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02-05-2013, 06:19 PM
The breeze, oddly strong for existing beneath the cover of the trees, picks up the debris of moss and twigs and leaves that are scattered at the unicorn’s hooves. They twirl and whirl through the air in front of his path, seeming to lead in one direction, and the hum of the forest seems to grow stronger. The wind, like an old friend, beckons the inky black and ivory mottled boy to travel further. At the end of the path he journey’s on stands a mighty oak, far larger than the brethren that surround it and its great, archaic roots rise up out of the soil in great curvatures and arches. They are big enough that a full grown unicorn could pass beneath them with considerable room left between the two. At the crest of the exposed roots lays a small pool, crystal clear as a cloudless sky and deep enough that it would rise to the shoulder of any equine. The surface is unnaturally smooth, like glass, and in a patterned arrangement upon the gravel at its bottom rest several smooth, rounded stones the color of an opal gem. The harmonic and melodious hum of nature seems to amplify itself within the presence of the stones, and as the unicorn draws near the same said stones begin to glow.
The water, one smooth and undisturbed, begins to bubble, and the beautiful gemstones within the bottom begin to shake and glow brighter, until they are swept up by a whirlpool formed in the water’s center. The whirlpool seems to reverse itself, rising upward toward the lofty branches of the trees, and from the geyser a form begins to take shape, swirling and twirling toward the banks of the water, the radiant light, a brilliant luminescent blue, growing ever brighter until it seems to permeate every inch of the darkness, invading the shadows of the woods and chasing them away. The same hum of life that has followed Apollo reaches its apex, and as the light becomes almost unbearable, so does the energy that seems to resound through the forest in a magnitude of indescribable power. And then suddenly, everything seems to stop.
The creature that appears is the image of a white stag, stepping forward from the wall of liquid onto the forest floor that surrounded the glowing pool. The water falls back into its basin instantly, and the brightness of its light dims slightly. Trails of water still cling to his shimmering, shifting, translucent image, passing off of him in wisps of silvery smoke, akin to something like spider webs. His striking antlers span in an ornate display above his elegant head, bone white and beautiful, and upon their surface seems to be many runes and markings of the unintelligible kind. The markings glow the same brilliant blue as the stones within the pool from which he stepped, as do his pupiless eyes. He looms before Apollo, graceful and majestic, staring unwaveringly at the unicorn with virtuous patience and calm. Slowly the ancient stag moves forward, his transparent image shifting with his motions, making him appear ghost like in substance, glimmering silver and ivory white. A few strides away from the stallion he halts, bowing his great head and lowering himself to one knee, so that the tines of his antlers may strike the soil. Slowly and with clear intent the stag creates several parallel lines in the dirt beneath him, dragging the tines across the earth. Once done he rises, the marks left behind glowing with the same residue that appears to mark the many intricate runes that lace and filigree his antlers, the same light that now floods the darkened forest.
“Son of the earth, your heart is true, and your kindness and compassion have not gone unnoticed.”
The stag’s voice takes on the quality of the same voice that had called to Apollo in his sleep. To the mortal it would appear that it is not just one voice, but many speaking at once, and they echo and resonate around him in a chorus of unimaginable magnitude, invading the thoughts and the mind.
“For this, you shall be rewarded.” The stag then dips his head, gesturing to the glowing fissures in the ground that lay between them. “Step forward into the fractures of the earth, and kneel amongst the lights.”
