Short Stories - A Series of Tales Frozen in Time

The Oceanic Land

Note: Bùdhi Ma means old mother.

Also, I swear I love trees. This just happened. It'd a short piece written for a prompt from the Darklands community (a great place!).

Prompt: Instead of oceans covering the earth, forests are in its place, making it possible for one to walk from continent to continent. Like oceans, these forests grow deeper and darker, and the creatures become more aggressive, rare and monstrous. You are tasked to document an expedition through one of these forests of your choice.

I rather like the idea of this setting I made for the prompt, and you'll find me stealing pieces of this in the future....

Here is the short piece I composed for fun.

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"The Oceanic Land"

"This is wrong", the old lady insisted, throttling me, "It is an abomination. We do not step beyond the Daldal. Those forests are cursed".

I patted her hand, "I know Bùdhi Ma, I know". Swallowing the lump in my throat, I yanked my shirt out of her steel grasp. Her grandsons, sturdy men of twenty pulled her back aghast.

"We need to do this." They needed to understand, "The Daldal is dying. We need to explore further to find prey and herbs and a remedy. We need to save our land".

Dismal faces stare back at me. Deep down everyone knew we'd come to this one day. Humans were not content to stay with what they had, and it does not do for the settlement to stay for too long in one place. It kills the land and it kills the people. Nature need time to replenish herself. Going beyond the seas into the ocean was inevitable. But we are a superstitious lot. The lands growing in the Daldal bode nothing good to us. They contain Puranic beasts, ones we're not supposed to disturb.

The hysterical old lady was now back in her home, with her daughter-in-laws, and the young soldiers were back in their places. There was nothing more to stretch the departure. "Pick up your loads and begin marching" I ordered.

We had assembled with grandeur but we left with silence.

....

We had marched out for 3 days, leaving behind the warrior settlement we had called home for the past 10 years, deep down  suspecting we may never return. The carriages crackled and creaked under their load, and within a few hours my damp dress clung to my form. Being at the vanguard, there was nothing to distract me from the green stretching to the horizon. All too often monstorous birds rose in circles before plunging back into the foliage. Soon the air grew heavier with fog, and we reached the outskirts of the Mangrove swamps. The Daldal, as we called them, were wet. With freshwater merging into the paltry seawater, it housed many beings, but none of them were mythic. None of them were feared.

The corps began assembling the boats, they knew the drill. The boats would take them across the Daldal towards the ocean. The Mangroves posed no obstacle. They would move for us, they always had. I stared at the crabs hunting shrimps. They were a staple in our meals.

"The boats are assembled", my right hand man informed me. Jarred out of my torpor, I merely nodded and made my way towards one in the front. He joined me.

....

We had no trouble crossing the Daldal, we'd been through this often enough. It was the last few meters we had never crossed. The Mangroves conceal a lot more than you would think.

I caressed the tree on my right hand, it is a symbol of pride. Just like the Mangroves. We will succeed, we have to.

The boats crashed into the thin strip of mud that outlined the cliff rising out of the water, 25 men tall. We'd have to climb our way to the woods.

....

Ten days later -or had it been more- we were lost. The forest was sparse near the woods. Nothing we'd not seen back home was there, we relished in the untouched foliage, full of valuable herbs, fruits and spices. One man was sent back with a bundle in the first two days, another two in the first five.

But then the forest grew Darker. We could not stop. The official mandate burnt that message into our chests from where it was stashed in my breastpocket. The orders were to explore a thousand leagues deep, we were lost in the first hundred.

We were prepared for the human-like birds and mountain sized lions. The human sized bugs were not scary, neither were the other exotic beasts and reptiles. The winged monstrosities felt tame. It was the woods. The trees. Those were the real beasts.

They were haunted. They spoke. They whispered.

Husha Husha Husha. Husha Husha Husha.

If you put your ears against them, they'd tell you their secrets.

Husha Husha Husha. Husha Husha Husha.

The vegetation is nothing like we've ever seen or imagined. Their unseen shades have trapped our minds.

Husha Husha Husha. Husha Husha Husha.

Five of us lost their minds to it and become a snack to the shrubs. 10 fell to the bugs. I don't even want to count the ones who ran to their deaths in this accursed forest.

We had tried turning back, but the path closed behind us faster than we walked ahead. The woods are haunted, they seek blood.

Husha Husha Husha. Husha Husha Husha.

The preys taste weird. But the fruits taste weirder. They too tell stories.

Husha Husha Husha. Husha Husha Husha.

The waters and streams here are cursed. Evil lives in them. The fishes kill and the weeds strangle. But the men are parched.

Husha Husha Husha. Husha Husha Husha.

The Moss has eaten away at many, the shiny little dandelions have taken over more. I can't look at them. They sprout flowers from their eyes. They'll be another tree-man soon.

Husha Husha Husha. Husha Husha Husha.

The light has gone. Only the beast and trees and mosses still glow. There is more beyond. The trees tell me there is. They are wise. They lead me to where no one else can reach. They tell me they like me. There is something special just for me.

The others had to go. Not everyone can move ahead. My birthmark burns. I've to reach there soon. The tree on my hand guides me.

Husha Husha Husha. Husha Husha Husha.

The oceans are vast. But it's not for humans. I've learnt that. And I'll make sure anyone who dares to venture here does too.

Some of my men remain. They've changed, but they are mine to command. The trees tell them so. And I'm the trees to command. They tell me so. No human shall enter here again. No one.

Husha Husha Husha. Husha Husha Husha.

The great tree shall bless the land. The marshes support us. We've only just begun.

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(10th September, 2022)