It was somewhere near Amaethea...

[TwilightWolf 883]

 

"The following is an account of my memories, fractured and swimming, from the final trial of The Green Priesthood."

 

       "The High Priestess has only just now left my side. I can still taste the bitterness of that dry, dusty concoction of what I can only imagine must be a nauseating quantity of hallucinogens. My head is still reeling from my trip here, staring at the shadows of the cloth over my eyes and bumbling through the forest after her. Alas, I am here, at the precipice of failure or success, and the wheels of fate are in an uncontrollable snowball of motion. Oddly, fear of either option is gnawing at my stomach. There is nothing left to do now but offer myself to the Wild Gods for judgement. May you see your strength through my spirit, Morea."

 

 

       "It was somewhere between Amaethea and the edge of the forest when the drugs began to take hold. When I look up to the treetops, they have become like stretching, ominous fingers. They reach up and far away into the sky and swallow the sky. I feel my soul sinking. As if nothing but some spiritual web is holding my body and my soul together, my body lags behind... like a wayward kite behind a trotting toddler.

       My skin has become feathers. No, more like clouds... Light and free, as if I could think about it hard enough and will myself to blow away with the breeze. I'm smiling. I don't mean to, but I just am. Even still, I smile, and there is a flash of concern within me that this is somehow unbefitting of me to react this way. But, then again... The worry isn't so bad. It would be easier for me to truly fly away from this place than to focus on worrying. In fact, it is hard to think about one thing at once for very long. I is hard to think about one thing at once for very long. It    is         hard      thinking       "

 

       "At one point I must have rolled over, for now I find myself among unfamiliar trees. I do not know these faces, they are all strangers to me.

 

They do not speak like I'm used to. Though, the earth has begun to chatter in such strange ways, now. It used to sing to me, wordlessly, and I understood it. So why the whispers?

       

                       My hands feel like flippers as I crawl about on my knees. My stomach has lofted itself in my throat, hungry and aching... I found myself trying to pinch at the dirt after a longbug. Sentillpedee. Cen-ti-pede.

 

There's a disturbing crunch as I bite down into it, but by the time my mind realized the nonsense I had consumed it. Twice."

 

 

       "The animals in the treefinger shadows have begun to taunt me. I see the PackLord's children dashing among the sunrays in packs around me, as if I am some downed prey animal.

 

I don't think I'd mind being torn limb from limb.

 

 

 

So here I am, writing the experience of a mauling, obviously."

 

 

T   ----------        S         d          ~       l                        --      r

  .

                                   .                                                    .

 

 

"I've awoken somewhere without any of my previous possessions. The strange wounds on my body don't indicate foul play, for I look like I have just unearthed myself from a premature grave. I reach to my side and panic briefly, before I recall passing my staff to my wife before submitting myself to this trial. I breathe a long sigh of relief.

I must not have had a sip of water the entire time. My throat nearly stuck to itself as I swallowed down hard. My head throbs like the fury of a stone giant's pulse.

       I've begun wandering my way back towards the sound of a distant river. I can already feel the chill of the water rushing down my throat and into my belly. I've forgotten the pain of hunger, but my body aches as if a carriage had barreled over me at some point. Or perhaps I really was at the mercy of wild animals. I suppose I'll never know.

       The visions are strange and haunting, but their meaning I must ponder upon more. I am here, however, between the borders of the nation and these bewitching wood. So I shall go, now, and recount my tale. What a beautifully strange world this is."