Post by shadofire on Mar 10, 2015 20:21:34 GMT
Two nights ago, somewhere in the forest:
The late winter evening was slightly chilly, and early sunset beneath the trees left little light for anyone to see by, save for the animals that came out after dark, and apparently the strange boy in the gray cloak. Cold and dark didn't bother him, though an empty stomach did.
He'd spent the majority of the day sitting beside a creek in the forest. It ran steadily enough that breaks in the ice were easy to find; as were sluggish, hungry fish. Gaining so much progress with his writing and catching more cold river fish than one skinny teenage boy could eat, he wasn't mindful of the hour or how tired and hungry he actually was.
Depite the low light, he wrote on until an owl loudly hooted over his head, startling Luca just as he was about to fall asleep sitting up. It was day three going on no real sleep, though by running himself to total exhaustion many times in the past, he was able to stay awake and function longer than most anyone would expect. Luca also generally had help staying awake. Spirits followed and slowly gathered anywhere he went.
To say the least, it could be unnerving at times. Such as: waking up without remembering having shut your eyes, and right there watching you is a shadowy, faceless figure. It's eyes are dark hollows that still somehow manage to express the basics of emotion. As soon as it notices you're awake it makes senseless whining and sputtering noises not unlike a blubbing, over-reacting toddler trying to make someone understand them.
"Shh.." Luca tried to coax it into calming down. "It will be alright." the Faceless ones were beyond his help. There was no way of knowing why such spirits lingered even after long forgetting their names and most of their past. If only by chance, one did trigger some kind of memory in them; they only proceeded to wail. That attracted more Faceless spirits, and at times the Shadowmen.
Luca shifted from where he'd been
He slowly got to his feet, scooped up his bag and put his book which was spread out on the ground back inside it. Stepping out onto the ice, he lifted the line to check if any more fish had gotten too curious for their own good before moving off to deeper waters for the night. He quickly moved on, leaving it as he saw another Faceless one on the other side of the creek. The slight movement having caught his attention, the moment Luca lifted his eyes to it, the spirit started to warble. It wouldn't have startled him so much if he'd seen it there beforehand.
"Ah, wonderful.."
He turned away, to notice that not only was the first one closer, another had appeared. The three of them all began wailing together.
"What is your problem?"
The noise of it made his head hurt, and the longer he listened, the worse it would be. Despite being so tired, he quickly grabbed the crude rope stringer holding a few fish, threw his bag over one shoulder and ran. In ways that seemed to defy proper physics, he stayed on the thin ice at the bank of the creek until it extended closer to the other side, then jumped across. Surely even as scrawny as he was, the boy and his belongings were enough to break the sheet of ice he landed on? He paused for a second on the other side to look over his shoulder, then started running again.
Whatever he ran from was chasing, which was evidenced more by the fact that Luca was actively evading than something actually being behind him. He leap-frogged over a downed deadwood tree, and lost a little speed in sliding under a low-hanging branch. The ground was sloping downward, which Luca knew would lead to a sharp dropoff. As he ran deeper into the trees and away from the last light of dusk, the young man's eyes adjusted to compensate for it; their pupils becoming more pronounced and highly reflective as a nocturnal animal's.
He saw the sheer fall into the gully ahead, but kept running straight for it. At the last second before the ground dropped out from beneath him, Luca jumped up and grabbed the branch of a tree that grew near the edge. Scrambling to climb while the singular strap of his pack rode uncomfortably around his neck, Luca made it into the tree and situated himself safely enough. He shrugged off the bag, hanging it in the branch closest to him so he could dig through it for something. That something which would help him at this critical moment was.. an unraveled handful of twine and a feather.. ?
Too late. A thunderous force bashed into the tree from the other side. His legs managed to hold onto the tree, but his hands failed to catch his bag as it slipped from the branch and tumbled off the side of the shallow ravine, into the deeper part of the creek. Luca didn't have time to mourn things that could be replaced. The tree shuddered as the angry spirit that was chasing him leaned against the trunk, trying to reach past it. Deep grooves carved their way into the wood as something began to climb up. The marks suggested it had claws, and could have climbed the tree. Luca's idea of getting away wasn't a very well-thought-out one.
