Chapter 7: Knowing the Path, Walking the Path
The path was closed off with yellow tape and cones, but any halfway intelligent person could climb over them, or simply walk around and walk through the trees to intersect the path. The forest that morning was cheery, but Ixias was not. Birds chirped merrily in the treetops above, squirrels who had missed the hibernation deadline scavenged for all that remained in the dead grasses abound, and the wind was almost warm and soft. Ixias didn't feel anything but a growing sense of dread and fear. Why was she doing this? Why was this so important to her? What was pulling at her, dragging her closer and closer to this truth that perhaps she was better off not knowing? Was the phrase innocence is bliss relevant at this point? Apparently not. Ixias felt almost as if she had no control over what was happening. The world was spinning, as was her mind, as were her emotions. She drew ever closer and closer to that which she had been spared only hints and peeks of. The truth. The truth about herself and her own existence. Today was her judgment day. But why? Why was this such a demanding and nagging persistence in her mind? Why couldn't she just pass off the dream as fancy, the details as some far- off coincidence that may have been kept in secret in her creative subconscious for years, the desire for the truth as a longing to fill a gap that remained in her life that she could neither pinpoint nor explain? Because. Because she knew it was something more than that. It was something that she needed to do - to prove her existence, all fallacies aside, to know the answers that beg the questions. Something was about to give, and she could feel it coming even stronger now. She felt almost pulled along by a force, dragged along the path to her doom or her destiny. She couldn't explain it, but when she stumbled over her own clumsy feet and fell upon her hands in the dust, she knew she was getting frightfully close. It had already been a mile and a half into the woods and the area was growing darker and more foreboding with every moment. Was she a fool? Oh yes, indeed my precious, yes. She had come into a completely unknown territory without any gear or preparations, all on a whim based upon a thirst for knowledge based upon a fancy based upon a dream. She was a complete and utter fool. Fool or not, she was brave. A brave, naïve fool. Anything could befall her at this point and no one would know the difference. She would disappear into the forest forever and never return. She clutched the map tightly in her fingers and kept walking. If she thought of light and fanciful things, the forest seemed to brighten slightly, to lose some of its eerie prophecy. So she concentrated on imagining warm and happy thoughts - the thought of her beautiful baby kitten curled up on the pillow next to her head, sleeping fancifully and dreaming peacefully. Her friend Max, being so kind as to put himself in an unseen danger by telling her all that he could, and guiding her in the direction of her possible doom against his own will. The sunshine and bright blue skies above the canopy. The crunching of leaves and snapping of a thousand branches directly behind her.
The path was closed off with yellow tape and cones, but any halfway intelligent person could climb over them, or simply walk around and walk through the trees to intersect the path. The forest that morning was cheery, but Ixias was not. Birds chirped merrily in the treetops above, squirrels who had missed the hibernation deadline scavenged for all that remained in the dead grasses abound, and the wind was almost warm and soft. Ixias didn't feel anything but a growing sense of dread and fear. Why was she doing this? Why was this so important to her? What was pulling at her, dragging her closer and closer to this truth that perhaps she was better off not knowing? Was the phrase innocence is bliss relevant at this point? Apparently not. Ixias felt almost as if she had no control over what was happening. The world was spinning, as was her mind, as were her emotions. She drew ever closer and closer to that which she had been spared only hints and peeks of. The truth. The truth about herself and her own existence. Today was her judgment day. But why? Why was this such a demanding and nagging persistence in her mind? Why couldn't she just pass off the dream as fancy, the details as some far- off coincidence that may have been kept in secret in her creative subconscious for years, the desire for the truth as a longing to fill a gap that remained in her life that she could neither pinpoint nor explain? Because. Because she knew it was something more than that. It was something that she needed to do - to prove her existence, all fallacies aside, to know the answers that beg the questions. Something was about to give, and she could feel it coming even stronger now. She felt almost pulled along by a force, dragged along the path to her doom or her destiny. She couldn't explain it, but when she stumbled over her own clumsy feet and fell upon her hands in the dust, she knew she was getting frightfully close. It had already been a mile and a half into the woods and the area was growing darker and more foreboding with every moment. Was she a fool? Oh yes, indeed my precious, yes. She had come into a completely unknown territory without any gear or preparations, all on a whim based upon a thirst for knowledge based upon a fancy based upon a dream. She was a complete and utter fool. Fool or not, she was brave. A brave, naïve fool. Anything could befall her at this point and no one would know the difference. She would disappear into the forest forever and never return. She clutched the map tightly in her fingers and kept walking. If she thought of light and fanciful things, the forest seemed to brighten slightly, to lose some of its eerie prophecy. So she concentrated on imagining warm and happy thoughts - the thought of her beautiful baby kitten curled up on the pillow next to her head, sleeping fancifully and dreaming peacefully. Her friend Max, being so kind as to put himself in an unseen danger by telling her all that he could, and guiding her in the direction of her possible doom against his own will. The sunshine and bright blue skies above the canopy. The crunching of leaves and snapping of a thousand branches directly behind her.