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| Shadows of the Hermit's Heart | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 25 2012, 08:15 AM (262 Views) | |
| Saya Sil Rumore | Aug 25 2012, 08:15 AM Post #1 |
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Redwood Hermit
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Under the starlit sky, Saya Sil was chased by a woman made of living fire. She sprinted through the burning forest until her lungs were filled with thick smoke instead of oxygen. When she landed on her side in the brush, coughing up ashes, the flaming being caught up. The woman stood over Saya Sil with eyes that burned blue. Her jagged, wavering horns of pure fire danced under the moon as though performing a tribal dance before Saya Sil's sacrifice. Everything at her feet caught the infectious flame and began to disintegrate into smoke and soot. Then, the woman of flames reached out a hand to Saya Sil's chest. The fire receded from the fingers, revealing unmistakably human white flesh. When the fingers made contact, she forced them through Saya Sil's body as easily as through butter. The sheridan girl couldn't cry out; her throat had closed with the collection of byproducts of combustion. Blood oozed all over her dirty, once-white fur coat. Death seemed to creep into her soul as her vision weakened. In her last moments, she watched the half-flaming hand rip out Saya Sil's still-beating heart. It pulsed a few more times as the flames licked delightfully at its severed arteries. Finally, unable to resist the taste, the fire engulfed her heart and utterly destroyed it. Saya Sil opened her eyes with a jerk. She grasped her heart as it seemed to continue living inside the nightmare, pounding at her ribs like a child throwing a tantrum. At least the gaping hole in her chest was only imaginary. She sat upright in the dew-laden grasses and surveyed her surroundings. At first, she couldn't recall how she arrived here. The flaming woman had been a figment of her imagination, so clearly, she should've fallen asleep inside a tree. When she stared up at the redwood beside her, she didn't recognize its twisted branches. Saya Sil examined herself next, and finding splatters of blood drops on her clothes, she understood the truth: the fire goddess haunted her nightmares because of their all-too-real encounter the previous night. The forest fire raging through the Red Woodlands was that woman's doing. She rubbed the mucus out of her eyes and delicately rose. Her dirt and bloodstained fur coat dangled to the middle of her thigh, concealing most of the tight shorts she wore underneath. From head to toe, bits of filth clung to her body. If she didn't take care of this soon, the clothes would certainly be ruined - and without any of the supplies painstakingly collected over the course of three years, now abandoned at her faraway home, Saya Sil wasn't confident she could replace them. She crossed her arms over her torso and trudged forward without clear direction. As long as she continued to move away from the triple threat to the north, nothing else mattered. A band of human crusaders in white robes decorated in golden crosses lurked in these woodlands now. According to her own two eyes, the crusaders captured a sheridan woman, beat her into submission, and bound her as a slave. Saya Sil considered herself fortunate that she escaped her home when she did - just as one of their men came knocking at her door. In direct opposition to the crusaders, a being of magic flame appeared, laying waste to their encampment and destroying everything in her path. Not only did this woman pose a threat to Saya Sil, she brought disaster to the sacred woodlands themselves; her violence birthed a raging forest fire which might continue for days on end. Even if she opposed the slavers who infiltrated the redwood forest, Saya Sil couldn't condone the fire femme's destructive means. She had brought greater dangers into the sheridan's life. Add to all this the knot in her gut when she considered how close the woman had come to touching her with those life-severing fingers, and Saya Sil's anxiety exceeded the normal limits. It was a wonder she could even walk, let alone run from repeated dangers. She never liked to shed tears first thing in the morning - as it served as a reminder of her pitiful nature - but on this particular morning, she found them trailing down the sides of her face. |
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| Saya Sil Rumore | Aug 25 2012, 08:54 AM Post #2 |
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Redwood Hermit