The spirit gave up trying to get him and proceeded bashing the tree he was in. While he didn't think it was hurting the forest spirit's head, it was definately hurting the tree. It was already starting to lean toward the ditch. With more force, it could uproot entirely and fall over the edge. He didn't know what to do, but something had to be done quickly.
Careful to avoid the reach of the angered spirit's sharp bird-beak and reaching claws, he climbed higher in the tree and then out onto the thinning branches until he was almost directly over its head. He waited for it to charge the tree again, and just as expected, the collision jarred him out of the tree.
Luca landed on the back of what to him looked like some kind of half-cat, half-owl thing. The other deer-like spirits protecting the forest paid him little attention when he'd first wandered into their territory, though after a few days this feisty one began to seek him out and chase him. It was only this one that had some issue over him being here, and Luca decided now enough was enough.
He grabbed the feathery tufts that served as ears, and pulled back roughly.
"STOP IT!"
The spotted griffin froze.
It was a majestic creature which once roamed for miles upon miles in every direction, before they had to worry of being hunted. Deep in the Enchanted Forest was the last place anyone could claim to have even seen one, as they were thought to be entirely extinct.. The white-speckled griffin was, for a few moments, alive again. It smelled the crisp air as it took in a breath and realized it really had the ability to breathe. Then it realized someone was sitting on its shoulders and let out an ear-piercing angry screech. Everything in the forest that heard it went momentarily quiet from surprise.
A second later, the griffin charged straight down the cliffside, as if daring his unwanted passenger to try and hang on. Luca felt the sudden drop and a fearful, frustrated cry left him. He should have expected something like this...
There was really no choice but to release the griffin's spirit and let it go back to its own side of the 'veil'. The creature took off into the sky and faded away, like a piece of a dream. Luca tried to tuck and roll when he hit the ground, though it was a rocky descent, and a tree caught him before he reached the bottom of the ravine.
He hung there for a little while, looking down at the water rushing beneath him, until taking a breath didn't feel like being stabbed in the side. Then he slowly started to climb out of the arms of the tree that caught him. As his toes touched the ground, he found one leg refused to bear any weight. Collapsing against the tree, he looked at his left ankle and hissed, instantly regretting his choice in actions. He knew it hurt, but seeing it bent at an impossible angle like that made the pain seem worse. The brunette boy cringed as he took his heel in one hand, and calf in the other. He bit his lip so the crunching snap was all that could have been heard from the quick turn to set things back in place. This was apparently something he was used to, however.
Knowing it would be at least a little while before he could walk, Luca crawled over to the edge of the water, looking across to see if anything had managed to fly out of his pack before being taken away by the stream. Not even a single sheet of paper. Everything was gone.
Something caught his eye though. A cave further down the bank next to the water, likely made by flooding that pulled the dirt out from beneath the roots of a large tree. It was open on only that side, and even still most of the entrance was covered with overhanging moss.
Except for one hole at the bottom, where something had walked in.
Whatever that something was, he could still see it's furry body lying there.
Just that quick, he forgot any concern for himself, and crawled closer. It could have been a wounded predator that would bite his face off, for all he knew.
He ducked his head inside the moss curtain, startled at what he saw. It was a young cat-bird thing. He could see its aura was pale in color, and spreading itself thin in a radius around it. The little creature was lying there, waiting to die of starvation, next to the remains of what looked like the larger version that had chased him down here to begin with.
"Leave it be. Nature has deemed it unfit to survive."
"but.. why? What happened to the parents?"
Luca speculated, defying the familiar voice he heard trying to advise him to turn his back on the situation. That voice started to explain that if the pitiful little creature he'd found were helped through survival at this point, it would be dependant on help for the rest of its life. It might try to take a kill away from a hunter, and cause even larger problems.
"Shhh!"
It wasn't right, to leave the animal like that.. but was it really his call what this creature's fate should be? That wasn't fair!
He edged closer to the thing. It was little more than waiting for death, taking quick shallow breaths and occationally twitching, intent on sleeping there until the end came.
Luca raised a hand, hesitating while he watched the small body for movement of any kind. He petted once over its spotted fur, feeling the thing was fairly cold.
If he wanted to help it, the voice continued to advise, he should free its spirit, as it was wishing to be with its parents. Anything else would be a waste of energy.
