[WP05] Lightbringer

[Minsuil]

Quote:

4. You awaken underground, the echoing sound of running water in your ears. It is dark, but the walls are dimly illuminated with glowing mushrooms. In a cavern at the end of a long and twisting corridor there is a strange, smooth-sided tower of white stone slimed with glowing fungus. Native Zikwa may or may not recognize it as a landmark, but have certainly heard an interesting variety of stories about its ancient purposes.

She woke in a dark place. Even though she opened her eyes, she could see nothing but darkness swirl around her. For a moment, she felt fear. Unending, deep fear that struck at the very center of her being. It is the fear a creature who has always known light feels. But then, she breathed. Calm down she told herself, everything has a solution. The sound of water, gently running and dripping filled the emptiness. Lightbringer blinked. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she was aware of a faint glowing that seemed to come from the rocks. Upon closer inspection, she realized they were mushrooms. Mushrooms that emitted light, imagine that! If she had not left Westfen, then she would have surely brought these back for her gift.

But no, that was the past. She was no longer a member of Westfen, not since her youth. She would always be her father's daughter though. That was one thing she could not run away from. But I might be able to, she thought, if I disappeared into a land like this forever. The young doe shook her head as if to dislodge those thoughts. She looked around for her companion. Now that she was used to it, the glowing mushrooms provided more than enough light to navigate the cavern. Comes Again was nowhere to be found. Lightbringer noted that she was not entirely surprised by that. It felt like she had come here alone.

She walked, and walked. And she marveled at the silence, at the quiet and the sensation of being alone. Solace, she thought. It felt light, not at all like the heavy stifling loneliness she had felt before. The corridor twisted and turned. Lightbringer kept walking, but she did pause now and then to stare at the ceiling and the walls. The soft glow of the mushrooms reminded her a bit of the stars. She thought, that even if she could live in such a quiet and secluded place, she would still miss the stars. I cannot run away. No she thought, this time with more resolve, I cannot run away at all. Running away was never an option. If in the back of her head, she whispered "for me anyways" then she did not acknowledge it.

The corridor came to an end and opened into a wide cavern. It was empty save for a white stone pillar. It rose from the ground quite unlike the stalactites and stalagmites she'd seen. Here, there were no mushrooms. Instead the pillar seemed to be covered in some sort of white fungus. The fungus glowed, but stronger than the mushrooms. The whole cavern was filled with a bright light and it all seemed to emulate from the pillar. She could not help but be dazzled. Thrice she walked a perimeter around the pillar, and still she could discern nothing about it. Lightbringer sat down and stared. When sleep found her, she was still wondering as to the origins and purpose of the pillar.  

[Minsuil]

Quote:

4. You hear a rumbling as though a large animal is running overhead, aboveground. The ceiling begins to fall in in chunks, letting in shafts of light. You feel a powerful urge to follow them, and you do, back to the cavern with the stone, where the ceiling has completely given way and moths dance around the tip of the spire. One of them lights on your brow, and your eyelids are suddenly and strangely heavy. You curl up at the base of the stone to sleep.

The ground abover her shook. The walls around her rumbled, as if something very large was running around somewhere above her. In the midst of her contemplation, Lightbringer only lifted her head as if to contemplate this new occurance. Then, the ceiling began to fall.

She did not realize it at first. Something very small bounced off her head and Lightbringer had assumed it to be water. As she was walking into the cavern water had often dripped onto her and around her. Then a great chunk fell. It landed just right of her hoof and the young doe jolted up in fright. Chunks of the ceiling, stone?, fell around her in an increasing pace and Lightbringer moved around the cavern trying to dodge. All around her the ceiling fell. Some stones crashed into standing puddles and filled the cavern with the sound of splashing water. Streams of light filled the room. They came through the holes, and then Lightbringer realized that the ceiling was collapsing. She felt a powerful urge to follow the light and she did. The cavern no longer had a ceiling. It had completely given way. Now moths danced in the light around the tip of the tower. The spire seemed to glow even whiter in the light and Lightbringer felt a fascination, not of curiosity but of wonder, fill her chest.

A moth landed on her brow, and she could see the slow, quiet pulsing of it's light. Then, inexpicably, she felt tired. Sleepy. Her eyelids became heavy and dropped downwards. Perhaps I should take a nap... she thought to herself even as she began to take steps towards the stone. She curled up beneath it, tail under her nose, and fell asleep quickly.

She awoke after what felt like months in her den beneath a mangrove tree. The water around it had long since dried up and Lightbringer had cleared many roots to make a cozy den for herself. Soft moss marked her bed. She was a bit puzzled. Lightbringer had been expecting to wake up in a pool of light, beneath a tower, surrounded by rubble. Instead she woke up at home. Confused, she stood up and immediatly felt the burn in her legs. It felt as if she had traveled for a long, long time. But that couldn't be. She could not even recall her dream. Why was she suprised to wake up at home in the first place. All Lightbringer could remember was a flickering moth on her forehead. Sleep followed. She closed her eyes and concentrated her thoughts. In the recesses of her memory, she heard the quiet thunk of rock into water. That could not be all. She pushed deeper.

Nothing came to her mind. Nothing at all. She wondered at that. Lightbringer walked out of her home and the familiar sunlight and foliage of the swamp greeted her. Birds chirped in the treetops and small animals pushed through the undergrowth. Comes Again rose from his position at the entrence of her little den and came to greet his master. Everything was as it should be. But Lightbringer could not help but feel as if something was different.