Post by laura25 on Jan 27, 2012 0:25:33 GMT -5
Wandering
For days we wandered in the darkness, our bodies aching from hunger and thirst. At night we fearfully hid from our captors and the dark predators of the jungle. Every morning brought a lack of motivation to rise from our sleep and continue to seek hope. The hope of what, we did not know. Perhaps it was the hope of escaping, of survival, although we did not know what to survive for. Our emotions continually rose to those of jealousy, anger, and frustration.
On just the third day away on our search for freedom, darkness came over me, and I looked upon Filia with contempt. In everything she did, I saw it as a move towards gaining Robert’s affection. She was too beautiful, too luring and seductive for me to have a chance against anything she did. I did not know at the time what had come over me, but all my thoughts were on Robert. He became a sick obsession within my mind that I could not shake. I thought this to be incredibly stupid, as I had just met the guy, but I couldn’t help myself.
Jealousy is an odd thing. Usually it only hurts your circumstances and makes you miserable. So miserable that it consumes your mind and makes you do things that you would have never done before. And yet it is an addiction. Some kind of sick addiction that you wish you could shake but instead it continually grows and plants its roots within your soul. And so I was an addict to the pain caused by every movement Filia made. The way she walked, looked, talked, acted; all of these things fed the jealousy in my mind. The jealously over someone I did not even know.
It seems that all of our awful traits came out in these few days. Robert’s anger and pride was fearful at times. One look from him could put so much fear in you that the urge to run away, no matter how foolish that was, was extremely tempting. Filia warned us that the darkness of this place brought out the worst in everyone, and that we should keep pressing on towards the valley she called Anchora to be free form these evils.
However, Filia oddly seemed fine, and told us the horrors of Tenebrae.
The rape of women, murder of children, and the hanging of men who defended their families was prevalent everyday there. Malum was the name of their leader. Anyone who looked upon him submitted to his will. Women longed to be known by him, and men longed to take over his position, but he was in complete control. He embraced murder and evil. There society relied upon these things. However Filia had never looked into Malum’s eyes, and she always wanted out. The night we came, she had planned to escape. It would have been easy if she had left us, but she instead brought us to safety.
Malum had been endlessly searching to kill a man whose name he refused to speak. The day Robert and I had come, Malum had sent his people out to spy on us for fear that we would be associated with this man he so deperatly wanted dead. This explained how he knew my name, but not why he thought I had possibly killed the man. Filia was not sure either.
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The ground we walked upon in this dark place was dry and barren of any nutrients. Our feet were chaffed and cut from rocks that lay upon the ground. The leafs on every tree and plant were so dark they themselves were almost black. The ground was laden with every foul insect and creature imaginable. Centipedes and maggots twisted beneath the earth, and at night it was not safe to travel for black animals prowled the trees and ground for anything that was alive.
I had never known before how glorious sunlight was. To walk in continuous night was dreary and depressing. It seemed so different from what you would expect if you were to look at the beach. The beach had been so beautiful, and yet within this place, everything seemed to be rotting. Even a foul stench rose from the earth. I felt I could go no further when I saw the most beautiful thing in my life.
A strip of green grass.
That tiny strip of green gave us the strength to carry on. We felt so close to escaping this place. But Filia stopped us before we proceeded.
“Robert, I need you shirt”, she said, “There are more people who live here in Anchora, good people. But if they see my black clothes, they will kill me. I need your shirt.”
Robert took off his white shirt and gave it to Filia. She went behind a tree and changed. Fortunately, she was much smaller than he was, and it was like a dress on her. She then took a knife she carried and cut her hair. I was shocked to see that she had also carried a type of syrup that turned her hair from black to brown. Apparently color was important here.
“Filia, why didn’t you tell us there were other people?” I hissed.
“It was too risky”, she explained. “The people here need to be protected.”
We turned to follow the green grass and everything continually became brighter. Plants began to show signs of life, and even the dirt appeared more brown. The trees became few, and the forest began to thin out. When we reached the end of the forest, our breath was taken away.
We stood at the top of a hill that looked upon a valley of lush green. A small river flowed at the bottom of the valley that seemed to go on for miles. As Filia looked upon the river, she began to cry. She said she had never imagined it would be this beautiful. She had never been beyond the lights of Tenebrae.
