Luvena
She had walked through many forests. Lands of willow, and lands of canopies so thick every hour of the day was shrouded in darkness. But this was new. Flowers of every color draped themselves over and across webs of vine. Water dripped off leaves, forming pools on the forest floor. Bugs filtered between leaves. It was the birdsong that was most enchanting. Calls she had never heard before, echoing about them.
This trip had come later than she hoped. After she’d pushed herself through the waters behind the mountain portal. She’d needed a few days to recover before her legs were no longer aching. The rasp behind her breath lingered. But eventually she found herself once again in that strange clearing. Looking around at the 3 portals she hadn’t yet touched, her eye quickly drawn to the dew dropped leaves on the other side of the cave opening.
It was the perfect canopy for Picoro, the algae on his back matching that of the trees, the branches intertwining into the perfect jungle gym. Yet he only watched them longingly, his grip in her mane tightening. “Why don't you... “ she hesitated, the words hanging between them. She cleared her throat, attempting to rid herself of the persistent hoarseness that seemed to be striking around “Why don’t you go explore?”
She got nothing in response, but a turn of the head, and she let a sad sigh escape her lips.
She wondered if she would encounter the same things here she had behind the other portals. She was still trying to figure out how they were all connected, why all the portals seemed to be so different, and yet they all felt the same. Perhaps these were all regions of the same land? Or maybe they really were just random pins in a map, that the portals had attached themselves to at random. Sucking in any passersby who couldn’t resist the temptation, just like herself.
Table © Camy