Tales Of Grimea Read Free Page B

a
beating heart or a bloomed flower’s scent being lifted high into a
cloudless sky by a red eyed bird. He saw the smallest of things and
the largest of the mountain sized animals, those with skins like
leather or hair longer than a man. Whenever the fatigue left him,
he would continue expanding his senses until suddenly, he felt a
two footer. He was used to how different two footers were from the
rest of existence. There was somehow more complexity to them,
whilst betraying no higher importance. Then the feeling came again,
later, and the man realized he was sensing his home, where the
caves were. Children danced and men laughed and women ran races
against one another. Meanwhile a fluttering betrayed the ripples of
butterflies. He pushed further.
    The two footer had never seen any bodies of
water larger than his jungle’s river. You can imagine then his gasp
of wonder at finding his sight stopped by an incredibly ancient
presence vaster, it seemed, than a dream spanning a thousand
nights. The presence was filled with different types of animals the
two footer had never encountered, having never been away from the
jungle ringed by mountains. He could also feel other predators on
the land between mountain and ocean, bigger still than the ones
back home. Two footers, however, he could not sense. Instinctively,
he was glad to that none of these predators roamed his lands.
    If you walked along the river in the
direction to your left when facing the sun, you would, in the two
footer’s jungle, find two or three spots of land surrounded by
water. This, the two footer discovered, was how most land was.
There was mostly water, and he, his jungle, and everything around
were one island. Smaller islands headed in a direction, then two
large ones, far from one another but connected by a long thin
strip. Far below him, down enough that it somehow became up again,
was one last island. Four there were, in this… place they
inhabited. The two footer had no concept of planets, but surmised
that everyone lived on a ball. By this time, he had eaten a few
times, but had stopped for nothing else. The sun rose when he found
his strength waning and he stopped to rest his mind and self, and
his eyes stung both with light and revelation, although these two
things were sometimes one and the same. There was too much to know.
Everyone lived on islands surrounded by water, on a ball? His head
hurt with the number of new beings he’d felt. By the end of his
day’s out of body adventure, he could only sense beings larger than
reality, like the lizards that flew or the fish that walked or the
two footers made of tree. Once more, he was glad to not have any in
their jungle, for he sensed there was no way to hunt these
things.
    When his rest was over, the two footer
readied himself to feel once more. It was now high morning, and
he’d thought a few things through. Instead of feeling just all
around, he sent his senses in an orb around him from the get go. It
was coming to his attention that under was not quite always under,
and as with many new revelations he took this one with wonder and a
change of thought. When he passed the globe, this time, he could
feel smaller things as well. Realizing that his senses were
growing, the two footer gently pushed on through, and was surprised
to feel little resistance. It was as if the space he probed was
devoid of anything. He thought for a few seconds that he’d reached
the end of the world, and so spent a few minutes basking in the
world and in himself. Then, when caution’s grip loosened, the man
pushed on further, until he reached white rock. Then he moved on
and felt more rock, and more, then something akin to the red
tongues which were sometimes left behind when lightning smashed its
foot against the ground. There were no living things to touch, and
yet the man was not disheartened, for he was the lake and could
feel all around him. With a deep breath he moved on, sensing
himself moving slowly. He spun