Trapped -5minutefreewrite

For https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-366-5-minute-freewrite-sunday-prompt-trapped

I'm sure my readers are all aware by now, but if you aren't, Chibera (chibera.com) is in development as the first MMORPG to use the Steem blockchain! This freewrite, in addition to being inspired by @mariannewest's prompt for today and our proximity to Halloween, is inspired by the lore of Chibera.

And so, we begin.

Trapped.

That's the only way to put it. Trapped. Not physically trapped. I can see daylight peeking through the trees, and I could, physically, walk away. ... if my feet could convince my brain to just start walking. But my brain won't ever allow that. Paepy is here. In one of these trees, above the branches. And she's lost. Not trapped, lost. Free, lost. But I'm trapped by my brain. Trapped, found. I have to find her. My brain won't let me leave her here, on her own, to find her way out. I don't even think she'd feel abandoned. She doesn't know how I'm feeling. She might not even be frightened. What am I doing? I'm doing what is right.

Trapping myself with obligations.

So I close my eyes. I lean against this tree. I try to feel its connection to the world tree. If I could, I could feel the World Tree's connection to every living thing. But there's no free mana here. I have to pay with my soul. And then I'd be trapped. Not just from obligation. But would it feel any different to trap my soul here? My spirit within this tree?

I climb. My limbs are strong. I could so easily leap from tree to tree until I reach the edge of the forest and walk to some small village and start again.

But instead I trap myself. I force myself to imagine her body beneath a tree, roots holding her down. Not lost any more. Feeding the tree with her body. She's lost. But I will find her, and I will plant her.

I will be free, found. She will be trapped, lost.