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A Day of Madness [Mini-Quest, Complete]
- Thread starter Unseelie
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
Vote closed
7. Green Web
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
You consider the path in front of you. It's unlikely that it'd lead you home, or even anywhere remotely similar to what you know. But maybe it could lead you somewhere? Some destination where you don't wander endlessly?
But what would be the point to that? It wouldn't be home, you can feel it. Even the place you're at now is more welcoming, the tree still filling you with familiar energy.
Frankly, you have no clue what to do. You can't think of anything else your grandmother told you that could be helpful either.
With a sigh you look around to find a place to rest. While your body may not need it, your mind most certainly does.
Eventually you settle on a large stone, covered with moss like most things in the immediate area.
Sitting down fills you with nostalgia. You had nearly forgotten how much you loved lying in moss as a child, though not in recent years. Why you stopped you cannot remember, it is not something you want to focus on right now.
Instead you just let it all out.
You cry. About being lost. About not knowing what you should do. About losing your home. About having already lost it when your grandmother passed recently.
And before you know it, you have cried yourself to sleep.
Before you, you see the world as you have never seen it before, and yet you have always known it to be.
Granted, you have not seen much of the world, but you imagine that even if you had travelled, you would never have seen as much as you do now.
You have always felt a connection between things. Places. Plants. Yourself. But only now you see the great web spanning all over the world and beyond, all centralised in the gargantuan knot you are now directly connected to.
It is through it, you realise, that you can feel so much, everything that is going on, all at once and from every perspective.
Tiny organisms you had never known of, living in the soil.
A single fish in school, and all others it follows.
Being hunted and being the hunter.
All humans in a city, in a country, as it grows and falls.
Every individual being, living its life.
Yourself, slowly becoming one with the heart of it all.
No.
You wake up, halfway sunken into the moss covering the stone. Ivy had grown over you as you slept, barely distinguishable from your hair that had become long enough to cover the surrounding area, spreading as if it were roots.
Even so, you are not yet fully merged. There is clearly a connection between you and the heart now, or more accuaretly, it is far stronger than it had been in the past, but you could still tear yourself away, partially at least.
It would certainly hurt, damage you even, though perhaps not permanently.
[X] You tear yourself away.
[X] You go back to the dream. This is your home now.
[X] (write-in?)
And that's nearly it. One of these votes ends the quest immediately with the next chapter, the other one adds at most one more. A write-in might change more, but I honestly don't know what else you could do.
If I manage to write this/those chapter(s) before , this quest will even deserve the "A Day of" name.
Voting will be open until... I don't know, I get up or something. Should be at least Dec 20, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
But what would be the point to that? It wouldn't be home, you can feel it. Even the place you're at now is more welcoming, the tree still filling you with familiar energy.
Frankly, you have no clue what to do. You can't think of anything else your grandmother told you that could be helpful either.
With a sigh you look around to find a place to rest. While your body may not need it, your mind most certainly does.
Eventually you settle on a large stone, covered with moss like most things in the immediate area.
Sitting down fills you with nostalgia. You had nearly forgotten how much you loved lying in moss as a child, though not in recent years. Why you stopped you cannot remember, it is not something you want to focus on right now.
Instead you just let it all out.
You cry. About being lost. About not knowing what you should do. About losing your home. About having already lost it when your grandmother passed recently.
And before you know it, you have cried yourself to sleep.
Before you, you see the world as you have never seen it before, and yet you have always known it to be.
Granted, you have not seen much of the world, but you imagine that even if you had travelled, you would never have seen as much as you do now.
You have always felt a connection between things. Places. Plants. Yourself. But only now you see the great web spanning all over the world and beyond, all centralised in the gargantuan knot you are now directly connected to.
It is through it, you realise, that you can feel so much, everything that is going on, all at once and from every perspective.
Tiny organisms you had never known of, living in the soil.
A single fish in school, and all others it follows.
Being hunted and being the hunter.
All humans in a city, in a country, as it grows and falls.
Every individual being, living its life.
Yourself, slowly becoming one with the heart of it all.
