The Shadows Of Lucidum

Lupea

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Where exactly was the beginning? When was the point in time it had all turned for the worse? I wasn't sure. It might have been that one time when I almost.... Never mind. It seemed like I really had to start at the very beginning.

''Aren't you gonna eat that?" A familiar voice tore me out of my thoughts. But whose was it? Where was I? My sight was but a blurry mess. All I heard were the voice, but no human it could belong to and birds chirping high up in the air, probably sitting on trees, given that the sound wasn't changing it's place for even an inch.

''You do realize I'm talking to you, now don't you?" The voice continued as the scenery in front of me started to become more clear. I still couldn't see a lot though. But I tried to reply anyways.

"Yeah, I just zoned out.", I replied slightly shocked at how young I sounded. How far back in time had my mind taken me?

I finally began to see something again. There was light. A lot of it, almost blinding. As it started to become more bearable, I could see I was at some kind of clearing. Trees surrounding it from every side possible and letting no light into their midst, their leafs having all shades of green... from a rich emerald to a faded hint of mint and small white flowers hiding between the clearing's high grass. The birds, I still was hearing, sat on branches high up in the sky, looking peaceful, like nothing and noone would ever do them any harm. In front of me, there was a bowl filled with some odd berries. The person the voice belonged to had probably been referring to these. I couldn't see anyone though. I started to have a look around. The forest surrounding me was pretty dense and let close to no light through. I still didn't know where I was. Great.

After turning myself around in circles multiple times, I heard a laughter. It came from a few meters behind the edge of the forest. Completely hidden in it's lingering darkness.

"Just what are you doing all of a sudden? First as deaf as my gran and probably just as dead and now you're spinning around in circles like a  cute little wolf chasing it's own tail. What're you after this time? Your crow acting up again?", the girl said while slowly stepping out of the forest. It took me some time to recognize her... Well, I immediately recognized her, but I couldn't remember her name at first.

"Ummmmm, hey Lupea."

"Yup, that's my name. We already said hello to each other though... Is really everything okay with you? You know, you can tell me about it Kora. We've been friends for literally decades."

"It's nothing. I really just zoned out a bit."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that. I know you. I recognize when there's something troubling you up there, in that twisted mind of yours. But I know you for long enough to know I shouldn't push you...ever.", she said with a really pained expression on her face. Seems like she had tried that a few times, leading to quite the damage.

At least I now knew, that she wouldn't question me any further. Thank god. I didn't want to seem even more suspicious than I already did. But what about that crow she mentioned? I didn't know if asking about it would just make me seem even more weird, so I just let it slide of. If it was something important, it would definitely come up again at at least some point in time.

I sat down again, Lupea did the same and took one of the berries. They seemed to taste her pretty well. Trying them out once wouldn't kill me, now would it? She could eat them without any problems at all and she seemed to really enjoy their taste.... I decided to test them out. I skimmed them  in order to find the tiniest one there was on the surface of the mountain of glistening red berries. After all, it wasn't the forbidden fruit, so it should be just fine. I took the tiny berry and just as I started chewing on it, Lupea asked me why I had taken one of the small ones. The sour ones. The berry's sourness caused goosebumps all over my body. Don't get me wrong, it didn't taste bad. Not at all. It simply felt quite off and I didn't want another one before getting this funny taste out of my mouth.

Lupea, laughing at the sight of my goosebumps, eventually decided to take me to a nearby river and leave those damned berries where they were. We left the clearing and worked our way through the forest, getting a few scratches here and there, trying to duck under fallen trees and not leaving enough space between us and firethorns and mentor barberries. The river's bank  was covered with stones, some of them sharp enough to cut a foot if it were to merely step on them. The leafs' and the sky's reflections in the water made it have the most beautiful shades of green and blue. I got closer to the water, seeing mine and Lupea's reflection. She was a lot taller than me, her shoulders wider and her hair was a light shade of red, while I had more of a petite figure and my hair was jet black. There couldn't have been more opposites between the both of us. At least our personalities were alike, explaining why we've been friends for as long as I could remember. I began to drink, it taking quite a lot of water to finally get rid of the sourness sticking to my tongue.

"So...what's the plan now?", she asked me once I stopped drinking. What was I supposed to answer? Was Lupea talking about an actual plan or was she simply asking what we should do next? This girl definitely wouldn't cease to confuse me any time soon.

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