Luvena
She tackled the portal of woven oak next. Its intertwined branches reminding her of a land long covered in ashes. One long since forgotten and lost to time. Perhaps this portal would bring with it nostalgia. Or maybe longing for another past. She could never know until she stepped into it.
She’d felt a headache coming on that morning before she left, but the urge to finish what she’d started was too tempting to spend another few days in that god forsaken stone room, alone with her thoughts, and a bonded who at the moment seemed to resent her more than life itself did. Instead she’d picked a sprig of feverfew on her way back to the path, swallowed a leaf, and stuffed the rest into the bottomless satchel Caligo had gifted her. She hoped it would stave off the oncoming flare until she could finish exploring the last two realms of possiblility that the portals had brought with them. Picoro hadn’t even bothered to scold her. Though she could practically hear the contempt brewing inside him as he roughly braided her sparse mane.
She stepped out of this one into a frozen forest of conifers. She quickly noted the footprints that dotted the snow under her, leading not away from the portal, but into it. Which meant the creatures she had met in the other lands… they were going back to hers as well. What it meant she didn’t know, but it was exhilarating in some strange way. Change was coming, and for better or worse, at least it would break the stagnance that seemed to be taking hold wherever she went. At least. That's what Luvena hoped.
Her breath fogged up in front of her as she ventured into the trees. Somehow this felt even more unfamiliar than the rainforest. She’d seen trees like this before, spent days wandering through them, but even still somehow it felt odd. Like strangers were all around her. Their shadows danced about the trees, and she wondered if they were real, or if they were just fever dreams creeping in behind her.
Table © Camy
