Sinne || Guild Wars 2 Fanfiction

i.ii

II: The Call

The whole forest vibrated with the word. As if it had been spoken from everywhere at once. Even parts of herself, her muscles and mind felt the word pulse through it. Like a heartbeat. Causing her body to tighten and stand in anticipation as if she'd been waiting to hear it her whole life.

There was an oddness about it though. It brought her a sense of calm, like she'd been wrapped in a large blanket or had been teleported back to the meadow. While at the same time it caused a low, churning ache in the deepest part of her belly. Like magma bubbling lazily, threatening to give way, the fear took root in her gut. She wanted to run away from it. Turn on her heels and leave as quickly as she could.

There was a part of her though, and not a small part, that wanted to run toward it. Wherever that was.

She did not let that part win.

Sinne shoved her greatsword back into its sheath and forced her muscles to move. Fleeing back in the direction she'd come without looking back. There was no part of her that would stay in that place, not when the shadows talked and the forest wanted to consume her. She was fast and movement through terrain such as this was something that came easily to her. Her body picked up speed, her feet finding every sure foothold in the earth as she pressed through the forest. There was no slowing until she spotted a thinning in the treeline. Breaking through it, Sinne let out a choked noise.

She spun back to look behind her.

Somehow she'd come out in a small patch of cleared forest at the place where she'd sworn the entrance had been. Still this dark, shadowed clearing was not it. No matter how sure she'd been that she'd headed south. South and home. Somehow something had gone wrong.

"No," she said. "No.No.No."

Her mind was beginning to reel when she realized with a sense of heavy dread that she was trapped like an animal in a cage. This forest, it was magic and it was dangerous. It didn't want her to leave it, not until it was done tormenting her.

With a loud, booming crack, thunder sounded above her. Causing her to jump and spin back toward the clearing just as lightning flashed in the sky. It sent a second of stark, bright purple across the darkness that lit it just enough for Sinne to see the figure that stood against the edge of the trees opposite her. Having spotted it, she stared hard at its silhouette. Holding her breath as the silence stretched.

Another piece of purple lightning cracked through the sky, brightening the slumped man that indeed stood across from her. Finally Sinne swallowed.

"Hello," she called toward him. "Are you... well?"

The figure hadn't seemed to notice her before so when she spoke it's body flinched. Or perhaps the better term was twitched. His dark, shadowed form straightened as a low rumbling noise escaped his mouth. He must have been in pain. His stomach could have been the cause from the way he'd been bent almost in two before. She took a hesitant step forward.

"The forest," she said. "It seems to be alive somehow. We'd best get out of here."

The man let out a moan that was nearly eclipsed by the strong rustle of leaves as a harsh wind picked up. Sinne glanced around her, watching the tips of the trees bent dangerously in the mounting weather. They needed to leave, she didn't like the look of the clouds that peaked through the treetops. It was dark and angry. A storm, she noted with a shiver.

"We should go," she said again. This time she took a few steps toward the man. He was wiggling about now, his moans softer but still audible as she neared. Closer now, Sinne cleared her throat against the strong scent that was growing. It stung her nose and made her eyes water. As if she'd stumbled across the corpse of an animal that'd died and had already gotten well into its decay. The man could have been trapped there for months with the smell of him.