. . . atop a mountain
Wind blew through the girl’s hair as she stood atop a mountain, blinking curiously. The way her head throbbed, how dry her mouth was, and the shakiness of her legs was becoming all too familiar. This was not the first time she found herself somewhere she didn’t remember going to. She was unsure whether or not to categorize this newly developing truth as “unfortunate”, or a gift she didn’t quite understand yet. With a sigh and a pout she scanned the area, squinting out at the where sky met earth in an attempt to gauge her whereabouts. There weren’t any mountains visible from the village if her memory was correct— which, more often than not, her memory was not correct. But, honestly, forgetting the existence of something so big like a mountain would be impressive even for her.
“Well, not much that I can do. I suppose I must attempt a downward trek. Maybe he won’t be so cross this time.” She decided, dusting her hands on her skirts as if ending up on a mountain were as normal as tending the gardens. Certainly, since she had gotten all the way up here, presumably on foot, there must be a viable way down. Very cautiously the girl attempted navigating the narrow trail— if it could even be called that— while humming aloud to ease the deafening silence. The air smelled of pine, strangely, instead of the expected metallic, earthy tone of rocks to match her surroundings. No sounds of nature could be heard from her position on the rocky figure. The birds didn’t sing, and there was no chorus of insects chirping in her ear. Truly, it was strange, but the girl had been in stranger predicaments.
Slowly she began a tentative path down the face of the mountain, moving slower than the snails she often found on her flowers. It was quite taxing, and often she paused to collect her breath and figure her next steps. Every move was calculated in an attempt to find the safest and quickest route down. Overhead the sun began to set, creeping closer and closer to the horizon as night drew near.
“Oh, I really hope I make it down before it gets dark. Maybe Lumina will find me before then.” The girl mused, yelping when her foot slipped and she slid down a few metres of rocky terrain. With a hard thump she landed on her face, complaining aloud as she spat out dirt. Oddly, as she pushed herself up, she was not met with the expected rocky surface. Underneath her fingers were gravel, rocks, and dry soil— but what she felt was almost similar to the bark on an old tree. Well, she did not linger on that. Much more pressing matters were at hand, like how she was meant to get down the mountain and back to her home. Really, it did not seem to be her day. And yet she did not seem to have been visited by anger, for all she did was get back up and smooth her skirts before continuing down the tricky trail.
Time passed by rather slowly, but she did not mind. With great effort she made progress on her trek, but the path was treacherous. The lack of wildlife in the area was unsettling, but not anything she could focus on in the moment. She saw the sparse weeds sway in the wind, but could not hear or feel the wind rustle her clothes. Under normal circumstances, she might have been able to pick up on these discrepencies. Alas, these were not normal circumstances, so she did not notice the pair of eyes trained on her or the faint, almost imperceptible, sound of fluttering wings. A bird, maybe? Whatever it was, it was smart; it waited patiently, and as soon as the sun dipped underneath the horizon and the stars twinkled in the sky, it descended on her in a frenzy and ate her in one bite whole.
