Reveries of the Tainted

Chapter Eighteen

It was a painful awakening as weak bone dug into equally weak muscle. The energy had been drained and was slow to replenish itself during years of sleep, but a newfound vitality seeped through an Earth's crust that breathed life into a barren land with her woken state.

Her body rose from a light dusting of dirt to a sitting position as she lifted a frail arm to brush the coating from her forearms. It was then she found the deep orange that tinted her flesh, darkening to red strands of hair and fingernails.

The analysis of these traits was only a beginning as the veins lying in shallow depths underneath her skin shone dimly within golden yellow tunnels. Visibility depended on which layer of muscle the coiling lengths wound about. Right beneath the utmost top layer of her hands rested a circular formation that swam according to an intricate pattern of beats within a reversed structure of arteries.

The air was slow to reach minimized, embedded lungs, but oxygen was carefully utilized within pockets underneath a small, yet expansive thorax. Minuscule air sacs would absorb the fresh particles of air, separate them, and break them down to their most potent molecules, which the body would then absorb and put to use as coordinated further.

The manifestations to be exhaled would feed ecosystems of beast and beauty alike, generating more networks underneath a surface of simplicity. The more physical consciousness to be regained, the easier it was to blink connections of orange strands from her hazy eyes. The cloth she bore swam of mystical colors, vibrantly shining in their damaged oddity. Scales were cracked and formations lacked the same resistance as before, but functionality was still a dependable protection.

The greens and pinks and yellows struck June, familiar yet distant in terms of memory. She could feel a moment within fabrics that no longer existed amongst her consciousness, a time that was but a faded point on a timeline that iced over in the cosmos of death.

The stagnancy was disheartening, though she knew not why.

All she was certain of was a heartbeat within the shattered fragments of breastplate.

The question regarding her protective garments would keep their secrets confined within the threads of another essence as her senses beckoned to peer a happening of her present.

The shutter of a bush to her side drew focused attention from a lost memory of emerald and ruby, and replaced it with a curiosity as to what could be trembling the leaves of an unassuming greenery. It held no hostility, and no need for violence, yet remained a mystery in terms of being.

All to be felt was the presence of a neutral peace that would meet the touch of a divinity from beyond, and in turn share with their community. June approached with no urgency, but knew the ambition that guided her to be purposeful with its guidance through instinct.

Many fields of energy were cast to aid in the function of sense, observation, and the transportation behind a physical understanding to invisible manifestations.

The heart within wooden flesh beat rabidly, but naturally so. Veins of the darkest chlorophyll rang with birth, introduced to a nurturing environment ready to form union and solidify elemental strengths.

"You beautiful thing." June whispered, lowering herself to settle where the roots resided, tips of her toes pressing further toward the energy point that lied within depths of soil-encased bones.

It hummed in synchronization with the release of adoration in the actions of a mind one with its own. Reflections were contained within golden pools of eternal bloods that warmed the base of their spines and would bind them for the remainder of their journey across the universe. This was a land of imperishability, and every creature to be embedded within its core, to roam its surface, and to fly its heavens related in its infinity.