LG P2-The Experiment
Long Gone Past: Chapter 2: The Experiment
by Crimishia/Star
When I awoke, I knew I was laying on what Goldbreeze would term "dirt", even though I'd barely ever seen sand in my protected upbringing. Warren took over in my confusion and opened my eyes for me. Large animals stood before me, with brown, roughened torsos, and green hair growing out of stalks at the top. Some had what could have been eyes, noses, ears or mouths, but Warren quickly informed me that these were not at all like the Elves, Elders and Eternals of our world, that these could not move, see, speak or hear.
"Well, Warren, what good are they? Are they hunted as game?"
"They are trees, Nightwind," Goldbreeze expressed boldly.
"So, I'm in another plane?" I hesitated.
"Yes, I can sense the difference," she replied. It was dark, but I could see very well. There was a bright moon in the sky.
"Why is there green fur on the dirt?"
"It isn't fur, it is a type of plant, the main basis of life. We like to call it grass..."
"Gods, you mean to tell me that you've never seen grass?" a new voice injected. "I couldn't even get ridof the stuff...it was everywhere."
"Who is that?" Goldbreeze asked me.
"Like to know myself." I admitted with a mental shrug.
"The name's Ferren, I'm just a friend...how'd I get here? I thought I'd just ascended to the Heavens..."
Warren spoke up, "Well, it seems you're the first to greet us from a long list of people added to our three..."
It was then that I first noticed the rising murmur of voices, and I fought it back...how many could I handle showing all of themselves at once?
There was an inward sigh. A rather feminine thought came into the conversation, "...Looks like I'll do some lifesaving, Nightwind. GO AWAY!"
And a door swung shut, like a huge portal in my mind. It scared me. Who had exercised that much control over a mind I had thought was my own at one time?
"Don't think so loud...I'm the White Sorceress, if you will. No need to be frightened...yet. You could have done it. They should be fine back there. Just pray it holds...oh, Ferren's still on this side...sorry...how's five of us for you? Warren, Goldbreeze, Nightwind, the White Sorceress, and Ferren the Farmer?"
"Gardener, not farmer...I'm a respectably honored man!"
Whoever this sorceress was she was very assertive...
"No, I'm agressive. Assertiveness is done with tact. Go with the rest of them or I'll throw you back there. One man's enough for all of us. Send out that beautiful elven woman I passed, if you can find her in there, she's got a good bit of useful knowledge for when Goldbreeze isn't around."
Ferren had no choice. With the Sorceress' imagined sword at his gut, he opened the door, slipped through, standing in the way of anyone wanting to go into the front.
The front? I was in the Front. These people were in a sort of hallway, a Foyer, in mind. I found I had control over my body. No one else could.
"Ah, but alas, you are wrong Nightwind. If you so choose, you could let us in the Front."
I got a flash of this White Sorceress. She was taller than I, and she had pointed ears, but wasn't quite Elven. Something of a humanoid, certainly, but also not Human. Both her hair and skin were pearly white, but her eyes had ebony-black irises. Sun sensitive?
"No, it was not. Of course you're seeing my memory of myself, not me. I'm only a soul. I died, but I can't remember how. Come to think of it, I can't remember much of anything about my past."
"We can't stand here forever, Crim, so let's get a move on."
"You should try to find out what world, or courntry, or something, you're in." Goldbreeze stretched lazily in her sleep. In fact it was night in this new world, and Goldbreeze usually stayed with me when she was asleep. My Elves were always night creatures, and even now my eyes showed me darkness clearly.
"Nightwind was black-skinned but her ancestors were very light." Warren went into deeper thought over the situation. "It must be because Zonam thoguth it would be best if you weren't black-skinned, because you would stand out. I certianly hope your ears are still pointed!" Warren smiled.
"You're thin enough and sharp enough of hearing to be." Cut in Almerissa.
"Ok, where to, people?" I surveyed the area. Behind me were cold, steep cliffs. Rock was something I was used to and at home in, but I couldn't get up there. It seems fairly endless, in both directions. I could follow it around, or I could go into the forest.
"You want to find other people, so you can find out where you are. Go into the forest, because we'll have to find you a village, and they are usually around water, and water is more likely to be in a forest where it is needed for so many trees to grow, than on a barren mountain." Goldbreeze woke slightly, fading from us, then returned, after having turned over.
"We have to be here for an important purpose. Zonam wouldn't throw us just Anywhere, so this must be an important place in a plane," Warren helped, having gotten to some conclusion.
"So, One-Eyed-Wonder, what is supposed to happen, now?" Almerissa asked of Warren.
"Oh, hush up!" I said, beginning to walk int othe wood. The night was beautiful. I had never seen anything like it, I walked inland staring upward in awe at the sky. Something stirred before me, and I knelt, my training at the hands of the BondElves coming to the fore. My eyes searched, my ears pricked, and I silently felt my way around the ground. A stick. It would have to do. I had trained with staves...it would do if it were long enough.
"It's some animal," offered Goldbreeze, but she knew nothing else.
My other hand found a small rock and picked it up, tossing it across to another tree. I wanted to see the animal before it saw me. If it hadn't scented me.
It first poked its face out from the foliage. Then its shoulders followed. It had a long snout, perked ears on its head, it walked on all fours. It didn't have skin exposed that I could see, but it had a bit, black coat, and it was like a shadow in the night.
"A wolf," Goldbreeze informed. "They usually leave Elves alone, here, but I don't know about where you are."
To be Continued...