Safa
Safa slowly, almost reverently, tipped her hand shovel; watching the dirt pile on top of the seed she'd planted. The days passed pleasantly enough this way. On occasion, there would be another in the wood but fear rapt at their heels. They never stayed long. She used to wonder if those brave fools ever made it out of the Grayhaven Woods. Now she simply relished her days wandering beneath twisting vines.
Winter was beginning to lose its grip on the air. Warm days were becoming less rare though there were shadows that never quite lightened, even as sunlight filtered through the leaves. Safa watched dappled light play across her feet. The afternoon sun held no warmth. Instead it lit a feeling of dread that crept through her; even the tips of her fingers tingled with a sudden, horrified anticipation. The flowers had a different pulse. A new heartbeat she hadn't learned.
Her fingers go about their routine of picking berries, but she notices that the forest seems withdrawn. It is as closed to her as the day she first entered. As she traveled dirt paths, which now felt like strangers, the realization of why hit like a hammer blow to the chest. Safa fell to her knees at the base of the nearest tree. A viscous substance bubbled up between the bark. Something was growing from it. Or attempting to. Stick thin shoots pushed at the goop; making an attempt to break free, to spread. Without giving herself tim to hesitate, Safa gripped where the tree's bark was beginning to peel back. She tore as much of it free as possible. In an instant she was transported back to days of call up these mysterious sprouts under the cover of night.
Safa watched as each burst from the soil; pulling themselves forward like so many fingers. The days passed. More of the dirt floor disappeared under thickening roots. Her feet made squishing noises in the same goo beginning to seep through the tree's bark. It had choked the plants of the university gardens eventually. And when her notes, full of glee as its possibilities as a weapon, were discovered Safa was expelled; forbidden not only from learning but calling on her goddess. But Evera answers who she will. This was an opportunity! An answer at last.
The Grayhaven Woods, despite its name, bloomed with color if you could appreciate its darker tones. Pink buds were beginning to open. As spring fully came into being they would turn a red so dark she could think only of blood, of old wounds still open. Soon she found herself outside of her cottage. The sight of it made her more dissatisfied than she could ever remember. The sloping roof, which had taken so long to come together, was covered by criss-crossing weeds; moss crept up the window sill. These thatched walls had been her home as long as she'd been alone. For the first time they felt hollow of any life.
That night Safa tossed and turned. A silver of moonlight fell across her covers. She balled her hands into fists as if that were enough to recapture those nights. She over once again. Thick, frazzled hair fell across her face. There was a sound, almost too quiet, just beyond her doorway. She thought she'd imagined it. A whisper dredged up from her yearning. And then the sound came again. This time it was just loud enough for her to make out a voice. An urge, a conviction, buried itself in her gut. If she just came closer she could hear the words. She would have the key to not only reclaim her future, but to show every scholar just how wrong they'd been to cast her aside.
Safa scurried from her bed. Her nightgown, taken from the fallen crates of a frightened merchant, tangled around her ankles. The whispers grow louder as she comes to stand within the doorway.
"Think of what you've done."
"What you could've been."
"Who you could've been."
Safa took a step forward. Who she could've been? The thought gripped her by the throat. Angry tears sprung to her eyes as she took another step forward. Had she ever been satisfied with this life of isolation? In this forest whose borders she could never seem to reach, whose bright colors felt muted as memories flashed through her mind. Her true future had been taken from her. If only she'd taken better care to secret away her work. Instead she'd naively believed the hateful eyes of the elder priest and priestesses would allow any disruption to their order. Had she stayed in their good graces, what would've become of her? Sent to a temple or packed off to a backwater village as their sole defense if she wasn't. And what would she defend with?
No. It was time to set back on the path she'd always been meant for. When the voice called again she allowed it to pull her to the front door. Her bare feet made deep imprints as they carried her into deepening shadows. Each time she felt cool earth spread out beneath her foot, the soft tickled as each blade of grass shivered with her passing, was a comfort: both familiar and full of possibilities. Occasionally the grotesque veins of this infection would break through her reverie. More and more, the longer she walked, the trees were covered in them. Their branched drooped under new growths that held a sickly appearance.
