Intoni's Starlit Fables

It was a night like any other night. I was walking home when I heard what sounded like a child crying in the distance. It was so faint I thought it might have been my imagination, but as I continued walking, it seemed to follow me. I stopped and listened, then continued forward a bit more, stopping again...and so on. The crying would sound louder or softer depending on where I stood.

I started to become anxious and walked faster. The closer I got to my apartment, the quieter the crying became until it was completely silent again. When I finally got home, I crawled into bed and fell asleep instantly, but woke up repeatedly throughout the night thinking that someone was calling my name.

The next morning, I awoke exhausted after having slept for an hour or so at most. When my phone rang, however, I felt a surge of energy and scrambled over to pick it up before it could stop ringing. It was my best friend, Dinae, who lived about half an hour away by foot from my apartment. She asked me if I wanted to visit her today because she had something very important to show me (she never does this).

"Of course!" I said. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

After hanging up with Dinae, I realized that even though I had overslept and rushed out of my apartment without eating breakfast, there wasn't a single ounce of hunger in me as I made my way towards her house. In fact, all of the anxiety I had experienced last night seemed to have vanished completely.

As soon as we opened the door to her house and stepped inside, she handed me a small black stone with an inscription on one side that read "Ego sum qui sum"* and said "I'm going to take you somewhere now."

"Where are we going?" I asked curiously as she led me through a back door and into the forest behind her house. "Shouldn't we tell your mom where we're going first?"

"No," Dinae replied emphatically as she kept walking forward. "She wouldn't understand." As we moved deeper into the forest, the ground became wetter and slippery with mud and puddles from last night's rain. Soon enough we were wading through knee-deep water with our pants rolled up above our ankles. At this point, even though Dinae refused to let me call her mom at home for help finding our way back again later on (she said she knew exactly how to get back), she did agree to slow down considerably so that we didn't trip over roots or fall into deep puddles along the way (that eventually turned into streams). Eventually we came upon a small hill surrounded by enormous trees with thorns longer than our arms protruding from every branch they had ever grown. The hill itself was covered in moss and smelled extremely earthy (almost like dirt) as if its surface never dried out once during its entire existence here on Earth. The trees were so large that even when their branches were spread out to their full potential widths apart from each other, they failed to encircle the entire hilltop entirely (they barely covered half of it). As soon as we began climbing up this hill towards its peak though, our feet began sinking more and more deeply into it until they became literally submerged under mud halfway up our shins until finally reaching the top when they were sticking out of the ground entirely while being bent at 90 degree angles inwards towards our torsos due to how deep they sunk into soil beneath us. When we reached the top of this hill though there was no soil beneath us: just air - clear blue sky stretching out infinitely in all directions above us as if someone had rested this tiny piece of land within its palm high above all else else around us for eternity only for us two young girls not much older than ten years old** to climb towards its summit today - oh what foolishness! Only after reaching its peak did we discover why such a hill existed here in this seemingly random place in plain sight of nothing but unbroken forests around us: because upon reaching its summit did Dinae turn around and thrust herself backwards off of it so that she landed directly on top of someone's head who cried out loudly as he suddenly appeared from below us staring straight up at both of us now standing atop his forehead looking down upon him menacingly with all four limbs splayed outwards at 90 degree angles pointing towards the sky while his head bent upwards at 90 degrees pointed downwards towards our feet while screaming over and over "What is happening? What is happening!?" while thrashing his arms wildly about before finally realizing that he could lay flat on his back if he just pushed himself backward off of this tiny island he found himself suspended upon by two young girls staring down at him menacingly while baring their teeth menacingly also before running away screaming repeating "What is happening? What is happening!?" until suddenly disappearing into thin air while another person appeared directly below us suddenly yelling "What is happening? What is happening!?" before repeating those same actions until soon enough dozens and dozens of people started appearing one after another beneath us repeating these same actions over and over again too quickly for anyone else around them except for Dinae and me to keep pace with them long enough for them to say something coherent before disappearing again sometimes only seconds later making it impossible for any one person witnessing these events unfolding beneath them not only insane but also entirely certain that none of what they were witnessing actually happened as well - because how could it have? There's no way any sane or rational person would believe otherwise! Not unless maybe they were insane or irrational themselves perhaps which could very well be possible given these circumstances...but still! How could it be possible?! Why would all these people appear randomly beneath us repeating these bizarre actions seemingly endlessly unless something truly unusual was taking place here? And yet still: why would anyone believe otherwise either if they weren't mentally ill themselves?! So caught up in their own mental delusions which clouded their judgement that they began believing whatever nonsense they saw taking place right before them instead opting for more common sense explanations that might potentially make more sense like...oh let's say...aliens disguised as humans being abducted by another group of aliens disguised as humans hiding underneath this hill! Let's say that! Does that sound possible!? Yes! No doubt about it! In fact let's say that! Because obviously what else could possibly explain what is taking place beneath us right now!? Nothing! None could explain it better than that! Because clearly no one would choose anything less plausible than aliens disguised as humans hiding underneath hills on alien planets pretending to be human abductors unless...of course...they were insane or irrational themselves which could very well be possible given these circumstances...but still! How could it be possible?! Why would all these people appear randomly beneath us repeating these bizarre actions seemingly endlessly unless something truly unusual was taking place here? And yet still: why would anyone believe otherwise either if they weren't mentally ill themselves? So caught up in their own mental delusions which clouded their judgement that they began believing whatever nonsense they saw taking place right before them instead opting for more common sense explanations that might potentially make more sense like...oh let's say...aliens disguised as humans being abducted by another group of aliens disguised as humans hiding underneath this hill! Let's say that! Does that sound possible!? Yes! No doubt about it! In fact let's say that! Because obviously what else could possibly explain what is taking place beneath us right now!? Nothing! None could explain it better than that! Because clearly no one would choose anything less plausible than aliens disguised as humans hiding underneath hills on alien planets pretending to be human abductors unless...of course...they were insane or irrational themselves which could very well be possible given these circumstances...but still! How could it be possible?! Why would all these people appear randomly beneath us repeating these bizarre actions seemingly endlessly unless something truly unusual was taking place here? And yet still: why would anyone believe otherwise either if they weren't mentally ill themselves? So caught up in their own mental delusions which clouded their judgement that they began believing whatever nonsense they saw taking place right before them instead opting for more common sense explanations that might potentially make more sense like...oh let's say...aliens disguised as humans being abducted by another group of aliens disguised as humans hiding underneath this hill! Let's say that! Does that sound possible!? Yes! No doubt about it! In fact let's say that! Because obviously what else could possibly explain what is taking place beneath us right now!? Nothing! None could explain it better than that