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Once Saya Sil picked up the sound of trickling water, she changed course to locate it. Unlike the sweet water stream she frequently visited near her home, the narrow brook she encountered here flowed too quickly for the stationary lily pads responsible for the sugar-flavored water to survive. She knelt and scooped a handful of water up to her mouth. It was delicious on her dry tongue in a way she had nearly forgotten. The sheridan briefly checked in a full circle around her for onlookers before stripping down to her undergarments and stepping into the brook. She took her time scrubbing days of dirt off her clothes. The water soothed her exhausted body in a way no amount of sleep could do. When she decided her clothing was passably clean, Saya Sil draped these items over a low-hanging branch. She stripped down for the more important task of cleansing her own body. Her narrow shoulders slipped under the water, bringing the point of her chin just barely to the surface. The disheveled length of her white hair already trailed behind her with the current, soaking through. She closed her eyes and filled her lungs with the fresh forest air. From this distance, she could no longer smell the burning wood to the north. The deep breath brought a small smile to her lips. No matter how many years passed, the sensation of bathing in the forest never lost its appeal. By the time she finished, the suns already hovered over the treetops as part of their daily duties. Saya Sil checked her clothing and found it still quite damp. She retrieved the slick fur coat anyway and draped it over her body as a last line of defense in case one of those crusaders reared his ugly head. She sat on the banks of the whispering brook and watched a pair of young deer drinking downstream. Their mother stood nearby with her ears alert and one eye fixed on Saya Sil. She didn't mind sharing the brook with other animals - so long as they looked nothing like her. For a time, their play occupied her attention while she pulled her fingers through her long, white hair, but the family of deer eventually left. As the sun warmed the woodlands, her tense shoulders relaxed again. Darkness replaced the scenes of nature as she released herself to the solar embrace. This long-awaited change of pace seemed like the dawn of a new chapter in the sheridan's turbulent life. She would travel to new lands, build a new home, and hopefully live in peace there without the threat of strange humans in religious uniform or beings cloaked in fire. Perhaps she could even raise an animal like she had seen humans do in the past. These thoughts put her completely at ease for once in many days. |
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| Saya Sil Rumore | Aug 25 2012, 10:56 AM Post #3 |
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Redwood Hermit
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When her clothes dried at last, most of Saya Sil's day had been spent idly watching her surroundings. She considered this time well spent, especially compared to the breakneck pace of her week until the present. The fact that no one interrupted this time of fellowship with nature made it sweeter still. Before setting out again, she took a long drink from the brook to make up for fluids lost since she left home. She didn't plan to roam far from water on her way south, but her paranoia would not allow her to travel directly beside a resource so necessary for life. Humans and others of her kind would also travel along the bank; she intended to avoid such undesired contact. Accompanied by the faint sounds of the brook, Saya Sil made her way through the vast woodlands barefoot as always. She enjoyed the refreshing touch of the forest's grassy carpet on the clean soles of her feet. Wearing human shoes, that thrill would be totally lost. Of course, when she stepped on a sharp rock jutting out of the earth, she still winced in pain. Her feet weren't yet hardened by thousands of days' travel. As she recalled, her mother never experienced such pain despite roaming similarly barefoot. When she was much younger, Saya Sil's mother explained that by the age of ten, the base of her foot would be impenetrable to the dangers of the forest. Her mother clearly underestimated the frailty of her human traits. Nevertheless, her feet were accustomed to the abuse. Saya Sil's gleeful smile waned at the thought of her mother. Why that woman had chosen a human mate, she would never understand. It brought nothing but hardship to their neck of the woods, and ultimately, Saya Sil left rather than enduring the harsh glares of other sheridans and the occasional human trader. A bubble of anger boiled to the surface. Her birth wasn't her choice, so why did they hold her accountable for it? But she didn't resent just the sheridans who scorned her half-human ancestry; the humans themselves stirred up more than their fair share of trouble in the Red Woodlands, a place which rightfully belonged to sheridan kin. The crusaders she encountered over the past few days were a manifestation of that tendency. If she had power like the flaming being from her nightmares, perhaps she, too, would lash out at the humans... |
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| Saya Sil Rumore | Aug 25 2012, 02:14 PM Post #4 |
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Redwood Hermit
