201 Homeward (1/2)

His physical form and his regular mind, and with those slowly restoring, he returned to the world he was familiar with.

Things came back to him piecemeal.

First, it was his vision. Darkness was dispelled, and instead, he saw water all around him. Dark, shadowy, abyssal water. His touch returned, sensation becoming stronger, and he could feel how cold the water was, and, at the same time, how warm the hand clutching his own was.

Li looked down to see Tia there. Her hand, scaled and claws extended, were locked around his, and she stared at him with open-mouthed panic, her green and black eyes glowing in the dark. When she saw that his eyes met hers, that they were open, she gritted her sharp teeth and heaved backwards, wings unfurling from her back to aid her with the effort.

Li was torn out of the stone platform that comprised the heart of the forest, and he felt limp, disembodied. His mind, too, was a blend of chaos, his memories completely out of order.

What was happening? Why was Tia here? Why was it so dark? Where had he been? Where was that place? Who had he been talking to? How long had it been? So many questions formulated in his half-formed mind.

Tia took Li and swam up, her wings fluttering down and creating swaths of bubbles around her as she 'flew' through the water. Her determination and effort was such that it only took a few seconds for her to swim all the way up from the depths to the surface.

Like dolphins breaching the water's surface and soaring in the air, Tia and Li flew through the lake surface and she gently landed him at the edge of the lake, resting his still limp body on soft, bushy grass.

Touching the grass, Li felt life energy, and with that, he felt things return to him faster. Sensation and control over his body immediately formed into completion, and as he sat up, he could see a solid, almost tangible darkness slithering away from his body, pooling around the grass for a few seconds before melting away into nothingness.

It was not the darkness of the dark beasts. Organic and formed like flesh. It was at once incorporeal, hazy and fog-like in its appearance, and strangely still looked solid, the fogginess of the darkness fluxing between solidity and intangibility.

His mind focused, and waves of realization began to hit him as clarity shone through his muddled head.

It was not that Li was ridding himself of the darkness. No, the darkness felt familiar. It felt like him. He had formed his physical body again out of it. During the time he was in that strange space, his body, the human form he carried right now, had been completely deconstructed, ceasing to exist in this world.

Li looked down to his hands, feeling it so utterly strange that he almost could not recognize them. They felt so artificial. So distant. Not his.

Beyond every other question, there was one that seemed so basic and yet monumentally significant.

What was he? He had no real answer to that question as of now, just somewhat formed ideations.

Tia collided into him, wrapping her arms around him tight as she buried her face into his chest, her horns nudging at his skin. He felt hot tears and sniffling, and he smiled. He did have answers.

Whatever he found out himself to be, one thing remained constant: he was still a father.

”What's wrong?” said Li as he returned Tia's hug, putting a hand to the back of her head and stroking her hair.

”Papa was gone so, so long,” cried Tia.

”What?” Li blinked, realizing then that all around him, it was dark. He looked up briefly to see the faint glimmer of the moon largely obscured by clouds.

That was not right.

Though his memories of his time in the darkness were still hazy, his memories from before were clear and intact. He had killed the Dark beast amalgamation and purified the forest right as day was setting into the later parts of the afternoon.

But it was night now.