Treetop Paradise

[Seether]

He didn't know for how long he had been running, only that the sun had long since risen from behind the tall treetops of a near by forest and was now on the verge of sinking behind the nearby hills. His legs burned with the exertion of running, but he didn't notice it. He could still feel the lingering pull of his death hovering over him; this was only one of the reasons he ran.

There was the face of that boy, lingering just behind his eyes, staring blankly at him. He had only seen it twice, yet he could pick out every line and every detail of it. When he had turned to face it, in that battle that seemed a lifetime ago, it had been gone. Replaced instead with a face he could not see, but could still understand, and remember. He now knew what had taken place between those very few seconds between faces. He had been possessed. No, not the boy, Reann knew that much, but himself. Possessed by his own inner most fears, his inner most regrets; he shook with the anguish of the memory as he ran. He had never known such a fear, or such regret could exist in a person; he now knew that it was an arrogant belief to hold. He bounded over a small boulder jutting up from the earth, landed with a sideways slide, and then continued running.

As he ran, he could feel his eyes beginning to sting with tears again, and he growled as he shook his head to try and be rid of them. This would have been the fourth time today that he had cried while running; it was beginning to make him angry and disappointed with himself. If there was one thing, he hated the most right now, it was the fact that he was crying. He could barely even remember why he was crying.

He leapt up onto another boulder, planted his hands and pushed himself into the air. He glided for a moment and stared at the surrounding countryside, as well as the pitch black of the forest, taking in the sights, smells and sounds of it all.

He could see deer. A few dozen of them, grazing off in the distance, their heads tucked down between the tall brown grass, white tails sticking straight out behind them. He saw a prairie leopard, all browns and yellows, crouching within the underbrush, glowing eyes intently watching the grazing herd, waiting for its guard to slacken. He saw birds, many multicolored creatures, take wing from inside the forest and wing into the sky to disappear somewhere to the east. He heard the wind, whistling through the grass and trees, like wailing ghosts, calling out their misery for all the world to hear, but not understand. He could smell the grass, its dry reeds releasing their pollen into the air, even the leaves of the forest, their soft rustling lost to wind and soft music of crickets. Crickets, there were a lot of crickets. In fact, there were a very alarming number of crickets. Their sounds seemed to bore into his skull, almost as if he were right next to them . . .

Something landed on his nose and Reann bolted upright. He was on the ground, he cold feel the soft brown dirt beneath his fingers as he dragged them across the ground; could feel the tickle of the long grass against his back and the soft push of the wind against his face. He sat, dazed for a moment before everything around him began to click slowly into place. He was on the ground, he remembered jumping, seeing the hills, the grass, the tress, the animals and then . . .

He cried out in pain as he tried to stand, his left ankle didn't seem to want to work properly, and he instead fell flat onto his back. He lay there, staring up at the first stars, wincing in pain as he tried to get his ankle to respond to his commands. He gave up after a few seconds of agonizing pain and let it lie still beneath him. It was probably twisted, he didn't feel any blood and it didn't hurt as much as it would have, had it been broken.

He had apparently been so distracted by the surrounding scenery, that he hadn't seen the ground coming up to meet him with shocking abruptness. He must have landed with his legs tucked underneath him, else he might have rolled for a good distance, that might also explain the pain in his shoulder blades.

Well, he thought as he once again tried to reposition his ankle. Looks like I won't be running for a while. He breathed a triumphant, if not painful sigh of relief as he finally managed to pull his ankle out from beneath him and lay it straight. He then sat up to probe his flesh, checking for broken bones or tears. There were none so he concluded that it was a twisted or sprung tendon. It would heal in a few days, if he didn't overexert himself like he just had. He lay back down and stared once again up into the fading light and emerging stars.

After a short while Reann began to feel his eye lids become heavy and he slipped into a shallow sleep. He was apparently very tired from running and he didn't care to notice, or remember why he had been running in the first place. The memories of the battle, the boy, and his family flashed before his eyes the instant he closed them and before he could rouse himself from their pain, he was already fast asleep. His twisting inner torture beginning anew as he had to look into the sad eyes of those people he had either killed, or killed by an indirect action; then came the menacing laughter.

Reann wanted to scream but all he did was snort and twitch in his sleep.

((OOC: El solo, unless you can give at damn good reason as to why you want to join.))

[Seether]

He awoke with a start, sweat matting his fur to his body in a cold blanket of fear, and breathed a sigh of relief when only the sun stared back at him. He let himself fall back into the dirt beneath him and slung a hand over his eyes, once again returning his world to darkness, but thankfully, without the dreams.

It had been, by far, a very restless night for him. He could still hear the traces of laughter in the back of his skull, and he still saw the image of his wife and kids, along with that young boy, as if they were burned into his retina. He was probably never going to rid himself of that memory; he just wish he knew of a way to cope with it, instead of having to run from it all the time.

