Page 12 of Into the Heartless Wood
I cannot bear them any longer.
There is a patch of earth at the foot of an ash. It is dappled with sunlight, thick with moss.
I kneel in the earth, tug the orb from my neck.
I bury it.
The souls will run through the veins of the earth,
into the heartless tree.
They will be strength for my mother.
Food for her.
I am lighter,
when the orb is gone.
Light enough
to dream.
I must go back to her.
I must kneel at her feet
and receive a new orb.
I must go and kill for her,
and fill it up again.
I do not want to collect more souls.
But my mother bids me.
I
am
her
creature.
I must obey.
But not yet, not yet.
There is peace here.
Solitude.
Silence.
I stretch my feet
into the earth.
