Solo [Week Long Challenge] Restless II

Isaac needs to cross over, to get to his destination. Will he make it alive?

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This northernmost city is the home of Morwen, The Goddess of Winter, and her followers who dwell year round in a land of frozen wonder. [Lore]

[Week Long Challenge] Restless II

Postby Isaac Iceglaze on February 8th, 2021, 4:41 am

Continued from here...

He made it.

It was nearing what he thought was probably the end of the day, and he'd made it to the water. Isaac could see the shore on the other side, with the dark opening set into the rocky mountain face. There was a choice to make now, of whether he should be testing the waters to see its depth and cross over, or if it would be easier start building a makeshift raft. It was a choice to be made after catching some food and making a shelter again.

Isaac was tired, but he knew he could not stop. There was work to be done to get to the destination at hand. He scouted the grounds and found a fairly flat and dry space under a large cedar. He cleared it up and got to work cutting down boughs with his dagger and gathering as much moss, bark, dry grass, and branches he could muster to prep the shelter and fire. Along the way, he foraged and harvested for fern and was even able to gather a whole bunch of salmonberries. He guessed this would be his spot for at least two nights if not more while he formulated the strategy for getting to the other side.

After starting the fire, he stood next to it for warmth while he sharpened a spear with his stone dagger. He pressed firmly into the bark with the edge of the knife, moving his wrist upwards, continuing to chop off the end, bit by bit. He broke off another long branch as well, and this time, he used a rock to add more force to the cut of the dagger into the end of the branch, splitting into into four section and keeping the four section spread apart with smaller branches. He sharpened the end of the four points. Happy with his weaponry, he waded into the water, and spent the time trying to fish.

The time was brutal.

Isaac wasn't sure what he was doing wrong. This spear method of fishing worked fine in Avanthal. Of course, he usually just fished in his polar bear form when he was alive, but he couldn't do that here. Waiting and watching, stabbing and piercing, the big fish just seemed too fast for him. He started getting angrier and angrier, and frankly more desperate as the time went on. He knew he needed to take a break when he legs started to lose feeling, so he would walk out of the water and move around to warm back up, keeping an eye on the embers of his site, sometimes even going back to warm up by the fire. Fishing had become far more excruciating than he wanted it to be.

This should be easy for me, why is this taking so long? I should have at least ten whole rainbow trouts by now. Pathetic. Is it my body? He questioned, wondering if it might be something to do with his scent or his reflexes in this form.

He went back into the water, in the same place he was in before, refusing to give up. At one point, his frustration got so high that he decided he didn't need the bigger fish. He spit into the water where the little minnows gathered and scooped them up in his belt, not caring that he got her clothes wet. he quickly dumped the minnows into the cooking pot and heaved a sigh.

This will have to do for now.


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[Week Long Challenge] Restless II

Postby Isaac Iceglaze on February 8th, 2021, 4:43 am

Day 5

Hunger kept him up that night. Once again, Isaac was incapable of getting true sleep. He tossed, turned, shivered, and slowed his movements as he opened his eyes, suddenly confused by the view he was seeing.

The young kelvic felt something soft under him. Soft, warm, and the water was below him, and getting closer. He shifted in his seat to sit up straight to realize that he was seated on the back of some animal. A big animal.

An animal with green fur.

Isaac's eyes widened as he grabbed hold of himself on the creature's back. It was moving towards the water, and it was carrying him. They were crossing.

I'll take you home, mother.

A loud noise erupted from the creature that tossed its head upwards, releasing yet another trumpet high into the sky.

Isaac shook his head and suddenly became aware of oncoming hypothermia. The confusion was too strong, too hallucinogenic. When he decided to get up, he checked out his shelter and resolved to bring more insulation to it. He gathered more moss, more tinder, and set the fire going again, heating up the rocks and making sure he spent his time by the warmth, tending to the fire, properly drying off his wet clothing and shoes. He would cross that day. There was no denying it. Issac boiled water in the cooking pot and mashed the sweet salmonberries as well, being sure to drink the sweet hot liquid to bring the flow of living, breathing energy back into her system. He would not let her die. They would not die here.

