Leaving Paradise

Please listen with headphones to the video above while reading. The original story and painting was inspired by the music here.

The pitter-patter of pink rain droplets echoed through the forest. There was no Sun or Moon; bioluminescent vegetation lit up the ground in hues of teal and blue, just brightly enough to see the reflection of rose colored puddles.

Truth be told, the Sun had stopped showing it’s face a long time ago, yet the glowing plants seemed to make their way just fine nowadays. As far as the creatures go, well that was a different story.

The luminescence of the bizarre plants were bright enough to light the way along a starkly overrun path. The overgrowth had taken the trail so strongly that one might assume it to be vacant of visitors; however, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

In reality, this path was quite active despite having no physical evidence left behind by it’s travelers. Every few steps revealed remains of what once was a staircase, now overridden with the same glowing cyan moss found alongside the path.

Through the trees, a single luminescent entity pushed it’s way past the brush and entered the path. Despite the steps it took, it’s feet appeared to never fully make contact with the ground. It was not floating, but seemed to lack any real sense of physicality.

The steps this being would take were slow and intentional as it made way for the next. It’s long narrow arms almost seemed to glow a translucent white and hung somberly from the entity’s body as it continued to slowly make it’s way up the trail.

The number of these creatures gradually increased and they all followed one after another down the twists and turns of the forest. They did this in absolute silence, adding not a single sound to the droplets that hummed through the trees, nor paying any attention to the presence of the others. Each of these beings seemed to silently acknowledge the destination that awaited them, as if they intuitively knew the purpose of their trek.

They were not human and one couldn’t be certain if they were actually alive. Their movements seemed to mimic humans in the way they trudged one foot in front of the other, while swinging their arms swung to and fro. Despite the similarities, it was clear that these creatures held no humanity.

Their face had no trace of features, no eyes, nose, mouth; nothing. Instead, their heads were made of a smooth white material in the shape of an elongated oval. What appeared to be a bony material protruded where a neck would be, forming a single rod; it met with a horizontal rod to mimic a collar bone. Their arms, torso, and legs were no different, as they were also composed of similar lifeless lines.

While a few more of these beings appeared from the depths of the forest, a number of them also crawled out of the pink river that paralleled the trail. The horizon of the stream revealed a dozen white ball-shaped objects that peeked through the shimmering pink water; eventually, as they neared the shore, it became apparent that they were the approaching heads of more of these white creatures.

At first glance, they all looked identical, but further observation found that that was hardly the case. Some were a bit shorter, as if the size of a child, and they treaded the path clumsily with a bit more speed than others. Some were lankier and more scraggly. A few seemed to have longer arms while some had shorter legs. Despite their differences, they all continued on this path as if they had done so millions of times before.

Although, there was one entity that seemed to stand out. It’s appearance was similar to the others, but what caused it to protrude from the rest was it’s visible apprehension to join the crowd. They ducked under a large dark purple leaf as they approached the edge of the trail. It was similar to the shape of a banana leaf, except it had glowing neon green dots speckled across it. Regardless of the being’s lack of eyes or facial features, their head glanced from side to side as they watched the other entities make their way along the trail.

The nameless being stood there watching for quite some time before finally finding the resolve to join the others. They stepped unsurely onto the path behind one of the beings as others brushed past them. After a few steps, they glanced up at the trees that watched them from above. Pink droplets fell through the branches from the dark sky and onto the face of the newest oncomer of this crowd. If they could feel anything, they might have felt a mizzle burn from their extremities as it slid down their body; however, they remained completely unfazed as they followed suit.

Questions accompanied by memories of a life they once knew clouded their thoughts as they pressed forward onto the trail. No particular memory was quite clear. In fact, the entity struggled to identify what was a memory and what wasn’t. In spite of this, a single question continued to burn in their mind. Where exactly were they going, and why?

