the spirits of this forest are restless .
Digits twitched, digging nail points into the rough skin of his palms at Hana’s statement. It held a quiet quality to his ears, a faint almost whisper meant to carry on the next gust of wind to brisk past them. But it never came. Without it, amidst the dead air threatening to pop at the slightest notion, her voice sounded with the grace of a gunshot ringing out. His gaze temporarily braked a halt to their roaming vigilance, lingering on her for a fraction of a second, ascertaining her unchanged status before they returned to their surroundings.
❝ Huh, really ? ❞ Light exclamation failed to align ( to match the smile of an unaware caught off guard ), nor did said easy smile reach eyes ( a tad brighter than the usual emerald, piercing, observing ) that stared into the shadows enclosing them. Soundless stride matching hers down their chosen path, barely a speck of muddied and thick foliage underfoot shifted from the even steps of his boots. ❝ That’s pretty freaky. ❞
Rumour went that the forest had supernatural happenings about its mysterious interior. It was a stretch to presume this could be it. Skepticism cast a dim cloud over the possibility of this place being the real hideyhole of this elusive myth of a woman, the one who’s shadow Hana trailed after, but if so he’d be impressed if her aunt stuck it out here.
Spirits, she said, the restless kind. His head tilted slightly, as though to hear better what they intended to convey. If that persistent itch at the back of his neck was them — wariness / pensive discontent / a warning / a nudge to let them not linger longer than necessary — or just him.
It left him… caught in an in-between state of readied alertness. Not on edge, not quite, but the rigid line drawn through the set of his shoulders exposed his veneer of calm.
There’s restless, and there’s restless, and then there was restless.
From the time he first woke up, confused, disoriented, alone in a dark place hollowed out by the absence of life, the proof of it once being scattered about in the viscous red splattered across every surface he laid blurred eyes upon. Since then, Meliodas watched. Observed the world around him he had suddenly found himself thrust into. Forests themselves often became the subject of his wandering eye.
Healthy woodlands flourished and overflowed, filled with burbling springs and wind whistling and weaving an ancient song through the trees. Creatures murmuring and creaking like the trunks and branches they made nests and homes in. Beautiful in the wilderness it forwent to contain, roaming free and untamed. Restless with life. Sometimes, if a foreign entity breached the peace, interfering with the equilibrium kept in motion, the forest responded in kind with wild, anxious turbulence and a manic flurry of ever moving but disjointed energy as its denizens sought to hide away from danger. Restless with fidgety agitation. During their trek in the empty spaces between towering tree trunks, a wet, earthen rot clinging to their heels, Meliodas found a chilled certainty roost within his chest. One murmuring that they’ve cycled through the first two and arrived at the third. The kind that greeted the man who awoke that day. Silence, the deafening stillness draped across the environment with the dusty likeness of fresh snow, the most telltale disturbance. Restless in the way a breath was held as eerie unease fully sunk its claws into the mind, the sense of wrong hanging overhead like a blade poised to fall upon a neck.
Maybe there were spirits of this forest, ones emanating such a shitty vibe. Maybe it was something else.
❝ We should up the pace then. ❞ The suggestion lacked fanfare, the undertone of getting this over with asap brittling usual cheer. He’s not in immediate danger — that same certainty in him assured that nothing here could pose a serious threat to him — but he couldn’t guarantee the same for his current companion. He wasn’t eager to find out if Hana could hold her own against attacks of a more spiritual nature. ❝ Take a look around and book it before these ❛ spirits ❜ feel they aren’t pissed off enough and decide have a bone to pick with us too. ❞
