[center][h2][b]Unexpected Company[/b][/h2][/center] The rain was falling hard. She'd just been out in the thick of it, but here there seemed to be some relief. The driving downpour died down to a patter under the stand of dense trees she sheltered in. Listening to the storm, feeling the soft drops falling from canopy’s leaves, it was enough to make her reflect on things, her situation, and consider that if she was going to die, this wasn’t the worst place. At the thought she looked down. The wound was still there. It didn’t look worse, but she'd noticed her vision blurring. She leaned against a tree, and before she knew it she was sitting down, not even minding the damp moss around the trunk soaking her pants further. By now, she imagined it didn’t matter. Her head lolled to the side, so she could see the trail she’d left. Blood. It was being washed away, even here under the trees, but it was there. It would lead the thing to her. To this place, where it was already pooling around her. She should have been more worried about that but, well, she wasn’t worried about much right now. The pain was nothing but a dull afterthought, even though the beast had claimed a solid chunk of her thigh. She was too cold to feel it much. To feel anything much. To think, too much. The storm had chilled her, but not like this. It hadn’t left her without the energy to shiver. She didn’t want to die. She wanted to cry out, pray, or even just cry. It was too late, though. It wouldn’t be much longer now. There wasn’t a thing in existence watching her now, except for that which was likely to eat her when she drifted off. Her eyes fluttered, and for a second a wave of panic took her. [i]She didn’t want to die.[/i] Again though, it was too late. Even the fear faded. She felt herself fade with it. She’d started to notice, now, that there was something there, in the space between life and death. She felt a pull, a knowing tug, towards something new, something else. She just had to let go. She didn’t want to. How long had she been here now? It felt like a lifetime. Longer. Why was she so afraid? She’d been here so long, now. Maybe it was time to go. Maybe it would be better if she stopped fighting- [color=7070db]“Mmm, no, I don’t think so.”[/color] She blinked, and even the effort of that weighed on her. Was she losing track of her own thoughts? It made sense. It had to be that- [color=7070db]“No, not that either. And don’t go guessing, please, you’re hardly in a state for it. You’re dying, you know?”[/color] That was obvious. [color=7070db]“Well, no need to be rude. It’s not like you [i]are[/i] going to die.”[/color] She wasn’t? That didn’t make sense. She wasn’t just dying, she could feel it, something had happened. Oh. She wasn’t breathing. She was dead. [color=7070db]“Not quite, but I did need to wait until now to, ah, there we are.”[/color] She felt the pull vanish, and something replace it. A warmth. A closeness. Without thinking to do so she heaved a massive breath, and then collapsed coughing. She was alive? That was, that wasn’t possible. The woman felt at her leg, at the gaping chunk of flesh she’d lost, and found only a long jagged scar. As if her flesh had been returned to her, and fused to what remained. The voice spoke again. [color=7070db]“Not precisely, but close enough. You’ll never learn if you don't have something to remember these things by, you know? Now, Amerra, would you care to guess what I am? Am I the madness that’s been festering in your mind, after all these years alone?”[/color] Amerra felt at her leg with wonder, and she looked everywhere, up, down, all around her. She saw nothing. Heard only the rain. She swallowed hard, throat dry from the experience of dying, “Are you a Skywalker? One of the creators?” [color=7070db]“Yes, and no!”[/color] The voice was cheerful as it explained, [color=7070db]“You see Amerra, there was a time before the Skywalkers existed. Well, most of them in any case. Just as your people are born, so were they! Albeit, under somewhat less messy circumstances. So, as it happens, I am a Skywalker! But, as I've just been born I can’t profess to be your or anyone's creator.”[/color] That was beyond impossible. It was a blasphemy of the highest order. The Skywalkers had always been, from the very start, they had watched her people forever! Nevertheless, what was there to say against the truth of her own eyes? Amerra tried to speak a question, tried to say anything at all, but the shock muted her. The voice didn’t seem to mind, [color=7070db]“A good point there, blasphemy is it? Funny, how the others are so loathe to share. Well then, best keep this between you, me, and the family then.”[/color] The family? Her father was a priest of Avend- [color=7070db]“Not yours, obviously.”[/color] The voice interrupted, [color=7070db]“I mean [i]our[/i] family Amerra. The ones who risk everything, just to see more than anyone else. Your brothers and sisters. My Explorers.”[/color] Ah. So that was the Skywalker that had found her. Or maybe the one that had just been born here. Amerra didn’t care, she was alive. Better than alive, the longer the voice spoke the stronger she felt, the clearer her vision became. Soon she could hear the croaking of frogs in the rain, the rustling of leaves above as winds whipped the forest’s cap. She asked the question, “What did you do to me?” [color=7070db]“Pull you back from death?”[/color] The voice joked, [color=7070db]“Or do you mean, the rest of it? Nothing bad, I assure you, but I won’t be spoiling the surprise.”[/color] The voice paused, and Amerra heard the crunch of a heavy footfall from just beyond the trees. When it spoke again, it was with some urgency, [color=7070db]“And it seems we have a guest. One you expected, if I recall. Try not to die?”[/color] It was unceremonious, but it was all she needed to hear to know the Skywalker had gone from this place. The warmth faded, but she felt the forest all around her. Saw the world through the trees. This time, she wouldn’t get caught. [hider=summary and mp] A woman, Amerra, is dying far from everyone else. As her blood runs into the ground a voice speaks to her, and before we know it she has another lease on life! [Nature's Sense II] Amerra has been made into a hero and granted the power to sense the world through the nature around her. It is not a perfect sense, and only extends a hundred meters or so, but it will make it nigh impossible for her to be ambushed so long as she remains in the wilds. -2mp[/hider]