Cruel Flowers/Waking Dreams

[bumblefina 2766]

Mushrooms by Alexander Vyazemskiy

 

 

       It was a cold day, the middle of winter really. Estrid’s hands stung from the chill as she huddled at a small campsite, wrestling with the paper wrapped lunch she had brought. The elfess had been a vegetarian for hundreds of years now, and she’d been lucky enough to find a few small mushrooms clinging to a tree, even in these wintry months. She’d become quite familiar with mushrooms and many other flora during her long stints away in the forests, a common occurrence for the elfess. She liked to call them her walks, but everyone who was close to her knew it was her escaping the realities that had formed around her. Her mother, many centuries ago, had commented that Estrid always had her head up in the clouds, never looking down at where she was going. Perhaps her mother had been right, because the fat little mushrooms she was tucking into her sandwich were not safe for eating.

 

    Half hour later she was leaving the Gateway behind her, and passing through the fields into the wild western expanse which had, thus far, gone mostly untouched by the larger Arcas population. There had been a couple of groups that had ventured beyond the great mountain range, dwed lurking far beneath, but hat had been many decades ago. The Llyrian Concord was a cruel flower, one that flourished intensely, it’s colors bright and attractive. It had brought hundreds into its fold, and consumed the island of mali’ker that resided nearby as it did. It was quick to wilt, though, after too many eyes turned to it. It was Llyria that Estrid was returning to, mostly out of curiosity, and somewhat out of a desire to reminisce on old memories. 

 

    Unfortunately, it was as the flax haired elfess approached the outer edge of the city that she noticed things were not quite as she remembered. The ground was broken... no, it was undulating, shifting in waves. The walls of the old buildings had giant gaping holes that made no sense, windows and boards writhing about in the air like worms. Objects floated in mid air, flower pots and dresser drawers, bookshelves and window shutters turning in slow motion as she passed them. In her chest, her heart beat in loud, slow thuds, and her cheeks flushed red as her mind took in the sights of the once populous city. As she moved further into the ruin, the ground below her feet became more and more broken, floating debris and chunks of stone making a mock pathway that she carefully stepped over, like rocks jutting out from a stream. This place she had once called home was now a wonderland, a waking dream that she could not make sense of. Estrid continued to wander around, beads of sweat rolling down from her forehead as a mild fever fought against her internal self. Time passed around her like ribbons being pulled by the wind, space opened up like doors and closed them politely behind her. She dared not reach out to anything, dared not try to make sense of the dreamscape she passed through. As she finally reached the far side of Llyria, her shoes making contact with soft sand, she spied a lonely rowboat, gentle waves lapping at its sides. She wasn’t sure why exactly, but she felt she needed to get into the boat, to leave this city behind and escape the dream. With slow, heavy steps, she made her way to the little dingy, numb hands grasping at the sides to push it out into the waves. The cold salt water rushed around her feet and into her shoes, but she paid it no mind as the boat began to float atop the waves. With an unelegant struggle, she hauled herself over the side and into the bottom, where she lay still as the sky spun circles over her head. It was then that she lost consciousness, and escaped the waking dream and into a more peaceful sleeping one. It was several hours later that the boat collided softly with a beach on the northern side of Korvassa, waking the elfess whose cheeks were now bright as cherry tomatoes. A sore, but clear headed Estrid clambered from the boat, cursing herself and swearing never to return to the ruined city.

 

Spoiler

Llyria is being removed in quite possibly the strangest way, and was left half intact by the world team. I went out there while exploring and was met with this surprise, so I decided to explain the experience in roleplay.

[winterblood 11181]

Miles and miles away, northward, a high elven woman named Nemir Valnelis was in the process of completing her notes on another peculiar sort of fungus.  ”Do not consume,” the fair woman wrote at the bottom of the page, before proceeding to underline it many times for emphasis.  She smiled to herself, content. 

[someome 2053]

Miles and miles away, northward, a high tree man dwarf named Hareven Lorenthus was in the process of completing his notes on another peculiar set of Ruins, where he found a fungus. “Consume,” the man wrote at the bottom of the page, before proceeding to underline it many times for emphasis.  He smiled to himself, blitzed as hell. 

[FloralHedgehog 493]

Miles and miles away, southward, a high tree man dwarf named Harold Withfoot was in the process of completing his notes on another peculiar set of fungus. “BWOAH BWOAH! WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT,” the man wrote at the bottom of the page, before proceeding to underline it many times for emphasis.  He smiled to himself, blitzed as hell. 

[Archipelego 2188]

Kasfer begins cramming his mouth with mushrooms, smiling happily as several fall out of his mouth.

[Zacho 2177]

Moved to The Great Library. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.

 

If you feel this is a mistake, please contact myself or any FM and we'll restore it.