Judging by the lackluster energy from the crowd, the majority seemed to have no worry about the destination or why they were walking on this track in the first place. Something at the end of this trail seemed to call out to them, and like loyal servants, they followed. As the newcomer continued trekking, some of their burdensome thoughts began to melt away as if they were slowly coming under the very same spell that intoxicated the rest.

Time seemed to blend together with each devoted step these creatures took; it was impossible to know how long they’d been traveling. The crowd was getting progressively congested by the minute as more and more creatures appeared from the depths of the river and from under the brush.

Finally, an unearthly noise broke through the sounds of the rain and snapped the newcomer from their empty thoughts. They tried to spin around behind them in the direction of what sounded like wailing, but their movement was sedated compared to before. Nonetheless, they were able to catch sight of the origin of the unbearable moans.

It was one of the white entities that had fallen to their knees, reaching their skeleton-like arms toward their face to wipe away nonexistent tears. The rest of the creatures paid the fallen no mind as if their obstruction had no effect on the oncoming traffic. All but one were completely unfazed by the outburst, as the mass continued to make their way around the fallen entity.

The newcomer could not turn away from the despair of this other being, and they found themselves frozen in place. The evident sadness in the weeping creature’s cries resonated and stirred something in their memories that seemed to be slipping by the second.

Walking against the current of the crowd, they made their way to the distraught being. Any sense of comradery seemed foreign to the other entities of the forest, and the newcomer could feel the familiarity of it becoming gradually more fleeting the longer they walked. Despite this, they kneeled in front of their fallen comrade; each was a mirror image of the other. The newcomer found their movements even more rigid than before, but somehow they managed.

The wailing ceased from the fallen entity on the ground, as they realized another was extending out to them.

The fallen had no eyes or any way to show emotion; regardless, they could feel the sorrow that emanated from them. As they reached their arm out, they took notice for the first time the configuration of their appendages. Their fingers were made up of five simple white digits extending off the end point of their arm. In extending their hand, a small piece of metal they hadn’t noticed before slipped off their fourth digit.

Both creatures' faces followed the direction of the object as it fell into the moist soil beneath them. A moment after settling, the metal ring simply faded away into the soil as if it were never a part of this world to begin with; the metal band took with it the final traces of humanity in the newcomer. Now, just as unfazed as the rest, they casually retracted their hand and turned their back, disappearing into the crowd.

The sorrow-filled fallen being watched as everyone continued to walk past them, with no one else paying them any mind. The small shred of compassion they experienced for a brief moment had vanished, and in its place came a new resolve.

In their core, they knew they were near whatever ultimate destination the mass trudged toward. The fear of not knowing what was on the other side seemed to grip their being the same way the other-worldly plants took hold of the overgrown trail.

With their final shred of strength, they stood up from the soil and made their way forward. The spell that captivated the other creatures continued beckoning to the distraught being, and they could resist it no longer. Their illuminating white fingers hesitantly grazed across their neck, and there existed the only thing differentiated them from the rest. The simple heart-shaped locket seemed to cause them even more despair as they held it tightly.

With each step forward, their hand slowly loosened over the piece of jewelry; in a moment of complete abandon, they allowed themselves a final instant to remember what this locket had meant to them before finally letting go.

In whatever life they had before, in whatever world there was prior to the existence of this forest, they could no longer deny that any hope to go back was futile. They had succumbed in the end, and their actions could not be undone or go unpunished. These toxic forests wouldn’t exist without the actions of a species that had deservingly met their demise.

With the simple act of unfastening the locket, the memories of a life once lived seemed to fall away from this being, and likewise, the heart-shaped object descended towards the earth. It vanished the instant it hit the ground, just as the ring had, and with it, the last of their worries.

Before them was what looked to be the ending of whatever journey this was; for there was no more light coming from the darkness ahead. No more bioengineered plants lit the way, and no more shimmering pink droplets of toxic rain fell.

Into a heavy onset of darkness, the entities continued to make their way, as they slowly faded from sight.