Isaac fashioned a longer spear this time, to act as his guide. He had faith that the water was shallow enough, and if anything, he would swim across. He had the memory of swimming if not the skill, and knew that all he needed to do was stay calm. To keep his burlap sack safe, he used a few branches and the hide thread from his shoes to tie together a small triangular shaped raft to pull along with him. Since the water was fairly calm, Isaac was sure he could do it. He had to be able to get there. He would leave no other possibility to chance in his mind. He envisioned himself on the other side, having the sack with all his things, the map inside the cooking pot to keep it relatively dry, and his mind finally free from the burden of the choice to make it to shore. Isaac saw himself there as vividly as he could before making the first step into the water.

He walked forward. Watching his step, testing the ground with his spear and pulling his little raft, he kept moving. The water was freezing, expectedly so, but he knew he could not stop. When he was a little over a third of the way across, he could tell that it was going to be deeper, but his long pole still hit the ground. He breathed in and out. Isaac then took in a deep and full breath before allowing his feet to raise up from the ground. He could feel himself panicking at this point, he was sinking, and he had to tell himself to calm down, to breath out into the water, and to breath in water air. She mistakenly breathed in water, and started to cough, so he turned course and found his grip with the pole, able to stand on ground again.

The fear within her was strong.

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[Week Long Challenge] Restless II

Postby Isaac Iceglaze on February 8th, 2021, 4:44 am

"You can do this," he said aloud. "We can cross over to shore with no problem at all. I need you to trust me," he said to himself. "I need you to know that we know how to swim. We're great at it. We are a natural at it. Everyone can float, as long as we are calm. We can be one with the water. We can flow with the water. We can listen to the water and let it talk to us. We can talk to the water," he said, rambling, yet believing in himself and his words. He needed her body to believe that they could swim to the other side.

"Please, water," he began, like a madman. "Please help us get to the other side. We are ready."

With that, he released his feet from the ground again.

The tension was still there, yet less intense now. Images he couldn't recognize flashed through his mind, people he didn't know, landscapes that were blurry and moving animals that were a mystery. Colours shifted and seasons changed in the flashbacks of a multitude of emotions before a strongly vivid image of a ship at sea entered his mind. With this image, he could feel strength again in his feet and arms, and he allowed the courage to driven themselves forward, knowing that the shore was close. They passed the halfway point, and Isaac kept his breath steady, his goal focused on the shore, one breath at a time, knowing that his feet would be able to touch ground soon enough. With every breath, they got closer, and with every exhale, a lightness entered their body. They were almost there, and he could feel a smile spread across his face.

A wide-toothed grin settled in when his feet touched ground and the little raft of belongings hit the shore.

They made it across. Together.


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[Week Long Challenge] Restless II

Postby Isaac Iceglaze on February 8th, 2021, 4:45 am

The other side had been no different than the side they were on before. Same terrain, same flora and fauna, and the weather certainly wasn't different. Once Isaac reached shore, he raced over to the dark opening and peered inside, only to find it empty. It was a better cave than the one he'd spent his first night in, but it still nothing more than a large, dark hole in the mountain.

In fact, the strangest thing about it was that it was almost too empty. As if it had always been clean and free of carcasses or signs of animal droppings or drawings on the stone or even wetness from snow. It was a mild and clean place that was well-suited for shelter. He'd wondered if he just missed seeing someone who'd been here earlier, or if the map was wrong. In any case, he needed to get dry immediately, as he could feel his hair starting to freeze, so the first thing he set about doing was making a fire near the cave under a convenient and open spot. He dried out everything inside the burlap and began to settle in, once again.

Isaac decided to wait it out at this location for as long as he saw fit. Which was why he hoped this would be the perfect place to attempt to get a good night's sleep in the darkness and relative warmth of the cave. It was the perfect place, and he was sure he could finally experience the unconsciousness he so desperately wished for.

No such luck.

