Fables Vol.5

Visual images from my past, like oil paintings on the canvas of my mind, floated quickly by. The overwhelming flood of memories crashed against my psyche and stole my attention entirely. Lost somewhere in the recesses of my mind, instinct fought desperately against reason. Drowning in my own memories, I felt myself slipping from life.

As death loomed behind, its favored precursor, pain, tore through me like a jagged sword. Still the beautiful memories played out in my mind. I gritted my teeth, but my mind remained lost in the past. Death arose then before me, just as in my mind the past caught up to reality. Injured beyond the ability to even move, I glanced down at my torn and broken body. Every muscle in my body became rigid as I anticipated the end.

Suddenly, I was jerked from my prone position to my feet, as a Knight charged in. Infatuated with the centuries of memories, my mind had not acknowledged him before. Riding one of the largest horses I had ever seen, he charged headlong into the guardian. The demon hunter on his heels tore into the guardian with a vengeance born of righteous duty. All the while I stood in silence, still to stunned to move. As if I had merely been in the way and pushed aside, the Knight slayed the guardian and confiscated the sacred item it carried.

I recovered my senses too late, the Knight and his demon hunter were gone from view before I could regain my feet. I found that I could not stand, I glanced around for any herbs that might remedy the worst of my wounds. While the gifts Gaia provided most certainly carried me from deaths door, an excruciating pain in my lower back would not allow me to rise.

I crawled across the alpine peaks dragging my lifeless legs behind me. I knew if I could find the mist, I might hide there and recover. It took several days to reach the ethereal knight, I survived by eating snow. The mists remained relatively warm in spite of the harsh surroundings where they are found. To my surprise, time in the warm climate did little to return feeling in my legs.

The Nexus guardian had nearly skinned me alive. Long razor thin slashes nearly filayed my skin from the bone. I prayed that the wounds would heal, although, I feared my life was over. Three days after I arrived in the mist, my flesh hung like tattered drapes, and my legs remained lifeless.

Voices echoed through the mists that day. I sought the cover of the grass not wishing anyone to see me in this condition. As the pair grew nearer, I considered how meaningless the existence of any one person. Here I strove to complete a ritual that may very well serve to extend the lives of any creature, yet, likely would carry my secrets right into the grave. Looking down, I saw my clever disguise in ruins, my back broken, despair filled my heart.

The pair drew close so I wormed my way into a muddy rut. Several times they passed right by where I lay, obviously lost in the mists. Fearing they would enter, I held my position. Instinct nagged at me to find another location, however, reason told me I would never find cover in time.

Moments later the two entered once again from the south. The larger fellow, a lumbering triton with all the grace of baby mammoth, found me quite by accident. As I lay there in the mud, I watched his left foot slip in the murk. Time seemed to slow as he scrambled to regain his footing, With a great twist and heavy stomp he caught himself, bringing his huge right heel crushing down on the small of my back...

(more to follow in Vol.6)