Post by Big Homunculus on Jul 7, 2020 7:25:05 GMT -5
In the middle of dense woodland, a tall fence made of tree trunks and tightly wound with vines and rope cuts through the forrest. Neither its beginning nor its end are in sight. Trunk after trunk after trunk until the structure is interrupted by a gate.
The gate is open and behind it are elder pygmies who look at something behind the gate and cast a signal. A clunking sound and the gate slowly closes, the wood creaking until the structure has closed itself off from the outside world.
Now there is just silence, and the descending sun casts long shadows from the tall trees. Dwarfed by his surroundings stands a gangly being, too tall to be a pygmy but too short to be an adult, staring at the indomitable gate in front of him. It used to keep the boy safe from all the dastardly things the outside had to offer, now he is the outside.
He turns and looks into the endless darkness of the forrest. He can see nothing but the nothing never ends.
There is a section of the great fence, some distance from where the boy was stood, that has a distinct quality; a raised texture that subtly sets it apart from the rest of the fence. One square meter of fence out of the vast, untouchable structure. The boy approaches it and runs his fingers around the raised texture before digging a grubby finger nail into the wood and easing the section out. He's clearly very familiar with what's inside the fence. Now he's found his gap in the fence, he crawls in and crouches behind a hut. The boy's nostrils flare and he peaks inside the hut to see a family of pygmies devouring a roast boar. The boy licks his lips but moves on.
The next hut he crouches behind has no window spaces, he runs his fingers along the wooden pieces that make up the hut's wall and counts 11 slats from the left of the wall then thumps his fist against the slat and it opens, revealing the hut to be a pantry, rich with cured meats. The boy finds a sack and fills it with foods before slipping out of the hut and leaving his sack of stolen sirloin and such by his entry hole. It's good to find food, but this isn't what he came for.
Across from the huts he's hidden behind are another group of huts, and in the space between are two armed pygmies. They speak in a language familiar to the boy until they hear an ear splitting squark and see a chicken sprinting across a path some meters in front of them. They move down the path to investigate and the boy fleet-footedly scampers across the clearing towards the other group of huts. Once there, he sneaks around the back of a hut where pygmy chatter can be heard. He recognises their voices but feels nothing, they're not what he's looking for.
Attached to the hut is a smaller hut and the boy eases the door open and peers into the shadows. What he sees inside, on a comfy looking, tightly packed bed of hey and feathers, is a scruffy mongrel dog with speckled white and tan fur. It sleeps silently.
The boy remembers the sight of the dog's face when he held a stick up for it, eyes lit up, tongue and ears flopping around then sprinting away when he fakes throwing the stick. Then he remembers the endless darkness of the forrest and takes a look at the sleeping, peaceful dog and slowly closes the door to his little hut. The dog briefly stirs as the door closes, but quickly goes back to sleep.
The boy is back where he started, staring at the closed gate with a sack of meat over his shoulder. The sun has fallen completely and he has only a slightly yellow glow in front of him from the torches mounted on the great gate.
The boy turns and looks into the nothing that awaits him.
He takes a breath and walks into the heart of darkness.
The gate is open and behind it are elder pygmies who look at something behind the gate and cast a signal. A clunking sound and the gate slowly closes, the wood creaking until the structure has closed itself off from the outside world.
Now there is just silence, and the descending sun casts long shadows from the tall trees. Dwarfed by his surroundings stands a gangly being, too tall to be a pygmy but too short to be an adult, staring at the indomitable gate in front of him. It used to keep the boy safe from all the dastardly things the outside had to offer, now he is the outside.
He turns and looks into the endless darkness of the forrest. He can see nothing but the nothing never ends.
There is a section of the great fence, some distance from where the boy was stood, that has a distinct quality; a raised texture that subtly sets it apart from the rest of the fence. One square meter of fence out of the vast, untouchable structure. The boy approaches it and runs his fingers around the raised texture before digging a grubby finger nail into the wood and easing the section out. He's clearly very familiar with what's inside the fence. Now he's found his gap in the fence, he crawls in and crouches behind a hut. The boy's nostrils flare and he peaks inside the hut to see a family of pygmies devouring a roast boar. The boy licks his lips but moves on.
The next hut he crouches behind has no window spaces, he runs his fingers along the wooden pieces that make up the hut's wall and counts 11 slats from the left of the wall then thumps his fist against the slat and it opens, revealing the hut to be a pantry, rich with cured meats. The boy finds a sack and fills it with foods before slipping out of the hut and leaving his sack of stolen sirloin and such by his entry hole. It's good to find food, but this isn't what he came for.
Across from the huts he's hidden behind are another group of huts, and in the space between are two armed pygmies. They speak in a language familiar to the boy until they hear an ear splitting squark and see a chicken sprinting across a path some meters in front of them. They move down the path to investigate and the boy fleet-footedly scampers across the clearing towards the other group of huts. Once there, he sneaks around the back of a hut where pygmy chatter can be heard. He recognises their voices but feels nothing, they're not what he's looking for.
Attached to the hut is a smaller hut and the boy eases the door open and peers into the shadows. What he sees inside, on a comfy looking, tightly packed bed of hey and feathers, is a scruffy mongrel dog with speckled white and tan fur. It sleeps silently.
The boy remembers the sight of the dog's face when he held a stick up for it, eyes lit up, tongue and ears flopping around then sprinting away when he fakes throwing the stick. Then he remembers the endless darkness of the forrest and takes a look at the sleeping, peaceful dog and slowly closes the door to his little hut. The dog briefly stirs as the door closes, but quickly goes back to sleep.
The boy is back where he started, staring at the closed gate with a sack of meat over his shoulder. The sun has fallen completely and he has only a slightly yellow glow in front of him from the torches mounted on the great gate.
The boy turns and looks into the nothing that awaits him.
He takes a breath and walks into the heart of darkness.