Bastendin 18, 40382 DW···
There was something rancid in the air. They didn't call it the deadwood for nothing.
People thought it was because of the way the trees looked and their twisted, rotted trunks, but I knew that it wasn't the real reason. They didn't know what happened here. Why the wood smelled like death in certain places and why the cave under the waterfall felt ice-cold one moment and burning heat the next.
Only Minka and I knew. He was never the same afterward but I still loved him no matter how he changed. I changed too, but I wasn't as soft as Minka. I was as hard as the dark matter that ran through my veins.
Ice Pillar Falls stood to my right, the massive structure of the mountain behind it. I wore only a layer of silk. Old and withered, it was my time to die. I stood on its edge, the river flowing beneath me.
Ice River is what the locals called it, along with Ice Pillar that flowed into the main river when the falls were frozen. It was something I saw since I was young, growing up in these woods from birth.
I would have gone to the secret cave, but I knew Minka would be there. I couldn't face him, but I needed him to do it so I took a step. A step towards the cave. Even old, eighty-two births, I stepped carefully and knowing. I knew every step along the cliff edge. I remembered the days when I dared myself to run along the edge.
I couldn't help but grin.
YOU ARE READING
Deadwood (The Chronicles of Mistar - Short Story)
Adventure*Short Story in The Chronicles of Mistar* *UNCOMPLETED* Solstice 40318 B.W. Delfie Caramon lived an average life on her home planet of Gazar. All she wants is a little adventure but she stuck to the confinements of her city, Mayno, at Chautta Park...