It's like wishing for food to fall from the sky. Reann heaved another sigh from his chest and let his body relax as he felt himself start to drift back towards sleep. There wasn't much else he could do, not without hurting himself. There was a soft thud next to him and he opened an eye to peek out from under his arm. When he didn't see anything he sniffed and closed his eyes again, intent on sleeping the rest of the day, and most of the night to help himself heal, even if it meant having to re-live those memories again.

He was just about to fall asleep again, when another soft thud startled him awake. This one sounded like it was a little closer. Before he could open his eyes to check and see what it was, a second one occurred, this one closer still. Reann opened his eyes and propped himself on his elbows and looked around him.

Nothing but grass. So what could possibly. . .

Something moved in his peripheral vision and he whipped his head around just in time to hear another thud, as well as the object that was making it. Twisting so he could pick it up, Reann found out that it was a small nut. After closer scrutiny of the nut he found it to be eatable. A confused from came across his face and he twisted to look behind him, trying to see if something, or someone, was throwing these things at him. All he saw was a rather interesting bird, perched atop a medium sized rock, and nothing else. For a moment he considered the bird then shook himself with a chuckle and went back to looking at the nut. Birds weren't that smart, to be able to throw a nut at someone who just happened to be laying. . . something smacked him in the back of the head and Reann jumped a little in surprise.

"What the. . ." Reaching behind to feel the back of his head Reann turned around to see what had hit him in the head. It was another nut. He looked up again at the bird and it ruffled its feathers and cocked its head to the side, staring at him. "Stupid bird," he said as he scooped up the nut and threw it at it. The bird squawked and fluttered into the air, disappearing into the sky.

Shaking his head Reann looked back down at the nut, shrugged and then popped it into his mouth. He chewed on it for a few seconds before swallowing, a small smile forming on his face. The nuts were very fresh, and they tasted pretty good. He began looking around for some more. He found two more, which matched with the number of thuds he had heard, and popped those into his mouth as well. It was far from enough to fill him up, but at least it helped. He looked up at the sky and small a small black dot.

I wonder what that could be? It was getting bigger he realized after a few seconds, almost as if it was falling. He cocked his head to the side, following its path down and suddenly jerked. It was a rock, and it was coming straight for. . .the world jerked and Reann abruptly found himself laying on his back, a nice lump forming on his forehead and stars dancing in front of his eyes.

"Now what in the fucking. . ." That was all he got out as he sat up and then was hit in the head by another rock, this one a little larger. Groaning in pain and rocking side to side on his back, trying hard not to disturb his ankle but failing anyway, Reann tried to think of who could be throwing those rocks. Perhaps it was some little punk kid who thought that picking on someone who was disabled. Oh if only Reann could move! Then he'd show that punk who was boss.

Sitting up Reann looked around him, eyes narrowed in anger. "All right punk, show yourself so that I might actually see who it is who's stoning me." There was a rustle to his left and Reann grinned. Not only was he correct, he knew the punk was an idiot and by the sounds of it, he should be appearing just about. . .Reann made a confused sound and cocked his head to the side when the same bird he had seen earlier hoped into sight, from between the grass.

"What the feck?" Reann absently pointed towards the bird, then to the grass and then back again, confusion plain on his face. "How. . .What. . .Muh?" Then the bird did something amazing. Hoping up onto one foot and twirling one of its wings around it leaned back, cupped its wings close, drew them out, cupped them close again, and sprang forward, hurtling a rock straight towards Reann’s head. Reann had only enough time to cry out in shocked confusion when the rock hit him square between the eyes. He flailed his arms about as he fell backwards, a vain attempt to try and block the rock, and when he sat back up again he was visibly pissed.

"Now what the fuck was that about!?" By this time he had a rock of his own and he hurtled it back at the bird. It simply side stepped out of the way and what Reann had been about to shout next died on the tip of his tongue. Instead it came out as a confused squeak and Reann blubbered the next few words that tried to come out of his mouth as well. Not only did this bird possess the ability to throw a stone, multiple ones if it was the culprit in Reann's early morning torture, but it also possessed a trait that no bird should be able to possess. The ability to move sideways, like that. Then the bird did something else that left Reann speechless for a good five minutes.

It walked over to a stalk of grass, reached down to the base with its beak, ripped the grass stem from its roots, and began scratching at the dirt near Reann. Reann didn't have to see exactly what it was scratching to know that it was writing something. Actually writing something! He sat, dumbfounded and oh so very confused, as the bird finished what it was doing, dropped the grass and backed away to let Reann read what it had written. Which, after a few seconds of staring at the bird in what looked like the beginnings of severe horror, he did and what he saw didn't really surprise him, although it should have.

"Follow Me."