The cave was loud. Something inside it began to create music inside his head less than five chimes into whenever he entered the space. Cacophonous music. Nothing like he'd heard before. Sometimes, it sound like hundreds of different animals making noises of warning and fear. Sometimes it sounds like the screams of thousands, of grief and pain. Other times, it was simply the sound of loud, crashing waves, like in an ocean with a very bad rainstorm. One time, he swore he was hearing the sound of countless different types of bells, in all pitches, in random rhythm and form, trying to signal something he couldn't understand. None of the sounds were anywhere near pleasant. But all of the sounds captured his attention. There was no way to sleep amongst such sounds.

But the place was safe. That much was clear, on that bright, fifth night.

Day 6

Isaac spent that day catching game. He was able to trap rabbits. He spent the whole day doing it because it had been so long since he'd had to do it before. He spent bells trying to make adequate traps, and many more bells trying to cleanly cut the hide away from the meat. The young Kelvic had been getting scrapes and cuts on his body all through the journey, but it was this one rabbit hunting venture that stupidly cut a slice into his finger. There was nothing to help it heal. He used his saliva as best he could, and feared the onset of frostbite should it be exposed for too long.

No sleep again. A new noise compilation of just birds, squawking and chirping manically.


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[Week Long Challenge] Restless II

Postby Isaac Iceglaze on February 8th, 2021, 4:47 am

Day 7

Isaac vegetated on this day. He'd uncovered the meat he buried into the permafrost ground to keep it cold and ate it with the plants and berries he foraged. He kept warm by the fire. He cleaned the hide of the rabbits and started to plan how he would make it into additional clothing. He even began to create a pile of tinder inside the cave. Grateful for the weather, but seeing clouds in the distance, Isaac burned the day away. He slowly started to realize that if he wanted to get a good night's sleep, he would need to find someplace else.

He didn't want to move though. This was the 'X'.

The sky stayed alight when he reentered the droning cave of cacophony. He'd fashioned a form of plugs for his ears but they'd become highly uncomfortable. As the bells wore on, he sat up crossed legged, and felt himself nodding off every once in a while, despite the yelling of several different kinds of monkeys, apes, and chimpanzees in his ears.

In the noise, Isaac was completely oblivious to the growling in front of him.

The growling got closer, louder, and multiplied. It slowly began to register in his mind and he opened his eyes to find two wolves baring their teeth at him.

Is this it? He wondered. Is this where we die?

Isaac looking to his right and carefully reached for his stone dagger. The wolves crept forward.

He snatched the dagger at the same time that they both pounced, snapping their teeth. Isaac rolled away, as best he could, avoiding the first wolf and dragging another as its teeth sunk into his pelt. He quickly removed it, and the wolf shook its head to free itself from the obstruction of sight. Isaac slashed in front of him, yelling, and was surprised that the sounds weren't scaring the wolves. Were they used to it? How long were they waiting for him? Questions he couldn't answer as he tried frantically to maim the wolf that jumped at him again. It sunk its teeth into her naked thigh and he winced in pain and agony, now enraged and ready to kill the beast. Isaac searched for a stone at arms length, and found none, remembering that he'd need to move a few steps to get to it. He pushed himself, grabbing one that he used for warming himself earlier that day, and flung it at the wolf's head. It growled and whimpered, while the the other wolf pounced in front to get closer, snapping its teeth.

"I will not die!" He screamed, putting his arms in the air to make himself bigger. He screamed some more, as loud as he could, his absolute will to survive coursing through his veins as the blood dripped down her leg. Isaac held the dagger with both hands and swung it down above one of the wolf's heads, slicing through its throat. He continued yelling, kicking with her other leg, and grabbing yet other stone to fling at the beasts.

They turned to leave. One severely injured, the other giving up as they ran off into the wilds.

"I will not die," he said, in a whisper, sliding against the stone of the cave wall to rest on the ground.

"I will not..."

Isaac fell asleep.

Day 8

...

He continued to sleep, the sound of blowing, howling winds carrying into his dreams.

