WILLOW
I
wandered through the maze, ignoring the way the hedges reached out to touch me. They weren’t looking for blood. The Cursed had
satiated that need. They just strained to touch my bare skin, brushing leaves and flowers against me.
All of the earth was alive, except this was different. This felt like it held secrets.
I moved along the path, following it as it wound through the greenery. The ground beneath my feet felt strange, foreign in a way it never had. It wasn’t the earth I had known all my life, almost as if this maze existed between realms.
A place all its own.
I rounded the corner yet again, half-expecting something to jump out at me. What met me instead were the glimmering wings of butterflies as they fluttered down the path. One landed on my hand, the glowing blue wings so much like a crystal that I stared at it for a moment before continuing on my way. The magic in this place coated the air, surrounding me like the depths of the ocean after plummeting to the bottom.
I felt it in my lungs. Felt it in my stomach and my mind.
I was it, and it was me. And as I walked to the center circle, I understood where I had wandered.
Into the heart of the Source itself.
