⠀⠀⠀⠀~Black figure with short strands of something radiant, like a dancing shadow. Two shining circular shapes that were outrageously blinding. That was all her vision could muster to comprehend. It was all encompassing. Blurring out sounds and noises that made no sense. Wavering around like a marionette. Nothing made sense, nothing was anything, there was no thing to be any. The mind was still just void.~

⠀⠀⠀⠀Hazily woken up, looking up at the nebulous sky. Dark and cloudy day loomed over, the hail was starting to pour down heavily. The chunks were big and round, falling fast and cold to the touch. The grassy field was plain, vast and swayed along with the harsh wind, a big tree can be seen sitting alone in the bare middle of it. Its branches were wide and long, the leaves covered a large area and blocked the light from the sky, casting a coat of shadow on the ground. It looked like a big green and brown mushroom. Next to the tree, there were a couple blood red roses. They were unwavering to the detrimental weather and stood tall. The area was slightly cold due to the harsh weather. It was summer, this gloomy day was out of the ordinary. Hail wouldn’t be around during this season. Thunders could be heard up above in the flashing clouds.

⠀⠀⠀⠀On the tree, sitting on one of the branches was a crow, just having landed. Its dark feathers shook about from the many gusts of wind. It looked around for the smell. After pouncing around from branch to branch the crow saw it. Lying lifelessly there on the ground, creating a smell of rot and degeneration. The crow stood there, looking.

⠀⠀⠀⠀The haze was going away. Seeing clearly the information began to seep into her mind. Understanding the things she was seeing, though what they were was still a mystery. Her memories were but blank and her knowledge lost. Squinting at the dark sky, trying to compose herself. Thinking of what was and what had been, nothing came to mind. Standing upright proved a challenge as she doesn’t remember ever moving before, only the faint thought of being inside a cramped space. Propping herself upright with her arms she could look around herself. Over the vast plains in an attempt to find something, anything that could give her a sign of her purpose or whereabouts. Nothing. She was in the middle of the field, stranded under a huge tree. The girl was naked. Her hair was long, it reached her knees. White as the moon and radiant as the sun. Her eyes were similar in pigment but the pupils were vertically slit. With irises glowing under the moonlight, truly a mesmerizing sight. No doubt anyone would be left speechless after witnessing such characteristics, they might even go mad. Her expression was stoic.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Standing up was no easy task, crawling would have been easier. She wasn’t too tall so reaching her maximum height was fast but keeping herself up was the hard part. The harrowing wind wasn’t helping her either. Having no recollection of ever using her legs, her balance was off. No recollection of hearing anything was also news as the weather was blowing out her ears constantly. Clumsily waffling around like an empty bag. It was more tame when she was lying or sitting, but now that she’s standing it really started to throw her off. Trying to keep herself steady she threw her arms around left and right. Though she didn’t know why, but that actually helped her. She was stabilizing. Slowly she learned the weight distribution of her body. Standing still, she succeeded. After simmering down, she was ready. Taking on a big deep breath, she lifted her right foot while maintaining balance on her left and moved it forward. She took a step. The feeling of grass was slowly becoming familiar to her. It was somewhat tingly, but she overlooked it. Another step later, she looked up at the thunderous sky again. Slowly inching forward.

⠀⠀⠀⠀The black bird was staring intensely at the child. It’s tenebrous eyes reflecting the hail balls falling down. It was twitching around like how birds usually do. Its wings were being prepped. It wanted something, wanted to eat. That thing was decomposing and was the perfect meal for the crow.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Slowly but surely it prepared itself to leap. It vigorously launched towards the kid. The crow, with its pointy talons, started clawing at her. The girl was unimaginably startled, her face was mortified at the current situation. Wanting to get far away from the situation she moved backwards. Losing her balance in no time, tripping and falling on her backside. Scratches on her back and arm were starting to sink into her feelings. Feelings of pain and discomfort. New sensations that haven’t been experienced before. She didn’t like this feeling, it wasn’t pleasant at all. The bird was flying around her still, it wasn’t going away. The girl in a desperate attempt to shield herself. swung her arms around. The violent thrashing of hands and talons didn’t last long as she landed one single hit. Sounds of cracking and bending resonated in her ears. An ear piercing noise also had been invoked, something completely unnatural, though she didn’t have time to ponder it. She sent the crow flying with something flying even further. Distraught by the event, she looked at the crow and the pain radiating from the fist. Lying lifelessly on the vast grassy plain, being struck down by hail. It was headless. She didn’t know how to react but she was more concerned for herself at that moment.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

She looked down at her arms. A crimson liquid was leaking out of the gashes. She quickly associated this thing with pain and discomfort. The pained areas wouldn’t stop hurting. Unsure of what to do she squeezed at the wounds. It didn’t help. The glowing and sharp sting she felt was enough to knock her off balance. While sitting down she started falling backwards. A quick reflex to catch herself resulted in an unknown feeling on the palm of her hand. The feeling of grassy blades that she expected to have was absent. Instead there was a rough feeling. Unnerved of new experiences every couple moments, she jerked her head back to see. Her eyes met a grayish figure with two black holes protruding from it. A skull, a whole body.

