The Awakening

In the name of Leshy, I curse you. I curse you and the generations before you and those that will follow after your death. I curse you, so that no place will ever be your home, no person kind to you, no god merciful. I curse you in the name of Leshy, spirit of this Forest, guide of my people. Your death will not be a kind one.

The ground was cold; I could feel it in every inch of my body that was currently connected to the soft forest floor, freezing sharpness travelling between brown soil and my skin. I bowed, my forehead resting lightly on a carpet of leaves, the point between my eyebrows connecting me with unending depths of the Earth, to those Below me and the ones looking at me from Above. The unusual iciness was transported through the layers of detritus, right through my third eye, to the centre of my soul. I could feel a breeze slithering right above the ground, whispering strange spells into every hole and fissure, moving broken twigs and softly caressing the moss, the movement so gentle and so at adds with the deathly force it was brining. The smell of decay forced itself into my nostrils whilst I breathed in deeply, forcing my body to still, even though the strange coldness was locking its claws into my muscles and bones. I shut my eyes, breathing in again, desperately trying to pick a familiar smell from a fusion of scents that were dominating the air. They made me feel foreign, a stranger in my own home, gnawing at my bones, slowly filling me in, drowning me.

One, two, three. Tears started streaming down my frozen face, leaving trails on red cheeks. They dropped onto the forest floor, soaking into the soil, joining the blood coming from the cuts on my hands in nourishing the ground. I was keenly aware of those microscopic parts of me travelling deeply into the Earth, finding their way to the roots of the ancient Oak I was bowing to.

My water to yours. My blood to your sap.

I took another breath, the cold air filling my lungs to maximum, cutting sharply into the membrane. The forest was still and silent, and yet it was the most deafening sound to my ears. The air was heavy, intrusive fog hanging low above the ground, circling around me. It filled the space between the trees, suffocating the ferns, sucking out the lush green colour as if it was feeding off it. Cutting off the lungs of our community, asphyxiating us.

We were all dying, rotting underneath invisible fingers of the enemy.

Listen. Are they coming?

I dug my fingers into the ground, dry leaves crunching under the force. The smell of decay was overwhelming, sickening, but I could not help but breathe it in. There was no running from it, no salvation.

There is no hope for us.

I sensed a movement beneath me, an awakening of a kind, my prayers reaching the deepest parts of the underground life. The ground was vibrating, first slowly, then starting to shake, thousands of voices speaking at once, moving the Earth below.

I offer myself to you. Fight back.

It was a cruel invasion. One that wiped out our settlement, destroying Leshah, the One Forest, in accelerating speed, sucking out life of everything around and leaving the rotting forest behind. Creating an inhabitable wasteland. We’ve fought the soldiers that invaded our commune, those who burnt our homes to the ground, killed the children with their long swords, cut off the heads of the elderly. We’ve fought them until we could no longer, until the mist followed them and dug its claws into our sacred forest.

Tell me, how do you defeat an invisible enemy?

Thick roots broke through the earthy layers, sprouting into thick air and the bits of soil and moss rained all around me. I could feel the dirt falling into my hair, on my blooded face and scratched arms. None of that mattered. I was running out of time, the fog biting its teeth into my flesh. Soon I would cease to exist in the most dreadful of ways.

Take me. Take me. Take me.

I screamed desperately into the connection running between my third eye and the depths of the Earth. Only an offering of the soul and body could have awakened Leshah from its slumber; an offering to the ancient Trees, ones that stood proudly for thousands of years, reminding us of the Olden Days. Body to feed the sacred land, soul to nourish the Tree.

Fight back.

The roots started encircling my limbs, immobilising me and pulling me down into the kingdom of Deep Earth. I knew my death won’t be quick; there is nothing natural about a soul being ripped out from a being. It was the only choice though; only decision that us – the survivors – could have taken. There was no hope for our people, but there was hope for Leshah and the Forest always came first.

The soil forced its way into my nose, my throat, my eyes. I was wrapped in a cocoon of coldness, this time a familiar one, earthly. I was sinking, sinking, sinking, my mind screaming whilst it still could.

F i g h t b a c k.

I begged until I was slowly deprived of my humanness; until my bones started breaking and my mind was losing the meaning of words I was repeating; until the pain like no other wrapped itself around my heart and spine and head, draining me from my life essence. I was becoming One with Leshbah, fuelling its vengeance with my blood.

And the Forest was waking, and it was hungry.