05-02-2024, 09:53 AM
As Sapere ventures through the alluring portal, he is greeted with a violent rushing noise in his ears. It seems to mimic the ocean he’d left behind, a cacophony of crashing waves and gusting winds, but it is accompanied by a needling sting like static upon his skin. It is not entirely unpleasant but certainly disconcerting with its confined suddenness, that prickle like nettles close against the backs of his ears and the tender flesh of his chest.
Around him whirl illustrious colors, dancing in ribbons and streaks of every shade imaginable and beyond. For the briefest moments he is certain he catches glimpses that resemble his own memories – golden sands towering in piles far taller than himself, familiar-but-forgotten faces of his gentle subjects, a vast meadow of over-vibrant green grass. None of these images linger for long, however, and he isn’t certain if they’d been there at all. Everything moves with such a rapid flicker before, all at once, it stops.
The stinging he’d felt throughout his body, behind his eyes and at the back of his throat, suddenly ceases. He exhales gratefully and continues to move forward, blinking rapidly before his walk slows to a stop.
Behind him, one of his former stone-soldier pillars (the one which had been traveling close at his flank and thus drawn through the portal with him) crumples into pieces with muffled thuds upon the ground.
Sapere looks around himself to find that the world has grown dark. The color, as if sapped away by the portal itself, has gone from it all. Or, he thinks it has – there is a strange greenish-gray light to the place. The trees that tower in a thick, impenetrable wall before him seem to slowly materialize as a formidable obstacle. At first, he is uncertain why his vision has shifted. Usually he can see fine enough in darkness like this (and it is indeed quite dark – one glance toward the visible sky tells him it is now a still, moonless night), but now his vision is even deeper.
The blackish trunks of the trees seem pale now; their leaves are a dark shroud far, far above his head. At their massive bases, lofty fences of underbrush seem even clearer than usual in that he perceives the gaps within it. Everything is pristinely sharp and clear to him. Particularly, a narrow trail becomes quite evident after the briefest observation.
Before, he had had no intention of tackling the giant fortress of trees, but the opening of the pathway is enticing.
It is made even more so by the gentle twinkling he can see lingering around the ground.
From this distance, it appears as a mere dusting of glitter, but as he draws nearer, the dunskin can see that the shimmer is ever-so-slightly moving. A tilt of his head brings a clearer view of the little insects that hover languidly in the dark, flashing their lanterns in lazy, repetitive patterns. They, unlike the surrounding forest, appear only slightly larger than usual, but an even more remarkable difference from the fireflies Sapere would normally recognize is the fact that their bodies, even their wings, appear to be far more angular and sharp. They are, in fact, crystalline in composition.
They glint from the light within their own bodies as they gently strobe and wade through the pressing night air on unseen and unpredictable paths. One peculiar thing about them, aside from their appearance, does stand out to the stallion’s now-slitted copper eyes: they are all facing the same direction, toward the opening of the trail and the broad flatlands beyond the forest. All strung along the right side of the path, they hover and flutter like a glimmering row of guiding lights.
After a pause to observe this odd phenomenon, Sapere continues further down the path at a quieted, stolid pace. The trail is largely clear of bramble and is carpeted by thick purplish moss that is clearly discernible from the blackish earth of the shadowed forest floor. As he travels deeper into the woods, the oversized flora of the place becomes even more apparent and Sapere begins to feel strangely intimidated. He is no small horse, typically taller than many he encounters, but among these titans of ferns and trees tall as mountains, he finds himself entirely humbled and insignificant.
But he had been raised to shrug off such feelings of inconsequence. Groomed as a prince and future-king, his parents had instilled a bountiful well of confidence within him and he is reminded of that now. Whatever forces had brought him to this place would not deter the stately manner in which he had been crafted.
So he pushes onward, following the trail (and, subsequently, the large crystal fireflies which continue to look back toward the freedom he’d forfeited) until a clearing opens up ahead. The darkness pervades, pressing upon him like a smothering cowl, but his newfound night vision allows him to see it quite obviously.
The trees that had flanked him on both sides suddenly falter in their march and give way to a circular sort of glen. In the center looms a solitary tree that dominates the scene; even more gigantic than its surrounding kin, the veritable colossus stands with menacing pride above the glade. Branches arch outward like protective arms, blotting much of the night sky from view while at its base gather various overgrown plants that look familiar except for their expansive size. Taller groups of laurels, ninebark bushes, and various other such dense flowering greenery pervade the area with their nearly-noxious aromas.
The central base of the tree is notably hollow. A massive split several dozens of feet tall opens the trunk into an angular concourse wherein a multitude of creatures could gather for shelter or any other such convention. Within the tree-cavern float more of the crystalline fireflies, hovering like luminescent guardians most closely around an oddly-shaped cage of thorny roots. These climb from the earth and knit themselves upward in a web-like pattern with many gaps and windows. Some of the openings appear large enough for Sapere himself to pass through, but not for the creatures trapped inside of the spiny prison.
There sit two giant hares, their ears pinned low to avoid the dagger-like spikes of their cell. Their fur shimmers in the light of the fireflies, but Sapere can tell that they would sparkle of their own accord without the added light source. Spots and streaks of luminescence mark their silky coats in beautifully unnatural patterns, pulsing ever so slightly with their every breath. Their eyes, wide and oversized, are notably unique: angular, gleaming, multi-faceted and appearing strangely ‘placed’ rather than naturally housed within the animals’ faces.
These eyes, like the fireflies, are made of jewels far larger than one of Sapere’s own hooves.
