Rhiannon - Child of Twilight
Chapter 7 - Page 1
The Chosen

Mab felt as if she had been climbing and crawling forever, a close darkness about her filled with the smells of damp earth, roots and humus. It was as if the earth might mean to swallow her, her dark hair clammy and clinging about her smudged, dirty face, her clothes close and torn. She began to find it difficult to breath as she wondered just how she could have gotten there. As no hint or perception came to her, she began to wonder, though she continued in her struggles, her limbs feeling more and more leaden.

Finally, she burst through like someone who might be clawing through a grave as she realized she was coming straight up through the earth. A burst of clear air filled her lungs and she gasped from it as she struggled for the ground above her. The sky was dark and nearly moonless, the branches of trees overhead thick and menacing as they crowded out the stars. Getting to her knees, dirt still caked upon her clothes, Mab gazed about in confusion. She had no perception or notion where she might be and she began to wonder of it. Was she awake? Could she be in some other realm, some other world? Silence moved itself about her like a cloak; no insects, no birdcalls, no frogs, not even the waft of a breeze. There seemed to be grasses on the ground and the smells of a forest met her as she gingerly stood in tentative awareness. Her feet were bare, her clothing sparse and tight around her, the type of clothes she usually might chose for weapon's practice. The soles of her feet were tough and could traverse most any but the cruelest of terrain when necessary, but as it was not her usual wont, she wondered on it, trying to make sense of it.

The forest was strangely dense with great massive trees that gave Mab the sense that they were watching her in silent study. A shiver of fear glistened down her spine as a bead of sweat framed her face along her temple and jaw. Her dark eyes tried to pierce some comprehension of the woods about her, but she felt none. Suddenly the call of an owl rang through her ears causing her to turn towards it, startled by its singularness in the airs.

Gazing about in this new direction, Mab caught the sight of quick, darting movement that flitted between the trees. A strange glow seemed to emit from it and after a moment, a certain sort of glazed and tingled laughter drifted to Mab from it. Frowning, Mab watched it for a bit, certain now she was not in any waking state.

Feeling a terrible draw to the movement, Mab decided to follow; it was better than simply standing as she was and she hoped might lead to something that made a little sense. The shimmering, glowing motion continued as Mab pursued as if it knew some path within the trees that led ever further into the forest's depths. The Eldritch could seem like this, she thought, but she knew that this was neither the Eldritch nor really anything that bordered it. At least she thought not. A dream, perhaps, thought the clarity surprised her if it was.

Continuing to pursue the glow in front of her, thoughts of Rhiannon began to press upon her mind and she squinted. Was it Rhiannon she saw in the gleaming, she wondered as she began to note a figure within it. Why would Rhiannon create this strange ethereal quest? The tree's branches grew more and more dense, their leaves thick and opaque until Mab could no longer see the sky and the only sense of any light was what she continued to trace.

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