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For several minutes, Saya Sil failed to notice the peculiarities in her shadow. The high suns cast a silhouette of her figure in the left of her periphery which appeared and disappeared with the forest canopy. As she strolled ahead through the woodlands, the shadow occasionally failed to swing its arms with her. It paused in the grass as though weary of hiking through the woods for a time. These subtle changes weren't enough to alert Saya Sil, but when her shadow stretched out in front of her with several more horns than normal, she slowed to a full stop. Her shadow continued to move for a few seconds, pumping its arms left and right. Then, the shadow reverted to normal so rapidly that the sheridan could only rub her eyes in disbelief. She soon concluded that her fatigue was responsible and resumed walking, but a ray of doubt lingered. The puppet-like movements of her shadow were clearly more than a daydream. Following the first shadow's lead, the shadows of the towering redwoods around her began to play tricks on Saya Sil as well. Their branches appeared to lash out at her form on the ground, prompting her to duck with her hands over her head in alarm. Each time she realized nothing had attacked her, she whimpered a little louder and scurried off with redoubled energy. The shadows of the forest had a mind of their own. Suddenly, the Red Woodlands no longer seemed like a safe haven. |
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| Saya Sil Rumore | Aug 25 2012, 02:50 PM Post #5 |
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Redwood Hermit
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Even though the shadows clearly couldn't harm her, Saya Sil found it difficult to proceed without staring into the sky. The longer she did this, however, the greater its effect on her eyes. In a matter of minutes, the sheridan found herself temporarily blinded and crouched beneath a shady tree to recover. Her own shadow emerged from the tree and wrapped its hands around her neck. She frowned at the disturbing image in the dirt. "Go away," she whispered. The shadow didn't reply, nor did it obey. She covered her eyes with her hands. The less she stared into the darkness waiting at her feet, the less it could bother her. The theory played out well. After five minutes of waiting, Saya Sil reopened her eyes to find that the shadows had reverted to normal. She observed them carefully before rising, lest they lash out at her unexpectedly. Everything appeared as usual. "Good," she said softly. A part of her still believed the shadows were listening to her voice, and she could find no harm in letting her thoughts be known to the forest. The sound of her voice brought with it reassurance that the waking nightmare had ended. Instead of smiling faintly as she tended to do in such circumstances - which inevitably preceded unfortunate circumstances as of late - she kept a blank gaze on the horizon and resumed her walk. |
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| Saya Sil Rumore | Aug 25 2012, 03:15 PM Post #6 |
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Redwood Hermit
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Since she left home days ago, Saya Sil's meals were few and far between - but she typically gathered berries and nuts whenever she came across them, finding these the most convenient foods for a fragile-bodied traveler. This afternoon was no exception; Saya Sil took a detour from her course to visit a patch of wild blueberries. As she stuffed her mouth and loaded up on an extra handful for the road, it occurred to the young sheridan that in the next couple of months, she would have to diligently prepare shelter and supplies for winter if she expected to survive. That would be her first priority once she found a safe location. This eerie stretch of forest and its freely moving shadows didn't meet the necessary criteria. As she reached deep into the leaves of a blueberry plant to pick a couple of large berries, her hand froze in place. On the back of the hand just above her wrist, a black shape like a letter "X" clung to her skin. Assuming she had picked up a pair of unknown leeches, Saya Sil immediately released a high-pitched scream and clawed at her hand. After scratching at her skin repeatedly, she held her breath. The texture felt normal - as though there was nothing on her skin at all. She sighed at the berries spilled all over the earth. In her panic, she had stepped on several of them. Under close inspection, the cross pattern on her flesh spread outward, wrapping around her hand. She flailed the arm in the air wildly, striking the blueberry bush and her fur coat in attempts to remove the spreading darkness. It left patches of skin untouched, but black streaks marked both sides of her hand before it stopped. Saya Sil gaped at her delicate hand in frightful wonder. With some hesitation, she checked the rest of her body. Nothing of the sort could be found elsewhere. The middle finger of her right hand was wrapped in darkness. In a sense, it could pass as an exotic glove because of its web-like coverage of the hand. Though Saya Sil realized this, she knew better than a passing woman jealously admiring another girl's clothing. This black mass which clung to her hand could very well pose a serious threat, especially considering the unusual shadows' behavior prior to this discovery. Saya Sil tried every means she could imagine to rid herself of the glove of darkness: rubbing saliva over it, applying pressure, holding it up to sunlight, even biting her flesh. Unfortunately, nothing accomplished the feat. She covered her eyes with her pure left hand and screamed up at the heavens. Why couldn't a single day pass without a disaster? |
