The Windigo

by -Hidden Identity-

18

Day 18:
As much as I would love to stay here in this lost city, my true home awaits. I am spending the morning here, however. Some food, water, and then I will once again set out into the forest. I feel that my journey is coming to an end. It has been a very long trip, and I am given new strength by the thought that I am almost finished with this nightmare; that I am almost awake. The sunlight pours into this place, collecting in pools of pure light on the leaves and in the corners. No shadow hides here. Before I leave, I will go to ensure that my final resting place is properly marked, open, and ready for the day when it will be used. I can think of no better place to be laid to rest, inside the forest that I lost my friends, but in a haven of safety. Perhaps if I am laid to rest in this forest, I will be able to join my friends on that day. Funny, is it strange to both look forward to and dread the day on which you breath your last? The sun is up, and I must be going soon. I will check my grave, and then press on.

That would figure. This natural temple and its hidden city is a treasure, a treasure locked away from the world. For every treasure that is hidden or guarded, something must always try to steal it. Now it seeks to rob me of my final wish. Upon every headstone, save mine, the word is written. Windigo. Windigo. The name is not splashed upon it as mine is, no, it is carved into the rock. Immortalized in stone, so the world must always know its name, and I must always be surrounded by it. You cannot enter the city, but the graveyard is your domain. Your attempt to secure this from me will not hold through though, I will have my final wish.

I have left the lost city, the walls of that natural temple disappearing behind me. It is much darker in the forest, as I expected. The trees still seem healthier than in the Outer Centre, and certainly more alive than in the Briar Sanctum. I would be willing to bet that the moment I reentered the woods that the Windigo started following me again, waiting for whatever moment it needs. Huh, I finally called it by its name. I suppose that does give me a slight advantage, at least mentally. The forest must end at some point. It must. Host wouldn’t lie to me.

There is the sign that I have been waiting eighteen days to see: the way out. I have been walking for about two hours now, and the scenery hasn’t changed much in the way of light or trees. But here is an old sign, the first change in my walk since I left the city. It reads: Edge of Everfree Forest: three miles. It needn’t say anything more than that. Sometimes, less truly is more. It may be unwise, but to only have three miles to go, I will allow myself a rest. After all, I rested at the last sign I saw, which was the sign that pointed me to the Outer Centre. It may be my tired and believing mind, but the forest seems almost hospitable and edging on kind. I have seen too much to be so quick to embrace the woods, but to spend a moment within the trees where I was being stalked, and clawed at by shadows would be magnificent. It will take time for me to be willing to reenter these woods unless it is for my final request.

Another half-hour of hiking. My food and water supplies are running low again, but I will throw caution into the wind for a moment to state that I will not be needing them by the end of today. I do not know how far it has been since the sign; I am walking slowly, so it is a fair guess that it has not been more than a half-mile. I am spurred on by a positive thought. If not for me, let my escape from the terrors of the forest be for my friends who did not escape: Cross, Wymble, Host. Once I have escaped will I count the final name among my fallen friends. Once I am free of his empty stare and eternal smile. The Windigo lives within the forest, and I am a fool if I think that it would dare quarrel with our Princess. Fool beast, you think that you are a power that can be matched against Equestria? You have taken an Earth Pony, a good choice I grant you that, but you have made your home in a forsaken place, and are unaware of what lies beyond. Follow me at your own risk.

Come to think of it, I probably shouldn’t have insulted and challenged the Windigo until I was out; it still holds the upper hoof. I just hope that its powers do not extend so far that it can know my thoughts.

Another hour and a half of walking a trail that does not exist. Throughout these past days my legs have grown much stronger than before I left, but the lack of sustenance has torn me apart physically, and the Windigo has come close to destroying me mentally, so that I tell myself I cannot go on any farther. I’m glad that I still have you, my journal. You are my last and only friend. Death has, at times, seemed like a release. But should I die, no one would be able to find you. The only survivor of a group who went out into the forest in order to have an adventure, and the only one who cannot speak for itself. No, you are not a pony like the rest of us were, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be counted as a member of our group. After all, you have been here since the beginning of the trek.

The sun has begun to color the sky a bright orange as it descends, and soon it will be dark. It will be dark enough that any shadow can move about freely, unaffected by the light. I feel I am close to my goal. I must have traveled three miles by now. In truth it feels that I have walked a greater distance than that, but I cannot be an accurate judge of distance. Time and light are short, I must continue.

No. That isn’t fair. I did not turn away from my path at any point since I woke this morning. I could not have been turned around. But here in front of me is the same sign: Edge of Everfree Forest: three miles. Have I just walked in a circle? Where am I? Host wouldn’t have lied to me, and I followed his instructions perfectly. Yet, it appears that I have done nothing but spend a day in pointless hope. My supplies are low, but I should have enough for another day.

In the last light of the sun, I turn back to the forest I have just walked through. The forest is not as it was earlier today. It has faded over. The trees are no longer alive, their bark has turned a dark grey, and the wood has become gnarled and twisted around itself. The branches jut out like the protrusions of some beast, waiting patiently. Everywhere the shadows creep out. Silently moving through the forest, engulfing everything it touches. It reaches out towards me, long hooked points of pure blackness, inviting me to come and embrace it. Something is different about these shadows, however. These do not come from the Briar Sanctum, nor from the Eastern Field; these shadows originate someplace where the Windigo would not hunt, and the tree in the Eastern Field would not cast its shadow. Something moves in the dark, something foreign to me. The shadows that surround it are meant for dark purposes, and their keeper moves among them, but I have the feeling it does not know me yet. By what name do you define yourself? Will you contest for my life as my current pursuer does? However, if the Windigo will not tread along the same path as these you, then perchance I could walk untroubled. I know that I have not changed direction since I left the lost city. Something else is at work here. Tomorrow, against my better judgment, I will go back into the woods. Let tomorrow be the last day.

Cath Wintergreen Amber

Comments

[Pinkamena-Pie]

And the plot thickens

[Corn Caiks]

Well...crap.

[Balancer]

I want him to be okay I really do

[-Hidden Identity-]

234697
I know, right? I've grown fond of Cath, he's like an old friend.

[Rizu-Chan]

Nooo, Cath!!! Get out of that forest, get out of that forest!

[KillerSteel]

The three final days...so here marks the beginning of the end of Cath's chronicles.

Perhaps fate will elude to something brighter than a bitter end for our protagonist? Yet Logic points to the shadows at the bottom of the cliff...