Swim Forward
You keep this in mind and swim forward for about a minute.
It’s only around a minute because you catch sight of something in the corner of your eye and stop once more, grabbing onto some stones jutting out of the river side to keep yourself in place. There, lodged in one of the tree trunks, is another small pearl-like sphere. It shines in the light, so much so that you find yourself unable to look away from it.
Curiosity gets the best of you, and you crawl out of the river and move toward it. You stop at the base of the trunk and see that it isn’t too high - if you were still as tall as you used to be, you could stand on the tips of your toes to grab it. Now, though, you have to shimmy up the trunk using your little paws, hoisting yourself up so you can grab it.
Your first attempt doesn’t get you anywhere. Your limbs are smaller, and you’re not as strong as you used to be.
But you are determined and you try a second time, using all the strength you can muster. You manage to pull yourself up enough to grab onto the weird stone - it pops out of the trunk rather smoothly, to your relief, and you slide back down with it in hand. This one is a light orange color, unlike the first, but it too is cooler to the touch, despite this one not being underwater.
You put this one in the same pouch, next to the other. You feel as though there’s enough room for one more of these, if you stumble across one.
You turn back and return to the river, slipping into the water without issue - you pause once you’re back as you start to float forward, just to make sure the two stones are secured in your pouch. They are, thankfully. You then push on, swimming further, following where the river water leads you again.
A few minutes pass as you swim onward.
You keep your eyes peeled for any sign of these weird shimmering stones, but see none. Of course, you know you may be missing them entirely, but you do the best you can - even if you have no clue what they are or what purpose they serve. Eventually you come to the part where the river appears to move up and over a hill.
Here, the river seems to slow in speed, and you pause at the fit of the hill.
It looks weird how the river seems to just go over it naturally, but your attention drifts from this to something shimmering that grabs your eye. Another little stone, you see, just sitting in a small bush right next to you. You reach over and grab it, and see that this one is light purple in color - you add it into your chest pouch with the other two, and wonder what they are.
They don’t look like gemstones - they don’t even look natural, you think. You feel puzzled, but, something tells you that you don’t have all the answers quite yet. So, you’ll hold onto them in hopes you’ll understand what purpose they serve.
Written by Hollowpages on 04 June 2019
