Astral Flow

Chapter 7

Pain, that was all that could be felt as Ryder's consciousness began to return.

His body ached all over, his mind screamed for relief, it was an awful unending pain.

Even so much as trying to open his eyes caused an intense pain to shoot through him.

The only thing he could do was breathe, in and out, ever so slowly in attempts to calm himself.

As the pain started to subside ever so slightly his hearing began to fully register what was around him.

The sound of a crackling flame, animals letting out tiny snorts or birds chirping.

Then came another sound, the sound of some kind of flute being played, its notes feeling incredibly soothing to his mind. Oddly the melody traveled a little bit out into the area, giving it an almost hauntingly beautiful tinge.

For a moment Ryder just rested there, letting the melody soothe his soul after, well, whatever that place had been.

Had it just been a bad dream? Did he just fall to the bottom of the cliff and get rescued by the others? He had to know for certain.

With a pained breath he began to force his eyes open, being blinded by the lights in the process. Once they adjusted he saw that, indeed, he was back in the forest... though things were different now.

He could see dozens of creatures gathered around, creatures that clearly were not normal wildlife.

Fairies dancing in the air to the melody, their lights shimmering brightly like tiny stars amidst the green roof above them.

Teal colored spectral deer lightly rested at the edge of this clearing, seemingly at ease around the music and fire yet still cautious as their eyes were trained on Ryder.

Then there were the birds that were colored like the night sky itself, had it not been sunset right now he might've missed them resting in the branches.

From where he was sitting though he couldn't get a good look at who was playing the music, so with a painful grunt he attempted to sit up.

As he did he noticed that all the creatures suddenly took notice of his presence and began running, leaving only him and the musician.

Yet he couldn't help but feel a tinge of sorrow that the mystical creatures darted away.

"Oh don't worry about them, they weren't really scared of you, just the overwhelming stench of darkness staining you at the moment." a kind and slightly deep feminine voice spoke to him from his right, it was soft and smooth yet very comforting in nature. "Take your time friend, I imagine getting forcefully ejected like that is not fun, though I think that just means the guardian likes you."

Slowly and carefully Ryder turned his head to look at the mysterious voice next to him, his body screaming at him to stop moving as he does so.

His eyes meet with a person resting on a tree stump about four feet away from him, an air of mystery hung around them.

Their outfit primarily seemed to be comprised of a long green hooded cloak that reached their feet, black boots, black pants, a black long sleeved shirt, and some pieces of dark brown leather armor and metal armor mishmashed together. In fact most of the armor seemed hand made.

Their hands bore ten dark silver rings with various gemstones in each one, one ring for each finger. They held what seemed to be a crystalline ocarina in their hands as well.

Their skin appeared to be slightly tan and they had long white hair that peaked out of the hood.

A slightly held back laugh escaped from them. "Why are you just gawking? Cat got your tongue friend?"