Clear, unblinking, they stare into the darkness directly at (and, it feels to him, through) the stallion that has arrived upon the fantastical forest dale. Sapere lingers in the shadows of the trail, silent and still covered in the darkness save for the occasional spots of light from the trail of insects at his side. He is too uncertain of what he beholds to venture further forward at the moment.
Around him whirl illustrious colors, dancing in ribbons and streaks of every shade imaginable and beyond. For the briefest moments he is certain he catches glimpses that resemble his own memories – golden sands towering in piles far taller than himself, familiar-but-forgotten faces of his gentle subjects, a vast meadow of over-vibrant green grass. None of these images linger for long, however, and he isn’t certain if they’d been there at all. Everything moves with such a rapid flicker before, all at once, it stops.
The stinging he’d felt throughout his body, behind his eyes and at the back of his throat, suddenly ceases. He exhales gratefully and continues to move forward, blinking rapidly before his walk slows to a stop.
Behind him, one of his former stone-soldier pillars (the one which had been traveling close at his flank and thus drawn through the portal with him) crumples into pieces with muffled thuds upon the ground.
Sapere looks around himself to find that the world has grown dark. The color, as if sapped away by the portal itself, has gone from it all. Or, he thinks it has – there is a strange greenish-gray light to the place. The trees that tower in a thick, impenetrable wall before him seem to slowly materialize as a formidable obstacle. At first, he is uncertain why his vision has shifted. Usually he can see fine enough in darkness like this (and it is indeed quite dark – one glance toward the visible sky tells him it is now a still, moonless night), but now his vision is even deeper.
The blackish trunks of the trees seem pale now; their leaves are a dark shroud far, far above his head. At their massive bases, lofty fences of underbrush seem even clearer than usual in that he perceives the gaps within it. Everything is pristinely sharp and clear to him. Particularly, a narrow trail becomes quite evident after the briefest observation.
Before, he had had no intention of tackling the giant fortress of trees, but the opening of the pathway is enticing.
It is made even more so by the gentle twinkling he can see lingering around the ground.
From this distance, it appears as a mere dusting of glitter, but as he draws nearer, the dunskin can see that the shimmer is ever-so-slightly moving. A tilt of his head brings a clearer view of the little insects that hover languidly in the dark, flashing their lanterns in lazy, repetitive patterns. They, unlike the surrounding forest, appear only slightly larger than usual, but an even more remarkable difference from the fireflies Sapere would normally recognize is the fact that their bodies, even their wings, appear to be far more angular and sharp. They are, in fact, crystalline in composition.
They glint from the light within their own bodies as they gently strobe and wade through the pressing night air on unseen and unpredictable paths. One peculiar thing about them, aside from their appearance, does stand out to the stallion’s now-slitted copper eyes: they are all facing the same direction, toward the opening of the trail and the broad flatlands beyond the forest. All strung along the right side of the path, they hover and flutter like a glimmering row of guiding lights.
After a pause to observe this odd phenomenon, Sapere continues further down the path at a quieted, stolid pace. The trail is largely clear of bramble and is carpeted by thick purplish moss that is clearly discernible from the blackish earth of the shadowed forest floor. As he travels deeper into the woods, the oversized flora of the place becomes even more apparent and Sapere begins to feel strangely intimidated. He is no small horse, typically taller than many he encounters, but among these titans of ferns and trees tall as mountains, he finds himself entirely humbled and insignificant.
But he had been raised to shrug off such feelings of inconsequence. Groomed as a prince and future-king, his parents had instilled a bountiful well of confidence within him and he is reminded of that now. Whatever forces had brought him to this place would not deter the stately manner in which he had been crafted.
So he pushes onward, following the trail (and, subsequently, the large crystal fireflies which continue to look back toward the freedom he’d forfeited) until a clearing opens up ahead. The darkness pervades, pressing upon him like a smothering cowl, but his newfound night vision allows him to see it quite obviously.
The trees that had flanked him on both sides suddenly falter in their march and give way to a circular sort of glen. In the center looms a solitary tree that dominates the scene; even more gigantic than its surrounding kin, the veritable colossus stands with menacing pride above the glade. Branches arch outward like protective arms, blotting much of the night sky from view while at its base gather various overgrown plants that look familiar except for their expansive size. Taller groups of laurels, ninebark bushes, and various other such dense flowering greenery pervade the area with their nearly-noxious aromas.
The central base of the tree is notably hollow. A massive split several dozens of feet tall opens the trunk into an angular concourse wherein a multitude of creatures could gather for shelter or any other such convention. Within the tree-cavern float more of the crystalline fireflies, hovering like luminescent guardians most closely around an oddly-shaped cage of thorny roots. These climb from the earth and knit themselves upward in a web-like pattern with many gaps and windows. Some of the openings appear large enough for Sapere himself to pass through, but not for the creatures trapped inside of the spiny prison.
There sit two giant hares, their ears pinned low to avoid the dagger-like spikes of their cell. Their fur shimmers in the light of the fireflies, but Sapere can tell that they would sparkle of their own accord without the added light source. Spots and streaks of luminescence mark their silky coats in beautifully unnatural patterns, pulsing ever so slightly with their every breath. Their eyes, wide and oversized, are notably unique: angular, gleaming, multi-faceted and appearing strangely ‘placed’ rather than naturally housed within the animals’ faces.
These eyes, like the fireflies, are made of jewels far larger than one of Sapere’s own hooves.
Clear, unblinking, they stare into the darkness directly at (and, it feels to him, through) the stallion that has arrived upon the fantastical forest dale. Sapere lingers in the shadows of the trail, silent and still covered in the darkness save for the occasional spots of light from the trail of insects at his side. He is too uncertain of what he beholds to venture further forward at the moment.
Sapere
the good and the wise
lead quiet lives