Soil's Story Part 4: The fuckup
OK, for the record, I REALLY don't want to talk about this idiot. Our first meeting didn't exactly go well. For him, I mean. I loved it, but I was pissed off and probably shouldn't have done what I did. But, old Flamey over there says I can't leave ANYTHING out. Jeeze, I already have one dad...
Anyway, back on topic. So there I was, limping through the Forest on a self-made crutch, trying to hold back tears with every movement. I had the Campgrounds (and safety) in sight. I limped up to the edge of the Fire, gently eased myself onto the one of the surrounding logs and set down my satchel. I started making myself at home, and grew another set of vines to begin wrapping my injured leg for real. Oh yeah, and of course I left a trail of moonflowers with each step. I guess that's about to become important.
"How were you hurt?"
I looked up, too tired to act startled. I wasn't surprised to see the Campgrounds Salamander in the fire. It was its home after all. What surprised my was the intensity of old Flamey's gaze. It stared at my shattered leg. How do you tell the expression on an amphibian's face?
"Zephnos." The Salamander flinched back, as if the word had bitten him. Figures. Just as I had Zephnos' memories, it knew of its own role in his downfall. I don't think the storyteller had intended that story to end the way it had. "He's hunting me. I think he wants to eat me, or at least kill me."
"And who exactly are you?"
I opened my mouth, then stopped, then closed it. The truth is, I wasn't sure. I hadn't exactly been born, and I didn't have a mother, just a father. All I'd known since my creation was the Forest, and bore the shape of one of its creatures. I could enter the light of the campfire, had sentient thought, and could left a trail of moonflowers where ever I went. I'd had a chat with a forest god, survived an encounter with Zephnos himself, and somehow had his memories. I had pieces of knowledge I shouldn't have. What did that all make me? Who WAS Soil?
Someone grabbed my horn and twisted my head around. I stared into the face of my soon-to-be nemesis, Barn. He looked pissed. Good, I needed someone to vent on. "Answer the question, Cow."
And there it was. Consent to kick his butt. I slammed my crutch on his foot. Bjorn yelped and let go of my horn, stumbling back and tripping over a root. He fell flat on his face, eating enough dirt to make an earthworm jealous.
Then I crossed the line. Plants began to spring up around him, wrapping his limbs and binding him to the ground. Roots grew with supernatural speed, pulling him deeper down. The poor man struggled to get up, but I was too pissed: while my attention was on him, there was no escape.
"COW? Did you just call me a fucking COW? Do you have any idea who you're talking to? I AM SOIL. You will treat me with respect or you will not speak at all!"
Whoa. Where there fuck did that come from? It was like my mind was the horizon, and something else hid just over the edge of that horizon, radiating sunbeams of power. Ugh... my head hurt... no, my horns hurt.
Wait, wait wait... that man... I mean, fuck, what the hell had I done? I dragged myself off the log and crawled over to where he had landed, I began to tear away at the plants with my hands, working on freeing his head and arms first. Growing plants? Easy. Killing plants I had grown? Hard. As I removed an ivy creeper from between his lips, Barn immediately started cursing my out. I muttered that he'd got what was coming to him and continued working on freeing his arms, all the while thinking about how I could learn to use this again.
Eventually, I got Barn out of the ground, only mostly covered in dirt and severed plant vines. He uh, wasn't happy, but he seemed a lot more reluctant to get near me, so at least something good came from my fuck up.
I'd been keeping quiet. I knew I'd crossed a line. Barn was a guest, and so was I, and unlike him, I didn't have anywhere else to go. Back out into the Forest? I'd die in a day with my broken leg. Then I realized the Salamander hadn't said anything during the entire fuck-up. It was still watching me. I was certain it was going to throw me out of the Campgrounds.
"You're the daughter of Zephnos aren't you? You called yourself Soil. But that's not all you are."
I looked down at my ruined leg. "Yes. Fat lot of good it's done me."
"Then you can stay."
I looked up. "Why? I nearly sent your guest to an early grave. You have no reason to trust me."
The Salamander looked at me sharply. "Zephnos was never meant to leave the Campgrounds. The least I can do to atone for what happened to him is protect his daughter." Its gaze softened. "Besides, you've given me the most interesting story I've seen in years with that little fight. And Bjorn isn't a guest. He lives here with me."
What? When the hell had the Salamander gotten a permanent resident of the Campgrounds? How long had I been lost in the Fore- STOP. This is too many questions for one night, and I was tired, injured, and had just tried to kill a man in cold blood.
I was done with this day.
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