Crushed and filled with all I found -
more, give me more, give me more
When I awaken, I keep my eyes shut. I can feel sand against my cheek, my arms out at my sides. I pretend to be asleep, and I listen. There are waves lapping against wood, hissing against sand. It smells like salt-spray and spices, and there's so much noise, and ... daylight. Daylight has turned the insides of my eyes to fire.
"Shit!" I growl and squint when I open them, greeted by the blaze of the sun against the bluest ocean I've ever seen.
I wipe the sand from my face and push the hair from my eyes. I take stock of myself: I feel no hurts or wounds. My head is clear, there nothing beyond a full body ache sent from the depths of the Blacklands.
Blacklands. Nocturnia. Bodja.
I look to either side of me, and there is neither Ryx or Bodie. My chest squeezes tight, and I haul myself to my feet. I spin, and all I see is tropic coastline filled with torches and a jungle and a bustling port not far off.
"Bodie?" I shout. "Bodja! Ryx?"
Nothing. Dread rises like bile in my throat, and because I don't know what else to do, I begin to walk. I don't know these shores, these people, that port or that sandbar. This isn't Cloudless. It isn't a Lowland city. I'm not even sure Nocturnia exists anymore, or if the Wyrm has finished it's domination of the Skylands.
Further up the beach, I have to stop and lean against a palm tree while I take deep breaths with my heart hammering in my chest. My palms are sweaty as I press them against the tree. All at once I want to feel nothing about what happened, because I'm not sure how to bear it. I am afraid that it will be like a wave sucking me under.
I focus my attention on the glittering water and torches until I can breathe evenly again.One step at a time. This place is beautiful, and I appear to be in no immediate danger here, but I don't know where here is.
I raise my arm to wave it to the first person I see in the distance. "Excuse me!" I leave the tree behind. "Could you help me?"
"Shit!" I growl and squint when I open them, greeted by the blaze of the sun against the bluest ocean I've ever seen.
I wipe the sand from my face and push the hair from my eyes. I take stock of myself: I feel no hurts or wounds. My head is clear, there nothing beyond a full body ache sent from the depths of the Blacklands.
Blacklands. Nocturnia. Bodja.
I look to either side of me, and there is neither Ryx or Bodie. My chest squeezes tight, and I haul myself to my feet. I spin, and all I see is tropic coastline filled with torches and a jungle and a bustling port not far off.
"Bodie?" I shout. "Bodja! Ryx?"
Nothing. Dread rises like bile in my throat, and because I don't know what else to do, I begin to walk. I don't know these shores, these people, that port or that sandbar. This isn't Cloudless. It isn't a Lowland city. I'm not even sure Nocturnia exists anymore, or if the Wyrm has finished it's domination of the Skylands.
Further up the beach, I have to stop and lean against a palm tree while I take deep breaths with my heart hammering in my chest. My palms are sweaty as I press them against the tree. All at once I want to feel nothing about what happened, because I'm not sure how to bear it. I am afraid that it will be like a wave sucking me under.
I focus my attention on the glittering water and torches until I can breathe evenly again.One step at a time. This place is beautiful, and I appear to be in no immediate danger here, but I don't know where here is.
I raise my arm to wave it to the first person I see in the distance. "Excuse me!" I leave the tree behind. "Could you help me?"
Straea
