DO: Curse of the Past
Mar 20, 2009 13:25:38 GMT
Post by Zechariah Artuna on Mar 20, 2009 13:25:38 GMT
“It's the darkest memories that call the loudest.”
It was a sentence he could never forget, for it was too intertwined with his own memories and fate to have been just a passing line within the old letter. The thought was instantly pushed aside, as he often did, but as always it was still there, lying in wait upon the corner of his consciousness.
There was something serene, calming and undeniably beautiful about the ocean in the evening, especially when you were so far into it that there were no shores on either side, just an endless expanse of blue. The shifting, glimmering darker blue meeting with a lighter, still and seemingly solid blue; where the sky cascaded down into the water. This horizon seemed so close, almost as if one could reach it with his hand if he tried hard enough. While most wouldn't consider him of the melodramatic, emotional type, Zack still held a secret appreciation for things of immense beauty, though these situations were often brief and masked by a thick sheet of pride, anger, hurt and the loneliness that he had caused himself to endure over the years.
If he had wanted to Zack could have allowed himself to meet new people, to make new friends and fall in love all over again, or even had a family and been happy. However, this was part of Zack’s curse. He couldn’t allow people into his life, he wouldn’t. Losing them was a certainty and it always hurt far too much. He was already in love, he had been for years. He wouldn’t allow himself to move on. He didn’t want to. He was happy once, long ago. He didn’t want to be happy again, not unless it was with her. No one else was good enough. No one else would do.
It was why Zack had isolated himself from the rest of the world over the years, purposely spending less and less time around other humans and largely populated areas, cutting interaction with them down to a minimal. He didn’t like people. He knew the evil that people could bring themselves to do; he had witnessed it first hand. There were a select few who he would still consider a friend and even those select few he did not bother to contact or see. He preferred nature, something that was every changing and didn’t involve Humans in the slightest.
Zack’s lone body glided just above the reach of the tall, intimidating waves. He loved the distant ocean for the same reason he did thunderstorms and other calamities of nature. They would suddenly and abruptly put all things into perspective and help you realize how tiny a single person actually was in the larger scale of things. However, even that realisation, for the small amount of time that it remained, was dwarfed by his anger, hatred and sadness.
Somehow, ever since he had isolated himself from the rest of the world, he could never put his thoughts into order when he was around masses of other people. The chaotic and maddening noise of their voices and the bustling of their everyday lives were deafening to him. It was an orchestra he wasn't ecstatic to, or wanted to hear. Perhaps he was simply going crazy; the loneliness of the wilderness was known to do that to a person, after all.
Slowly Zack began to pick up speed and height as he soared up away from the water and into the sky. The usual things were floating through his mind, memories that did him no good to dwell on; he wouldn’t help himself and forget. He couldn’t. His memories drove him onward, kept him searching for her even after all this time; they gave him hope. A continent coming into view over the horizon tore his focus away from his memories. Something about the smallish continent, which was in truth more the size of a large island, seemed dreadfully familiar to him, though for the life of him he couldn’t think why, what or how. He had to know.
It wasn’t long before Zack’s mostly bare feet touched down upon the sand and pebble covered shore. Even the beach seemed familiar, though Zack could only remember once being on a beach in the last few years and this wasn’t the beach, he was positive. Slowly his eyes traced the surrounding area and fell upon some oddly formed rocks, light brown in colour, that were protruding out from within the sand, almost as if they had been forcibly smashed into the ground long ago. It was a crazy thought, though considering the power Zack knew many people upon the planet exhibited he realised the theory was far more plausible.
Zack stared at the rock formations for several minutes, almost as if waiting for something out of the ordinary to happen, though defining ordinary on this planet was becoming harder and harder to do, so that his memory would be jogged into remembering; nothing happened. With a frustrated sigh Zack moved towards the rocks, passing between them and further towards the mainland. It wasn’t more than a minute after he passed between the rocks that he noticed an extremely dense forest. From Zack’s somewhat elevated position on the land the forest seemingly stretched on for miles. Even this forest seemed familiar to him, though once again he couldn’t grasp why.
Instead of doing the easy thing and just flying over it, Zack decided to take a walk through the forest in hopes that something in the woods would jar his memory unlike the strange rock formations on the beach. Ducking and leaning to the sides to avoid the many branches and leaves that hampered his progress, Zack kept a trained eye on his surroundings. His years and previous experiences had caused him to become very paranoid and suspicious of everything and everyone. As he continued trudging forward he couldn't help but feel uneasy in this place, and only some fifteen minutes of dank, smelly forest later did he realize the reason behind his suspicions.
No matter how deep into the woods he went, no matter how hard he looked or listened, there was nothing and nobody here besides him. The entire forest was... dead; no other word described it more accurately. The stench of rotting plants was pungent and only grew in intensity the further that Zack moved into the decayed forest. Branches and even trees crumbed from his touch, having mostly dried up long ago, which was most strange since there were mountains nearby, the frozen tops of which should more than supply enough water for the valley. When his mind had logically excluded all other options, he was left with but one explanation: this place was cursed.
Zack’s first thought was to get out of there. He had already spent longer than he pleased to in such a cursed place. However, in a sudden act of defiance he opted to slow down his pace rather than break into a slow run. The speed he was moving at didn’t seem to matter anyway as he came to a complete stop as the dying woods ended abruptly behind him. Confusion struck Zack at that moment. “…I could have sworn the forest lasted longer than that…” he muttered, turning around on his heel to look back at the forest he had just left. The worst part was that he was right. The forest was creepy. This place was even worse.
Pushing all thoughts of cursed forests aside, Zack turned back around to face in front of him and discover where his feet had led him. Suddenly he felt all the blood in his body freeze within his veins as the stark reality of where he was struck him. This was really was familiar. "Damn it all to Hell...why here?"