For days we wandered in the darkness, our bodies aching from hunger and thirst. At night we fearfully hid from our captors and the dark predators of the jungle. Every morning brought a lack of motivation to rise from our sleep and continue to seek hope. The hope of what, we did not know. Perhaps it was the hope of escaping, of survival, although we did not know what to survive for. Our emotions continually rose to those of jealousy, anger, and frustration.
On just the third day away on our search for freedom, darkness came over me, and I looked upon Filia with contempt. In everything she did, I saw it as a move towards gaining Robert’s affection. She was too beautiful, too luring and seductive for me to have a chance against anything she did. I did not know at the time what had come over me, but all my thoughts were on Robert. He became a sick obsession within my mind that I could not shake. I thought this to be incredibly stupid, as I had just met the guy, but I couldn’t help myself.
Jealousy is an odd thing. Usually it only hurts your circumstances and makes you miserable. So miserable that it consumes your mind and makes you do things that you would have never done before. And yet it is an addiction. Some kind of sick addiction that you wish you could shake but instead it continually grows and plants its roots within your soul. And so I was an addict to the pain caused by every movement Filia made. The way she walked, looked, talked, acted; all of these things fed the jealousy in my mind. The jealously over someone I did not even know.
It seems that all of our awful traits came out in these few days. Robert’s anger and pride was fearful at times. One look from him could put so much fear in you that the urge to run away, no matter how foolish that was, was extremely tempting. Filia warned us that the darkness of this place brought out the worst in everyone, and that we should keep pressing on towards the valley she called Anchora to be free form these evils.
However, Filia oddly seemed fine, and told us the horrors of Tenebrae.
The rape of women, murder of children, and the hanging of men who defended their families was prevalent everyday there. Malum was the name of their leader. Anyone who looked upon him submitted to his will. Women longed to be known by him, and men longed to take over his position, but he was in complete control. He embraced murder and evil. There society relied upon these things. However Filia had never looked into Malum’s eyes, and she always wanted out. The night we came, she had planned to escape. It would have been easy if she had left us, but she instead brought us to safety.
Malum had been endlessly searching to kill a man whose name he refused to speak. The day Robert and I had come, Malum had sent his people out to spy on us for fear that we would be associated with this man he so deperatly wanted dead. This explained how he knew my name, but not why he thought I had possibly killed the man. Filia was not sure either.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ground we walked upon in this dark place was dry and barren of any nutrients. Our feet were chaffed and cut from rocks that lay upon the ground. The leafs on every tree and plant were so dark they themselves were almost black. The ground was laden with every foul insect and creature imaginable. Centipedes and maggots twisted beneath the earth, and at night it was not safe to travel for black animals prowled the trees and ground for anything that was alive.
I had never known before how glorious sunlight was. To walk in continuous night was dreary and depressing. It seemed so different from what you would expect if you were to look at the beach. The beach had been so beautiful, and yet within this place, everything seemed to be rotting. Even a foul stench rose from the earth. I felt I could go no further when I saw the most beautiful thing in my life.
A strip of green grass.
That tiny strip of green gave us the strength to carry on. We felt so close to escaping this place. But Filia stopped us before we proceeded.
“Robert, I need you shirt”, she said, “There are more people who live here in Anchora, good people. But if they see my black clothes, they will kill me. I need your shirt.”
Robert took off his white shirt and gave it to Filia. She went behind a tree and changed. Fortunately, she was much smaller than he was, and it was like a dress on her. She then took a knife she carried and cut her hair. I was shocked to see that she had also carried a type of syrup that turned her hair from black to brown. Apparently color was important here.
“Filia, why didn’t you tell us there were other people?” I hissed.
“It was too risky”, she explained. “The people here need to be protected.”
We turned to follow the green grass and everything continually became brighter. Plants began to show signs of life, and even the dirt appeared more brown. The trees became few, and the forest began to thin out. When we reached the end of the forest, our breath was taken away.
We stood at the top of a hill that looked upon a valley of lush green. A small river flowed at the bottom of the valley that seemed to go on for miles. As Filia looked upon the river, she began to cry. She said she had never imagined it would be this beautiful. She had never been beyond the lights of Tenebrae.