Skill : 「none」
Thread Title: Shrek: 「 I’m a believer 」
Sleeping Doe’s Range bordering Highshear Cliffs
Amaris

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Lyra couldn’t recall what had happened between then and now.

She was running in a meadow, chasing the setting sun up a winding trail like she’d done dozens of times before. It was a place the girl knew well—every winding turn, ever oddly placed stone, every lifted tree root—but today it was different. There was a sudden drop off that had never been there before, causing Lyra to lose her footing when attempting to abruptly slow down.

The sight of a burning horizon, lit with vibrant oranges and pinks from the fading daylight, was the last stable view she had before the world became a twisting blur. Golden eyes blinked repeatedly, stealing glimpses of the tree trunks that rolled past—or more accurately that she was rolling past.

Peach and auburn fur grew ruffled with leaves and debris as she continued to somersault down the cliff side, a string of giggles and “oofs” escaping every so often. Lyra couldn’t predict when she’d stop or how, so when she collided full force with another there was no stopping the amused gleam in her golden gaze as she tried to catch her breath.

Sorry ‘bout that, words broken by pants as she worked on getting rid of the dizzy spell that tipped her world unsteadily.

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Skill: --

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It was in silence that Amaris trudged forward. His spirits lowered in the aftermath of far too many futile attempts at finding the runes his mother so feverishly whispered to seek. The world was in disarray, his beloved water poisoned and all-consuming, and still, he could do nothing to stop the life-altering chain of events that were occurring.

It was not the first time the moonlit boy had felt such a stark sense of failure, but it was the first time it had felt so…devastating.

His head hung low, golden-hued eyes trained on the world beneath his feet as he trudged on forward, not assessing nor watching where his feet would carry him. In fact, he walked as if he were nothing more than a shell of a wolf. A spirit, much like the ones he often saw in the peripherals of his vision, feeble and incoherent of the world around him.

That was what this world was doing to him: proving to the silver-cast wolf that he was nothing but insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Unable to stop or stall the ending of his given world.

In the trenches of his spiraling thoughts, Amaris had not seen (nor heard) the melody of sounds that cradled the air, as light and airy as they had come. He heard none of it. Not until the striking impact made headway against his flank, sending his paws flailing and his body tumbling.

He landed with an ‘oof,’ teeth gritted together as a blooming pulse ruptured past his ears and thundered in his mind. He wheezed out a fitting grunt, his eyes glued shut as he mumbled something unintelligible beneath his breath before the softer words reeled him back.

Amaris blinked, slowly at first, as the world tilted and spun in his vision before the tangled silhouette of a woman, doused in what reminded him of a summer sunset, sat before him.

Instantly, his heart seemed to hammer.

A pounding in his chest that nearly eradicated the promise of his approaching headache.

H-Hi, he echoed, stumbling for a moment on his words as he cleared his throat and shook his head (as if that would do anything at all). It’s alright, don’t worry about it - are you okay?

Skill : 「 None */5 」 

---

Oh, good! He wasn’t angry about it, that was a subtle relief. Lyra smiled widely at him, vision still unstable and seeing a blurry double of the silver-furred stranger. Her tail patted against the grass with enthusiasm. Hi yourself, she replied with a lively energy and a half laugh. Glad you’re okay, her body shook out as she spoke, freeing whatever debris tangled into her coat from the previous fall. Golden eyes blinked, regaining focus and finally meeting his gaze while maintaining the ability to see only one, static figure. Feeling pretty good, actually, she hadn’t broken any bones nor did she injure anyone else (at least not too badly).

Lyra’s attention spun around, looking away from the stranger and staring up the slope she’d apparently fallen from. Her expression was transparent: full of curiosity and confusion, head cocking to the side as she attempted to  piece the puzzle together. It was weird, she couldn’t recall scaling the mountainside to begin with, but then again it did sound like a thing she would do.

I… Lyra’s brows knit, face scrunching while attempting to recall. hmmm… nothing. It didn’t look familiar in the slightest, and she swore she’d been in a meadow not long ago. Maybe there was a meadow at the top? Maybe I’m not okay afterall, despite the potential seriousness of the situation, Lyra chuckled at the idea of it all.

