With a shout and a swoop, our courageous heroes flung themselves to the wind, their hearts filled with adventure and their eyes set on the star beyond the mountain! To those who watched from the edge of Heron, they were brave and magnificent as they disappeared below the clouds, silhouetted by the sun. Fortunately, that was the last the villagers saw of our heroes; not moments later the intrepid explorers discovered that the wind currents and updrafts on the surface were far different from those on the island. Crash! Clatter! Skid! Bang! They found themselves on the sun-dappled ground, surrounded by green and flowers, warbling birds, creaking toads and trees like castles. Deep among the shimmering green echoed the tonk clunk clonk of hollow wood. It was a peaceful, warm, brightly colored, sweet-smelling, utterly uneventful place to be stuck in.
The trees here were enormous in girth and in stature, nothing like the spindly scraggles back home: they towered, and their boughs blocked out most of the light, cooling the bright forest into a deeper green. Dapples of sunlight still peeked through, and here and there shone a misty shaft of sunlight, illuminating a patch of wide fanned weeds or a few saplings in a clearing. Bright flowers, the whistling conversation of birds and the occasional glimmer of a butterfly added cheer to the quiet, wild shadows.
Something sparked softly in the weeds. A firefly? It was too bright, too consistent to be a firefly. A tiny ball of light drifted and swerved lazily among tall grasses. Another one glimmered to the side -- then another, bouncing along on the air, gently illuminating the trees. A dozen quiet little balls of light appeared in all directions, floating and swirling and bouncing toward the spot where the travelers were gathered, like moths attracted to a flame.
At the same time, the travelers would begin to feel the effects of the very new environment they now found themselves in. The damp air around them brimmed with an electric energy like the tension before a thunderstorm -- but the sky was blue and clear above the rustling canopy.
The longer they stayed here, the more the forest's energy would affect them -- these travelers who were born and raised so far from the effects of magic, who had no defenses or immunities against the invisible saturation of raw power.
First, the skin tingled and hair stood on-end, electrified. After awhile, headaches would follow -- a dull throb at first, nausea and vertigo, to develop into a splitting and blinding pain within an hour.
Then, after a couple hours of a nauseous blind migraine, the magic of the forest -- seeping deeper into their undeveloped bodies -- would squeeze their hearts.
This was why no one returned from the forest.
For the villagers of the island-in-the-sky, simply standing still on the quiet forest floor was a sentence of death.
Sera, Blin, Nikki, Blank
He opened his eyes, the sky was clear and bright and he vaugely remembered bending his kness as he landed before tumbling. he tried little movements and actually felt pretty fine, a few small aches was all. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.
Nikki let her glider fold shut and approached, eyes widening. Was he -- asleep? No way, he’d /just/ been awake. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” she called, shaking him. “You okay? Still in one piece? That was a pretty good job, considering it was your first time.”
The maneuver almost gave him whiplash, but it had slowed him down enough that he could safely jump off to the ground while his glider careened wildly off into a tree. He looked sadly at the ruined mess for a second, then turned to the other three in the clearing with him. "So," he said conversationally, as if nearly crashing was commonplace. Hanging out with Nikki all the time, it really was after all. "What now?"
When Sera's feet touched the ground, they buckled underneath her, undeniably little, weight and she flopped into the slightly wet grass face first. She mumbled a "Uhhhhgh!" into the grass before turning herself around and staring at the sky.
@PyroDash888@Tombprince@shylarah@chukklehed
A little bright ball of light scooted along the ground, floated up, and landed gentle as a feather on Blin's nose as he daydreamed. Whatever effects the forest's magic had been having on him slowly faded, and the little light grew brighter as he breathed. Should he open his eyes, he might catch a glimpse of an ethereal serpentine figure and slitted eyes looking back at him -- but perhaps he was still dreaming.
A gleaming light floated like cotton down out of a tree, swirling down over Sera's head. If she captured it or let it touch her skin, the pain and nausea of the forest would slowly dissipate -- the light would grow brighter, and to her own sight it seemed to imitate an ethereal and translucent fire.
Blank and Nikki, by this time, would feel deeply the damaging effects of the stifling energy all around them. It pressed all around them, threatened to throw them to their knees.
