A Scale of Sapphire

Willow’s POV

It was dark, and something didn’t feel right. There was something on my back, my voice didn’t sound like me at all, and my whole center of mass felt like it had shifted a ton, and all of that was without even considering the fact that I seemed to be surrounded by something. I was completely enclosed in something that felt similar to the stem of a flower, but it was too thick for that, much closer to a tree trunk in that regard, plus it seemed to move and respond to my touch. No flower would do that.

What the hell happened? A blink and you’ll miss it light show followed by the worst trip imaginable, and now I was in some kind of moving plant cocoon. What the actual fuck was going on? I’d been walking to my car when all this happened, was I even in my driveway anymore?

I didn’t even know how long I’d been in here. It’s not like I could see the sky, or anything at all really, and I couldn’t find my phone anywhere. I spent what felt like hours punching and ramming and digging trying to get out, but nothing seemed to work. Eventually I just started talking to it.

“Hey there, weird rope vine cocoon thingy. How are you today?”

…

“How’s uhh… How’s the weather up there?”

…

“What are you? Why are you even here?”

…

This whole situation was ridiculous really, I would’ve started laughing if it didn’t feel so much like I might just starve to death in here. Given enough time, I might’ve started laughing anyway. The vine thing shifted slightly.

“Are you referring to me, small one?”

Oh great, so now I was hallucinating, huh? Although now that I think about it, there was that whole trippy infinite void thing earlier, so that’s about par for the course.

“I must inform you that I take some offense to being referred to as a ‘thingy’”

Might as well play along, I guess.

“Oh, uhh… sorry about that, I guess. Do you have a name?”

It paused for a moment.

“No… I don’t suppose I do. I shall have to take some time to consider this.”

“Wait! Can you at least tell me what you are? What about why you wrapped around me like this?”

“It was for your protection, small one. You fell unconscious shortly after I rose to consciousness for the first time, there was violence and death all around. I believed you would be safest in my embrace.”

“Is there still ‘violence and death?’”

“Not in the immediate vicinity, no. Why do you ask, child?”

I hoped that this was real. With every inch of my being, I wished that this was real. Maybe I could get out of this after all!

“Then if it’s not too much trouble, would you be willing to let me out?”

“But of course, small one. I’ll be here if you need me, it’s not as though I can stray far.”

The rustling and shifting of whatever my new acquaintance was sounded something like laughter as vines parted, and I was met with the warm sun on my face again. Now I just had to figure out what the hell was going on.