To Hunger for Worlds

[Sorcerio 4712]

 

 

"This thing all things devours: birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel; grinds hard stones to meal; slays king, ruins town, and beats high mountain down."

 

---

 

It came upon him like an eruption of flame, the amber light wrapping him in a seething, torturous embrace. The heavens above were like a dome atop the vast towers of pine trees and birch wood, pouring its delicate autumn radiance onto the once-man, who now lay armor-clad and sprawled amongst a bed of leaves. Birds sang low, quailing melodies, and the timid play of animals could be heard in the distant shrubbery and brush. There seemed to be no lack of life, and indeed, even the earth itself bore fruit here — fruit, alas, which he could not eat. 

 

The errant knight rose, his mind muddled from the sudden leap from between the lands, and yet soon it recalled the harrowing recollection of what had just occurred. It stirred from its golden bed of foliage, looking up to the heavens with fiery eyes. It burned to stare into the sky, and yet he must so that he might seek out any gate, any reprieve, or even so much as a companion, for he had long-since been abandoned — and so it was fitting that he found none. 

 

Only then, amidst his sober reflection did he discern the squealing nip of some fox-like creature. It bore a striking similarity to the flaxen-haired woodland creatures which populated the mortal realm, and yet was still somewhat alien, peering upon the knight with great, piercing green eyes. The knight reached out towards the creature with the gentle touch of its hand, hoping to perhaps gain it comfort, but alas, the creature did not take to it, and within the blink of an eye, so too did the vivid eyes of that thing draw to a close, leaving the knight once more all alone. And in that moment, as that beast passed off into the darkness, so too did the birdsong cease, and the golden light of the heavens became heavier and searing upon his flesh. 

But the knight, knowing he could not remain in this place, carried on, hoping to perhaps find a familiar face or mode by which to return to that which was at least even familiar. He continued down what seemed as road, his flesh seething and burning within the sun, but it was no use in hiding, for the dome of the heavens was vast, leaving little respite amongst the shallow shade of the trees. He tread through what became a terrible mountain storm; there was nothing here, nothing but the wailing peaks and the whipping of winds across his flesh. Yet he endured, for such was his mission, so bold and yet so terrible, to seek a means of return.

 

It seemed as though days he traveled those perilous mountains of blizzard and snow, left as a huddling mass of taut flesh and bone. His armor had long-since been cast off to make the journey more bearable, but such did ultimately little to ease his trial. And then the hunger had begun to take him, the maddening throes of terrible hunger! Men might be driven to eat their brothers if left truly desolate and alone, but this was no mere hungering pang. 

 

At last he came upon the precipice, the very summit of that terrible clime, and there he saw it: the four realms all aggregated into one, with, at its very heart, a Middle City, constructed of smooth and pure alabaster stone, and each house bore a hue in accordance with their season. And within that city, that dwelt at the core, life — a great oak, blessed by divinity to bear leaves of prismatic saturation, granting light to all of the remaining realm. 

 

It made no attempt to employ caution, for it flung itself off the summit at the very city, dragging itself along the cliffside. Rocks and earth pierced flesh, and its very bones snapped with each leap and descent — but it did not matter, for now there was hope for reprieve. Only hope.

 

Coming upon the city, it was no more than a derelict thing. Eyes, of all colors and temperaments, gazed upon the thing, some in pity, others in despair, and still others did not even bother to look. But what did that matter, when the creature had been deprived for so, so long. True… it did not. 

 

The once-man then descended upon the tree, each step a further test of will, for its coil had all but failed. It reached forth a derelict and sinewy hand to grapple that exotic tree, and subsuming from it its very essence, to engorge, to devour, to sate the utter lack thereof. And there the tree, too, darkened, its leaves sapped dry of their ephemeral light and withering, only to fall from their seat among the boughs onto the earth below. The wood, too, became rigid and stale, the pure and unadulterated sap within serving as only a victual for that which could not be sated. 

 

Soon, all that was once the tree was consumed, and with it, the remaining land. With no heart to pump life through the roots, the earth began to decay. Where once pristine and life-giving water flowed, now they had dried, leaving caked and festering mud upon their banks in which not even the worms and insects would deign to dwell. The golden yield of the harvest became black like soot, brushed away by a single breath of wind, and the beds of leaves now, too, fell to the earth, as fungal rot overtook the roots of the many trees. The woodlands and fields grew barren, and creatures and men within them, though not dead, could no longer live — starved and wounded, and yet unable to truly die, caught within a perpetual limbo between sickness and sweet release.

 

No longer would it rain upon this land, and no longer would the sun shine. The beast, gorging upon the essence of the tree, had taken all that away in its greed, its hunger. There was nothing more upon this plane, nothing but a juxtaposition between life and death, and no sweet child would ever again look up to the stars, and hear the tales of this once-living paradise — for now it was made into hell. 

 

Spoiler

 

[Lhindir_ 3691]

And so, the King in Crimson awaited its knight.