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Manifestation

Depths of Man

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18:29:25 - day of the ant - week 4 - starfall of the saw - 993

finally realising my need for swift nautical travel, I set my sights on either purchasing, or building my own ship. After a small amount of research and a lot of asking in the right places, a close friend and long time associate offered to build me a small sailing boat.

It's not quite as grand as the ships I had dreamed of commanding but it's a start. With the reasonable cargo hold, and the speeds it can reach, I shall make the wide open sea's my personal oyster.

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I started the trek to Rockcliff harbour by making my way towards the town of silent hill,  it was situated a full days walk north east of Newtown. Most of the trip I travelled by land and along my way came across little of interest. Being close to Newtown there was an excess of guards and towers that ensured the roads were clear from most of this lands beasts. Upon reaching silent hill, the first pit stop in my journey, I stumbled upon a most interesting character. He decided, out of good will alone, that he would sail me all the way to chalice, free of charge. From there I would be able to make the short swim to Rockcliff harbour, where my ship builder awaited my arrival.

Again the trip was uneventful, we made little talk, and I think for a time I slept to the calming sounds of the ocean lapping against the hull of his vessel. We arrived at chalice, and I said my farewells, continuing along my way.

My stay at chalice was brief, as the mayor was far from town and it's villagers were nowhere in sight. Dissatisfied with the lack of company, and agitated by inactivity I dove head first into the chill ocean. With a grimace of determination I put myself to the task and swam through the entire night. The moons shimmering brightly off the calm waters as I went, constantly I feared for my life as my mind drifted through tales of shark attacks, bear ambushes, and crocodile run-ins.

As the sun rose I could make out the mass of land that I would find Rockcliff harbour on, the thought of warmth, relative safety, and good company forced a new stream of energy into my body and I pushed on, regardless of the ever growing weariness pressing itself into my conscious mind.

Finally, I made it to land, heaving in great gulps of crisp morning seaside air. A flash of movement suddenly caught my attention. I turned to investigate and found myself no more than 10 steps away from a rather large, rather angry looking crocodile. I froze in my place, fear overlapping shock, and then blind panic overriding all.

Apparently my beach landing was far too close to this mother croc's nest, and something in the gleam of her eyes told me she wouldn't stop until I was no longer a threat to her young.

Without any warning she charged, a flurry of teeth, claws and tail. I barely had time to draw my sword from it's sheath before I felt a sharp stab of pain in my leg. I stumbled back a step, something was wrong, suddenly my legs gave way under me. Confused, I crumpled to the floor, my legs twitching uselessly underneath me. It was at this point I realised that there was blood swiftly pooling around me.

Slowly my consciousness began to dissipate and under the weight of my pain, my mind drifted. 'How odd' I thought, to die here, so quickly, without preamble, how was I so calm? Would the entire sum of my life surmount to a hunk of meat on this desolate stretch of beach? Slowly I realised with a shadow of horror why I was now immobilised. The crocodile had destroyed most of my left leg beneath the knee, all that was left was a harsh ragged stump, a small flash of bone poking through the gore. 'Oh well.' what if I didn't die? Calmly I pondered a life without legs. Perhaps I would end up a beggar, living amongst the muck and rubbish strewn about the streets of Newtown.

I gagged, choking on blood. Dimness began to encroach on my vision, the world was fading. Distantly I felt the crocodile attack my corpse once again. It was almost like it was no longer my own body any more, I watched from a distance as it tore off great chunks of my flesh, determined to end my meagre existence.

At that moment, I was dead.

Then the most peculiar thing happened.

The earth shifted beneath me. Where there was once sand, blood, and fragments of my near devoured self, there was suddenly firm and solid ground, packed hard with the toil man. The sun moved...everything moved, like a great rush of wind in my face, the sounds of the beach and the fight were suddenly gone, replaced with happy chirping birds and crickets. I was dead, and this was the afterlife.

Slowly I struggled to my feet...feet, I had feet again...i leaned over to rub my hands up and down my now tingling legs, like thousands of pin pricks all over. What were no more than 5 seconds ago ragged bloodied stumps were now whole, healed legs, no signs to betray the torment they had witnessed.

What was going on? Where was i? Surely I was dead?

All my questions were pushed aside as a bright golden and warm light suddenly exploded in front of me. I staggered back and squinted my eyes against it. Bringing a hand up to shield my vision I opened my eyelids a crack to find the source. And there, standing in the centre of it all, was what I can only describe as a Godess. She had the bearing of a queen of the high courts, she stood tall and had an air of grace about her that I could not have imagined possible. She wore a simple robe of white, trimmed with golden weave. On her feet were a very simple pair leather sandles. She stood with her hands clasped in front of her, her head was bowed in deep contemplation. Slowly she lifted her gaze to me, and when our eyes met it was as if all time had stopped. I was absorbed, utterly taken in. Her beautiful and soft features were contrasted by the deep power that clearly emanated from her body, she was literally glowing with it.

Slowly but surely my mind began to put the pieces together. She had saved my life, me, a simple peasant turned fisherman. In my final moments I had let out a howl of anguish, fuelled purely by my will to live, and she had answered. Whisking my already dying body from the scene and placing it safely within the city of rock cliff harbour. She had then healed my otherwise fatal wounds, with magic I will never understand.

"Why?" I asked, my lip quivering as the word whispered from me.

She smiled, and simply replied "because." and then she was gone.

I felt a small rush of wind and squinted at the dimness left in her wake. Slowly as my eyes adjusted, so to did my mind, the silence that had followed was suddenly filled with questions, questions that to this day remain unanswered.

