Chapter Eight -- Gold and Silver

– Aeryn –

"Where… am I..?" The muffled sound of my quiet voice dispersed into the wind, dissipating into nothing and only landed on the ears of the person who spoke them.

My eyes drifted along the repetitive shapes of the spindly trees that stood guardian over the foreign forest. The moons in the sky were dull and darkened, as if someone had draped a thin, linen cloth over them, yet the forest around me glowed with a golden silver light, as if it magnified those moon's light. I leapt off my perch, tucking myself into a ball and rolling to a safety stop upon impact. There was no point hovering down with wind energy, as I couldn't feel any mana within this body… but despite that, I felt so, so much better than I ever had before. My legs felt spring loaded and the tendons as well as the muscles in this body were quite flexible. Ever since I escaped that… place. That void of nothingness, I had been feeling alive. I still couldn't break that misty haze over my mind, from which I could feel my lost memories calling out to me.

I couldn't use mana, I had no idea where I was; but I was free, free to do what I want, where I want.

Above all, one question burned in the back of my mind… where was I, and how the hell did I get here? From the scratches I had found on my body when I woke up, I had probably fallen from up high. Was I dropped from the sky and then fell through the trees, surviving it somehow? And why was I here? How was I here?

I shuddered, the feeling of the sword through my back still fresh as if it had been branded into my mind. A shimmer caught my eye and I glanced up to see a star, bright and green, blinking back at me. 'North'. A featherlight breath whispered within my head, yet I had no thoughts on questioning what it was. I began trekking north using the star as my guiding light and sticking to the ground to conserve energy.

~----~

The stars told me it had been hours, yet the fatigue of walking on unprepared terrain hadn't dawned over me. In fact, I was mentally exhausted. Sleep had been lurking in the corners of my consciousness, its pull more and more enticing.

I stopped between two stable trees; a perfect distance apart from each other for a makeshift bed. With the abundance of materials around, it didn't take long to assemble some sort of hammock about 25 meters* off the ground.

*Changed from Verids to meters for ease

'It's kinda cozy…' I half-sung to myself, proud of my little sling-thing. 'Hopefully it's just as secure as it is cozy,' the pessimistic side of me replied, although I was quick to silence it. Didn't need that stuff right now. I tucked the waterskin in the folds of my clothes and felt myself dragged down to the depths of dreams.

– Lewis –

'WHAT THE-'

The ground rushed towards me as I fell out of the tarp I had awoken in.

'Feel it flow within you.. let go of the past.. embrace the present.'

I glanced up, suddenly calm as time seemed to slow. My hands reached for an unfolded corner of the woven tarp, securing it around my wrist and holding. I felt it start to tear under the sudden strain of my weight. I immediately angled my body towards an area of the tree where thick branches entwined and tugged on the tarp. It ripped, and the momentum of my swing propelled me towards the branches. I held one arm up to my face and tucked my legs in for protection, leaving the other arm bent, but extended to attempt to grab one of the branches. My shoulder threatened to dislocate as my arm suddenly took on the force and weight of my flying body, but it held strong. Using what was remaining of my velocity I swung myself upwards, landing with strange precision on an intersection of thick branches. I subconsciously tried to steady my breath but it was already solid.

'Forget the past, embrace the present? What the hell was that power?' I questioned myself, 'It was like something sparked within and fueled me… Adrenaline? No. This was some sort of power.' More questions, no answers.

I sighed, hoping to find answers soon, as distress and uncertainty lingered closer and closer with each passing moment.

What was I doing up there anyway? I had fallen asleep on the leaf pile, yet I had woken up in some sort of hammock. Where was the memory of doing this?

'North.' The voice from before echoed in my head.

'Just who are you? What's happening? I demand answers.' I felt frustration mix in with the emotional soup I already had. Concern, worry, awe, confusion, frustration.

'Answers will reveal themselves, I promise you… Lewis.'

'At least tell me your name,' I ask, but that familiar silence was all that sounded back.

Well, one response is better than nothing, I guess.

Most of my body yelled against listening to the voice, acting upon the logic of it being a horrible idea to listen to a disembodied voice, in a strange place. But something overpowered it, some sense of trust and.. familiarity. I had recognised nothing about it, it didn't match the way anyone I knew spoke or sounded, yet the familiarity didn't feel artificial.

I decided to trek north, to listen and obey. A reminiscent feeling of being under orders began to seep through my mind, but it was weak. Thoughts of the strange circumstances now plagued my active mind, and one of them squirmed into an idea. I retrieved some of the plant tarp, grinded nearby stones with water into a paste and wrote a simple message upon the tarp, securing it to my arm with a fibrous thread. I would gain answers, with or without the voice's help.