Meeting a Spirit

Written by Stonks for character development of Stonks "Golden Hands"

A flame flickered slowly, burning brightly in the middle of the forest while surrounded by darkness, food, and a skeleton. Stonks checked the different foods surrounding it, fruits and vegetables that each had been freshly picked, anything else would be an insult to the forest spirits of the night, and the undead figure was unwilling to ruin his good reputation. With the worries of angry spirits dispelled and the certainty that they’d be satisfied, Stonks began to leave only to be interrupted by the sound of a beak ripping through a fruit, with a cuss and a sword drawn, Stonks turned around to scare off the bird only to see a sight, that while not unusual to him, still shocked him.

A large feathered figure was eating some of the fruits, before making noises that sounded like a mixture of hoots, caws and squawks, its feathers were as equally mismatched as the sound it made, with brown, red and green feathers making up most of its upper body and its tail seemed to be that of a peacock, an awe inspiring sight to say the least. After a while of simply standing there with his jaw just barely hanging on, the shocked skeleton was noticed by the spirit when it turned it’s head fully turned backward, similar to an owl, despite them never having properly met, the spirit wasn’t shocked by Stonks presence, having known him as the one who fed them and other spirits for a long time, it happily chirps and whistles to him, and Stonks quickly recognized it as Sylvan, the language of spirits, though he didn’t know any words, he knew how it sounded and quickly waved in greeting, the spirit tilted it’s head, chirping with an almost confused tone, Stonks stared at it, uncertain of what to do, eventually, he tried speaking to it. “I-I cannae speak Sylvan.” A moment of awkward silence followed, the bird breaking it with a confused whistle, Stonks gestured to his mouth and throat, and shook his head.

The bird seemed sad by the notion, and after staring at Stonks for another moment, it spread its wings, and leaped into the air, flying into the trees and leaving Stonks alone in the clearing. After a moment of processing the event, Stonks walked away, never to see that spirit, or any others, again.