Sunflower - Chapter 16 (Patreon)

Tell me, Burch, why is it that you seek paradise?

We wander, traveling across the meadows and through the forests and over the hills of the world, west of the great-water.

The landscape here is akin to the landscape from our side of the world, but it is different.

The grasses, green, have a somewhat bluer shade than the green grasses from our home. The hills, rolling, are somewhat denser and more abundant than the hills from our home. The birds, the insects, the flowers are all of resplendent colors, vibrant and joyful, yet they are different colors and hues than of those from our home.

Even the air tastes sweeter and less of smoke here, on this side of the great-water.

Only Burch and I remain the same.

Here, it is not the world that is a different thing, but rather, it is us.

- We are the different things.

But that is fine.

[Sunflower]

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP

EXP: 31/310

EXP (Burch): 41/160

After all, things that are different are more interesting to look at.

- Grass is amazing, but I do not spare much sight for grass.

A unique flower, however, a strange tree, a crooked expression on my friend’s face, these are the things that capture my vision and attention and memory.

These thoughts all bring me to wonder, why do we seek paradise?

What uniqueness, what colors, what magnificent splendor does paradise have to offer that this world out here does not?

I can not say, I am just a sunflower.

But it must be worth it, for us to be going there.

We wander for a day and then some days more and while I am unsure if we ever really get closer to where the sun sets, I do enjoy the time.

We see many things. We see a big bird, the size of Burch. We see a crooked log that is twisted like a snake. We see a skeleton of some creature, larger than any I have ever seen before, as we walk through it, as if it were a cave.

We see many fantastic things and continue onward to hopefully see many more.

_______________________________________________________________

A buck stands before us.

I think it is a deer, but I am not sure.

I don’t feel like I have ever seen a deer before.

Hmm… this is most curious.

We crouch low, staring out through the bushes towards the creature, tall and strong, grazing on the grasses of the deep field, hidden away inside of the heart of a lush forest.

It stands proud on four hooved legs, thin, but extremely muscular. Its head hangs low as it eats of the grasses.

Adorning its crown is a massive jumble of antlers that reminds me of a knotted, thorny bramble, akin to the one we had to crawl through to get here.

Burch pulls out some of the brambles from her own long hair, which is covered in forestry, loose twigs and old foliage that has gotten stuck in its unkempt, brown mass.

The bramble-deer turns its head, seeing us and everything seems to stop in a most breathtaking moment of natural splendor.

Rays of sunlight, golden, fall down from the sky, painting the forest clearing with an auburn glow. The air is peaceful and clean. The birds sing and it is warm, it is good.

The bramble-dear, a ton and then some of muscled meat, charges towards us.

Burch lets out a fearful noise and retreats back into the thicket, quickly climbing up a tree with a speed that I was unaware of her possessing.

I find this most humorous.

Calmly, I ‘laugh’.

- As far as a sunflower can, at least.

How odd.

The bramble-deer reaches the base of the tree that we have climbed up and stares towards Burch with wild eyes, pulling its hooves through the forest soil in a display of dominance and territorial aggression.

Burch sits on the branch and fusses in a way that brings me nostalgic joy. I have not heard her speak like this since her cart broke down on the day we met.

My friend lifts her hand and uses her magic, for the first time since that night by the village.

(Burch) used: [Minor Pulse]

Applied Status [Disoriented] to (Deepwood Moose)

A wave of disturbed air shoots out from her dirty palm, covered in scratches and crumbles of tree-bark. Far more than I recall her being capable of.

My leaves blow back, along with my head, flopping somewhat to the side from the force, which is akin to a surprising strong gale.

The bramble-deer lets out a deep, tonal cry in surprise and falls to its knees, before scrambling and running away in fear, in a speed and candor most unbefitting of its strong, proud majesty.

 Burch breaks a stick from the tree and throws it after the creature, continuing to fuss and to swear.

I enjoy the scene.

My friend is very full of life. The look in her eyes reminds me of fire.

I find it very pleasing to see.

_______________________________________________________________

- How unusual.

A day and then three more have passed. Burch and I have fed off of the light of the sun, the two of us growing fat and bountiful.

