TRACK ONE: THIRST
Thirst
Thirst
Thirst
I awoke, in the middle of…
somewhere?
My brain kept repeating the same word.
Thirst
I felt it, down to my core.
Thirst
My whole body felt dry, especially the back of my t…
my t…
what's the word?
You know, the thing at the back of your mouth.
Face?
Thirst
Why… could I not remember basic words?
Was I that dehydrated?
I tried to get up, but failed. The muscle memory was somehow just gone, just not there. Instead, I used my tail and pushed myself onto my side, curled up, and got into a sitting position. Trying to stand up, my stomach lurched and I fell down. Panic rose. How did I get here? Why could I not stand? Ignoring the increasing panic, I got back up. This time, I found I could more-or-less stand, having to balance continuously.
Thirst
I saw a forest with a clearing in front of me. Behind a few trees lay a lake. I knew there was no way I wasn't going into that lake. However, to get there, I was going to have to walk.
Thirst
One foot after the other, I half-waddled towards the water. Had I been able to walk, I would've run, but I suppressed the instinct and made my way to the sandy lakeside with some difficulty.
Thirst
As soon as I felt the sand, the urge became massive. Not being able to hold myself back, I tried to run. Tripping once or twice, I finally felt the soothing, refreshing feeling of entering the water. I caught a glimpse of my face, reflected in the water.
It was me, a f-…
It was me, a h-…
it was me, a t-…
Whatever, it was me! That's what mattered!
Next, I tried to assess the extent of my apparent memory loss. I had seemingly forgotten basic words.
My name was…
How old was I?
I realised with a gasp that my memory was practically naught, only remembering basic facts and words such as "trees" or "naught". At least I still had concepts such as "walking" or "speech", even if I couldn't walk.
Oh no.
Could I speak?
I tried to say "thirst", but my tongue wouldn't move properly. I had completely lost all my muscle memory!
Infuriated, I swiped at the water in front of me, lashing once, twice, three times and sending long jets of water flying towards the sky.
Calm. I had to stay calm, in order to fix this problem. I tried to say "thirst" again, this time articulating each sound at a time. I still could not; It took several tries just to say the "th". So, first, I resorted to making sounds.
" f-f-f-f-f
k-k-k-k-k
k-k-g-g-g
g g ch ch ch"
So I sat for a long long time in the idyllic pool, the sun beaming down from above and the water level lightly rising and sinking, looking out over a forest of beautiful green trees. In the distance on the right, above the trees, I saw hills and mountains, as well as what looked like some kind of civilisation far off. The air towards the mountains rippled slightly due to the heat of the high summer sun. On the other side of the lake was a grassy boulder. In fact, the whole left side of the lake was part of a bank that looked very steep and blocked my view of the horizon.
And there I was, in the middle of it all, pronouncing consonant and vowel sounds like a pre-schooler. I also practiced paddling around a little bit with my… hands?
I practiced paddling. Luckily, this came to me way easier than walking. Eventually, satisfied with my ability to speak and swim, I decided to search for other p… p… life.
Before I got out of the water though, I noticed something was attached to my back. Removing a strap from my shoulder, I saw what it was: A thin square waterproof containment box, which had a round, even thinner thing inside it. I couldn't read the scrawl on the box, except for the word "disc". I removed this "disc", and admired it. It was g…
Its colour was a yellowish orange, but it was metallic, and fairly heavy. I put it back into the box, donned the strap and left the water.
In order to get my bearings, I decided to search for the highest point nearby. The left side of the lake seemed like a promising candidate, and the walk would hopefully help settle the oncoming dread that was making my stomach churn like an ocean in a thunderstorm.
After 5 minutes or so of half-walking, half-crawling up the steep, muddy face, I came across a tree with odd round things on its leaves. Not pinecones, but f...
Fruit! That's the word. The tree had fruit! Specifically, apples! And after noting that apples were edible, I realised just how hungry I felt. Just in reach hung red-and-green perfection: glistening and round, with dewdrops running down the sides and reflecting the sun's light. I had to have it. I picked the apple, and held it out to eat.
Suddenly, pain struck me. I had held the apple too close, and chomped down on my arm instead. Fortunately, the fruit had prevented my jaw from closing all the way, but my hand still bled slightly. Cursing my lack of muscle memory, I went about eating more cautiously the second time. I was immediately rewarded. The apple's succulent outer shell gave way to a delicious, sweet-yet-sour flavour.
One more minute uphill, and I had reached the top of the face. And I from the top, I saw the view of a lifetime. I was seemingly standing on a cliff, going what looked like five hundred metres, maybe even further down.
Trees and bushes gave way to a magnificent plain, studded in places with hills, forests, and whole villages that looked like ants from up there. In every direction, just on the horizon, I could see a thin line of blue and yellow, telling me I was on some island or peninsula. And what lay between the horizon and myself? Sheer beauty. I could make out three massive pillars of civilisation in the plain, each looking wonderfully unique. On the right, obscured by a drumlin, a multi-coloured cube of gargantuan proportions. In the middle, a city that had an oddly geometric alignment, the large roads looking like beams from its centre - a massive, round building with a sky-scraping monolith in its centre. Then, on the left, various sprawling villages with houses that I could not make out further. Between each of these population centres lay nature, looking largely unperturbed by the large-scale settlement of the land. Vast expanses of grass, some of them orange, some of them red, some green and certainly all wonderful. Forests of purple, green and yellow trees went for miles, becoming bogs or being split by coursing rivers reflecting the sun's light.
Right there, I cried. Due to the beauty of the view, in no small part because of the apple's delicious taste as well, but also the pain in my hand and, of course, my complete and utter memory loss, the tears would not stop flowing. Admittedly, I felt bad looking at the landscape, knowing that I should have recognised one of these places but just could not. Rivers, floods, torrents flowed from my face. On the one hand I was gripped entirely by the sheer beauty of the place I was in, the place I should have been able to call home. I was also gripped by the horror of not knowing anything, the terrifying feeling of being alone, of having to relearn everything. These two twisting grips wrung me out until there was nothing left.
After having finished crying, I stood, sat, lay there collapsed for what was probably hours. The shadows grew longer, and I knew I had to get some kind of help before dusk. I hadn't seen any life in this forest yet, but instinct told me I didn't want to, especially at night. However, I'd have to pull myself together first. One thing that could distract me from the sheer emotion was the disc. Looking at the box again, I realised I hadn't seen the other side yet. Unfortunately, I was met with a wall of text, all written in the same hideous scrawl as the front. I made out what looked to be the letters "VOYAGER", and called that a day. Unpacking the disc, though, I was met with a surprise: It span on its own.
Author note:
Wow, I'm finally writing a PMD fanfic! A thousand thanks to user ScytheRider, whose Silver Resistance was the first inspiration for me. Also thanks to the PMDWU, which got me started writing. I now have an idea of a general direction I want this arc to go in, and I can't wait to share it with you wonderful readers! Have an excellent day
- HorizonDiscovery