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River blinked and didn't move, staring at where the rocks and sticks used to be.
After a few moments he turned his gaze to Aspen, his jaw slack with surprise and disbelief.
"How- what-?" He stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence.
"Can you do that again?" He finally asked, a huge grin of pure delight and amazement blooming onto his face.
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Aspen had been twisting her hands fast and anxiously, at his words they stopped. She stared at him for a few moments, and then sent him into the air.
She hovered him ten feet off the ground and then lowered him. As soon as he was down, she turned away.
River gave a whoop of delight, feeling a thrill course through his veins as he defied the laws of gravity, even for a few moments.
"That was the best thing that's ever happened to me in my 16 years of existence," River exclaimed, his cheeks aching from smiling so much. "You're amazing."
Aspen's face flushed brightly and she turned her head away for a long time, only turning back when it passed.
"Thank you." She whispered in response, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Thank you." she repeated.
"I should be the one thanking you," River said, still smiling. "I've never been this happpy. I didn't even realize it was possible to be this happy but then you showed up and became the first friend I've ever had. So thank you, for doing all that."
"So now that you know—" Aspen said, wiggling her eyebrows "do you have any weirdly interesting skills?"
She started to levitate some sticks a foot off the ground.
River frowned. "Not that I know of…," he said, trying to remember if anything out of the ordinary happened to him over the years, but he couldn't think of anything.
"Maybe if I have a unique talent then it'll reveal itself eventually?" He suggested, although he doubted his own words.
"Maybe." Aspen said honestly "mine was available since I was a kid, but that's because my dad had the same ability to levitate things or like telekinesis or whatever you want to call it." She informed him, smiling widely.
"So my ability was already there, but it had the chance to grow and distinguish itself because I wasn't scared to do it, because my dad walked around sending furniture and my mother into the air throughout my childhood." Her smile wilted a bit, then flickered away completely.
"I don't know if that makes sense…" She said softly, looking at the ground and rubbing the back of her neck.
"It sort of does," River replied, even if he didn't necessarily understand the concepts of parents or family.
"I think it's super cool though, that you have powers," he continued. "I thought people with unique abilities like that only existed in comics or novels."
"No…" Aspen said, smiling "we exist, or I exist, I don't really know if there are others." She began to walk slowly, easing into her steps.
"but yes, I exist. Though sometimes I spend most of my time wishing I didn't" she admitted.
"Same here," River agreed under his breath but he turned to Aspen with a smile.
"I think we should get going. That dream-vision thing of yours about the golden woman sounded pretty important," he said, already starting to walk down the path.
"I dunno." She said, looking up, as if she could find the woman in the sky.
"Most of my dreams are unimportant and random."
She walked next to him, occasionally sneaking a glance at him from out of the side of eyes.
River was silent for a while, lost in thought. After a while, he decided to bring up what he thought he saw last night.
"I think when I was falling asleep I had a quick vision or something that showed a small golden bird flying, but then it disappeared." He turned his head to look at Aspen. "Do you think that might mean anything?"
Aspen turned her head to look at him, a dark eyebrow raised.
"Yes, I do." She said honestly, she was a firm believer in the idea that everything was intertwined in faith or destiny somehow.
"Did you dream of anything else that I should know of?" she asked curiously, now remebering her own dreams.
The golden woman,
a boy telling a story, that was coming true as he spoke it.
Other kids, all ages, one even about nine or so—
"I had some weird dreams too." She added slowly.
River thought about it for a moment.
"I think I had a dream a few months back about a castle where a bunch of children lived. They seemed really happy and…free," he said, feeling a strong pang of longing for the way he felt in that dream, like nothing could stop him and he could run through that lush green valley forever.
Aspen sighed and placed a large hand on River's shoulder.
"It's okay" she said quietly "I want a life like that too."
She then quickly withdrew her hand and smiled shyly at him, tucking a strand of long wavy hair behind her ear.
River smiled back at her, glad he wasn't the only one who felt that way.
"I feel like the castle and the woman are connected, somehow," he said, kicking a pebble that was in his way. "Maybe the next village we go to then we can ask the locals there if they know anything about a place like that."
Aspen nodded "I think they are too." She agreed.
She kept walking.
~ time skip? ~
After a few hours of walking, River finally saw a sign for a village he'd never heard of that said it was only a few miles down the road.
"Should we stop there?" He asked Aspen, indicating to the sign.
Aspen nodded, her cheeks flushed lightly and took a breath through her nose.
"Yes." She agreed happily and looked down at her feet, the ankles were covered in dust and a deep scratch ran across her left cheek and above her left eyebrow.
"Ok," River said, continuing to walk down the road until he saw the village.
It was near the edge of a valley, the once green hills that lied beyond the small town now dead from lack of care. It didn't really make sense why the village was near the valley but not necessarily in it, but he was too tired to judge.
"Hopefully we can find a motel or something like that around here," he said to Aspen, his voice betraying how skeptical and doubtful he was of that.
Aspen nodded grimly, also showing how skeptical she was of this statement.
"Sure." She said, trying to reassure him, with a small smile.
"If not, we can just sleep somewhere semi-secluded if need be." She added quietly, continuing to walk. The street was eerily deserted and every person they did pass, gave them a look of surprise and distaste.
"Uhm, maybe we should just like lie low for today." She suggested timidly.
"Maybe," River agreed.
He walked a few more feet before he noticed that an elderly couple were watching both him and Aspen from the front porch of a small house that had a lawn that looked like it hadn't been taken care of in months. The elderly male had milky white eyes, which River thought was unusual until it hit him that the man was probably blind o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶w̶i̶g̶h̶t̶. River made eye contact with the old woman next to the man and she smiled at him warmly with knowing light blue eyes, and beckoned to him and Aspen as an invitation to come over.
River glanced at Aspen, wondering what she thought.
(So I was just kinda thinking that maybe the npc couple could be like wights or something and they know that both River and Aspen are peculiar but before they can kill them then Mrs. Finch and maybe two other peculiar characters like the one who can see the future (your character) and knew about this interaction and maybe the one who can create illusions (my character) can help them escape and take them to the loop. It was just an idea, what do you think?)
(I think that's a great idea!)
(where do these ideas of yours come from, they're always so good—)
Aspen hesitated, her she seemed rooted to the spot. The elder couple looked nice enough, but there was something in the woman's eyes that she didn't like, the look made her shiver slightly.
Aspen grabbed River's upper forearm and stopped him from going any further.
"I don't like this." She said, her voice quivering lightly.
(The ideas come from a mind that's great with roleplaying but gets writer's block when it comes to academic essays. I have one due today and I haven't even written the first paragraph, which sucks-)
"I'm betting they'll give us an actual place to sleep instead of a tree," River said, tempted by the idea of being in an actual building again.
"Let's at least see what they want. Maybe they have some information about the castle," he continued, trying to convince Aspen. The old woman was still smiling pleasantly at them, giving off a vibe of endless patience.