Sangria 8, Passionfruit 19, Kumquat 1
Author: wintermelon
Rating: G
Challenge: Sangria #8 (" A child said, what is the grass? "), Passionfruit#19 (" Deep roots are not reached by the frost "), Kumquat#1 (" Welcome to my world ")
Title: A Boy called Soul.
Summary: Soul is isolated from the world in many ways, and is not allowed to do many things at all. But he breaks free one day on a little adventure, and discovers some things that will start to crumble the fabricated world around him. The world is full of spiritual beings, demons, angels, humans and secrets - what role does Soul play? Welcome to my world.
Word count: 724
Notes: First post in a loong time :) New author tag "wintermelon" please! I worked on the plot a little and hopefully it'll be as epic and lovely as it forms in my mind. Comments will be loved! Please tell me what you think :)
-/-
Soul really shouldn’t be there.
Elder Ian had told him strictly that he was not allowed to wander off by himself, and if he did get lost, he was to activate the summoning charm on his bracelet straight away. Soul knew he was definitely not supposed to climb over the stone wall to the upper grounds or hide behind statues and boulders when someone walked by.
But the worst part was what happened to his clothes. The pristine clothing he wore that was ritually washed and blessed was covered with dirt - there was even a hole in the robe from when he fell over at one point!
He was in so much trouble...
He might as well roll in the dirt a bit more so that he would be better camouflaged with the ground, and maybe Ian will never catch him. That idea left him as he sighted his forbidden destination. His eyes widened in awe and a waft of sounds and colours flowed over him as he ran the remaining distance.
Sunlight filtered through thousands and thousands of green paper-thin shapes, all grouped together above his head. Multitudes of them were on the floor, in different shades of yellow, green and red. Amongst them the wind breathed and the shapes seemed to sigh in unison. The place had a peaceful atmosphere, cooling and tranquil. Soul noted that the scent was akin to the smell of soil around the central temple, but not quite. This was the smell of something entirely untamed; a mixture of refreshing scents, sweet and subtly powerful.
Overwhelmed, Soul crouched by the nearest paper-thin shape and picked it up carefully. It was a ‘leaf’, and those gathered above him made what Ian had told him as ‘trees’. He was not supposed to know. If Ian hadn’t pointed them out over the wall, Soul would not have known that they existed. There were no trees, not even a single leafy life form where Soul lived. It was all hard, cold stone and marble. Everything was solid and unyielding there.
It doesn’t hurt me, Soul thought as he held the frail leaf in his palm. So why won’t Ian bring me here? Smiling, he let the leaf drift slowly to the ground and picked it back up again, delighted with the feather light qualities of the leaf. He walked deeper into the woods, looking at everything with amazement.
He didn’t want to leave. Although he had never seen anything like this before, the feelings conjured up by the woods felt strangely familiar and soothing. He felt a directional pull into the woods, like a beckoning for him to go further, and so he continued. Soul had never gone so far without an Elder leading him, yet he was not afraid. There was something special here. It might have been his imagination, but he thought he heard soft murmurings coming from the sun-drenched trees surrounding him. It probably is the wind moving through the leaves. Soul thought, but he couldn’t help feeling that it was something more. He concentrated and listened hard. Ephemeral and just out of reach, the sounds were like music. As he concentrated, it grew in intensity, and Soul begun to distinguish many sounds combined together in what seemed to be a gentle song, calming and guiding him on. Who are you? He asked in his mind, and the voices seemed to give an answer but he couldn’t grasp the meaning before it slipped away.
Before he could ask anything more, he saw a girl sitting in a clearing amongst the trees. Immediately, he hid behind the closest tree and peeked out into the clearing with eyes wide. Soul gasped in astonishment when he realized that the girl was patting a small fox demon, its pure white fur slightly glowing under the light. It seemed to regard the girl with familiarity. She was around Soul’s age but she sat with a stillness and serenity that demanded Soul’s attention. He had never seen any other children this close before but she had the exact ritual clothing as him. So is she someone special? Then the demon-fox took one glance at where Soul stood, looked back at the girl with its penetrating blue eyes, and materialized. The girl looked up before Soul could think of fleeing, and his heart stopped beating. He knew her.