Reann looked up at the bird, studied it for a second and then burst into laughter. He was dreaming. That had to be what it was. He was still asleep, and having some freak dream instead of a nightmare. He laughed so hard that he could feel his sides begin cramp, and still he continued.

"You want, me, to. . .follow, you?" He said between laughs. He doubled over again when the bird nodded, laughing even harder. "A bird? Oh jeeze, I can't believe this. I'm talking with a bird. A bird! And it can actually understand me. Oh man, this is great." His laughter began to fade and he wiped a tear from his eye. "All right Reann, sleep times over. Wake up." He pinched himself on the arm, it was supposed to be the common remedy to wake yourself up in a dream. He started laughing again when he felt himself pinch his arm. "Okay, this is a really vivid dream. All right, let's try something else. Maybe, I could hit myself." He reached for a rock, still chuckling, a little nervously this time, and instead fell flat on his face as another one clocked him clean on the back of the head. His laughter was instantly cut off as he lay with his face in the dirt. This wasn't a dream, and this bird was real.

"I guess this means you win," he said with his face still in the dirt. Propping himself back up onto his elbows with a gasp, Reann twisted to look at the bird. "I'll foll. . .eh?" The bird was gone. Reann sat up suddenly and looked about for the bird. "Now wait just a minute," he said just before something streaked just in front of his nose, causing him to cry out in surprise and fall back onto his back. Something squawked in the distance and Reann twisted his head to see the bird wheeling around in the sky, making itself ready to fly past him again.

He sighed as he sat up again, hands resting on his knees, and watched the bird fly by again. "All right," he sat after a few seconds, slapping his knees in surrender. "I'll follow." The bird seemed pleased with his response and squawked again as it flew by and Reann shook his head, then lifted a finger. "But, you have to promise not to go very fast. This ankle of mine is going to make travel difficult. So, just so long as you stay in sight and come back to check on me from time to time to make sure I am following, I'll tag along." The bird squawked again and Reann pushed himself up onto one leg, trying hard to keep his other as straight as possible.

Sure wish I had a crutch. Eventually, after a few seconds of hopping on one foot, Reann settled down onto his three remaining limbs and limped after the bird. He didn't care to notice that they were headed towards the forest, he was more concerned with keeping his leg out of pains way, and occasionally looking for the bird. The dark of the forest soon swallowed him and the bird, and off in the distance, the still rising sun cleared the hill tops and sprayed light all across the land.

[Seether]

The going was slow. Very slow. Reann had lost count of how many times he had fallen, which was probably a good thing because the number would have sourly embarrassed him. It did not help that they were walking through a forest, or rather, Reann was limping and strange bird was hopping around in front of him. At least it had stayed in sight, else Reann would have been lost in an instant; the pain in his ankle seemed to obliterate all his senses, as well as his coherency and balance. He fell more often just because he could not keep track of which hand to put where than anything else. If he could do a handstand and walk at the same time, he thought that life would have been a whole lot easier.

They paused to rest on occasion, usually when Reann 5 or six times in a row, and when they did the bird would hope around for a few seconds, picking at the ground, and return with a few small nuts for Reann to snack on. Reann thought that this was a very odd behavior for a bird, but then remembered what had happened to him back in the field and shrugged it off. He didn't have any idea what this bird was about, but whatever it was, it wanted him to follow it and apparently wanted him to survive, else it wouldn't have been so patient with him, and fed him to boot.

Scooping the nuts up from off the ground Reann looked around at the surrounding forest and then popped one of the nuts into his mouth. Then he gestured towards the bird.

"Where are you taking me exactly? And don't give me that stupid look; I know you know what I'm saying." The bird ruffled its feathers a little and hopped over to a stick, picked it up with its beak and then hopped back towards Reann. It then began scratching something into the soft earth in front of him and when it was finished, it hopped backwards, dropped the stick and looked up at Reann. Popping another nut into his mouth, he leaned over to read what the bird had written.

"Home."

Reann quirked an eyebrow and looked up at the bird. "Home? You're taking me to your home?" Reann sighed, put the last few nuts into his mouth and sat up straight, thinking.

It was probably somewhere high in a tree, small and ridiculously cramped. However, with a bird that smart, Reann could not see it living in the wild like this. Perhaps it belonged to someone. Some mad wizard or something.

Yeah, and I'm a fucking elf.

Well, wherever this bird lived, or whoever it belonged to, if anyone, it was certainly better than just sitting on his ass all day doing nothing. Besides, he could feel some feeling coming back into his ankle, where there had once been nothing but pain. He dropped his hands to the log he was resting on and lifted himself painfully to his one good foot.

"Well, Mr. Bird, lead on so that I might actually sit down and rest for a longer period than a few minutes." The bird hopped around in a circle, almost as if it was eager to continue, and once again began hopping out in front of Reann, leading the way to where it was it called 'home.'