"Do be quiet!" Luca took to the defensive, thinking it was his energy to waste, and no one needed to tell him what to do with it! He'd been alone since he was nine years old. He did whatever the flipping hell he felt like, when he felt like it!
The sudden loud noise drew a pathetic squeak out of the small owl-kitten. Its eye fluttered and barely cracked open. Luca could see how dim the light in its eyes was.
"You are making a foolish choice, not listening to me." The familiar voice started taunting the young man now. "There will be consequences."
Luca left his cloak draped across the small furry body. The owl-kitten made a tired 'peeeep'. He scratched its little head, and a tear rolled down his cheek.
"You are not alone. Please, do not give up yet!"
As soon as the boy looked into that one pale yellow eye, the voice trying to convince him not to help knew- it was a moot point. There was no talking Luca out of it. The child was not the type to worry for his own well-being. He saw a light being extinguished, and took it upon himself to keep that tiny flicker going. He knew how to replace what the creature had lost.
Luca gathered some of his resolve, wrinkling his nose as he picked a large feather from the dead one nearby. He braced himself as if expecting a shock.
A rapid stream of mental images assulted his senses. He flopped onto his back, rubbing his head. The life of a griffon was flashing before his eyes.
The sounds, smells, even the taste of what it ate. It was all an overwhelming, dizzying rush. His stomach knotted and his head ached. There was no point in trying to make sense of it.. he only rode it out, knowing the real trail would begin once these visions were over. He clutched his middle when he saw the part where the parent griffon regurgitated food for its young. Okay, that was disgusting..
Then it reached the part he was not looking forward to; the end of the adult griffon's life...
The parent griffons had found prey scarce; as some four-legged, red-eyed hunting machine had been moving around the territory recently. It was fast and clever, with an appetite more for the actual sport in chasing its prey than to satisfy hunger. The dark prowler left a farm-raised pig half eaten, just lying there in a clearing. It was bait, and they knew that, but the two of them felt capable of giving it a fight.
When the fight started, the owl-cat next to him waggled its rear and pounced first, swooping out of the dark and closing the distance between itself and the red-eyed beast. That knocked it off balance, and then the griffon whose last moments he was living rushed in clawing and snapping.
"Ugh.. why are you showing me this?!" Luca pleaded with the visions, which apparently gave him an answer.
A clear image flashed to mind, of a giant black wolf with glowing red eyes. It went straight for his throat. His hands flew to his throat and he sat up, banging his head on the top of the cave. As if that didn't hurt enough already..
The next thing he saw was the griffon looking down as it took off, and its mate was being overtaken by the red-eyed wolf. It's last words were saying to leave her, save the nest.
Neither of them expected the hunter to be there. Probably having been sent after the wolf, it shot the first thing it saw moving toward it- which was the griffon fleeing from the wolf.
He could relate to falling off the edge of the ravine, as much as the griffon did when an arrow tore into the flesh of its wing, and it crash-landed, dragging itself out of the cold water to lie in this very spot. Its young had tracked it down some time later, and stayed, even after it was hopeless.
The winged creature whose spirit had been chasing him died in this very place, and manipulated him come here for a reason.. Could it have known his inborn ability that he was told never to use again, and yet make him do it? What if something, or someone else knew?
That scary question crossed his mind, and Luca rolled over, peering into the face of the little owl-kitten, which was now staring back at him with a new kind of recognition. It was the last vision of the adult griffon, too. Those wide yellow eyes looking at him, pleading him 'don't leave me alone!'
He moved over, curling up around the furry little creature which nuzzled him carefully. He'd done everything he could. It was up to the little griffon to prove that it wanted to survive, now that it was not alone.
Then Luca shut his eyes.
Call it fate or coincidence, strange things happened, and this 'lost' child was cluelessly walking into the middle of it. Whether it was the wrong or the right place, at the wrong or right time.. was a matter of perspective.
He was not, however, capable of saying he was only led by the spirits. They gave him a choice.
This time Luca had arrived too late to help, but able to save the one that wished for death... He could have walked away and let nature take its course, but he didn't.
But was it the right choice? To use his magic to steal the soul of a forest creature? To attempt to safeguard its young; a wild thing that should stay wild?
Was it right to intervene, when both spirits had already been slated to meet again in the hereafter? Was it the hunter's fault the griffon's parents were dead, or the black wolf's.. and who was going to stop that monster?