When The Stars Fall [An Inanimate insanity AU]

He burst through the thick cover of a titanic forest, branches cracking like reeds under his sudden arrival. He struck the rich, loamy soil with a great thud, the shock resonating through his already shattered senses. For a moment, he lay there, stunned, the strange smells of wet earth, rotting leaves, and alive, pulsating life filling his lungs. It was overwhelming, intoxicating, and completely foreign to anything he'd ever known.

Slowly, he struggled up, his shade-covered eyes coming to terms with the filtered, dappled light that fell through the thick cover. The forest was gigantic, a vast sea of great trees, their branches interlaced like outstretched fingers, shutting out the sky. It was an area of original power, of concealed depths and old secrets.

He pushed through the underbrush, his senses stretched to catch any hint of his prey. The ground was a carpet of rotting leaves, gnarled roots, and glowing, otherworldly fungi. The air vibrated with the hidden life of countless animals, a chorus of chirps and calls that fascinated and terrified him.

He arrived at a tiny clearing, a ring of comparative openness amidst the dense forest. In the center, he discovered it: an area of ground where the growth of vegetation had been unnatural. A location where raw power had been loosed. And iridescent feathers, scattered over the lifeless ground. It was from his prey's wing.

He grasped the feather, his heart tightening. It was a physical token of his prey, a reminder that he was alive, but also a sign of struggle? Of suffering?

And then he heard a sound. A clear snap of a branch, followed by the rustling of leaves. It wasn't the natural noise of the forest, the random movement of branches or the scurrying of small animals. This was intentional, purposeful. Someone, or something, was coming.

[yes, i copied this from the last chapter, i aint writing again]

He braced himself, his hand automatically reaching for the stick of the spear. He was not alone. And the forest, he saw, was not as quiet as it appeared.

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The woods were his sanctuary, an escape from the suffocating reality of his life. His mother was wasting away, eaten by an illness. His father had been a specter, a memory in his mother's tales, a ghost before he was born.

And then came Mr. Cobs the CEO of some corporation. He'd offered him a deal, a warped bargain in hushed, breathless words: the impossible cure for his mom for free, for something equally impossible in return. A specific Soufih, Either alive or dead. The mortal had taken it, naturally. What else was he to do?

Now, weeks after, with a desperate heart full of hope, he stood in the midst of the forest. He'd pursued rumors, whispers, anything that seemed to promise the otherworldly. Most ended in nothing, crackpots, or elaborate deceptions. But this? this was different.He'd been following a faint, shimmering trail, like heat haze taking on form, for two days. It took him to a small glade, an area that was. different. The air vibrated with a hidden power. Then it did.

The trees expanded. Not with the gradual, unhurried growth of nature, but with a burst of explosive, green life. Vines as thick as his arm writhed up, leaves unfolded in seconds, and flowers erupted in a colorful frenzy, their petals glowing with an unnatural sheen of iridescence. The air itself snapped with energy. He stood, mouth gaping, his breath frozen in his throat. The growth was building around a focal point in the glade, an area where the glowing path seemed to converge. It was as if the woods themselves were responding to something. something coming.

Awe was struggling with a tiny sense of fear. This was more than he'd ever dreamed as a kid, more than he'd ever believed possible. Had that been an Soufih's work? Had that been the way they appeared? Perhaps angels were not myths at all. Perhaps, just perhaps, he was about to get his mother back.

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*dies*