She walked.
For so long, for so far, she did not even know.
All was black, all was quiet, all was still.
It ached inside, all the nothing.
But then there was a light, faint and feeble, but it was there and did not fade.
So now she ran.
Hungry for light, for life, for something in this vast empty darkness.
She broke into a clearing in the mangroves, though beyond the edge of the clearing it still seemed as though nothing was there.
Just the dark.
In the center of the clearing lay a fallen tree, and upon its hulking mass there was a glow.
The glow of foxfire.
So eager was she to be near the light that she didn't stop herself in time, she ran into it.
But she did not impact the tree.
The tree, the foxfire, all exploded in a flash of brilliant dancing color and spread out, out into the nothing, and once again shadows played on the water, insects and small animals sung songs in the night, and the world was alive again.
The little flashes of foxfire even danced up through the gap in the canopy where the tree had once stood and returned the stars to the sky.
Then they came and danced around her, and she felt such joy, she danced with them.
She became part of them.
She was part of the Foxfire Dance.
For so long, for so far, she did not even know.
All was black, all was quiet, all was still.
It ached inside, all the nothing.
But then there was a light, faint and feeble, but it was there and did not fade.
So now she ran.
Hungry for light, for life, for something in this vast empty darkness.
She broke into a clearing in the mangroves, though beyond the edge of the clearing it still seemed as though nothing was there.
Just the dark.
In the center of the clearing lay a fallen tree, and upon its hulking mass there was a glow.
The glow of foxfire.
So eager was she to be near the light that she didn't stop herself in time, she ran into it.
But she did not impact the tree.
The tree, the foxfire, all exploded in a flash of brilliant dancing color and spread out, out into the nothing, and once again shadows played on the water, insects and small animals sung songs in the night, and the world was alive again.
The little flashes of foxfire even danced up through the gap in the canopy where the tree had once stood and returned the stars to the sky.
Then they came and danced around her, and she felt such joy, she danced with them.
She became part of them.
She was part of the Foxfire Dance.