Silent steps on bare feet brought a girl between tree trunks. Shards of broken egg shell had been half woven, half caught in her hair - she had bangs of sunlight blonde and behind her ears it changed to the color of fertile soil. Behind each foot fall slithered a massive serpent, a river of glistening scales winding its way through the undergrowth.
Midgard's head was held up, not paying attention to her feet as she made her way at an unhurried pace. She explored - that's what she did. The lands around her when she first opened her eyes were unfamiliar to her, yet she knew they were hers. Shafts of sunlight caught her eyes - one was navy blue with a splash of gold, while the other was gold with a splash of navy blue. She had collections of minor cuts and scratches on the parts of her body that weren't covered by the fur of a great stag.
The serpent hissed.
"No," Midgard replied, bending down to stroke his triangular head. "Not hungry yet."
A crack made the girl turn her head quickly, and it was followed by a soft crick and then a wet crackle. Curiosity peaked, Midgard wandered over with eyes open and hands stretching to part brush aside. It took only a moment for her to find a broken egg, and her chest tightened. Recognizing it as the pattern of a red kite, she crouched down while slowly turning the egg over, the slender finger shaking as it touched cool shell.
A fully, wet fluffed, yet not quite strong enough, chick had broken out of the fragile fortress and had died before Midgard could find it. She poked it once.
"Wake up," she said quietly. Its little eyes were closed, and it might be hurt. "Why won't it wake up Jormungandr?"
The serpent opened his mouth, then closed it and let out a low, rattle.
"Dead?
Midgard lifted her head as Jormungandr coiled around her and rested his head on her shoulder. Quietness passed between them but Midgard could feel his words with the rhythm of his muscles contracting and relaxing. She didn't understand. The bird wasn't going to wake up, and was going to sleep forever. It was gone - that was mortality. Something in it scared her, though not as much as fire terrified her. A shadowy serpent coiled around her heart and made it beat faster, panicked.
"I don't like it. Make it stop!" she cried, confused on where the sudden outburst came from. She scrambled to her feet as Jormungandr dropped away from her form, and ran away from the egg. From the dead thing.
The blue serpent watched, and then turned, opening his great mouth and gobbled the chick up in one swift movement. Then he followed Midgard's warmth.
No comments:
Post a Comment