Slowly as if she were about to touch something divine, she reached up to touch the leaves. Her finger tips came away sticky. Before she could fully comprehend this, first one leaf and then another dissolved into ash. It was as if they had been long dead. Or not survive long past the death of its host. Is that why it was seeking? Always seeking new blood to flow through feeble veins.
We all want only to survive.
A pang of sympathy so strong it almost bowled her over, shot through Safa. Before she could nurse the feeling she became aware of labored breathing behind her. Her sense of reverence was snuffed out by cold fear. It left her shaking. Afraid to turn around but needing to know what called her here. She could flee. Run without looking back. Leave the past and its regrets behind her. She hated the burning curiosity that turned her around. If there was a way to drag those fraying ends into the future, she could not give into safety.
Her breath came out in a whoosh when her sight fell onto the dying...thing before her. Its body like a broken oak, cracked open in multiple spots. Moss spilled out like earthy innards. That same green goop-like material crawled out. In the light skinning down the clearing, she could see those same roots from earlier bursting out to grip the creature. A frozen spectator she had no choice but to watch as a groaning creak was followed by sounds of wood shattering. Splinters threw the air in a macabre wave. A head that resembled a stag, a boar, a wolf as shadows and light shifted, swiveled to focus on her.
"This is what you would bring to the world."
The same clumpy, goo leaked from its eyes, dripped from its chin. If slid down the creature's neck in a slow creep like a patient hunter. Assured that it would catch her. It was only a matter of when.
"This is what you bring to us."
Safa was caught in its studious glare. And still there was a flame of her ambition kept within her heart. Though it flickered. Its glow so dimmed it may as well go out.
"Within us beat the same desire," she said in defiance, voice trembling.
Before her voice had fully faded, the creature was before her. Its breath chokingly foul. Sinking through her skin. Twisting her from inside. Its jaws came open in jolts. More sounds of wood breaking echoed through the clearing. This time muddy sludge came out in a deluge. Covering Safa even as her will to live unglued her feet, urging her to flee.
Around her the world changed. The light shrunk away as if disgusted with her very being. Trees now clustered together. Or were wider apart than they'd ever been; promising escape. Only for the path to disappear as she reached it. Leaving her to scramble back. Fighting through the underbrush tearing at her face and her clothing. Not a second passed without the sound panting behind her. Snarls of fury laced with unimaginable pain seemed to come from right next to her. No longer a tempting lullaby to ease her worries. She could feel the hot air of the creature's judgement curling around her neck. Over the sounds of her desperate bid for freedom, it took an indefinite amount of time to realize there were no footsteps a part from hers. Despite this she had no illusions that she wasn't being pursued. She could feel the tremors from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
Safa ran until her breath rasped out of her chest. Until she knew only aches and a growing pain. It started as a burning at the tips of her fingers. She tried to put it out of her mind. She was so close. She had to be. When she could see a path it was only visible long enough for her to watch it become overgrown. The thought sank in that she may never see home. For the first time she understood the wide eyes, noses flaring, looks of those who wandered into Grayhaven unaware. Or chased by a threat that made whatever lay within a lesser evil they just might avoid.
With her will draining away. She become acutely aware of shooting pains in her arms. Spreading through her chest, burning across her abdomen, and digging its way into her thighs. She tried moving forward. Her movements as jerky as the creature's, its footsteps far too audible now.
Home. Get. Home.
Later she would worry of divine wrath but now, she would not be destroyed by what she'd created. She opened her ears to the earth's song. The music of all that grew sung for her. And Safa pulled it apart.
Finally!
A familiar path now lay before her. The pain grew until she could only focus on putting one foot before the other. Her movements growing stiffer, more unnatural every second. Flashes searing through her. Her sudden gasps were louder than she thought possible.
Still she walked on. The creature's breathing became faster. Its excitement clear even as its footsteps came to match Safa's. They continued this way until an unearthly scream ripped from her throat. At the same moment her skin began to bubble. Cracks ran the length of her body. Thorny sprouts unfurled, tearing as they spilled from her. Their weight pulled her down. The ends of their finger-like stems pierced the dirt. Safa's gargling screams as her body purged the last of the poisonous magic she'd summoned all those years ago.
Her eyes darted around. Seeking help she was unlikely to receive. As the woods around her faded, the clouds parted one final time. The last thing she ever saw was her cottage in disrepair. Its door hanging off the hinges in a crooked smile.
