Patchwork Universe

Astraeus · Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 7:33 am Post subject: Discovery And Departure

As the sun sank to its preferred position just below the horizon, the air cooled and Astraeus, lying on a fur spread on the forest floor, woke. He yawned deeply, grunted and scratched. Then, still half asleep, and still lying on his back, he scrabbled around with his hand for a jug of water. Finding it he lifted the vessel and upended it over his head, gasping at the cold splash of water.

Suddenly, completely awake, he leapt to his feet. "IO!!!" he bellowed joyfully at the top of his voice, "IO Pan!!!".

He stopped and hiccupped, then laughed at himself for it. Cheerfully he set off, loping across the hilltop, through the trees. As he passed one of the many small shrines that dotted the craggy terrain, he suddenly paused in his gallop. Downhill, to his left, was something most definitely out of the norm.

"Mist?"

There was never mist at this time of day. Haze yes but not mist. Haze in the fading light of the sun. Ah... dusk, with its intimate half-light, its arousing scents on the air... "Alooooh! IO!!!" he rejoiced at the ecstasy of life. Satisfied with this celebration, he began to trot on, before the mist caught his attention again.

"Mist?"

There was never mist at this time of day.

He moved hesitantly downhill, towards the shimmering wall. Also, mist wasn't normally like that. Not that he saw mist often, it only came in the mornings and he was seldom awake for that fleeting part of the day. Still, here was mist. Here. Now. He squatted close to it, and gazed along the curtain's length. It was very... what was the word? Abrupt. That was it. He grinned, pleased with the word. And it was such a very good word. Abrupt. Abruppity. Abrumpt. Abrumm. "Abrummmmmm! Abruuuuuummmmmmm!!!". He was pleased with the sound that made, and experimented with it for a while, changing the intonation and pitch, "Aaaaabrum! Abrrrrrrrrrum! IO! Abrummm! Abruuuuummmmmm!!!".

Eventually his attention returned to the wall of mist itself. The way it shimmered made it seem slightly shiny. Shiny was good. He liked shiny. He leaned close to it and sniffed profoundly. It didn't smell of anything very much. He reached out a hand, and it moved through the mist easily. He peered. Beyond the wall, it seemed he could glimpse buildings. Many buildings.

Without another thought, he leapt through.

[Astraeus moves to The Slums: A Beast In The Slums]