An Axe in the Flames

Mother of the Woods, Annifer

Firelight danced in hues of yellow and orange along her strong jawline, creating shadows beneath the deer horn headdress and flaps of brown leather that hung beside her ears. Embers popped from the wood and gracefully fell in front of her as she kept her eyes closed. Annifer sat cross-legged in front of the campfire, adorned in the druid style of brown leather tunic and leggings fringed with fur and decorated with bleached bones and teeth. Her long brown hair peaked out from under the headdress and spilled across her muscular shoulders, the Amdesse forest's nightlife singing around her illuminated circle. She sat still as she concentrated on her breathing, rolling her talking bones from palm to palm as she tried to connect with the spirits of the forest. A small raccoon sat in her lap, mostly gray with rings of black on its tail, sleeping and softly snoring with its muzzle covered by two soft gray paws.

Annifer was alone tonight, deciding to communicate with the spirits by herself. Rolling the bones in her hands again, she breathed out, slowly and deliberately, and spilled them to the soft moss of the forest floor. Opening her eyes slowly, she allowed them to adjust to the brightness of the fire, feeling the warmth of the flames for the first time. She studied the way the bones fell and crossed over each other, reading the signs of the ancient communication tools of her ancestors. She waved her hand over them and picked the diminutive bleached bones up again.

"Ancestors and spirits of the forest, will you speak with me tonight?" She said in a whisper.

An icy breeze caressed her cheek and tasseled her hair as she rolled the bones onto the mossy floor again. This time, they shifted and moved on their own accord, forming patterns and tumbling over each other. She smiled to herself as the raccoon on her lap looked up at her with inquisitive eyes and grunted.

"Thank you, wise ones."

A voice like that of a carried echo on the winds passed through her mind, "Mother of the woods, we are with you."

Again, she picked up the bones and held them in her hands as she brought them to her mouth and blew softly, "What happens in the world beyond our forest borders?"

The bones tumbled from her hands and formed into a circle as the embers of the campfire coalesced together and formed a softly burning ball. She watched in amazement as the embers continued to burn and flicker and the ball became more dense.

"War between men, and blasphemy of what the Life Giver created." The voice said again, as the ball pulsed with each word.

With its spindly front legs, the raccoon adjusted itself to face the ball, its eyes filled with curiosity and reflecting the flames. It yawned and continued to watch.

"War? Between who?" Annifer replied.

"Between the men who take and defile the Life Giver's gifts and those that would call this land theirs."

"Have you seen how this war will end, and what will happen to the land?"

The ball burned bright orange and yellow and pulsed hard. "Destruction follows this war, the undoing of all that has been peaceful. The Life Giver has awakened to the ancient slumber of the Great Eater of the Void."

She gasped, "The Great Eater? Shathari..."

"He is the same. Defilement of magics has awakened his hunger." The voice whispered.

Annifer reached up with slender fingers and unconsciously began running her fingers over her leather necklace with a bird stamped into an oval hide pendant. She was unsettled and shocked at the revelations being spoken, but she maintained her focus on the spirit ball in front of her.