No.
You wake up, halfway sunken into the moss covering the stone. Ivy had grown over you as you slept, barely distinguishable from your hair that had become long enough to cover the surrounding area, spreading as if it were roots.
Even so, you are not yet fully merged. There is clearly a connection between you and the heart now, or more accuaretly, it is far stronger than it had been in the past, but you could still tear yourself away, partially at least.
It would certainly hurt, damage you even, though perhaps not permanently.
[X] You tear yourself away.
[X] You go back to the dream. This is your home now.
[X] (write-in?)
And that's nearly it. One of these votes ends the quest immediately with the next chapter, the other one adds at most one more. A write-in might change more, but I honestly don't know what else you could do.
If I manage to write this/those chapter(s) before , this quest will even deserve the "A Day of" name.
Voting will be open until... I don't know, I get up or something. Should be at least Dec 20, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
[X] (write-in) remember what your Grandma told you about the weakness of Fae and Spirits to iron, try to reach for the lamp and use it to hurt this obviously supernatural grass
8. Iron's Touch
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
This is not where you belong. You want to be free. Free to move around. Free to live your own life. Free from whatever this being holding you here is.
But how? How can you make it let you go? Can you hurt it? Inconvenience it, at least?
Your eyes fall on your lantern, long burned out. Yes, iron. You had always hated iron, but your grandmother insisted that it hurts other beings far more than you. Maybe this is one such other being? It would certainly explain why it is not overgrown with vines and your hair like everything else.
Movement is difficult. Your body has sunken not only into the moss but also the stone below, and the vines covering you give little yield. Even so you manage to stretch an arm towards the lantern, if barely. Some instinct within you is screaming not to do this, to avoid iron's touch at all cost, but it only makes it more certain that it can help you here.
With a final effort you touch the lantern, the wooden handle out of you reach.
The pain is not at all what you expected. Sure, you had touched iron before, you know its sting and you know to avoid it. But the burn you feel now is far beyond what you experienced before.
You fight through it regardless, watching as your hand blackens. If this is what it does to you, it must be utterly unbearable to a pure spirit, right?
Hurriedly, you drag the lantern over the vines binding yourself. They easily part, some moving away, some being burned, although you cannot avoid drawing searing lines on your own body in the process.
As your body burns without, you can also feel it burn within. Connections you haven't realised existed tearing away, letting you free yourself in a way simply tearing through the vines could never have achieved.
When you're finally done freeing yourself, you throw the lantern in the direction of the tree and run away along the closest moss path. You think you can hear it hit, but there is no further reaction.
You do not know how long you have been running when you collapse at the edge of the forest. A forest, certainly not the one you know.
Exhaustion settles in your bones together with a deep-seated tiredness, whatever had kept up your energy has left you. With it, too, came a hunger like you have only known before when you stayed in the city for too long.
Beyond this is the agony you still feel from where you have touched the lantern. Your hand most closely resembles coal and burned black lines extend all over your body, though strangely, you are not limited in your movements.
But all this pales compared to an overwhelming feeling of isolation.
There is life all around you, even aside from the forest. The meadow you stand on is full of insects and small rodents, birds fly above, a village can be seen in the distance. But you cannot feel any of it.
You are separated from the web connecting all.
Alone.
But how? How can you make it let you go? Can you hurt it? Inconvenience it, at least?
Your eyes fall on your lantern, long burned out. Yes, iron. You had always hated iron, but your grandmother insisted that it hurts other beings far more than you. Maybe this is one such other being? It would certainly explain why it is not overgrown with vines and your hair like everything else.
Movement is difficult. Your body has sunken not only into the moss but also the stone below, and the vines covering you give little yield. Even so you manage to stretch an arm towards the lantern, if barely. Some instinct within you is screaming not to do this, to avoid iron's touch at all cost, but it only makes it more certain that it can help you here.
With a final effort you touch the lantern, the wooden handle out of you reach.
The pain is not at all what you expected. Sure, you had touched iron before, you know its sting and you know to avoid it. But the burn you feel now is far beyond what you experienced before.
