Chapter 50: The New Forest

Eventually the slope faded and Violet found herself in amongst stands of aspens and willows and birch trees. They crowded along the edges of the wider streams and followed to a point where the paths of water joined together and were broken only by an angled spike of concrete that stuck a few meters out of the ground. It was tattooed with brilliant patterns of moss and shimmered with the light of the splashing water, though the colors transmitted were those already inherent in nature; oranges and reds and blues enhanced to a hyperreality that made Violet nearly forget about her headache.

The forest felt soothing in a way that she had not experienced for a long while and it took her a moment to realize that there was no underlying blankness here, life spiraled down and down and down to fill the space past the world’s surface with streamers of sensation and connective communication.

Through it all the Glow moved like silk curtains disturbed by the breath of a rising wind. The whole concept of night seemed to have vanished and when Violet looked up between the tops of the trees she could no longer see any stars, nor a trace of sky at all. It felt as though she’d passed through a doorway into somewhere entirely different, though when exactly that had been she could no longer recall.

The shift did not frighten her, nor did she feel unease rising from the cat or the beast. No conscious governing force rose to challenge them, it was simply a thousand different types of life all making their own ways through the world.

It wasn’t until she was right in the midst of it that Violet truly realized just how accustomed she’d become to the sort of plants and animals that lived in the city and those parts of the forest that had been tainted by the influence. A certain something had been lacking, a vitality leached from the world by a nameless thing, now freshly erased.

This part of the world she saw now, bathed in Glow, felt fresh and strange and entirely wonderful because, for the first time in a very long while, the air was clear and free. There was no looming, malignant presence ready to crash down at the first sign of vulnerability. Instead Violet saw plants intermingled and melded together into vibrant banners. Sunflowers bloomed in all colors and moss dripped with nectar, delirious flights of bees harking forth from hives so vast that Violet could feel entire communities of queens linked into each other, their routines meshing like the gearwheels of an invisible clock.

This was a forest that never slept. Even the animals were spritely and danced quite near, for they had never seen anything of her like before. Violet stared back, similarly entranced, and the cat shifted in her arms but said nothing. Its words had evaporated.

A trio of deer made a small, investigatory loop around her, half hidden by the aspens. Their antlers seemed to glitter and it took Violet a moment to realize that she was seeing stems and rainbow patterned leaves sprouting from the bone. Their forms were not as she knew deer were supposed to be, an arched fluidity passed through each motion, and when their eyes met hers Violet thought that they were rather brighter than a deer’s ought to be…yet, strangely, none of that was frightening anymore. Then the deer had gone and Violet heard the cat let out a small breath. It looked down to where it was being cradled like a newborn, suddenly self conscious.

“I do believe they were judging me.” It said with half baffled wonderment, but made no effort to leave her embrace.

The ghost of a road beckoned forth from between some of the nearby trees and Violet stepped onto it, letting her feet find the familiar sureness of pavement, softly carpeted by grass and tangles of pale morning glories. Their blossoms remained wide open, even though it was nighttime now, blending effortlessly into alternate forms as their vines proceeded.

Other traces of old human infrastructure still endured; lampposts garlanded with feathery moss that sprang into roses and vivid strands of fireweed that crawled with winged ants and small blue frogs barely the size of a fingertip. The ruins of old fences bordered the road as well, barriers long since rusted into obsolescence. Through the spaces that they had once blocked off passed an unhurried trickle of wildlife. Again Violet saw what she thought had to be the deer, but they were being playfully aloof and when Violet tried to reach beyond and see if she might understand their thoughts and outlook, they had slipped out of sight and seemed to be laughing, for there was a crystalline noise in the air that she could not identify but for a sense of curious mirth.

Past the intricacies of every routine, all of the feelings and sensations and peculiar perceptions she could feel brushing against the edges of her mind, Violet became aware of a rising sense of wonder. The animals living beneath the totality of the Glow had never seen anything like her before, and though she smelled of blood and ash and fuel, they could not truly commit to fear, for she held the same sort of internal vividness that they did.

The beast was surrounded by bees once again and drifted up and into the air, so it was silhouetted on all sides by the Glow and banded with flickering helixes of curious insects. Luminous moths had come as well and Violet felt a tickly flutter bat against the side of her neck before what looked like a floating ball of dandelion fluff rolled through the air past her, chiming like a chorus of tiny silver bells.

Confusion rose for a moment, she wanted to ask what the strange creature had been, but that question died on her lips and Violet simply continued to walk, pace slow and sedate, a curious dance emerging as more and more animals came to see her. They held no expectation of answers, even through their curiosity, for even if she told them that she was a human and explained all that she possibly could about her species and what they were responsible for, that would do nothing to erase the strangeness with which she was endowed…and that was alright.

There was a peace with realizing that and Violet simply absorbed the forms and functions and perceptive processes of each new creature she saw. Beneath the beast, up on their hind legs and dancing in small circles that took them around the blackness of the beast’s shadow, a circle of foxes yipped and showed where they had grown coats of sleek black feathers.

It felt like a dream, the whole forest soft edged and pleasantly surreal, filled with plants and animals and insects who had known nothing else for so long that time itself held no reasonable meaning. Through them Violet saw no acknowledgment of stars or a sky that was not a rippling, shimmering veil of electric blue. Through her the animals learned the death of the influence, though they were only distantly aware that such an evil had existed to begin with.