I seriously hope this wasn't the biggest mistake of my life, Reann thought as he pushed himself over a log and hopped after the bird, his arms outstretched to keep his balance, and help cushion his fall, should he trip or lose his balance.

[Seether]

He was having a hard time determining if it was the worst mistake of his life, or perhaps something a little worse. Albeit he couldn't think of a greater mistake besides him following a bird that can throw rocks and write, around, but he was sure he could make one up just to cover his embarrassed ass.

Yeah, make one up. Ha, that’s great.

What could possibly be worse than following a bird around, for no reason other than it told you too? Well, putting it bluntly, nothing really. Except perhaps jumping from the edge of a cliff chasing after a feather that had flown off its edge, but that was borderline insanity, noone would believe that; Reann let the thought drop with a sigh and focused once again on just putting one numb foot in front of the other numb foot, while still keeping the bird in sight, and maintaining his skewed sense of balance.

At least this crutch is helping, a little.

They, or rather he, had been walking now for close on three days and Reann still had no idea where they were. His only sign that he was still on land was the fact that the ground was brown instead of some other strange color, and he hadn't seen the sun in an equal amount of time, so direction was out of the question.

Come to think of it, he recall having seen the sun since the night he twisted his ankle. He could remember waking up, remember seeing as though it was daylight, but he never really saw the sun. Had he? The fleeting thought was washed away as he side stepped around another tree and hobbled after the bird.

He had a lot of time to really study the bird during the last few days of their journey and he was rather disappointed to say that he hadn’t learned much more about the creature than what he had gleaned the first day it found him. Other than perhaps that it was a very proficient writer and could hold, at length, a fairly good conversation, Reann was still left in the dark as to what its purpose or motivation was. Every time he would mention or hint at a question about where they were going, where it came from or who it was, the bird would find someway to divert Reann’s attention. The bird had a strong way with words, and it had left Reann more confused and dazed at the end of their conversations, than he had been when they first started.

One thing he was grateful for though, was that while he and the bird conversed, he had been able to gather some promising looking branches and construct a crude crutch for him to use. He also managed to find some really nice, large leaves and he used those to wrap his ankle, providing some much needed support, allowing him to use it more and thus keep his balance better. It had been becoming harder and harder to stay balanced on one foot, hopping around like a renegade pogo-stick with a mind of its own, and still keep up with the bird.

Their pace had doubled by the time he finished the crutch, and still further increased when he found the leaves and wrapped his ankle. He guessed that they had increased their over all pace of about six or seven miles a day, to about fifteen to eighteen a day. Quite a jump in progress and at least he wasn’t falling as much. He was beginning to think that it hurt more trying to get up than it did when he fell on his ankle or his bruised sides.

Meh, what does it matter anyway? It hurts just to walk.

He was beginning to consider just abandoning the bird and resting until he was healed, but than the thought of being lost forever in this forest stopped him. He was too deep in to abandon his only guide and being lost was much, much worse than having to deal with a twisted ankle.

Looks like I’m stuck here, for a while at least.

He still would liked to have known where it was that they were going, it would have at least banished a few relentless questions that were twirling about in his mind. He stepped over a fallen log. . .

And had to catch himself on a near by tree to keep from falling flat on his face, and the bird. He glared down at its back and was just about to ask what the hell it was doing, when he heard the reason why it had stopped.

Voices.

Two of them. Nearby; at least, they sounded close. The forest had an odd way of amplifying voices, carrying them for great distances and then distorting their direction, making it seem as though they were coming from every direction at once. That was how these voices sounded now. Close, and from every direction. Reann didn’t know where to look or what to do. He leaned down close to the bird.

“What now?” His voice, barely a whisper, seemed to echo in the silence that followed. The voices had stopped and almost the same instant he had spoken. Something was very strange here; perhaps it was either a string of abnormal luck, or maybe it was because they had heard him.

But how could they have? His voice was barely loud enough to carry much beyond his out stretched arm. He was just about the lower his voice further and ask the bird again when something popped up from behind a near by bush.

It was short, had light brown skin that resembled something akin to bark, as well as a few twigs and leaves sticking out from its hair and arms, and a rather goofy looking look on its face as it stared back at Reann. Reann was just about to ask it what it was, when it twisted its head to the side a little, widened its eyes and then did something that Reann would later find rather hilarious and entertaining.

It screamed, then ran away.

Instead of laughing however, Reann found himself screaming as well, and then he too was scrambling to get away. He only made it a few feet before another of the strange creatures literally popped up out of the ground, saw him, screamed and then ran away. Reann cried out again and scrambled away in another direction only to be once more confronted by another, which repeated the process of the first two and before Reann could scramble back in another direction, his foot - thankfully his good one - caught beneath a log and he was sent sprawling onto his face. His head must have hit something hard on the way down, because by the time his face hit the dirt, the darkness of unconsciousness had rolled in and swallowed him whole.

[Letho]

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