This might sound strange but I can’t remember being up there, there was the meadow and then the fall, and now she was here. Was there a missing timeframe she somehow forgot about? Also, was memory loss even a thing someone could help with?

Lyra shrugged, facial features at ease albeit still a bit hung up for curiosity sake. Oh well, no point in dwelling, right? I’m Lyra, with a leaf still stuck to her head and a thin layer of dirt clinging to her legs, she offered a friendly grin his way, eyes squinting closed and tail fervently swaying side to side.

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Skill: --

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He couldn’t explain it, but Amaris had half expected a very different response. Not one that bubbled and slipped in the after-effects of glee. Not many, he figured, would continue to remain in such high spirits, and yet, she had — she did.

He watched her with what could’ve only been described as a dumbfounded look as he blinked a golden stare in her direction. Watching as this mystery woman seemed to take in the world around her — confusion, excitement, uncertainty, they were all present, and Amaris causally soaked in all of it.

His lips came to gently press together as he moved to re-establish his footing, hauling his body off the ground and mirroring her previous shake of fur. No longer were those shadowed thoughts licking at his heels and wishing to pull him under. For now, his attention was focused on her—this woman—as her thoughtful gaze swallowed their surroundings.

He was no saint in the eyes of the Five, but still, he could not help but wonder if her presence was a gift in itself. There was no hole or ditch, nothing romantic in the way they met, but she sure was pretty.

The moonlit man’s head tilted, and he smiled gently. Not strange, he echoed back to her, perfectly reasonable explanation, actually. She had that same faraway look in her eyes that many who suddenly entered this world often wore.

Yet, unlike the rest, she still held that spark of…optimism, nonetheless.

Amaris would never truly understand what it was like to awake in a world you did not know. He was born from a bush — well, a tree — somewhere in the south. He knew nothing else beyond what lived in this world and thus had never faced the bafflement of being somewhere one minute and somewhere else in the next.

He reasoned it must’ve been confusing, maybe a little scary, but what did he know, really?

I’m Amaris, he quickly followed with a beat of a wagging tail while he sat mirroring her own position. It’s nice to meet you, he added, Welcome to a whole new world.

Did that sound creepy? Was he moving too fast?

He cleared his throat, eager to try again: Do you remember anything else?

Skill : 「 None */5 」

---

As she sat before the silver stranger, Lyra shook out a second time, her ears flopping side to side and removing more of her somersault-gifted adornments. She was entirely oblivious to whatever heavy thoughts and haunting anxieties may have been looming over the man’s head, he’d given no tells as to what lay beneath the surface. She beamed up at him, her warm attitude about the unusual situation was not out of character for her and the other hadn’t seemed to put off by it either. Maybe this wasn’t the first time someone had crashed into him after falling from a cliff side.

Softly rounded ears cupped forward, the girl’s head tilting ever-so-slightly at his reassurance. It was kind of him, but he’d made it sound like a normal thing everyone would face sooner or later. Was it common to experience such unpredictable events? It wasn’t strange that she’d forgotten how she got up there, he’d said, a perfectly reasonable explanation, he claimed.

Reasonable explanation… Lyra’s head tipped to the other side as she tried to put fragmented pieces of the puzzle together. She was missing the "reasonable” part.

Amaris, she tested his name with a grin as bright and warm as sun beams, her own glee evident in the tone she spoke with. It sounded pretty. But it was the next bit that felt strange to hear—a whole new world. Was it because she’d never been here before and he was able to pick up on her lack of awareness?

Mmmmm, Lyra hummed, a glance given towards the steep drop she came barreling down mere moments ago. I was running in a meadow, chasing a bunny through the tall grass and wildflowers. It was… sunny. Really sunny, now that she thought about it, it couldn’t have been much later than noon, but here she stood, bathed in the rich beams of the setting sun. The whole day had vanished in the blink of an eye. I don’t remember going up a mountain, or even a hill. I was just running, and then I was falling, as if a hole appeared and swallowed her up.

