REVISED EDITION of THE GREEN MAN of DESTINY — Part 1

Chapter 8: Point of No-Return [2]

Lightning-Glass

He stilled his mind with many breaths.

In that place of stillness, he knew he was not his body. The body, once his body, floated nearby. He was aware that he was not his body. A strange blue light hummed along his spine, calmed him, and gleamed with the pulse of the stars. He saw a dome of clear sky ringed with tall trees.

All night the wind howled, and sand pelted the Spirit Coat. The storm stopped as abruptly as the snuffing of a candle flame. Gren struggled to emerge from the timeless state where he had taken refuge. He became aware once more of the stench of urine and feces. He forced his hand through the top of the coat into the air above.

Gren worked his way out of the coat into the day. Low, inky clouds rolled overhead. He stared upward, eyes wide, at the dark undulating sky. He felt as if he could reach up and touch it. Still looking up, he staggered backward and fell. The ground had changed: where lightning had struck, the sand had fused into rivulets of glass. A small glassy sea, reflecting the rainless clouds, surrounded the Spirit Coat — tent. Evidence of the violence he had survived in the night was everywhere. In shock from his fall, Gren struggled onward. Irregular glass pockets and bulges eddied around the island of the coat-tent. He longed for safe footing.

The Spirit Coat littered with bone fragments stuck to its outer layer. Gren stared down at it for a long while.

“I’m floating,” he said out loud as if to test whether his voice worked. It cracked in the thick air. He stepped onto the bone fragments around the coat, and from this sure footing surveyed the area. Miles to the north and west, less high than the hillock, was a ripple of glass spreading out to the horizon. Tiny rivulets of glass spread out behind and ahead of him. He swung the Spirit Coat up off the ground — it cracked and ripped. He twirled it around his head as he had seen the One do many times. He startled with a slip and fell on the glass. Determined, he began to climb the hillock toward the top.

It was slow going and hard to find footholds. He fell on his face once and slid back down to where he had started. It took him much longer than expected to reach the top of the slight rise.

The edge of the low rolling clouds gave way to brilliant sunshine. Light from the sun revealed the familiar desert. He gazed down on the sand he had known all his life. He lowered himself.

Going down could be easier, he thought.

He flapped with his arms and tried to move. Haltingly, he slid down over the glass to the edge of the sand. He removed his coat and the water skin and pack and stripped off his clothing. The power of the advancing sun was forcing the clouds to recede. He scrubbed his clothing with the sand. Then he rolled back and forth in the fresh sand layer. Gren brushed himself clean and put his tattered clothing on again.

A swarm of those flying bugs buzzed overhead. It was what great grandmother had warned him about, the flying Big Buzz Bugs. One separated from the swarm and flew down around him slowing. It hovered nearby. But Gren gazed at the sand.

No beguiling from you bug, he thought.

The female presence that had looked at him before glanced at him thrice.

What? You too?

You called me and I came to help you. And yet you shun me? a feminine voice appeared in his head.

Gren looked up in the direction of the voice. Was it the female glancing or the bug that spoke to him? The bug soared in a blur into the sky and out of sight. He stared into the sky away from the sun working to remember something important. Something he had forgotten.

Taking the staff, he marched forward toward the oncoming sun. The bones on the coat rattled and rubbed against each other. The clattering chink of the bones reminded him of the others who had perished along the way. All those that had come before — in search of the Green Man and his dwelling place in the rich green deep forest.

By the time the sun was beating down on him, he had erected the Spirit Coat tent and slipped inside. He spent the day reviewing his inventories and reorganizing his stores.

Next chapter:

Previous chapter:

Contents:

Thank you for joining me in the hero’s adventures across a dying planet ready for resurrection through the ways of alchemical magic. And in search of the Being to restore the world to greenery once again.

Blessings, Passion, and Grace on your journey. May whatever or whomever you looking for — find you.

(If you do NOT wish to be tagged, let me know, and I’ll tag you not):

Barbara Murray | K. Pearson Bradley | Rebecca Romanelli | Joseph Lieungh | Dr. Preeti Singh | Pene Hodge | Dr Mehmet Yildiz | Kris Bedenian | Alberto García 🚀🚀🚀 | Blaine Coleman | Lee David Tyrrell | DL Nemeril | David Price | Rip Parker | Annelise Lords | Libby Shively McAvoy | Marcus aka Gregory Maidman | Alison Hollingsead | Bruno T. |