The brain is a muscle.  It’s not easy to take care of, and every person works a little differently.  If abused, it creates problems.   Problems that affect the body and the things we are capable of.

Ignorance.  Distraction.  I have had my fair share of these.  I don’t care much for idle hands, yet I have lost much to impulsiveness.

The brain is a muscle, so one of the things it needs is to get warmed up.

I flex my hands and draw them away from the root.  Let’s cut loose a bit then, shall we?

Sparks fly from my wrist and right eye.  A shadow snakes across the same cheek.  A breeze billows out between my torso and arms in a dance that is both sharp and graceful.  Layer by layer, I cast my regards throughout the forest.  Grasping at each idea and weaving it through my person.  Letting it flare from my fingertips and steal away my breath.

My stomach rumbles and groans at the exertion.  My blood ripples and boils.  The dance becomes dangerous as light flashes through the canopy.  My skin and tendons ache, yet a warmth begins to fill me.

The prowess of a song.  Threads sweep across me, from limb to limb they cause my heart to flutter and my vision to dance.  The jig of a distant leaf, the howl of a nook and cranny.  The structure of a thousand skins, and my own so warm and ambitious.

The sky clouds over.  Raindrops burst and weave in and out of thin air.  Fragments of snow and the shimmer of a rainbow cast the surroundings in spectra.  I lunge and weave, drawing shapes across my body, casting insights and curiosity through the environment.  Watching and waiting for the magic to appear.

And it does.  In every ache, every twist and moment of pause, the swell of something alien passes through my mind.  A texture and unexpected ping, a sign of the world beyond my comprehension.

The furious dance, my conscious effort, the natural reactions, the sense of neglect and retribution, the chaos that is mayhem of the senses.  Ferocity and wild might, an addicting liberty.  I flow, I strike, I ebb, I whirl, I rise, I fall.  In every way I can possibly think of, I defile the expectations of my own.

And with this aura of chaos at its peak, I center myself, and alight upon the ground.  Stubborn threads begin to clash against the storm.  A turbulence in the wake of the wilderness.  The forest blares, like sirens.  Wise and warning.  To each extremity, dozens of tiny creatures latch onto my blood.  A census to which all things will appeal.  My facets seize and strain.  My faults crack.  My strength pours through the cracks until they glow with an umbral webbing.

Everything that I could do and all that I failed to do.  Let it be known.  The next time my will is violated, it will be on a path of my own choosing.  Now with that, this unnecessary weight must be culled.

My eyes blaze.  An aura of stubborn defiance cuts across the set of the lingering chaos.  The webs falter and spew as my body is stretched to its limits.  The ball and chain.  The anchor that binds my soul and the tide that is the inexorable.  I climb these steps.  Dragging myself higher and higher and the chains tighter and tighter.  They dance.  Forming delicate shapes in an attempt to appeal to a higher power.

No demon worth their salt would beg for mercy.

The chains snap and snare.  The structure surrounding my soul rattled as the chains wracked themselves across the bars that held my soul.  The cage shuddered and collapsed.  It would not fail so easily, but nor could it rival the fates.

Finally I was stood as high as I could go.  With one final step, I poured all my strength into fighting those chains.  “Those are my limits.  I can do whatever the hell I want with them.”

With a steadying breath, I dove.  Diving headlong from the perch I’d found myself.  They chains leapt and spun in a mad frenzy.  Clashing with the dome that held me.

“Catch me if you can.”

I spread my hands against the ground.  The corporeal form of my body latched on like an infant, and vital threads sprung out and into the ground.

I felt two other creatures stirring nearby, and that they were guarding a third.

I smiled.  This is my invitation.  If they are so concerned with me, that’s all the more reason to pay heed.  I am a decidedly selfish person, so I will honor all of that which approaches me.  The serpent crushes all that is backed by cowardice.  All else is worthy of respect.

That said, these three are familiar and welcome in my home.  They lend me strength.  A favor that must and will be repaid in kind.  I zero in on the one that is vigilant.  Watching over the border of the mountain, where a dark cloud drifts over the horizon.

There is a connection there.  I guess there is more to the guardians than I realized.