I: Voice

Pines twisted and cracked their brittle limbs as the wind whispered, to the stream gurgled, to the fireflies winced, at the fog crawling in from my breath is the fog, my eyes the fireflies, my voice: the wind, my hands: the pines that twisted and cracked their brittle limbs as the wind called them away from me. The stones became walls and a doorway to a place deep down beneath the forest floor. A light within a lantern quivered at the breeze. I screamed, bellowed – my voice carried with the wind. The fog grew thick and obscured my dim surroundings and my flame grew dimmer, and I screamed, my voice carried with the wind. I blinked and saw nothing. I blinked and saw a struggle between embers. I blinked and saw a face. I blinked and saw a face in the dark [Solo: Poh Hock] Standing right there, it was standing right there. I imagined moving my head. I imagined curling my fingertips. Cold hands, bloodied eyes, heavy, my limbs, can’t move, a face, the cave, my fear, beneath – A voice groaned in the distance - the world began to shake... …strange, hideous face in the dark. “I’m over here” I blinked again and it was gone. “I’m over here” A voice whispered in the distance. “I’m over here” I could hear it clearly, just to my left. “I’m over here”

Submitted by Warbringer — Apr 26, 2025

I could feel again. I stood up in the cave beneath the forest floor, but I couldn’t see anything beyond the fog. The voice, like a reaching hand, vanished, but the memory remained. I see you, I hear you Beyond the fog: a maze of urns and spirits along a crooked path – all at once, a crash... All at once, the lights, carried from a distance, shot to me, flowing through me, flashing before me, violent, convulsing, bright… All at once, the lights… All at once, the lights… [Solo: Münzner] Pain gone by… Fervor and warmth and pain of a budding lifetime...buried it all beneath the floorboards of the cellar in a maze of my memories… in a maze of my memories… in a… [Solo: Gargiulo] All at once, the lights, carried from a distance, shot to me, flowing through me, flashing before me, violent… I saw another light in the distance and I pushed on… my memories left behind…

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Apr 26, 2025

Blight ridden shrubs and weeds brushed along the edge of the stream… as I ran past... waved with the breeze... as I ran past and away from the memory…Silent… I tried to be silent… Stagnant… the pond looked stagnant. Branches… leaves and branches twisted and cracked their brittle limbs. ...twisted and cracked my brittle limbs The vines pulled me down beneath the surface and with the bit of strength I could still muster, I shut my eyes. Blight ridden shrubs and weeds brushed along the edge of - as I ran past... waved with the breeze... as I ran past and away from the memory…He was by himself; wandering, scurrying through the trees... Away from consciousness, on a path to the many worlds that - Shit out again, passed through the swamp’s billowing gut. I am the cold, tainted heart, eating you, again... twisted and cracked my limbs… [Solo: Hufnagel] [Solo: Perez] Again, I staggered through an echo of an illusion. Eaten by an echo of a nightmare. Let go by an echo of an echo, of an -

Submitted by Finntroll — Apr 26, 2025

Echo of an illusion, what I lived for days I had lived for none...blurry faced thing slumped over a fallen willow tree. Forgotten friend withering…I touched its deflated skin - wrinkled from the water. The sun advanced to the horizon and its radiance replaced by nightfall’s glow… [Solo: Peters] Vines, young seedlings grew old, turned to seed, and again… and again… Time tore by, and the sun and moon danced around the world. Hope an intense blur, the body swallowed by greenery. [Solo: Kiburz] Forgotten friend begotten: birthed of a disturbance in time & flourishing rot - flourishing in rot, swallowed by rot. The constellations bellowed, my sorrow drowned by their laughter.

Submitted by johnmansley — Apr 26, 2025

Beyond the grey, the trees, and the leaves - benumbed, staggering through the sprawling hills. Oak, bobbing ashes, curious – [Solo: Perez] [Solo: Kruidenier] [Solo: Madden] This is but one woven world within a medley of revulsion A scope unfathomable to the conscious mind Eaten, willow…Vines tore me off my feet and under the water again. Ceaseless echoes of the violent sleep rang through the water, through the forest, away from the scratching limbs, beneath the forest floor, through the cave, through the cellar, far from home... Flashes of the hag and the forest became a blur. All at once, it stopped. I looked back at the pain with the fondness of an old friend and I turned away. I looked back at the years with the fondness of an old friend and turned away. I looked to the bay, to the water.

Submitted by Corpse Defiler — Apr 26, 2025

I crumbled the world with my fingertips. The cave collapsed & the cellar caved in. The cottage gave way & the pond spiraled into emptiness. I shattered the world with my fingertips. And with the remaining pieces was a vague, foggy abyss once more. [Solo: Kiburz] I pulled my creeping hand from his mind and into the darkness I stepped back, I vanished. It’s time to leave the land from which I grew. I let you go. It’s time to leave the land from which I knew. I’ll let you go.

Submitted by VladTheImpaler666 — Apr 26, 2025