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[Week Long Challenge] Restless II

Postby Gillar on May 12th, 2021, 5:01 am

Image

“Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are,” were the words that Isaac heard whispered in his ear by an unknown source. As the words were spoken, the soothing scent of flowers filled his nose. The melodic songs of birds filled his ears. The sweet taste of wild berries tanged his tongue. The soothing tickle of dandelion seeds brushed his skin. Finally, his vision was filled with a myriad of brilliant greens, blues and reds that undulated slowly, blending together and forming new hues of striking colors. These colors soon begin to transform from amorphous pools to defined shapes. It was as if a someone had dumped different colored paint on a canvas only to then paint a picture from the chaos. As Isaac found himself floating in the middle of the “painting”, grass begin to form at his feet. Towering trees took shape around him. Flowers happily erupted outward into sight. Before his very eyes, an entire landscape came into being; created from what had been but a great splatter of color.

Within a matter of moments, Isaac found herself standing on a small hill surrounded by grass that gave way to a seemingly endless forest. On top of the hill, looming over him, was a tree. It was quite unlike any other tree he’d ever seen. The first sense was that the tree was incomprehensibly ancient. There were a handful of exposed roots covered in impossibly thick bark. These roots led to a series of six trunks that twisted around each other to form a single, massive whole. Although not incredible in height, the main body of the tree formed by the numerous trunks was easily twenty feet in diameter. It rose at least fifty feet in height with countless branches. Leaves, the colors of which could not be described by mortal terms, were interrupted in many places by strange clumps of thumb-sized constructs that resembled miniature bundles of bananas. What stood out most however was the color of everything. The sky was a blue that Isaac had never knew existed. The same was true for the grass, trees and flowers and even the birds and other small animals that came into being from otherwise moving swirls of color.

When the onslaught of his surroundings began to slowly normalize within his senses, Isaac then realized that any of the wounds, scratches, cuts, bruises or worse, were gone; it was as if they never happened. The accumulated filth and grime of the past seven days…vanished. In fact, it felt as though he had bathed in the most luxurious bath ever to have existed. His skin smelled of the best thing they’d ever experienced.

After a few moments of getting his bearings while trying to reconcile what he had experienced for the past several days with where he was now, Isaac felt a hand lay upon his shoulder. Turning to look he would see nothing. Turning back, he saw a woman sitting on one of the great tree’s exposed roots. The woman was as naked as Isaac was. Her skin was an especially pale green color while here hair was the deepest of green with the texture of moss. Her eyes were colored the deepest of brown. From her hair, it looked as though flowers grew from the moss itself. Her skin was flawless, her lips a ruby red. Her finger and toenails were an autumn orange.

Her head was lowered but upon being noticed, she raised it. In a voice that sounded like the best mother’s voice, carried on the wind, complete with the chill of long lost, cherished familiarity, she spoke.

“Saying that this is all rather odd…is not quite describing what you have just been through. For that, I offer my apology. Mortal words, no matter the language, do not fully encompass the experience.” The woman hopped down from her perch upon the exposed root and walked a few feet to stand before Isaac. As the woman took her steps, flowers grew where her feet touched the ground.

“Again, forgive me for any lack of civilized manners. I may not be as formal as you are used to. You may know me as Caiyha, the Goddess of Nature. To answer your next unspoken question, you have undergone what you could consider a challenge of sorts or a test. It was a test to see if one such as yourself was capable of surviving in a place devoid of nearly all the trappings of civilization. Obviously, you indeed survived, despite the challenges.” Caiyha spoke while casually walking around the area beneath the tree.

She stopped at one point to pick up something which was concealed in her closed hand. Turning back to Isaac, she smiled.