It was a sentence he could never forget, for it was too intertwined with his own memories and fate to have been just a passing line within the old letter. The thought was instantly pushed aside, as he often did, but as always it was still there, lying in wait upon the corner of his consciousness.
There was something serene, calming and undeniably beautiful about the ocean in the evening, especially when you were so far into it that there were no shores on either side, just an endless expanse of blue. The shifting, glimmering darker blue meeting with a lighter, still and seemingly solid blue; where the sky cascaded down into the water. This horizon seemed so close, almost as if one could reach it with his hand if he tried hard enough. While most wouldn't consider him of the melodramatic, emotional type, Zack still held a secret appreciation for things of immense beauty, though these situations were often brief and masked by a thick sheet of pride, anger, hurt and the loneliness that he had caused himself to endure over the years.
If he had wanted to Zack could have allowed himself to meet new people, to make new friends and fall in love all over again, or even had a family and been happy. However, this was part of Zack’s curse. He couldn’t allow people into his life, he wouldn’t. Losing them was a certainty and it always hurt far too much. He was already in love, he had been for years. He wouldn’t allow himself to move on. He didn’t want to. He was happy once, long ago. He didn’t want to be happy again, not unless it was with her. No one else was good enough. No one else would do.
It was why Zack had isolated himself from the rest of the world over the years, purposely spending less and less time around other humans and largely populated areas, cutting interaction with them down to a minimal. He didn’t like people. He knew the evil that people could bring themselves to do; he had witnessed it first hand. There were a select few who he would still consider a friend and even those select few he did not bother to contact or see. He preferred nature, something that was every changing and didn’t involve Humans in the slightest.
Zack’s lone body glided just above the reach of the tall, intimidating waves. He loved the distant ocean for the same reason he did thunderstorms and other calamities of nature. They would suddenly and abruptly put all things into perspective and help you realize how tiny a single person actually was in the larger scale of things. However, even that realisation, for the small amount of time that it remained, was dwarfed by his anger, hatred and sadness.
Somehow, ever since he had isolated himself from the rest of the world, he could never put his thoughts into order when he was around masses of other people. The chaotic and maddening noise of their voices and the bustling of their everyday lives were deafening to him. It was an orchestra he wasn't ecstatic to, or wanted to hear. Perhaps he was simply going crazy; the loneliness of the wilderness was known to do that to a person, after all.
Slowly Zack began to pick up speed and height as he soared up away from the water and into the sky. The usual things were floating through his mind, memories that did him no good to dwell on; he wouldn’t help himself and forget. He couldn’t. His memories drove him onward, kept him searching for her even after all this time; they gave him hope. A continent coming into view over the horizon tore his focus away from his memories. Something about the smallish continent, which was in truth more the size of a large island, seemed dreadfully familiar to him, though for the life of him he couldn’t think why, what or how. He had to know.
It wasn’t long before Zack’s mostly bare feet touched down upon the sand and pebble covered shore. Even the beach seemed familiar, though Zack could only remember once being on a beach in the last few years and this wasn’t the beach, he was positive. Slowly his eyes traced the surrounding area and fell upon some oddly formed rocks, light brown in colour, that were protruding out from within the sand, almost as if they had been forcibly smashed into the ground long ago. It was a crazy thought, though considering the power Zack knew many people upon the planet exhibited he realised the theory was far more plausible.
Zack stared at the rock formations for several minutes, almost as if waiting for something out of the ordinary to happen, though defining ordinary on this planet was becoming harder and harder to do, so that his memory would be jogged into remembering; nothing happened. With a frustrated sigh Zack moved towards the rocks, passing between them and further towards the mainland. It wasn’t more than a minute after he passed between the rocks that he noticed an extremely dense forest. From Zack’s somewhat elevated position on the land the forest seemingly stretched on for miles. Even this forest seemed familiar to him, though once again he couldn’t grasp why.
Instead of doing the easy thing and just flying over it, Zack decided to take a walk through the forest in hopes that something in the woods would jar his memory unlike the strange rock formations on the beach. Ducking and leaning to the sides to avoid the many branches and leaves that hampered his progress, Zack kept a trained eye on his surroundings. His years and previous experiences had caused him to become very paranoid and suspicious of everything and everyone. As he continued trudging forward he couldn't help but feel uneasy in this place, and only some fifteen minutes of dank, smelly forest later did he realize the reason behind his suspicions.
No matter how deep into the woods he went, no matter how hard he looked or listened, there was nothing and nobody here besides him. The entire forest was... dead; no other word described it more accurately. The stench of rotting plants was pungent and only grew in intensity the further that Zack moved into the decayed forest. Branches and even trees crumbed from his touch, having mostly dried up long ago, which was most strange since there were mountains nearby, the frozen tops of which should more than supply enough water for the valley. When his mind had logically excluded all other options, he was left with but one explanation: this place was cursed.
Zack’s first thought was to get out of there. He had already spent longer than he pleased to in such a cursed place. However, in a sudden act of defiance he opted to slow down his pace rather than break into a slow run. The speed he was moving at didn’t seem to matter anyway as he came to a complete stop as the dying woods ended abruptly behind him. Confusion struck Zack at that moment. “…I could have sworn the forest lasted longer than that…” he muttered, turning around on his heel to look back at the forest he had just left. The worst part was that he was right. The forest was creepy. This place was even worse.
Pushing all thoughts of cursed forests aside, Zack turned back around to face in front of him and discover where his feet had led him. Suddenly he felt all the blood in his body freeze within his veins as the stark reality of where he was struck him. This was really was familiar. "Damn it all to Hell...why here?"