A moment ticked past, and a nagging question lingered in her mind. I’m guessing there’s no meadow up there?

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Skill: --

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She said his name through a pretty voice, one that made Amaris’ blood instantly hot and that lazy smile continue to spread across his face. His tail waved a second longer as her gaze would shift toward the world beyond - the pain in his head and muscles no more than a distrant thrum in the background of his thoughts.

He listened to her words with intention, drawing his ears forward with every detail she opted to deliver. And though the moment she remembered from then until now was certainly not the reality in which they stood within any longer, Amaris nodded optimistically - supportively, as if his calm and understanding demeanor would hold up the loss of a life she could have lived.

One that no longer existed.

He shook his head, a sheepish expression growing anxiously across his lips as he subtly shrugged. I’m afraid not, he responded as delicately as he could. Just a lot of rocks and sharper cliffs. He added as his gaze turned toward the growing mountain beyond.

Houtu must’ve saved you, he commented quietly, thinking briefly on what his mother would say to bring comfort to someone so new and potentially confused. Amaris had never understood why some entered through the sky or the ground or fell haphazardly atop their once beautiful lake in Elysium.

They just did.

And that was that.

Many just spontaneously appear here, he explained with a shrug of his shoulders, Not me though, I was born from a bush - well a tree - but others, he emphaszied, are often ripped from a previous life, whether through death or sleep, and end up…here.

Amaris did not know why he said so much, why on earth he would talk so much, but he found himself unable to stop. Like this woman, Lyra, deserved all the information he could spare.

I assume the same has happened to you. He finished after a beat, before his thoughts drifted to Solvi - who had also appeared in this world after running off a cliff, her body unburied, and perhaps then, resurrected.

Do you think you died? He abruptly asked, the words falling from his lips far too quickly for him to reel his thoughts back in.

Skill : 「 None */5 」

---

Subconsciously, Lyra’s psyche began to fully digest the reality of the situation. Even before Amaris had reaffirmed the fact that there was no meadow, it was as if she’d already known with certainty. It was jarring, in ways, but she wasn’t one to mourn the loss of her previous place of living, especially considering her history.

With a subtle expression of gratitude, her gaze locked onto his own golden pair. It was almost funny how drastically different their coats were, but shared eyes of warm sunlight. With his voice breaking the silence, Lyra offered a smile, a reassuring gesture that she wasn't upset with him for his honesty. It wasn’t his fault, Amaris was merely the messenger of the absolute, he wasn’t the one that transported her into this new reality. At least it’s you I crashed into, and not a rock or sharp cliff, he had been perfectly placed, so at least she had that.

However, his next comment made her ears press forward and head twitch to the side. Without thinking, she spoke. Houtu? Who’s Houtu? They were the one that saved her? What were they? Why save her? Was it an invisible creature or a force of nature that was sentient? Does that mean Houtu has given you to me, to break my fall? did this essence guide Amaris to be here at this exact moment? Or maybe Houtu picked where new souls were dropped and chose somewhere nearby Amaris.

Lyra felt her belly flutter with the familiar sensation of excitement and intrigue. It seemed she had crashed into the ideal individual, she was getting a breakdown of this new world and how it worked. It was spontaneous, apparently. And Amaris was born from a bush-tree! YOU WERE BORN FROM A TREE? there was some shock, but it was mostly energized interest. Was he like a piece of fruit that fell when ripe? Maybe he was like a bird: born in a nest and raised until capable of surviving. How was one born from a tree?

He’d mentioned how others get here—some have even died and gotten a second chance. It was all neat, but she was clearly too caught up on his tree-birth. His remark and question did little to guide her mindset elsewhere. Maybe… Maybe I died, and the meadow was just a path to my afterlife… it was a fleeting comment, voice soft and distant for only the briefest of seconds. Did you grow like fruit and your parents had to pick you off a branch? her possible death came in second to the tree-birth cycle. Do all the locals get born from trees? Is it any tree? Maybe only a certain type, that would make the most sense.

Tell her of this baby bush-tree.