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| Saya Sil Rumore | Aug 25 2012, 04:29 PM Post #7 |
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Redwood Hermit
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The southward journey continued despite Saya Sil's anxiety surrounding her hand. At times, the black discoloration seemed to recede, but overall, she decided it had definitely spread further since she beat her hand numb on the blueberry plants. The pace of travel slowed as the sheridan girl found herself unable to restrain her tears any longer. No matter how far she fled, there were always new obstacles to overcome, each as frightening as the last. She longed for an escape route that would never exist. Saya Sil kept her right hand as far from her body as she could manage. It couldn't be used to wipe her tears for fear of sudden blindness or the pitch black discoloration spreading across her whole body. Of course, if it traveled up her arm, she couldn't think of a way to prevent the inevitable. Slowly, but surely, her fingers and hand were consumed. Within the hour, it edged its way past her scrawny wrist. By nightfall, portions of her arm had fallen prey to the mysterious change. Saya Sil removed her fur coat, wrapped it tightly around the arm, and sprawled out in a small forest clearing. On the bright side, she thought, at least she was already accustomed to a life of solitude. As long as she remained alone for the rest of her days, it didn't matter how far the disease-like discoloration spread - provided it didn't kill her. If it happened to end her life after all, at least that would free Saya Sil from this world. Her lips curled into a pained smile bearing hints to her resignation in the faltering corners. |
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| Saya Sil Rumore | Aug 25 2012, 05:12 PM Post #8 |
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Redwood Hermit
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As Saya Sil attempted to escape at least as far as her dreams, the usual near-slumber lull was interrupted by a sudden pressure at her throat. The sheridan's eyes opened, and the pitch black hand gripping her neck drew her immediate attention. Her fur coat, which she wrapped over her arm just before drifting off, lay crumpled nearby. It appeared as if the night itself had been sealed inside the hand; even the starry sky overhead seemed bright by comparison. The discoloration had advanced past Saya Sil's elbow, and now the arm was surrounded in a misty coating of shadows. Whatever possessed her arm now had her throat in its grip. If she didn't act at once, the shadowy hand could crush her wind pipe and end her life. It wouldn't be so bad, she thought. No more running. No more fear. Just nothingness forever and ever, an infinite dream from which she would never awaken. No chance of encountering the crusaders, the flaming woman who massacred so many of them, or the humans with their territorial disputes. No chance of meeting her mother again. No chance of anything except nothing. Saya Sil grabbed her own wrist with her left hand and clamped down hard. The traitorous hand resisted for several seconds, leaving her gasping for air, but its fingers soon uncurled. Even Saya Sil couldn't possibly lose to an enemy as weak as herself. She pinned the rogue arm against her stomach until she regained control. The mist surrounding her arm dissolved. Before long, the color in her arm was restored. The brief ordeal left her gasping for precious, sweet air. Her true desires had come to light. There was nothing in the world more terrifying than nothingness. |
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| Saya Sil Rumore | Aug 25 2012, 05:53 PM Post #9 |
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Redwood Hermit
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In the aftermath of a near fatal encounter with herself, Saya Sil found it impossible to doze off again. Every distant howl in the woods made her jump, and between unidentified noises beyond the trees, she checked her right hand diligently for any signs that the shadow mist or its underlying black discoloration might return. Though nothing out of the ordinary transpired in the following hours, she simply couldn't relax. The nighttime woodlands were full of shadows, any of which might come alive and suffocate her in her sleep. At last, she decided to disregard the late hour and continue her trek. The bright crescent shape of the Oshuran moon guided her still further south, hopefully to a land where the shadows behaved like they should. The sooner she found a hospitable area, the sooner she could rebuild what the people of Knives snatched from her hands and put these horrible experiences behind her. In her hasty departure, Saya Sil didn't look back once. Had she, the sheridan would surely have noticed the trail of dark mist following closely at her heels. |
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| Legend Blueshard | Aug 25 2012, 05:55 PM Post #10 |
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Miner
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Event Complete Saya Sil advanced to level 3. |
![]() On the cusp between worlds I wait, Beckoning the storm to end all storms. | |
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