by iguru896 Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:20 amThis is a story I haven’t told anyone yet: It’s the story of how Teak and I ended up on this journey.
It was a long time ago. I was on a camping trip with some of my old friends. We went to an old campsite our parents took us to every year – it was our way of saying goodbye before we all went our separate ways – deep in the woods. We strap0ped on our bags and made our way down the old trail that lead to the abandoned site – about a kilometer or so deeper into the woods than we already were.
It was then that I saw it: a faint glow coming from someplace a bit off the trail. Something about it was just so… alluring. Slowly my footsteps carried me to the place where the blue light had come from, illuminating the trees like a tiny flame. The light subsided the closer I got to it before disappearing completely in the midday light. At the place it had been I noticed what looked like a small stone, brown with a small insignia etched in its surface that seemed to glow with a faint emerald light. Even as I picked it up it seemed to pulse, rhythmically like a heartbeat beneath the surface.
I stood there, mesmerized by the peculiar stone until one of my friends hollered at me from the trail. Caught by surprise, I quickly shoved the strange object into my bag, reluctant to share my discovery with the others.
* * *
That night, I awoke in my tent, a cold sweat running down my face. The moon was still high in the sky, but I couldn’t sleep. It was then that I saw a faint light coming from outside the tent, similar to the one I’d seen before. I pulled on my boots and stepped outside, the stone still pulsing against my back, to see the same figure – the same blue body of flame – that I had seen before. Again I felt the need to investigate, and again it dissipated as soon as I got near it. However, this time another seemed to appear, as if out of nowhere, a bit farther away. I followed the blue flames, each guiding me to the next, until I made my way to a break in the forest.
In front of me was an old abandoned bridge, one that seemed to run over a large river that was almost completely dried up. The wisps lead me under the bridge, where there was a strange tunnel carved into the rock, just big enough to crawl through. I made my way, holding my bag in my arms in front of me, until I reached a small cavern, just tall enough to stand up in. in the center of the room was a small pool of water, across from it a small mound of dirt.
The stone was now pulsing quicker than ever, as if resonating with its surroundings. A final flame appeared over the mound before fading away for good, telling me what I had to do next. I moved quietly to the mound and buried the strange stone. The glow, however, could still be seen through the surface of the soil, still calling for something more. I spot a seashell at the bottom of the pool, and I begin to use it to water the mound like a seed. Satisfied, the glowing fades, and the cave becomes eerily silent.
The sound of sifting soil rung like an explosion in my ear and the ground began to shake under me. A sapling emerged from the surface of the mound, growing at an exponential rate. Once it reaches the height of my waist, the growing slows and a bud begins to bloom from the top of the sapling. The bud grows so heavy that the top of the plant bends to the mercy of gravity. The bud opens to reveal a small creature, its body attached only by the cord on its head which, once it detaches, retracts to a swirl at the top of its head.
The creature slowly opened its eyes and blinked. Once seeing me, it jumped to life, bouncing around the walls of the cave. The hatchling spoke of fate and how I was destined to take him on a grand adventure. I’ll admit that I was skeptical about the whole thing, but something about the little pup – as he called himself – drew me to him. I decided to take him up on his claim. Of course, if we were to travel together, he said, I’d have to give him a name. So I decided to call him Teak, in honor of his sapling birth.
We packed up and left that night. All I left was a note to my friends. “Something came up; had to leave early. Will see you guys soon...”
It was a long time ago. I was on a camping trip with some of my old friends. We went to an old campsite our parents took us to every year – it was our way of saying goodbye before we all went our separate ways – deep in the woods. We strap0ped on our bags and made our way down the old trail that lead to the abandoned site – about a kilometer or so deeper into the woods than we already were.
It was then that I saw it: a faint glow coming from someplace a bit off the trail. Something about it was just so… alluring. Slowly my footsteps carried me to the place where the blue light had come from, illuminating the trees like a tiny flame. The light subsided the closer I got to it before disappearing completely in the midday light. At the place it had been I noticed what looked like a small stone, brown with a small insignia etched in its surface that seemed to glow with a faint emerald light. Even as I picked it up it seemed to pulse, rhythmically like a heartbeat beneath the surface.
I stood there, mesmerized by the peculiar stone until one of my friends hollered at me from the trail. Caught by surprise, I quickly shoved the strange object into my bag, reluctant to share my discovery with the others.
* * *
That night, I awoke in my tent, a cold sweat running down my face. The moon was still high in the sky, but I couldn’t sleep. It was then that I saw a faint light coming from outside the tent, similar to the one I’d seen before. I pulled on my boots and stepped outside, the stone still pulsing against my back, to see the same figure – the same blue body of flame – that I had seen before. Again I felt the need to investigate, and again it dissipated as soon as I got near it. However, this time another seemed to appear, as if out of nowhere, a bit farther away. I followed the blue flames, each guiding me to the next, until I made my way to a break in the forest.
In front of me was an old abandoned bridge, one that seemed to run over a large river that was almost completely dried up. The wisps lead me under the bridge, where there was a strange tunnel carved into the rock, just big enough to crawl through. I made my way, holding my bag in my arms in front of me, until I reached a small cavern, just tall enough to stand up in. in the center of the room was a small pool of water, across from it a small mound of dirt.
The stone was now pulsing quicker than ever, as if resonating with its surroundings. A final flame appeared over the mound before fading away for good, telling me what I had to do next. I moved quietly to the mound and buried the strange stone. The glow, however, could still be seen through the surface of the soil, still calling for something more. I spot a seashell at the bottom of the pool, and I begin to use it to water the mound like a seed. Satisfied, the glowing fades, and the cave becomes eerily silent.
The sound of sifting soil rung like an explosion in my ear and the ground began to shake under me. A sapling emerged from the surface of the mound, growing at an exponential rate. Once it reaches the height of my waist, the growing slows and a bud begins to bloom from the top of the sapling. The bud grows so heavy that the top of the plant bends to the mercy of gravity. The bud opens to reveal a small creature, its body attached only by the cord on its head which, once it detaches, retracts to a swirl at the top of its head.
The creature slowly opened its eyes and blinked. Once seeing me, it jumped to life, bouncing around the walls of the cave. The hatchling spoke of fate and how I was destined to take him on a grand adventure. I’ll admit that I was skeptical about the whole thing, but something about the little pup – as he called himself – drew me to him. I decided to take him up on his claim. Of course, if we were to travel together, he said, I’d have to give him a name. So I decided to call him Teak, in honor of his sapling birth.
We packed up and left that night. All I left was a note to my friends. “Something came up; had to leave early. Will see you guys soon...”
