Thin sunlight drafted through the forest canopy, casting a golden glow on the world. It whizzed around the space, touching the branches, trees, saplings, and shrubs. It lit up the earth and undergrowth, shifting between shadows to fill up as much space at it could. As the sun crawled across the vast surface of the sky, it drafted lazily along with it, hopping across bright flowing streams, climbing mountains and pouring into valleys, moving always with the rhythm of the world.
Until with a jolt, the light hit something new. A strange lump of man-woven fabric. A blemish lain on crumpling brown leaves. A tangle of flesh and dirt, blood and ivy, life and death. The sprawled form of a human, head lolling on the trunk of a wide birch. One foot curled under him, the other flung straight out on the ground. An arm limply clutching his wounded middle. A torn coat strangling his chest. A trail of red droplets splattering the greenery around him. A cry of pain eternally etched to his features.
The light shivered, recoiling away from the new thing with a strong feeling of wrongness and disgust. This new thing was pitiful and dangerous. It was horrible and scary and sad and a bunch of other strange words that the light didn’t like to touch. The light strayed away, leaving the new thing in the darkness and scattering itself forward again.
Within minutes the traveling sunlight met with another difference. Another human.
A living human.
All leaping footsteps and loud, heavy breaths. A glaze of sweat glistening on her forehead. Smears of blood dripping guiltily from her shaking fingers. A thumping heart and wild, panicked eyes.
The light flooded over her and continued peacefully on its way.