The heat flowed from the fire of the land, into its ground and made its way towards her mind, an immense feeling of comfort coming over her. She trod the path softly, her physical existence being in a haze; its essence travelled in time, following the sun's path. It was made visible in different moments of time for the light hit different parts in different moments of time.
The faraway sound of phoenixes and the memory of the land's ancient beings connected the Raven to her land's nature. The information received through her feet, her sense of touch, expanded into a beautiful cloud of thought upon reaching her mind, much beyond ordinary experience. Being home made the translation even more profound. Tranquillity in chaos, perhaps.
Audrey entered the enormous wooden structure, a proud smile on her face. A deep brown surface that glowed gently, as if it contained a still fire, its sparks continuously igniting the energy of this land.
She remembered the first time she came to this house; curiosity accompanied by a comfort she could not immediately recognise, but now everything was different. A familiarity that came from a lifetime other than the one she currently lived. A comfort that came from said familiarity and from being a fundamental part of this land.
This land that always comforted Audrey.
Audrey's footsteps were silent as she went inside, ascending up the stairs made of marble. Each step was like tapping into an infinite well of knowledge, running to the core of Hearth and beyond, circling into infinity such that each path it traced was somehow new. Each path had these rooms that contained an aspect of Audrey, each floor protected by a unique material with a divergent design. The carpets in each room were like fabrics of wisdom that was hers, that had always been hers, waiting for her to return. She held out, continuing to walk on the marble, waiting for the right room to return to.
She could feel the magnificent instrument's aura from afar, like an old friend waiting for her. Audrey came to a stop at the door that protected it, embroidered with mysterious figures that she did not quite understand, but somehow knew if she wished to. Perhaps that knowledge would open the door to understanding with time.
Truth and Time.
The piano captured the room's attention, an instrument that felt dearer than the one that had been a companion to her for so long at the headquarters. But Audrey turned her attention to the flame in the room, the flame that she had gone to all those years ago when to time to act had first begun.
Audrey took a deep breath as she made her way towards the land's hearth. She recognised the stone that burned inside; it was the same as the one she saw that day, powering this flame forever. It burned endlessly, breaking the laws of physics - an aspect of the Nature of Earth, not Hearth.
Similar, but different. How long had it been since she was away? Since she had truly been away, separate from her true form and all? The time to return was almost here.
As Audrey stared at the orange flames, something stirred inside her.
The fight from which her father was born. The fight that took Galen's mother away. The fire that killed those four and separated Holly. The flames that surrounded Elek. The fire that burned Trina.
Such burning energy... fire. But this orange glow was not like any of it. The wielder here was pure, soft, welcoming.
The touch of home in this hearth.
Very slowly, Audrey stepped into the fire.
Her physical being was momentarily shattered and her senses were powerfully awakened. No colour, no sound, no feel, no thought. No recognition of any part of reality.
Only shadows that came accompanied the flames. Their aura, their energy, their all pervasive presence throughout all of existence. The object that filled the concept of nothingness, that was the concept of absence, because that is all sentience could comprehend.
Absence. So incredibly important. Without absence, there was no presence. Without absence there was nothing.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. A very popular human saying. Audrey did not think that was entirely true; absence simply revealed the truth of the presence of something, but the amount of time attached to that absence was so, so important.
The time of absence of the Shadows of Nature was almost complete, and their associated Truth would be seen then.
Audrey recognised Aurelia's presence, an odd feeling overcoming her: the powerful bond that pervaded every land, simply among different souls.
"You are the spirit of the land, aren't you?" Audrey's thought resonated through each wooden part that made the house what it was, reaching Aurelia from all directions at once.
As if Audrey's presence surrounded here.
A positive wave came from Aurelia, propagating with the same intensity as Audrey's question, but with a much slower speed, approaching her carefully.
The Spirit and the Shadow.
First, there was nothing. Then darkness, then light and therefore information. Chaos ensues out of which every world is born, everything in existence comes into life.
origin :: beginning
information :: meaning
knowledge :: affection
affection :: knowledge
understanding :: kindness
kindness :: understanding
time :: void
truth :: void
life :: death
origin :: end
If the shadow represented the information of the land, the spirit was its meaning. But none of this was separate. None of the components were individual. They came together and composed of an individual; they were one, together. They were a part of one, and it was alone.
Together. Alone. The same thing, really.
Audrey wondered why everything that had happened had to happen in this manner. Would things be the same if they never changed, or did they all learn more now? Did all of this somehow make the world better, or somehow save the world from total collapse? Was it simply a matter of preserving the world in this state because the time for its absence was not now, so leaving now was not right?
Everything will eventually be absent from certain places; the space after its last moment of presence. Was there a right timing for everything? What is true? What is the truth? Was it contextual? All of the concepts that existed in the world... what if everything was no different from fiction?
Fiction. Audrey remembered her conversation with a certain entity in a past birth. How wonderful it was. Fiction was beautiful and important to human beings, as if they were living multiple lifetimes through the stories they observed, making it a part of their existence in reality.
Shadow Beings. What really were they? Were would they go from here? What would they become? Was she a Shadow Being? Just because she wasn't always one and won't always be one, it did not change the fact that she currently was a Shadow Being.
"Audrey. Go, and come back soon. I will be here, waiting, and then we can return ourselves to the Truth."
She was the Shadow Being named Audrey.
In this context, at least, Audrey knew what the Truth was.
Being back to Hearth for good, whatever that meant.
One last visit to Earth.
YOU ARE READING
The Shadows of Nature
Spirituellesnature Perhaps it is the home Perhaps the destination Perhaps both. Can you push past the constraints you have inherited? Can you seek to understand that which scares you? That which you hate? That which angers you? Truth and Time, is this the prin...