⠀⠀⠀⠀It resembled a human at one point, but everything below the neck was mush at this point. Must have been decomposing there for a while. Guts and entrails were seeping out of where the clothes gaps were. The girl’s expression was firm, the same as before. She wondered what it was. Being unsure she reached to touch it some more. Moving it around a little seemed to snap the base and the skull fell off. She watched as it tumbled around, expressionless. Behind the skull was something, etched to the tree. It was letters, spelling something. It spelled: “S H U R E L I Y A”. The girl didn’t know what it was or meant. Dragging her fingers on the dented letters didn’t seem to do anything. She stepped back a little and gazed at this big floppy thing. Analyzing it. Looking at the shape of the body. A thought came to her mind. Looking at herself then, she soon learned. That thing was like herself, but lifeless. With so many revelations, she had another sequential thought. She snapped her head towards the crow, gawking at it’s headless body. The realization hit her soon after. That’s what death looks like.

⠀⠀⠀⠀The child, naked in the hail and wind. Freezing was starting to register. A new sensation that felt unpleasant. Startled by the experience she forcefully turned around from where the feeling came. Her expression started to frown at all these distraughtly experiences. Gazing outward from where the piercing chill came from was nothing but the same blank, empty field. It just stared back at her. Her senses were playing her with every gust of cold air. She kept jerking her body and head everytime the wind picked up and chilled her body. The girl, with a continuously diminishing moral. She went closer to the tree and crouched down next to the corpse on the ground. Looking down, wanting to scrunch herself further to warm herself more. Slowly noticing something chilling her even more than before, but this time it was coming out of her head. Her eyes, tears. Tearing up, with no understanding or explanation. She just was. Yet another uncomfortable feeling.

⠀⠀⠀⠀After wiping herself and relaxing for a moment she looked next to her, at the body. It had some things on it that looked unnatural, too bright in colors. It was on top of the leaking goo and innards. She reached out and touched the colored strands of what looked like another being’s skin. It was thick and after putting her hand inside it she couldn’t feel the wind anymore, nor could the hail get to her hand.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Understanding, her eyes widened. She’s comprehending things left and right. After a short pause to ponder what she discovered, the girl quickly reached out and took off all the colored pieces of skin off of that dead corpse. Putting them on herself after was tricky. Her coordination was lackluster, the skins were all mushy. Mushy from the inside. Feeling them from the outside, they were smooth. She started pushing on the outside. The skins started to fold. Pushing them enough flipped them outwards. Thoughts and ideas were flowing inside her mind rapidly. She flipped all the skins outwards. Finally with the goo out of the way, she managed to cover herself. Though maybe a little too well. Those things seem to have been made for a being taller than herself. Remembering the folding she did earlier, she did it again but this time she stopped half way. Rolling up the longer skins. The kid figured it all out and was able to walk again. Unwavered by the weather. Finally, a pleasant feeling?

⠀⠀⠀⠀Overjoyed with her revelations and progression in understanding reality she started turning around hastily through the field. Spinning herself out of balance and falling to the ground. Her expression was joyful though. She felt comfortable for the first time. Even if it’s for something so trivial. Exhaustion, she felt that too but ignored it. She launched up, looking around. After all that, she wanted to figure out where she was. The only things she knew so far were this tree, it was her anchor point. She didn’t want to lose it. After standing up she simmered. Pondering her course of action. She didn’t want to lose the location of the tree, but all the surroundings looked the same.

⠀⠀⠀⠀She made a decision, she would walk in a straight line. Forwards and not change direction. That way if she wanted to come back, she would just turn around and walk straight again.

Behind her shrinking silhouette, under the looming tree. The corpse had lost its lingering balance. It crumpled to the ground. Next to the corpse, on the tree. Next to the engravings. There lay more letters, these ones were much harder to read as they were behind the corpse and drowsed in blood. They spelled: “E R I Y S”.