a field of hungry poppies -
As
you swerve to the side the flames of the fire lick along your sides. And yet the tips of your hair being singed do not smell like burning flesh or hair — but vanilla and sandalwood. As the darkness wraps around you, the scents cling to you like a blanket protecting you against the night.And oh! perhaps the rumors were right about the fires and their blessings, because as you run past the flames you are plunged into a darkness so deep, and so profound, it begins to feel as if you’re running through the night sky itself.
But in this night sky, all the fallen stars are frozen poppies that lie beneath you.
You can feel them stirring beneath your hooves as you run, lifting their drowsy heads and blinking the sleep from their tired eyes. And slowly, so slowly, they begin to glow like bits of fire trapped in the shape of a flower. Soon the field of darkness is turned into a field of flame-flowers, that press in hungrily around your ankles. Their petals sear your skin as you fly past them, each one hotter than the last, prompting you to run faster, faster, faster through their midst —
And then the tear of teeth against your leg shock through any thoughts you may have had.
With the first drop of blood falling on them like rain, the rest of the poppies roar like so many beasts coming awake from a hunger-coma. Before you know it the very ground upon which you run is rolling and trembling like so many snakes writhing beneath your hooves. And poppy after lifts itself up on a long and trembling stalk to lay their teeth against you again and again and again.
Their teeth are not long, and the cuts (if they make any) are not deep — but there is no shortage of poppies ready to devour you whole.
But with all of them now glowing like hunger given form, perhaps you can see now that they do not go on forever. They form a pathway along which you run, and to either side the darkness hemming you in fades gently back into light. As more and more poppies rise up against you, the temptation to cut across grows greater.
Or perhaps you do not even see this second option, and only double your speed as you rush towards the end of the race.
To continue the race, you must reply to this thread with your character's choice. There is no word limit, and you can be as creative with the prompt as you'd like! You reach a field of poppies that are unlike any other. Their fiery glow matches their growing hunger for blood as they nip at your heels. If it's too painful, you might be able to get around them or endure the pain a little longer to reach the other side.
Choices: cut across to the other side, or continue straight through
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