“I didn’t realize that this was where it all came from.” Said the cat.

“Where what came from?” Violet asked distractedly, but knew what the cat meant.

The plants she had once been so unnerved by, what she’d thought were aberrations in natural form. In truth, they were simply harbingers of a greater shift. And so were the animals, beholden to shapes that held no connection to their origin. Foxes with feathers, deer with flowered antlers, moths and butterflies that glowed and sang.

“I wonder,” the cat spoke after a moment. “If we stayed here for long enough, would we change?”

Violet tried to comprehend this, to imagine herself shifting and morphing in form to something entirely different, but the question was so bizarre and vast in its implications that she could not comprehend it.

“I don’t know,” she said. “But….”

“I’d still like you even if you had feathers.” The cat offered a sly grin.

“Maybe you’d get your wish,” Violet said, having thought of something. “Maybe the Glow could give you a heron’s beak.”

The cat considered this for a moment, then shrugged.

“I think I like myself as I am now.” It said, then was silent again, watching the denizens of the forest dance around them, lit blue and black by the gentle light of the omnipresent Glow.

It wasn’t until she’d gone a little further through the woods that Violet realized she was beginning to lose track of her surroundings. In the same way that an evening gloom stripped detail from the world, the azure texture of the Glow had closed in around her. The woods were still there, and so were the animals and the insects and everything else, but her eyes felt strangely full, as though they simply could not process anything more.

It was not an unpleasant feeling, but Violet still put her spare hand up over one eye and let it rest in the blue tinted darkness there. The cat had begun to blink, its tail twitching restlessly against her side.

t h e r e ’ s -- s o m e t h i n g -- a b o u t -- t h i s -- l i g h t ---- Said the beast as it drew slowly back to earth, still orbited by strange patterns of swirling insects. Their species had begun to blur now, bees and moths and glittering dragonflies all intermingled, noises gathering into a greater harmony.

The song felt…sad, and though Violet could not determine words, or if there even were any to begin with, she could feel a resonant, reassuring sorrow being poured forth unto the beast. The insects, as small and disparate as they were, had souls of their own and seemed to be parading them forth as an invitation towards unity. Of all the things that lived in the forest, everything had a completed soul. This was a place that had never known demons. The Glow was simply too bright for them to find any refuge.

Yet none of the animals attempted to talk to her directly. Nor did they seem to acknowledge the cat. They seemed content to move around her in circular whirls, and dart forth onto the road itself if they were feeling especially bold.

These animals still ate one another, still hunted and killed and acted like beasts from any other part of the forest Violet had seen, but in the times that they were not, they stood shoulder to shoulder like friends. Strangely, Violet thought that she was finally understanding what the cat had told her about hunting so very long ago.

The feathered foxes had lost interest in the beast and were gamboling along one side of the road, keeping pace with a small group of rabbits opposite. They seemed to be laughing at one another, from species to species, but no malice had yet developed.

From Violet’s arms the cat watched this intently. She could feel her companion’s claws working in and out of their sheathes, just barely prickling her arm.

“There is a peculiar order to things here,” the cat said at last, greatly distracted by all that it was seeing. “I think we’re looking at the future.”

“The future.” Violet echoed.

“All those flowers and strange plants you were so afraid of. All of them auguring this.”

“…Auguring?” She asked, brows furrowed.

The cat laughed and said nothing more. Violet rolled her eyes, but supposed she knew what the cat meant…even if some of its vocabulary continued to be impenetrable. The Glow’s influence was not limited to this one patch of the forest.

It was spreading. Very slowly, but Violet had no doubt that eventually the whole forest would be cast beneath an electric sky.

And she was nearly to its origin.

Violet took a deep breath, attempting to calm an excited fizz of thoughts and irrepressible questions. What would the Glow look like? Where was it located? Would she simply stumble forth into a clearing and happen upon the object of her search? Would it be friendly? Would it be willing to listen to her?

She shook her head slightly at the last question. Of course it would help her. She had just erased a great evil from the world. If that didn’t entitle her (…and her friends, Violet quickly reminded herself) to some divine help, she didn’t know what would.

i -- s e e -- s o m e t h i n g ---- The beast said, breaking Violet from her thoughts, and she realized that her companion had silently drifted next to her, once again back at ground level. A fluffy white moth fluttered against her cheek for a confused moment, then went spiraling dizzily off into the trees.

Really, most of the insects had left now, the limits of their soliloquy exhausted. Even so, Violet could still see a handful of crimson striped honeybees resting atop the beast’s nose, gently humming, their wings working in tiny, slow elliptical patterns as they recovered their strength.

“What is it?” Violet asked. All she could see was a continuance of the Glow, but perhaps the beast’s eyes were different.

Her companion cocked its bony head. It had turned on the machine again and even though the volume was very quiet, Violet thought that the crackling had grown more intense, like the machine would scream if its noise was returned.

The beast’s jaws fell slightly, crookedly ajar. When it spoke, its voice felt vague.

i .. ..

Then, without a word more, it drifted forward and was lost from sight.