A bright ball of light shot out of a bush and stuck itself to the side of Nikki's face like a burr. The pain very slowly began to lessen while the light brightened, as if it were sucking out the dangerous levels of magic. She might catch a glimpse of feathers in her peripheral vision.
Another ball of light swirled around Blank's ankle, then floated up into his palm. While his pain slowly dissipated, he might glimpse a glimmering furry shape under his hand -- but then it was gone.
The other lights faded back into the forest and buried themselves in the ground.
The sound of knocking hollow wood was much louder now.
BOOMA section of the trees suddenly shattered in an explosion of wood and torn leaves; a small boulder -- sharp and mossy -- shot like a cannonball out of the shadows and dropped fast toward the spot where Blin was lying in the grass.
Eli, Thema
Upon noticing one small patch of clear ground, thankfully in front of him, pushed his glider slightly downwards. Two minutes later, his feet were on the ground, the tip of his glider impaled into the ground. "What now?" he scratched the back of his head.
@LostBrotherGrimm@Pacha
The forest's energy pressed in on them, threatened to squeeze their skulls and their hearts til there was nothing left.
A bright ball of light drifted through the air and swung gently around Thema's head before it came to rest on her shoulder, like a little bird that had decided to take a rest. The pain very slowly dissipated from her head and her chest, and the little light grew brighter.
Another light burrowed among the grasses toward Eli's foot, then drifted straight up as if attracted to him like a magnet; it attached itself to his forearm, light and airy, and slowly he would feel a relief from the effects of the forest.
The sound of hollow wood was getting closer.
"Kyyyaaaaaaaaa!"Something brown and pudgy skittered out from under a curtained leaf and tumbled frantically toward them. It was only a foot tall, and it looked like a mushroom dressed in tribal paint and feathers.
"Oh no oh no oh no oh noooooo! Abandon mission! Move! Run! Amscray!"The little thing gave a leap and attempted to burrow itself into Thema's bag, digging out supplies to make room for itself to hide.
Gaius, Lee, Rahna
"Are you alright?!" Rahna called as she rushed over to Lee. She could see that Lee was injured, hopefully not too seriously, but she was trembling and it didn't look like she could use her legs. Most likely shock. "Please calm down, take some deep breaths.. Don't worry, I'm here to help you."
"No, stop. Don-Don't touch me!" Lee's words sounded like they came from far away and from someone else, the attempt to come off as threatening warping into a plea as she tried to move away in vain.
"Lee!" He rasped, making his way over to where Rahna had already begun to assist his short-term passenger. "Rahna-" Gaius stopped at the edge of the forest clearing and glanced at Lee's desperate attempt to escape Rahna's aid.
@tex@Acromantula@Rekaigan
The shadowed forest seemed entirely unconcerned with the plight of the stranded travelers. The trees muffled Lee's screams, and the air around them pressed in on their skulls and their chests with its deadly energy.
After awhile, a little ball of light floated quietly through the grass, drifted up and nestled itself in Gaius' exposed hair. Though his injuries sustained from the crash remained, the pressure in his skull was lessened and the nausea dissipated. At least he could breathe again.
Another ball of light swirled over Rahna's head and finally came to rest against the side of her neck. The pain caused by the forest's energy was very slowly sucked away while the little light glowed brighter. In the corner of her eye she might make out the dim shape of something furred -- mossy? -- curled around her shoulders.
A third light peeked out of the ground, then jumped and attached itself to Lee's forehead. Immediately it began to glow brightly; the pressure and the nausea of the forest's energy dissipated -- as well as the memories that crippled her. The little light absorbed them all, glowing brighter and brighter. Even Rahna and Gaius might see the ghostly, serpentine shape that draped itself behind Lee's neck. Catlike eyes stared into Lee's face.
WHAMSomething big shot suddenly out of the trees and landed hard, frighteningly close to Rahna and Lee. It was white as bone, feathered and spotted. It rose up on its long legs and raised its skull-like head; the thing was willowy like a heron and stood as tall and menacing as Gaius. its bony limbs clunked when it moved, with a hollow sound like wooden chimes.
