The Silence of the Trees (Open| Ireland| Ballyboley Forest)

As the light and pain faded Arteran found himself floating above a small village, the clearing or the other individuals in it nowhere to be seen. Something about the villiage seemed achingly familiar, but before he could go to investigate Arteran felt a hand grip his shoulder.

"Watch and see, but do not move. It is difficult enough to pull this from your soul as it is."

Arteran turned his head to see what seemed to be a human of roughly his size cut directly from the night sky. 

Arteran frowned, "Who are you, what is this place, why are we here?"

The being lowered it's arm, releasing Arteran's shoulder, "Me? I should feel sorrow that you even ask, but death does do much to wipe the mind clean I suppose. I am Umbrum, and this place is your home, or it was your home in life."

Arteran tried to grip his zanpakutou protectively, only to find it absent, "What, but-"

"I am a shard of yourself given will and identity. Where do you think that identity came from? For many of your peers it may come from repressed emotions, opinions, fears, or even desire, but for you, and likely for many more of your kind than you or they know of, the spirit of your blade found it's identity elsewhere. Though it might be more accurate to say that I am a part of Umbrum that had been locked away."

"What do you mean, that-"

"Watch and listen."

A strange force turned Arteran's head back to the village, forcing him to look at it closer. The village itself was nestled within a rather large clearing in a forest that seemed to stretch on as far as the eye could see, even floating above the tree line as he was Arteran could not see the forest's border. The village itself was simple enough, thatched roofs covering simple, homemade houses, roads made less by intention and more by dent of the fact that so many feet trampled the ground along them daily that the dirt had been exposed ran between the buildings, but oddly, even though the day was bright there was no one around. 

Suddenly the sun began to move swiftly through the sky, and soon a full moon had risen high overhead.

Arteran began to speak, "What-"

"As I said, this is a memory from your soul, shored up with the memories of all of the villagers who once lived here, and the memories of myself. Time has little meaning."

Arteran remained silent as the village slowly woke up, and the people began the process of greeting the 'day', nocturnal though they seemed to be. It wasn't long however until Arteran's attention was drawn to a small boy, no more than five years old, who looked achingly familiar.

"That is you, as you were in life."

Arteran turned to face Umbrum, "Assuming you are telling the truth, why are you showing this to me? I asked you before and you avoided the question."

"Not avoided, postponed. I will answer in due time. For now watch, and remember."

Arteran studied Umbrum for a moment before conceding and returning to the scene before him, it was clear that he was not the one in control after all, Umbrum was.

Time lost all meaning as Arteran watched himself, his living self, grow up. He saw his own introduction into the religion of his people, though when he questioned Umbrum about it the entity remained silent. He watched as the years passed in moments, the young boy turning into a teenager, then a man. He watched himself find a wife and take the mantle of high priest alongside his wife's position of priestess. He watched silently as the man who was supposedly him in life raised a son and daughter of his own.

It was when those new children turned five that everything froze, and Umbrum spoke.

"You must pay close attention now, and remember what happened, remember my, our failing."

Before Arteran could ask any questions the scene before him resumed, and it wasn't long before Arteran had no voice to speak with. He saw the invaders storm his village, he saw them sack and burn his home as they rounded up his people, and most of all he saw himself call for aid from his god, from the entity behind him, and receive none. As he watched his human self burn memories flooded him, memories of his life, of his love, of his death. He felt the fire licking his skin and consuming his breath. He felt every agonizing second until everything faded away with the merciful release of death.

With a snarl Arteran flung himself at Umbrum, only to find himself gripped by an unseen force.

"I called out to you! You existed, I'd seen evidence of your power, I'd seen you manifest, I'd been your conduit! Where were you, why didn't you help?!"

Though the being before him had no face a sense of overwhelming regret emanated from it, "Because I could not. Your people thought of myself and my partner as gods, but do you know what we really were?"

The force placed Arteran down as Umbrum continued to speak, "We were, are, nothing. When your ancestors found the glade that became your place of worship they thought it sacred. The believed this because that spot had an unusually high amount of spiritual power in it, much like some modern cities today. Your people began using it to worship their gods, and that created us. The humans have a concept of mind over matter, that belief can effect reality. That is what created us. Your people's belief combined with the spiritual power of the glade to create us. We were everything your people thought us to be, and yet we were false. We were, are, bound to the glade, and have no real power of our own."

Arteran glared, "So you played the part of our gods? Why?"

"Because you created us to."

"Fine, but why show me this? Even more, why are you still effecting me today? My zanpakutou, why does it share it's name with you?"

Slowly small motes of light began to appear in the darkness surrounding them as Umbrum began to expand into the night sky, "The soul never truly forgets, not until it has been completely remade. Your zanpakutou taking my name was your soul's way of remembering, of staying true to your life, as for why I showed you this? I am tired, and you wish to be stronger. You have lost people in your new life, and you desired strength to prevent that from happening, and at the same time you began to close yourself off from others. You have the strength, my domain, or what you believed to be my domain, is your power, but as long as you remained seperated from what and who you were, it remained locked away. It still remains as such, you still have to go through the same trials as any other who wishes for power, but as long as part of yourself remained here you could never achieve your full potential."

"Part of myself, stop talking in riddles dammit!"

"Me. When you channeled me I left part of myself in you, and you left part of yourself with me. I said I was tired, I hoped for a chance like this, and here it is. Whether you like it or not, whether you even remember everything you saw and recalled in this state or not, I will finally be released back into the spiritual energy I once was, and you will be more complete. I will join you, and become whole. As I said, I was locked away, my power tied to this place, but finally I can move on, and we can become stronger."

Arteran tried to speak, to ask questions, but suddenly the stars surrounding him flared, and he found himself falling.

----

When Arteran came to he found himself alone in the clearing, the others having apparently abandoned him. The statue from before lay broken on it's side beside him. As he got up he felt as if something important had happened. He felt like some part of him that he never had known was missing had returned, as if he had accepted something, or if not accepted, resigned himself to. In the back of his mind he felt Umbrum hum with something approaching contentment, the feelings coming off of the spirit mirroring Arterans own.

Arteran took one last look at the glade, the presence that had filled it before now completely gone, and left.

Word count: 1444/2941