Walking Through Death, Finding Hope

She moved through the woods carefully, slowly. She didn’t want IT to hear her. No. She wanted to avoid IT at all costs, but deep down she knew she couldn’t, no matter how stealthily she moved.

As she walked through the dense brush, leaves crunched, screaming out her position. The rustle of branches nearly summoned her feet to run. If only she knew another way, she could be safe. If only IT didn’t exist, the world would be right. If only the good spirit would come back… That was a lot of ifs, Amera laughed to herself. No point in dreaming of fantasies when she had to deal with reality.

Her fear did not control her though. It only made her more aware, more conscious of her surroundings. The decaying forest was not as “dead” as it was rumored. On the contrary, it seemed to be very alive. Tiny buds were forming on some branches. Rotting leaves hung on to their twisted vines, clinging to the last days of life and offering the forest some color. Seed heads bloomed, providing some form of “flower.” The trees were mostly bare, but there was elegance to them. They seemed to thrive almost, even when IT had tried to knock them down. The tenacity of life here was amazing. Amera could feel a hum of life just below the surface. There was a sense of magic underneath the death that felt almost like a premonition of good to come. At least she hoped it was good that she felt.

Amera kept making her way toward the village when she came upon a creek. She didn’t want to cross it. It had to be waist high she estimated, but she knew she had to keep moving. She needed to get to the village soon. There was a sick child waiting there for her. She was their only hope at healing the poor babe. So she moved forward cautiously. Once she stepped closer to the creek, she stopped abruptly. The ground rumbled and the water started to recede. Amera immediately pulled out her sword, ready to fight IT. But instead of something ghastly, she saw light and peace. It floated over the waters and appeared to make them into a trickle. Could this be the spirit of the legends? Could it have returned? She stood there wondering, feeling utterly alive and safe.

Spirit or lens flare? You decide, but this was not added to the photo. It was just there…

 

No words were spoken as the colorful apparition moved before her, but she felt goodness. She felt it comfort her. She descended down into the creek bed where the once waist-high water was merely enough to cover her toes. Moving quickly, Amera made her way through the crossing while the apparition remained before her, near a leaning tree. It was so pretty, so magical, she didn’t want to leave it. Amera knew enough about the legends though to respect it. Glancing about for a place to ascend the deep ditch, she simply thought thanks to the spirit and gave a little bow.

Once she was out of the ditch, the water came rushing back in. So suddenly it took her by surprise. In less than a few seconds the ditch was again a waist-high creek. Yes. The good spirit was back. IT would be defeated eventually…and soon, all would be right in the world again.

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This is a combination of two Daily Prompts. I wasn’t trying to do two prompts actually, but somehow I got them both jumbled in my head. I thought I needed to write about something that happened last week and end it with “all was right in the world.” When getting ready to link….I realized I had kind of merged the two prompts. Oh well. This was my fiction day and it kind of fits them both anyway. So double whammy prompts!

Write a post about any topic you wish, but make sure it ends with “And all was right in the world.”

Tell us about something that happened to you in real life last week — but write it in the style of a fairy tale.

To check out more photographs from my walk through the Buford Dam area, check out my photo blog post. (The link will not be active till on Tuesday Feb. 3rd though.)

UPDATE: I created a follow-up story in this post.

Then, I added a third part here.