I surveyed the surroundings. I was atop a lookout, many miles above sea level. To the east lay a massive maze of dirt and stone. Past the maze towards the great eastern sea I could see plumes of smoke, and could hear the faint tinkering of various tools. All signs of the bustling community I knew was just beyond. To my west, the beach from whence I had come. A shiver passed over my body. To the north was open sea, and to the south the continent was laid out before me. Great rolling green plains and immense bodies of trees, reminding me of the ocean surrounding us.

I heard my name on the wind, and turned about looking for whoever it was. There, off in the distance, I could make out the light of a lantern and a small figure waving and shouting. Using my spyglass to get a better look I noticed it was Tich, my friend, and would be ship builder whom I had travelled all this way to see. I clambered down the side of the lookout and made my way over.

"You look like you've seen a ghost!" she exclaimed as I got close enough

"perhaps a god" I said with a smirk

"ah...well, Rockcliff has always been a magnet for the extra-ordinary, there have been stranger things than gods here before, let me assure you. Well, shall we be off to the harbour? We have a lot of work to do." and with that she turned on her heel and strode off at a pace I could hardly match. We walked for a short time around the maze, Tich filled me in on their progress of late and shared with me her eagerness to have it completed.

"Its a big project" she huffed between breaths "bigger than we anticipated, but it's looking great, and I think the outcome will be worth it" I just nodded a response, too short on breath to spare any for words. 'She gets too much exercise' I thought to myself.

Abruptly she stopped near a small clearing. "Ok, we'll start the work here, most of it requires a skilled hand, really I just wanted you here for the company."

"oh...uhm....thanks" I replied very awkwardly, feeling a little useless despite my swiftly increasing head size.

Almost immediately she went to work. First cutting a tree down, then chopping it into smaller more manageable logs. Then before my eyes she began creating the skeleton for my new ship. Within what seemed like moments she had large sections of the keel and stern prepared and ready to be assembled. All the while keeping me engaged with pleasant conversation. Like one of the musicians I remembered from the great courts as a child, she worked with efficiency and confidence. The motions of her hand and body an elaborate dance, practised to the point of being sub-conscious. Within half an hour she had a finished boat frame.

In twice that time again, I found myself standing on the pier watching her add the final touches to the paint work. It was amazing, stunning, awe inspiring. I was perplexed. Like a god herself she had worked the carcass of a tree into this magnificent vessel. In a matter of hours I had watched with my own eyes as she had orchestrated this dumbfounding transformation. To her it was no more complex than making breakfast in the morning, like a simple every day task, yet I stood baffled, slowly scratching my head, wondering when she had managed to swap the tree trunk with this finished boat.

"So what do you think?" a small smirk on her face, she knew I was stunned to silence

"...I'm speechless" my lips replied on their own accord. I stood staring unblinking into destiny. Every muscle in my body was twitching with anticipation. The boat whispered to me, it nudged at the corners of my mind, suggesting, agreeing. Every word of it harmonising with the song of my soul. The boat knew it, I knew it, this was freedom, this was adventure, this was life. For the first time since my first thought I felt truly at home.

I turned to Tich, my eyes glistening with tears of pure joy.

"Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart." she merely smiled and reached out to envelop me in a great hug.

She stood back and looked me in the eyes "travel well my friend, but be warned, the sea is no mans ally. This boat; she will guide and protect, but only you can ward yourself from the allure of the great oceans. May the winds favour your sail, the tides guide your keel, and this hull protect your heart." affectionately she rested a hand on the bulkhead. "But first! We must ask her name." the peculiar wording she chose confused me, but I was given no time to ponder it.

"She is strong, like stone walls and cold steel, yet she sings a song of the forest." with each word Tich's body began to relax and become still, her voice grew deeper, meaningful. It almost seemed she entered a trance. "There is a harmony between nature and man, a bond shown here that is hard denied." at this point I felt a tingling over my whole body, a reminder of the magic that had healed me mere hours ago, her voice rose, not in volume but in strength, with each word I was buffeted by a blast of wind and a shower of pins and needles on every inch of my skin. She seemed to grow in size until she encompassed my entire field of view

she turned towards the boat, "tar and wood! Cotton and nails! Created by earth, forged by hand! Destined to travel water, forgetting all land! It is in you that I entrust this man" a great peel of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a rolling blast of thunder that I felt reverberate inside my chest, with a small flick of her wrist and a great bowing motion the boat suddenly glowed a bright gold and almost rose up from the water. A voice echoed throughout my head, almost as if they weren't speaking to my ears at all.

"Awaken! Awaken and speak your name!"

there was a moment of silence.

"Shira!" I nearly fell over with the force behind it.

"Shira!" this time I was thrown back, clear off my feet, like something had hit me square in the chest. I landed heavily on my backside and skidded to a halt, barely able to suck breath through my gritted teeth. My head swum, the sheer power that was now surrounding and filling me was almost too much to bear. I took a deep breath and steadied myself.

"My name. My name is Shira. And I am awake!"

almost as fast as it had all begun it was over. Tich was back to her normal size, a great big grin on her face, the boat no longer glowed, and my skin no longer tingled. I shook my head. I was bruised, and shaking all over. I dragged my knees up towards my chest and hugged them tight, more to try and hide my quivering body than to comfort myself.

"Shira...her name is Shira..." I stammered. I looked up at Tich's face, positively beaming with pride, staring down at me. "What...how?" I managed to get out.

Tich grinned from ear to ear "she likes you, she told me so" she reached out a hand and helped me to my feet. "She is restless, can you hear? It's time for you to begin your journey my friend."

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I feel given the times. This deserves a bump. RIP Tich. 

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