Awakening

Chapter 4 - The Forth (2/2)

A tree. A gargantuan wide and endless tree stood in front like a giant monument. It was brown at the base, filled with streams of vein-like bark as if flowing upward and crafting the branches on top. Splashes of green and yellow leafs spread from the brown branches like fire, giving the magnetizing form more color and vivacity. The floor was a white thick cloud with wisps of smoke rising from it, creating beautiful rounded shapes of half rings and snakes. Dark brown roots sprouted near the tree from the white endless cloud at the bottom--diving in and reappearing again sporadically like waves in the ocean. Random green spots painted the tree-trunk all around the wide base of it and made it look more cheerful.

Eelaya had never seen anything like this. She never saw a real tree in her life, but the replicas from 'The history of nature' holo-books were enough for her to recognize the shapes in front.

It was alive. She could feel the life of it pulsating outward, penetrating her spirit and swirling around--levitating her emotions and awe.

The air around her was slightly hazy, as if the thick snow-white cloud beneath her spread its tentacles of mist upwards cuddling the tree with care. It was as though she was back on Origin, glazing the horizon through the death-cloud of Undertown, but now she could see clearly and breathe with ease.

Marveling at the trunk of the tree, she slowly got closer to it. She realized the reality of its width and tried to touch it to make sure it was real. She reached out with her hands to feel the bark, but came short.

No hand appeared.

Panic. Losing focus on reality, she tried to scan around and look at her own body--tilting her head down and to the sides. The motions themselves were extremely awkward--making it feel as though she was rotating her entire body to look all around.

Nothing.

She couldn't even see herself. No legs. No arms. No ponytail. Only now realizing she was not walking towards the tree, but hovering.

"Breathe." She heard the same low-voice from before. It came from below her.

She did. She did it too quickly. Rasping as though she was running a marathon at the Dome, trying to beat the top score of Ameer. But what was she breathing? How? There was no mouth. No appearance nor feeling of any facial muscles. There was no body.

I am dreaming, she reminded herself and some tension left her body. I am just dreaming.

"Good." The voice said slowly, prolonging the sole vowel of the word.

Eelaya noticed the voice came as an echo right before she could make sense of what it said. As though it was said after she already heard it, and all there was in the world was just the echo of what already have reached her consciousness. It made her uncomfortable, to state the least.

"Where am I?" she asked, and the same sensation came again--did she ask after or before the question already reached the world?

"You are now in a place called the Forth." It said.

The Forth... she let it linger.

"Don't panic. We have no bodies in the Forth. Just our spirits can walk this place," It said. "And yes. Talking is really strange. It was and will always be the most disorienting thing in this entire experience."

Eelaya faced the tree again--the only root she had to hold-on to for now. The life of it made her slightly more relaxed.

The voice continued. "You have been shielding yourself for a while now. If it wasn't for your trick I wouldn't have discovered you." It said.