There's this world, somewhere, where there is nothing but paths. There are wide paths and narrow paths, easy paths and hard paths, paths that are well traveled and paths that barely exist, rocky paths and grassy paths, paths in the light and paths in the darkness. Every path is different and every path crosses every other path at least once, but often multiple times.
The creatures in this world travel paths. Their goal in life is to choose the best path, but no one gives them a concise understanding of which path to take. They can follow their leaders, whether they were the ones to bear the, to give them wisdom, or to nurture them. They can follow their peers. They can not follow anyone and choose to travel a path that is entirely their own.
Some creatures run on their paths, quickly making decisions to move from this path to that one at a cross point. Other creatures can be found at the edge of their path, curled into a ball, refusing to continue on. Some creatures travel paths for their entire existance, never reaching the destination that has been set out for them, and others find that traveling specific paths bring them great joy in and of itself, because they followed The Voice.
The Voice is not a being. It is not visible, but some creatures can sense it. They talk to it and they listen to it. These creatures tell great tales of The Voice and how it cares for them and protects them as they go along their paths. The creatures sing songs about The Voice and claim that it tells them the direction to choose.
This one creature, a lady creature, followed a path from early existance that never quite matched the path of anyone else. She followed two leaders for much of her small time, bouncing from one path to the other as the leaders went ahead of her. Then, she slowly shifted off and began to follow a path entirely her own.
One day, her path crossed another's path. She created this connection with the other creature and they made the choice to take a path together. They chose a path that was beautiful with bright flowers and colorful pebbles, but it quickly led them deep into the Forest of Displeasement. Before they realized what had happened, they had reproduced small creatures and were lost on a path in the depths of an ugly, scary, and cold forest. The trees leaned down to whisper bad thoughts into their ears and the beautiful pebbles turned into slugs beneath their feet. The grass had changed into ashes and the creatures could hear the wind hissing at them in disgust.
At times, the lady creature and her other would veer off of their joined path. They sought to find a place of relief, however momentary it may be, from the Forest of Displeasement. One day, the lady creature realized that as they traveled deeper and deeper into the forest, she listened to The Voice less and less, and then, when she cried out to it, she no longer could hear.
One day, the Forest of Displeasement was so ugly and so scary and so cold that the lady creature couldn't handle it anymore. She grabbed her small creatures and began to run, harder and harder, crying out, "The Voice. The Voice. I need you to speak. I need to hear you. I cannot be in this ugly, scary and cold forest any longer. Please, please, I need you to speak."
And she ran and she cried and she screamed and she sobbed. And The Voice was still silent. The trees reached down and scratched her with their branches, laughing at her in their rustly way. The slugs slithered underfoot, leaving their filth along the soles of her feet. She stopped.
The lady creature stopped and dropped to her knees. The small creatures sat, silent, watching and waiting to see what happened. The other creature was with her, much to her surprise. She asked again, "Please, I need to hear The Voice...."
The wind began to hiss. "Sssssssssstupid Lady Creature. Sssssstupid to think that The Voice cares about you....."
The lady creature began to sob.
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