Adventure in Action 2024

Prompt 1

In a hidden rainforest, you and your team must use your skills to survive. Will you overcome the dangers, or fall victim to the lurking predators?

**For the Action in Adventure assessors: In terms of overall story, everything I write will be in chronological order. For this reason, I recommend you at least take a quick look a what comes before each prompt submission, as there will be subsequent context and build-up. Still, each one should still be perfectly suitable as a stand-alone!

There. A flash of pale color drew my eye upwards. In the canopy above me was a cluster of light-colored, delicate flowers, nestled against one of the tree's trunks. They looked untethered, as though the slightest gust could have sent them tumbling away into the sky.

Ghost orchids. I was pleased with how soon I had come across them. Of course, they were far out of arm's reach, but that wasn't an issue for me.

I'd lied to the Doctor when I told him about my Imbue. I carried no magic with me, no useful tools. I didn't need them.

Imps that have been brought to this world are sentient things, unlike the clumps of magic drawn out in lesser summons. Our traits do not fall within one of the set categories, as a Waystick falls under the term 'spatial.' Instead, we have our own brand of power, one that stems from our ability to change, adopt, inhibit.

I approached the tree that held the flowers aloft, and pressed a hand against its layers of rippled bark. Imps are tied to the bodies we inhibit, but for short periods of time, we can let our essense flow, and become something different.

I dropped the mental barrier around my mind. I did not clear my mind of thoughts, however. Instead, I let them pass freely, as if my consciousness had become a river with no snags, no obstructions.

I felt the tree now, a heavy, dense presence  that dwarfed my own. It's size and slow existence meant it was unbothered by my existence - by most of the life around it - so it was easy to submerge myself into its thoughts. My - Leon's - body shimmered. The skin, hair, nails grew translucent for a few heartbeats, and then its solid form collapsed. Like water seeping through floorboards, I slipped into the tree, became the tree.

I could feel the sunlight, sweet as nectar, buzzing and powerful against my leaves. I could sense the steady thrum of water being pumped throughout my body, up from the moist soil. And searching further, I found a single, diminutive branch, on which sat the ghost orchids.

Trees do not have much in the way of motor functions. I could not force it to shake its limbs hard enough to dislodge the flowers, because it simply could not. Instead, I directed the tree to focus its attention on the ghost orchid's branch, particularly the layer of delicate stems that held the flowers fast.

Disease, I told it. There is disease in your body, there. The tree responded slowly, its sluggish canal of thoughts focusing on my request. I persisted, cajoling, warning, encouraging, until finally, the tree committed abscission - cutting off the branch from the rest of the tree, its sustenance and support. Normally, this would be a lengthy process, but I pushed the tree along, forcing it to perform at a supernatural speed.

Then I retreated, sunk back into the cocoon of my own body, my mind. Leon's liquid body disengaged itself, until I was standing on my own two feet again, solid as a rock. I was naked; my clothes and possessions could not manage the same journey, and so I busied myself with getting dressed. By the time I was finished, the first of the ghost orchids had began to drift down, accompanied by a flurry of dead twigs.

Flushing with triumph, I collected a few samples, tucking them away into my pockets. Then I drew out the return Waystick and began to carve out a circle, just as the Doctor had done. I found a touch of bitter amusement in the fact that he had expected Leon to figure out how to use the thing on his own.

The ring quickly formed, the rippling distortion appeared, but here I stopped. There was a tingling in the small of my back, goosebumps on my neck. My body's imp-enhanced senses were on full alert, and I made a furtive sweep of the jungle around me, certain there was someone watching me. But there was nothing.

Still, I hesitated, my hand inches away from triggering the portal. My instincts were not to be ignored.

And then, suddenly, a subtle rush of air behind me, and I dropped to the ground in pure reflex. A shape, a terrible, muscled shape rippling with power tore itself through the space in which I had just stood.

I rolled to the side, springing to my feet. The animal, for now I could see it was some huge, dark jungle cat, scrambled to get its bearings as well, circling around to face me. A streamlined, tapered creature, it pinned me in place with the eyes of a predator, amber-yellow and hungry.

By some miracle, it hadn't touched the portal, which was still not activated. If I let it get too close, however, I could end up releasing this jungle cat directly into an unsuspecting Doctor.

And I had told myself that I would be different.

Instead of evasion, as I should have done, I stood my ground. The creature bowed low, coiling for another strike. In response, I dropped back down to the earth, scrabbling around for what I needed.

Then it was in the air again, hurtling towards me, but my hand had closed around the twig I needed, and I melded once again.

It was a different process with something that was not alive. There was no mental jump, no assimilation. Instead, I simply gripped the essence of what made wood, wood - and made it my own.

The cat's jaws closed around an arm made not of skin, but of hard, unyielding wood. It bounced back yowling, splinters caught between its teeth. I advanced, swinging my arms-turned-clubs, stomping my heavy wooden feet. The cat took one last glance at the monster approaching it before disappearing back into the underbrush. 

END OF PROMPT SUBMISSION

I released the essence, allowing myself to return to normal. Two meldings in such a short time had been taxing, and I was unsteady on my feet as I finally activated the portal. Plus, I was out of practice.

With no shortage of relief, the inky darkness appeared, and I sank right into it.

A moment later, I tumbled back into the storefront, in which a very startled Doctor looked up. The Imbuing textbook he was evidently mid-repair on tumbled from his hands as he approached me, his eyes flickering between my disheveled, ragged appearance and the quickly closing window of the lush Everglades.

I pulled out the orchids, dropping them onto the worktable.

"I'm taking the rest of the day off," I announced, savoring the statement. The Doctor just gaped at me, saying nothing, as I disappeared into the back room...

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT PROMPT!