You fight through it regardless, watching as your hand blackens. If this is what it does to you, it must be utterly unbearable to a pure spirit, right?
Hurriedly, you drag the lantern over the vines binding yourself. They easily part, some moving away, some being burned, although you cannot avoid drawing searing lines on your own body in the process.
As your body burns without, you can also feel it burn within. Connections you haven't realised existed tearing away, letting you free yourself in a way simply tearing through the vines could never have achieved.
When you're finally done freeing yourself, you throw the lantern in the direction of the tree and run away along the closest moss path. You think you can hear it hit, but there is no further reaction.
You do not know how long you have been running when you collapse at the edge of the forest. A forest, certainly not the one you know.
Exhaustion settles in your bones together with a deep-seated tiredness, whatever had kept up your energy has left you. With it, too, came a hunger like you have only known before when you stayed in the city for too long.
Beyond this is the agony you still feel from where you have touched the lantern. Your hand most closely resembles coal and burned black lines extend all over your body, though strangely, you are not limited in your movements.
But all this pales compared to an overwhelming feeling of isolation.
There is life all around you, even aside from the forest. The meadow you stand on is full of insects and small rodents, birds fly above, a village can be seen in the distance. But you cannot feel any of it.
You are separated from the web connecting all.
Alone.
The End
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
That's it then. Of course it took longer than 24 hours again, but at least it's closer than last time.
I hope you enjoyed this short journey, even though the end was a bit gruesome.
Not quite sure how you expected this last vote to go, to be honest. You haven't been (fully) human before, and you certainly weren't after the last chapter.
(Well, except for @esktasy, who I'm pretty sure knew exactly what was going to happen and went for it anyway.)
As many of my storylines, this was based on a song. Specifically Darkness by Blackmore's night. (And maybe a touch of The Heart Of It All by Mantus.)
We ended up following the lyrics closer than I expected, except for the end.
If you have any questions left, I'll be happy to answer them.
Oh, and by the way, a friend of mine who read along but doesn't want to make an account had this to say:
The forest's lure
It worked for sure
The little changeling came
From forest's heart
They seek to part
Invoking iron's bane
In panicked state
They sealed their fate
Their hubris is laid plain
I hope you enjoyed this short journey, even though the end was a bit gruesome.
Not quite sure how you expected this last vote to go, to be honest. You haven't been (fully) human before, and you certainly weren't after the last chapter.
(Well, except for @esktasy, who I'm pretty sure knew exactly what was going to happen and went for it anyway.)
As many of my storylines, this was based on a song. Specifically Darkness by Blackmore's night. (And maybe a touch of The Heart Of It All by Mantus.)
We ended up following the lyrics closer than I expected, except for the end.
If you have any questions left, I'll be happy to answer them.
Oh, and by the way, a friend of mine who read along but doesn't want to make an account had this to say:
The forest's lure
It worked for sure
The little changeling came
From forest's heart
They seek to part
Invoking iron's bane
In panicked state
They sealed their fate
Their hubris is laid plain
Last edited:
. But at least, the changeling can live in a human world.
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
Forgot to mention my inspiration, I edited that into my previous post.
Besides, humans are also connected to the web you're now cut off from. Though they're not very sensitive to it, so they might not notice.
Thanks for the kind words.
It is questionable if that is preferable, you might have had a happy life returning to those you have once been taken from.
Besides, humans are also connected to the web you're now cut off from. Though they're not very sensitive to it, so they might not notice.
pingas plight
-Most cunning scientific fuck-up in all of Mobius
booksbooksbooksbooksbooksbooksbooksbooksbooksbooksbooksbooksbooksbooksbooksbooks
a prison of paper and chains of lead are far preferable to ones of bark and vine
so what if you are lost to the world outside when you can dive into any number of the ones bound by ink with your eye's mind?
a prison of paper and chains of lead are far preferable to ones of bark and vine
so what if you are lost to the world outside when you can dive into any number of the ones bound by ink with your eye's mind?