a jungle, that seemed to grow up out of nowhere. They wrapped around him, catching him, holding him.
And a feather floats by.
And then she woke up.
A gasp comes from the seer as she leans forward smoke wafting around her pale face. Her breathing is labored and her eyes wild as she tries to get a grip on what just happened.
Eve takes a look at her hands. Eyes wide. “Otter eyes..” but that wasn't all. She had “dreamt” while awake. She was even more tired now but.. it was something new.
A light smile crosses her lips as she throws herself back into the ground, legs flying up into the air. She laughs softly at first, eyes scrunched up. It soon descends into a manic laugh, her fists beating into the ground. Howling with laughter, tears fall from Eve’s eyes.
The whispers are still there. They aren't as loud.. but they’re there.
And she's there too.