by Botch » Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:16 pm
Day 23:
Yesterday morning I opened the door of my home to see a boar staring me right in the face. I was almost the distance to the well by the time I realized the danger I was in, and he spotted me faster than I could think of what to do. I sprinted as fast as I could and slammed the door behind me, and waited. Even after two hours though, he hadn’t left his vigil, so I attempted to use the ‘hearth’ magic that the men in the village had taught me. I felt dizzy for a moment and then the world around me was suddenly that of Dolgepol, and I was staring directly into the face of a stranger. It was extremely awkward. His eyes were the same grey-blue as Ihmic’s but his face wasn’t as haggard and bearded. We gazed at each other for a good minute or so before I broke the silence with a mumbled apology and said excuse me, as I speedily walked towards Dolgepol’s main campsite. I waved to Baekman who was still working on the wooden fences, and he waved back, and came to talk to me. The weirdest part is that the stranger was there too and began talking in a familiar tone with him! I thought it was terribly rude of Baekman to not introduce us so I went off to finish my own sections of fence and road. This morning I went over to the town again to see what I could and I ran into the unsettling stranger again. He seemed to notice my uneasiness because he introduced himself as Imhod, and that he was the reincarnation of Ihmic. He said this with such nonchalance that he must have certainly believed it was true, but I nodded politely and made some excuse to get out of there as fast as I could. I was shocked when he came to my house and asked if I would like to go exploring for herbs and game. Now I wasn’t going to go with him but he had this mesmerizing look in his eyes… I just couldn’t say no. I followed meekly behind him for a while, watching as he bent down to pick up some flower or another with surprisingly gentle movements, and he seemed quite content to be the only one to talk, explaining that this was a chanterelle, or that this was a blueberry bush. We also saw many half finished encampments, at which he explained that some people just give up trying to live, and indeed there were skeletons. While watching his movements I was beginning to find it hard to believe that this *wasn’t* Ihmic’s reincarnation, he acted so much like him! This evening after we had gotten back I took Kail aside and asked him, as he seemed the oldest member of the camp now, about what Imhod meant by reincarnation. He explained that like the hearth magic, there is magic to bring your soul back to life in a new body should you die. My mind was reeling after this so I came right back here and began to write. Note: I fell asleep at my chair last night, and it is the early morning of the next day now. I plan to make a more comfortable chair when I can.