In Another Life I: Week One

by Bateman66

Over Open Sights

Alistair hugged tightly against the nearest tree branch as another deliberating wave of pain shot up through his left leg. Swallowing yet another cry of torment, he looked up towards the tree line to see how close he was from the top.

He could see thick beams of sunlight shooting out from large holes in the leafy forest canopy, a comforting sight that was no more than a few climbs away. Nodding at this, he reached above his head once more and continued moving.

Such had been the cycle for the past hour: climb, stop, climb, stop. He’d wanted to just charge through the entire endeavor, throw his own comfort to the wind and just be done with this agonizing climb to hell. But the sheer scope of the bloody and splintering pain from his mangled leg tarnished any possibility of portraying a stoic action hero, and thus, he had to rest.

If he’d known how far the fall was from the drop off, he would’ve thought twice about jumping off it earlier as the strange creatures chased him with their scepters of light. But, at the time his primary goal was escape, which, he had achieved.

Alistair could see the light getting closer and smiled to know that his journey was nearly complete. Climbing atop another branch, his head pierced through the last layer of leaves and branches, and he could finally see the sun shine warmly down upon him.

He looked around for a suitable place to rest, and after seeing the top of a tree that too break through the canopy, while still offering some branches to sit upon, he carefully moved towards it.

His leg bit at him fiercely, but he tried his best to ignore its command of halting until he reached the towering perch. Approaching it without much grace, he propped himself down on a thick looking arm and swung his wounded leg in front of himself to finally examine it in the proper light. It did not look good.

A thick patch of crusted blood had dried up along the front of his left shin, formerly seeping from several wounds that were visible past the torn regions of his muddy trouser leg. Although that specific region of his limb did not feel internally damaged or harmed, his ankle did.

The appendage reeked with pain, shaking him so bad that he did not even wish to consider removing his fur shoes to see what damage had been done. The bones seemed to crunch and slide whenever he took a step, and it was his own shaky will that kept him from collapsing all together and fading into unconsciousness. Instead, he looked at it with a worried disposition as panic began to set in.

That was the last thing he’d ever wanted to occur, falling victim to shock and just loosing control all together. He hadn’t experienced any of the tell tale signs such as blurred vision or hyperventilation, but if they ever did decide to set in at whatever inconvenient time they chose, he was not sure he had any method to fight against them.

It was apparent to him that he had no proper way to treat any of these maladies, especially the ankle. And the hostile reaction he’d gotten from the inhabitants of the area seemed to discard any hope of pity on their part. The group he’d encountered seemed intent on running him out of the section of the forest he was in, clearly wanting the safety of the sweet apple trees to themselves.

“Monsters,” he spat aloud, feeling unjustly treated for a spot he’d clearly claimed first. The creatures that took it from him were obviously not above violence to get their way and would have probably murdered him if it hadn’t been for his narrow escape. One could only imagine what the violent brutes were capable of.

Something did perturb him about the locals, however, something he hadn’t been expecting from such a violent and primitive species: they seemed to speak in a similar manner to his own, with even the loud interjecting statements from the orange beast (who’d been the closest to him during the chase) making clear sense to his mind. Strange.

As if a similar form of communication was at all possible between such differing animals, one clearly more intelligent than the other. He’d suspected that the creatures of Solitude spoke some sort of incomprehensible dialect, at least the ones that looked similar. But the ability of him alone and the native beasts to easily understand each other did not make sense one bit.

He’d never considered himself much of a linguist, but it was simple logic that a bird could not comprehend a squirrel, or that a flower could comprehend a tree. They were too different, with their similarities being drastically outweighed by their divergence. Was such a thing really possible in where he found himself?

Suddenly, to break his pondering concentration, a loud squealing pop shot off from a distance away, followed by an encompassing echo that travelled far past him. Turning towards the noise, something large and colorful came into focus past the large stretching canopy of the trees, something that loomed extensively across the horizon not seeming to end no matter how far it went.

It was a large sprawling mass, nearly as long as a small canyon but as flat as the surrounding plain encircling it. Angular structures covered the most of its scope, with bright cream colored pathways filling in the spaces between them. Tiny pockets of green dotted the unfilled areas, which Alistair could only assume was some sort of deliberate landscaping.

Many of the structures within the sprawl looked alike, with yellow thatch roofs and wooden outer supports. Most of them were variations upon one another, some short and wide, while others were skinny and tall. And even with that, certain structures completely disregarded the established medium, and looked entirely different from everything else.

One was a circular disk-like spire that seemed to twist and curve itself upwards, compressing itself the higher it got, until it reached out towards the sky in a single upwards point. Another was a distorted pink structure with several bits of the outside facade pointing outwards asymmetrically, with a coarse brown roof atop it that seemed to emulate something that was not a roof at all. What is was Alistair did not know, but something told him it was sweet.

Needless to say, he’d never seen such forms of architecture before; the only building he ever saw prior was the small shack he dealt within the Realm of Solitude. But this, this massive settlement before him, was something else, beyond his comprehension.

It looked so civilized, so carefully considered. Not too close to the forest, on flat land, well spaced apart buildings, its construction as a whole was clearly planned out prior. And even despite its layout, the buildings looked so charming all on their own, each with colorful outer designs that did not mimic one another but had a visual similarity. Everything was different, yet still part of the same system.

He gaped out toward the city for quite some time, his eyes searching and staring upon anything they wished, as he twinkled with a light he hadn’t felt since the torrential winds quite literally ripped his homeworld apart. Time did not seem to exist where he sat, giving him eternity to stare upon the alien and astonishing place so far away.

But, as time progressed, the business with his leg slowly creeped back into his mind, reminding him with a few moans of pain that it was not healing itself anytime soon.

He needed medical attention, preferably soon, and preferably in safety. But he did not have any necessary tools to do this and interaction with the denizens of the region presented itself as a poor idea. He looked out toward the sprawl with questions in his mind, but quickly had them answered.

Out towards the edge of the settlement, where smaller pockets of constructs dwelt, another unique building set apart from the rest. It, at first glance, appeared to be a larger than normal tree, awkwardly sitting aloof from any other flora its size. But upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a dwelling of some sort, with windows along its sides and a door placed on its lower center.

The dwelling’s unique appearance set it apart from the surrounding structures and seemed to elevate its importance above those around it. If this importance was true, what lay inside the odd dwelling? A leader? Treasure? Something else?

The possibilities seemed endless, especially since he had no point of reference to go off of. Needless to say, if something valuable was inside the building’s chambers, would it be the supplies he needed? It seemed as good as any to search for necessities, necessities he desperately needed and wanted.

Water and cloth that was all he required. Water for cleaning, cloth for wrapping. He’d experienced his fair share of minor injuries in Solitude, giving him some aptitude when it came to jury-rigged medical treatment. He was thankful his current maladies weren’t a compound fracture or a touch of tuberculosis, two misfortunes he had no knowledge of dealing with and would both most likely end with his premature demise.

Looking back across the settlement, he identified certain roads and pathways that led to the tree home, plotting out which way would be the simplest from his position within the forest. Making a mental note of the region one last time, he peered up towards the sky and scanned for anything else that may hinder him.

Unfortunately, he could see fat gray clouds approaching from the east, moving like squat airships towards the sprawl at a snail’s pace. He could not tell when they’d precisely reach the area, but he cursed his luck anyway for further complicating his already dire situation.

Slipping down the branch he sat upon, he edged himself back into the canopy shield, and slowly descended back to the ground, moving tree by tree at a hurried pace.