She also has partaken of the harvested meat that she stole days before. It is covered in soil from sharing the bag with me, but she seems to prefer it to starving.

However, the unusual thing is this.

We have wandered for many days, until we found a beautiful river.

Then, for a time more, we had followed it.

Until, eventually, we found something nostalgic.

- A boat.

It is crude and ugly and, sitting not far from it, are not-birds.

Wow.

I never knew that not-birds could travel this far?

Amazing.

Are they migratory, like real birds are?

Or have they come here, seeking my friend? Their hunt is truly a long one.

Burch looks towards me and I know what she asks just from the puzzle present in her eyes. After all, we are friends.

I do find it rather bothersome, honestly. But, I suppose that if nothing else, I have become more willing to be energetic and outgoing over the course of our adventure.

Friendship has made me careless and wild. I have become reckless in my youth.

- I am an extroverted sunflower.

Very well.

But only because we are friends and because I enjoy this.

She covers her mouth and nose with her loose bark.

(Sunflower) has started channeling: [Hard Water]

Channeling Time: {6} Seconds

SOUL: 10/13

A word-wood appears and Burch breaks free from our hiding spot. The not-birds look at us in surprise and, after a moment of consideration, snarl and jump to their feet.

(Burch) used: [Minor Pulse]

Applied Status [Disoriented] to (Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin Scout)(Hobgoblin Archer)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin Shaman)

All five not-birds, standing where she had aimed her hand, sway in different directions, pushed out of their natural orientation by the force of her magic.

(Sunflower) used: [Hard Water]

The ground quakes and the creatures fall over, falling to the ground. Burch adjusts her bark and I release my pollen.

(Sunflower) used: [Heavy Pollen]

Yellow dust flies out all around us and the five creatures, struggling to get up off of the ground, breathing frantically, suddenly grow limp or fall asleep, except for one, who seems to go wild and begins clawing around at the dirt, himself and the others like a rabid creature.

Applied Status [Sleep] to (Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin Scout)(Hobgoblin Archer)

Applied Status [Lethargy] to (Hobgoblin)

Applied Status [Delirium] to (Hobgoblin Shaman)

She waits for a moment for the last of the pollen to hit the ground and then lowers the bark that was obscuring her face.

Setting me down, she grabs the fallen stinger of one of the not-birds and sets to work, cutting and stabbing them as they lay there without the ability to respond to her attacks.

I listen to the slickly wet squelching and cutting, watching her lift her arm over and over again as she stabs into the soft meat of the things that hunt us. Red flies everywhere, glistening as it moves through the air, red lands on her face, on her hands, red lands on me and on the grasses around us both.

I watch in confused fascination as she kills them.

This time, unlike the last time that we had found ourselves in such a situation, she does not scream.

Burch is a silent creature and she does not cry, nor howl, nor flail.

She just quietly stabs and cuts and maims until nothing else is left alive besides the two of us.

- And I find that very considerate of her.

She comes to a rest eventually, after the clearing around us both is soaked in blood. She is soaked in blood, the grass is soaked in blood, as am I.

Burch sits next to me and I sit to next to her and the two of us, red as we are together, lift our gazes towards the sun, which smiles warmly above our heads. Its kind glow piercing through the damp goo, covering our exteriors.

It may sound like a strange thing for a sunflower to think -

But I rather like it, how both of us are red right now. It makes me feel like we are of the same ilk and litter and kin.

- Perhaps we already are.

Just not in a physical way, as of the bindings of the natural world.

Our bond, it’s just different, in a way that I, as a sunflower, can not explain.

Wow.

I never knew that feelings could be so complicated.

- Fantastic.

A ‘hobgoblin’ lets out a wet splutter, apparently not fully dead. Blood leaks from its slashed throat as its fingers twitch.

Ah.

(Sunflower) used: [Bloodmeal]

My roots crawl up from the soil, entering the creature’s screaming face through its mouth to silence it for good.

My friend, grateful for my contribution, leans her wet head to the side to rest against my stem.

She is warm.

It feels good.

The fight is over.

(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin Scout)(Hobgoblin Archer)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin Shaman) have died.

+ 48 EXP

EXP: 79/310

EXP (Burch): 89/160

Killing things with my friend makes me happy. I wonder; how could paradise be better than this?