The Druid [on hold]

Druid: Life

Derek was no longer in his cell.  He was formless and shapeless, yet he was there.  A being of pure thought and life.  One with all around him.  Though he could not hear, there was noise.  All around him were lights.  Bright lights, dim lights, lights that shone with strength, lights that flickered and grew dim with each passing moment.  Then he "felt" a blink.

As his gaze widened, he realized that he was looking at a "face."  A masculine, yet feminine face at the same time.  It lacked emotion and thought, yet it was emotion and thought at the same time.  A face yet not a face at all.

"My husband, Father Time," Gaia stated.  "He is uncaring, yet cares about all.  Without him, I am nothing.  He is both the greatest healer and greatest destroyer.  Capable of taking life and with my help giving it.  Indestructible and eternal, yet fragile and fleeting.  He will show you all things yet only you will be able to see."

Derek floated there without form, yet still there.  Every moment felt like an eternity passed but it happened so quickly, it was as if no time had passed at all.  He felt himself waver.  The concept of being here, seeing what he saw, feeling the slow pass of eternity happening instantaneously was driving him mad.  His intellectual mind was shattering, but he held firm.  And then he let go of all he knew and all he was.

"Mortal," a voice ripped apart his psyche with a sudden violence of an exploding star, yet was as slow and soft and gentle as a mother's caress.  "Open your eyes!"

Derek was suddenly aware that he had indeed closed his eyes.  But they were already open.

"I cannot reveal anything to you, for a fraction of my knowledge would shatter you as a being altogether.  Go!  Learn the language of Nature.  Learn the language of our child, Life.  Then your learning will being.  Then you will find your freedom."

Suddenly, Derek was in a forest.  He felt the warmth of the sun, the relief of the shade.  He heard the birds singing.  He saw deer run from his presence.  There he sat.

He sat and listened and watched.  It seemed as if time did not affect him.  He felt no hunger or thirst, nor any other need his human body required.  But time passed.  It was as if he was watching time pass, but he was excluded in taking part.

He listened to the wind blow through the trees.  He listened to the sound of the grass grow.  An eternity passed.  He heard the birds sing.  The he heard the "words" they spoke.  Each note was an utterance, understood only by the one intended to be heard.

"Oddity," they muttered to him.

He watched the animals move.  They steered clear of him due to instinct, but drew closer as time passed.  He watched them move.  He listened to them roar, bark, mew, and cry.  Each sound accompanied by a muscle twitch.  Only they understood each other.  Only they heard.

"Bringer of Fear," they said amongst themselves.

He listened to the wind pass through the leaves.  It howled and whispered its voice.  Only it understood itself.

"Blighter" it whispered to no one.

He listened to the creeks and groans of the trees.  A language that was ancient even among the elderly.  A language understood by all, but never heeded or listened to.

"Breaker," they groaned at him.

He listened to the water as it gurgled and splashed.  It was both soothing and frightening for it was eternal, both life and death.

"Dammer!" it cursed at him.

He even listened to the rocks.  His mother was right.  They changed and breathed as if they were alive, and when he heard their voice.  The voice of the planet.  A voice that was unheard of even the unheard.

"Splitter," it whispered.

"No," Derek said.  It was a single word.  A word with no sound, yet all sounds.  A word spoken with a language that encompassed all tongues.  A word that came from his very soul.  All fell silent around him.  Even the ever running water and every crying wind stopped.

A being stepped out towards him.  It was not there a moment ago, but Derek watched it take shape.  The act took eons to accomplish, yet it happened in the blink of an eye.  It took form of something Derek barely recognized, a faun.  A goat-man.  Yet there was more than just the simple form of the melding of man and beast.  Age old wisdom encompassed by the trust of a new born.

"Then speak.  What are you?"  Again, that language.  It compelled obedience, but no order was given.  It shot fear through Derek's soul, but he had no yearning to run, for he knew he was safe in its presence.  The very presence of this being was both fleeting and ever lasting.  As free willed as a deer, yet as shackled as Derek was.  A being more powerful than he had yet met, but powerless as he had ever been.

"Druid," Derek spoke.  The word had no meaning in itself, but what it stood for meant everything.

"Greetings, Druid.  I am Life."  The being smiled.