Rating: G
Challenge: Sangria #8 (" A child said, what is the grass? "), Passionfruit#19 (" Deep roots are not reached by the frost "), Kumquat#1 (" Welcome to my world ")
Title: A Boy called Soul.
Summary: Soul is isolated from the world in many ways, and is not allowed to do many things at all. But he breaks free one day on a little adventure, and discovers some things that will start to crumble the fabricated world around him. The world is full of spiritual beings, demons, angels, humans and secrets - what role does Soul play? Welcome to my world.
Word count: 724
Notes: First post in a loong time :) New author tag "wintermelon" please! I worked on the plot a little and hopefully it'll be as epic and lovely as it forms in my mind. Comments will be loved! Please tell me what you think :)
-/-
Soul really shouldn’t be there.
Elder Ian had told him strictly that he was not allowed to wander off by himself, and if he did get lost, he was to activate the summoning charm on his bracelet straight away. Soul knew he was definitely not supposed to climb over the stone wall to the upper grounds or hide behind statues and boulders when someone walked by.
But the worst part was what happened to his clothes. The pristine clothing he wore that was ritually washed and blessed was covered with dirt - there was even a hole in the robe from when he fell over at one point!
He was in so much trouble...
He might as well roll in the dirt a bit more so that he would be better camouflaged with the ground, and maybe Ian will never catch him. That idea left him as he sighted his forbidden destination. His eyes widened in awe and a waft of sounds and colours flowed over him as he ran the remaining distance.
Sunlight filtered through thousands and thousands of green paper-thin shapes, all grouped together above his head. Multitudes of them were on the floor, in different shades of yellow, green and red. Amongst them the wind breathed and the shapes seemed to sigh in unison. The place had a peaceful atmosphere, cooling and tranquil. Soul noted that the scent was akin to the smell of soil around the central temple, but not quite. This was the smell of something entirely untamed; a mixture of refreshing scents, sweet and subtly powerful.
Overwhelmed, Soul crouched by the nearest paper-thin shape and picked it up carefully. It was a ‘leaf’, and those gathered above him made what Ian had told him as ‘trees’. He was not supposed to know. If Ian hadn’t pointed them out over the wall, Soul would not have known that they existed. There were no trees, not even a single leafy life form where Soul lived. It was all hard, cold stone and marble. Everything was solid and unyielding there.
It doesn’t hurt me, Soul thought as he held the frail leaf in his palm. So why won’t Ian bring me here? Smiling, he let the leaf drift slowly to the ground and picked it back up again, delighted with the feather light qualities of the leaf. He walked deeper into the woods, looking at everything with amazement.
He didn’t want to leave. Although he had never seen anything like this before, the feelings conjured up by the woods felt strangely familiar and soothing. He felt a directional pull into the woods, like a beckoning for him to go further, and so he continued. Soul had never gone so far without an Elder leading him, yet he was not afraid. There was something special here. It might have been his imagination, but he thought he heard soft murmurings coming from the sun-drenched trees surrounding him. It probably is the wind moving through the leaves. Soul thought, but he couldn’t help feeling that it was something more. He concentrated and listened hard. Ephemeral and just out of reach, the sounds were like music. As he concentrated, it grew in intensity, and Soul begun to distinguish many sounds combined together in what seemed to be a gentle song, calming and guiding him on. Who are you? He asked in his mind, and the voices seemed to give an answer but he couldn’t grasp the meaning before it slipped away.
Before he could ask anything more, he saw a girl sitting in a clearing amongst the trees. Immediately, he hid behind the closest tree and peeked out into the clearing with eyes wide. Soul gasped in astonishment when he realized that the girl was patting a small fox demon, its pure white fur slightly glowing under the light. It seemed to regard the girl with familiarity. She was around Soul’s age but she sat with a stillness and serenity that demanded Soul’s attention. He had never seen any other children this close before but she had the exact ritual clothing as him. So is she someone special? Then the demon-fox took one glance at where Soul stood, looked back at the girl with its penetrating blue eyes, and materialized. The girl looked up before Soul could think of fleeing, and his heart stopped beating. He knew her.