Rocks pierce. Grasses slice. Thorns sting. Boulders crush. The inhabitants of Bodily Fear wear bruises and expect pain. Bones break. The land of Bodily Fear inflicts wounds on its brave, but desperate, inhabitants. They see no way out.
Visitors arrive not by choice, but by accident.
The inhabitants of Bodily Fear disguise the iron taste of blood in their water with nettle tea. Fruits and vegetables won’t grow in the rock strewn fields. Farmers get pounded by falling rocks.
Instead, the inhabitants eat meat praying that the flesh will not be their own. They licks shards of ice, piercingly cold, to drink. The sun scalds in summer. The cold burns in winter. They pray to the gods to protect them, but the gods mete out physical punishment. They inflict harm on all. They punish the Fearful.
“Our Gods punish all who come here and make them live in Bodily Fear. That is their purpose before any other,” says the Guide.
The capitol Uncontrollable is scratchy stone sponge that expands in the rare ice storms that rock the land. After a rain, the precipice Uncontrollable can be climbed and at the pinnacle is a handhold to another land.
"But it is difficult to predict when the next rain will come," says Miss Emeline Traveler. "And the climbing is treacherous especially for those mending broken bones, as most of the Bodily Fearful are."
Many fall and the base of the cliff Uncontrollable is littered with bones.
"Here is your warning," says the Guide.
Miss Doe Friend shudders.
"Take heart, friend," says Miss Emeline. "We Travelers are never stuck long."
Under the right weather conditions, a huge section of the wall becomes easily traversable.
Miss Emeline marks such a moment and hastens her friends, and all who are willing, across. Many depart before the rock dries again and becomes sharp and impassable.
"As we waited in uncertainly, the Uncontrollable feeling of being trapped in Bodily Fear subsumed me," Miss Doe Friend writes her lover, Alobar. "A change, I could not predict, hovered as in the air above me. It would change lives irrevocably, dramatically, and yet could hardly be imagined before it happened. Only, Miss Emeline kept faith, so sure she is of her ancestors, the Travelers, and her place among them."
The inhabitants of Bodily Fear disguise the iron taste of blood in their water with nettle tea. Fruits and vegetables won’t grow in the rock strewn fields. Farmers get pounded by falling rocks.
Instead, the inhabitants eat meat praying that the flesh will not be their own. They licks shards of ice, piercingly cold, to drink. The sun scalds in summer. The cold burns in winter. They pray to the gods to protect them, but the gods mete out physical punishment. They inflict harm on all. They punish the Fearful.
“Our Gods punish all who come here and make them live in Bodily Fear. That is their purpose before any other,” says the Guide.
The capitol Uncontrollable is scratchy stone sponge that expands in the rare ice storms that rock the land. After a rain, the precipice Uncontrollable can be climbed and at the pinnacle is a handhold to another land.
"But it is difficult to predict when the next rain will come," says Miss Emeline Traveler. "And the climbing is treacherous especially for those mending broken bones, as most of the Bodily Fearful are."
Many fall and the base of the cliff Uncontrollable is littered with bones.
"Here is your warning," says the Guide.
Miss Doe Friend shudders.
"Take heart, friend," says Miss Emeline. "We Travelers are never stuck long."
Under the right weather conditions, a huge section of the wall becomes easily traversable.
Miss Emeline marks such a moment and hastens her friends, and all who are willing, across. Many depart before the rock dries again and becomes sharp and impassable.
"As we waited in uncertainly, the Uncontrollable feeling of being trapped in Bodily Fear subsumed me," Miss Doe Friend writes her lover, Alobar. "A change, I could not predict, hovered as in the air above me. It would change lives irrevocably, dramatically, and yet could hardly be imagined before it happened. Only, Miss Emeline kept faith, so sure she is of her ancestors, the Travelers, and her place among them."
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