Isolde, Isolde! Can you hear me, erm, us? Isolde!
Concentrate. Do you feel dead? if not. raise your right hand. if so, raise the left.
Get up, soldier! You're not gone yet! GET GOING, DOUBLE TIME!
Isolde sat straight up, looking around nervously she could have sworn that she had heard someone yelling. She looked around to discover that she was in the middle of a perfectly circular grove of trees. Above her the sky was a light aquamarine blue, with a single cloud drifting lazily across it, she was sitting on top of a small irregularly-shaped mound in the center of the grove, which she discovered when she turned around, was not in a perfect circle after all.
Directly behind her a small road, paved with light-gray stones that had moss filling in the spaces between them, cut straight into the circle and continued on into the forest surrounding her, until it was out of sight. After deliberating for a little bit, it appeared that there was nothing else to do so she decided to follow the path.
Walking down the path was similar to walking down a tunnel, as the trees formed an effective roof overhead, only letting in the occasional shaft of light, as well as forming a thick barrier on either side. All around her the forest was relatively silent except for the occasional chirp from a bird.
She walked for several minutes, seeing nothing but forest ahead of her. Eventually though, she heard the faint sound of someone whistling a cheery tune down the road, she quickened her pace. After a little more walking, a man came into view. He was sitting inside of a clearing looked rather like an inlet into the impenetrable barrier of the forest, and he was seated on top of a small flattened stump, smoothed by the long passage of time. The man himself had an ageless look to him; he had white thin hair, but a young face and body. He was dressed in a simple cloth dress that rather looked like he had poked holes in a pillow case and slipped it over his head.
As Isolde approached the man abruptly stopped whistling, and turned to face her. Tilting his head to the side, he smiled kindly and said, "Ah, a new arrival, so nice to see a new face around here. It has been so long since Adam arrived, I almost thought that we were never going to receive a new arrival."
"Who are you?" Isolde asked stepping closer slowly.
He chuckled, "I'm no one of importance just the watchman here, since I'm not much good for anything else since the incident, you're lucky to have caught me in one of my moments of clarity, I..." He stopped abruptly and shook himself like a dog, "Oh dear, I'm afraid that it hasn't lasted long. I apologize that we weren't able to speak longer..." Suddenly his eyes glazed over and the corona and pupils of his eyes became as white as the surrounding eye, giving him the eerie look that he was looking off into infinity. Suddenly he began to speak, his voice sounded the same, but somehow, it carried more power.
You will die many deaths before all is said and done
and your Soul shall be un-spun
before the Two are once again One
and when the dragon breaks his chains
your Final death shall come
The words, were no different from any others, bu something made them imprint themselves on her eyelids, and she was unable to forget about them. Suddenly Isolde felt a hand on her shoulder, and she spun around. Behind her was an older woman who looked to be in her sixties, she had brown hair and wore what must have been casual clothing in ages past: a simple light-brown dress with very little adornment.
"Ah you've finally arrived. If you could come this way, I'm sure you're very confused right now. It's a shame that Appolon couldn't see your arrival, he was so looking forward to meeting someone new."
"If he's Appolon," Isolde said pointing at the man on the stump, "Then he did, he was fine when I arrived here but then..."
The older woman sighed and lowered her head, "It's a shame that his mind is always somewhere else now."
"What happened to him?"
"We attempted to combine his soul with a Spirit, to try to gain control over the visions the Spirits receive occasionally but it backfired and now his mind is trapped somewhere where we can't find it most of the time... But this must make no sense to you, come along now, its not that far to the town."
Man that was fast, I finally started typing again finally and then I couldn't stop.
For those of you who are confused, every once in a while a random number of random players will receive a vision via PM. This will usually happen after combat, since I know that the people involved in will be there to receive them.
These may be utter nonsense or they may be visions of the past future or present, and the more symbolic/cryptic they seem, the greater the chance simultaneously that it is either significant or utter nonsense.
Also I you have no idea how hard it was for me not to type: "but our records don't show from where." after the woman's first sentence.
EDIT:Also, again: if anyone comes up with any good permanent, non-cliche titles for this thing please share.
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Topic: Chapter Two: Lucid (Read 20143 times)