“I know you have many other questions. What is the purpose of this test? Why me? What happens next? Likely many others. First, the purpose of this test is simple, at least to me. Since the beginning, I have sought out those who show respect and reverence for all that I’ve created. Those who seek to protect it and nourish it, I show them my grace. Recently however, I began to wonder. What about those who don’t think about my creations or who don’t feel truly a part of it all. What about those who, with a little push, may discover on their own, that they are connected to me. This is why I chose you. There is something about you that peaked my interest. It isn’t something I can describe other than to say you have a quality about you. It was that quality I decided to test. Can this mortal, left with only a physical body, natural skills and talents and the least number of civilized connections, survive my creation? Obviously, you passed that test so what comes next. We will get to that in a moment. First however, I wish to offer you a moment or two to ask of me what you will, within reason.” Caiyha plucked a flower from her hair, brought it to her nose and took in its scent before raising it into the air. The flower then erupted in seed before the petals dried and fell to the ground; quickly consumed by insects and thus contributing to the greater cycle.
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[Week Long Challenge] Restless II

Postby Isaac Iceglaze on May 16th, 2021, 12:02 pm

Reason?

It was hard to believe, right then, whether reverence was going to give him the ability to understand exactly how any of what he was experiencing was within reason.

And yet he still took the moment to kneel before the beauty, the awe, and the wonder of her nature, with his head bowed, in shame for having nothing to offer a Goddess in gratitude for the grace, the mercy, and the pure passion he felt in her voiced actions.

Was he alive? He felt so alive.

Was it all because of her?

A cloud of emotions washed over him, then. He couldn’t look at her. Isaac sat upon her heels, clasping her hands together in prayer, not at all knowing the right thing to say. There was no use in fearing the Goddess of Nature, was there? The thought of answering such a question made him brace himself for the worst, remembering that he was just inside a shell-like body that made him feel things he’d never ever felt before. There was no point in blaming her for his existence.

This was his choice.

Was it not?

He looked up at her. The flowers in her hair. The red of her lips.

And that… tree.

Was it truly a tree? Its monstrous form was nothing short of astounding. He was reminded of the branches he broke, the fish he couldn’t catch, and the meagre amount of berries he was lucky enough to find. He had to thank her. There was no imagining what it took to power all this… what, magic?

“I survived your creation,” said Isaac, stating the obvious, his voice in mere shock as it carried outwards in its feminine softness. He’d forgotten for a tick of who he was, right then.

Who was he?

Does she know that he knows he isn’t in the body he died in?

Does she know how he died?

“Is Morwen alive?”

The question left his lips faster than he could catch himself asking it. He winced, realizing how unhelpful his question really was. The resolve in him was strong though, having been born in the land of his pride, he couldn’t bear to let this chance go. He needed to know.

If anyone could bring Morwen back…

…surely, Nature would at least know how.

Isaac wondered, immediately, how many had prayed to her, asking the same thing. It had been years, after all. If she could do something about the matter, the Goddess of Nature would’ve done it already…

…no?

“I’m sorry,” he said, quickly. Isaac clasped his hands tighter. He felt guilty. Why? What was it about this place that was making him yearn to ask a Goddess of things he had no confidence in her ability to answer?

“I assume you can’t read my mind,” he said, with a bit of a smile, throwing out an attempt at levity. “Caiya, Goddess of Nature, thank you for the honour you’ve given me with this test. Please forgive me as well for my lack of tact, if any. And if I disrespect you in some way through the words that I speak, I apologize. My ability to speak in this form, as a woman, to a Goddess, feels too new to begin to describe. I must first ask for you to please be patient with me as I find my bearings in your domain. I know that I’m somewhat of a broken man inside. I cannot move on. Frankly, I do not expect you to understand. I cannot ask you for more than what I already have because I do not believe you are capable of bringing back the only Goddess I’ve ever loved.

Our Queen is gone. I don’t believe you are unaware. Why is Winter gone? Even if this question is answered, what I want is to be able to find peace in it. I doubt that I can, Dear Caiyha. I’ve buried something within me that I know is pushing me to continue to survive. I know not what I ask, but only that I want to do what I can to help myself and our people in Avanthal.

I chose to stay on the land I've known all my life. I will continue to stay. So please, Caiyha, Goddess of Nature, may you tell me how Our Queen can be brought back to us?”
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