01-18-2019, 03:59 AM
Again the fairies called for him. Again, just as his body was finally beginning to answer his demands again. His limbs were only just starting to soften, and he’d just begun to look forward to the day when he could frolic with his new friend, legs finally mobile, finally his own again instead of claimed by stone in his shape, in his image.
There was urgency to the fairy’s call, need that swept through him and demanded he answer now, no matter the state of him. It reached into his chest and pulled, and he stumbled forward on still-stiff legs, groaning in protest. He needed to wait, to tell Ember where he was going. Maybe she could come with him and they could work together! But the fairies and his body had other ideas.
He called her name even as he stumbled away down one mountain and back toward The Mountain. And if tears streamed down his face at the thought of leaving her behind, at the thought of losing the only friend he’d ever known...well. There was no one to see them fall. No one to hear the way his heart cracked in his chest, fissures running through it as he tripped over himself trying to fight the call, just for a little while. Just long enough to say goodbye.
To no avail.
His shoulders slumped, his head hung low as he heeded the fairies’ call for the third time, even though he’d failed them so spectacularly last time. A new fairy stepped forward this time, small, looking young and floral and bright, pushing hope and purpose and urgency into his being even though somewhere inside the belly of the monster he’d lost all of his own. Hypnotic eyes and a child-like voice spurred him on, and he just nodded and turned to fulfill her request.
What else was there to do?
Might as well get it over with, so he could go back to Ember and explain.
The faster the better, then. He picked his way quickly down the Mountain on hooves still made of stone. Well. As quickly as he could manage when it was still just as damn tall as the first time he’d climbed it. Through the river once again, through the forest, and over the hilly terrain of Loess until he set foot in a new land, one he’d never seen before. He was on a hunt for flowers, red, white, yellow, pink, orange. So he reached for the first as quickly as he could--...and everything went dark as he fell to the ground, asleep.
There was urgency to the fairy’s call, need that swept through him and demanded he answer now, no matter the state of him. It reached into his chest and pulled, and he stumbled forward on still-stiff legs, groaning in protest. He needed to wait, to tell Ember where he was going. Maybe she could come with him and they could work together! But the fairies and his body had other ideas.
He called her name even as he stumbled away down one mountain and back toward The Mountain. And if tears streamed down his face at the thought of leaving her behind, at the thought of losing the only friend he’d ever known...well. There was no one to see them fall. No one to hear the way his heart cracked in his chest, fissures running through it as he tripped over himself trying to fight the call, just for a little while. Just long enough to say goodbye.
To no avail.
His shoulders slumped, his head hung low as he heeded the fairies’ call for the third time, even though he’d failed them so spectacularly last time. A new fairy stepped forward this time, small, looking young and floral and bright, pushing hope and purpose and urgency into his being even though somewhere inside the belly of the monster he’d lost all of his own. Hypnotic eyes and a child-like voice spurred him on, and he just nodded and turned to fulfill her request.
What else was there to do?
Might as well get it over with, so he could go back to Ember and explain.
The faster the better, then. He picked his way quickly down the Mountain on hooves still made of stone. Well. As quickly as he could manage when it was still just as damn tall as the first time he’d climbed it. Through the river once again, through the forest, and over the hilly terrain of Loess until he set foot in a new land, one he’d never seen before. He was on a hunt for flowers, red, white, yellow, pink, orange. So he reached for the first as quickly as he could--...and everything went dark as he fell to the ground, asleep.