Novermber 2024Link to pet:
Pet's name: Airmed
Beforehand, I will say I run all my pieces of writing through an AI detector since nowadays even grammarly is considered AI. This will show up as 26% AI generated, simply because I used an informational website to generate some ideas on the Irish goddess Airmed. I hope you enjoy! This should just BARELY pass the requirements! ;u;
CW: grief, violence (chicken smoothie friendly, I hope! No terrible descriptions or anything).
Entry: Airmed’s breath came in ragged gasps as she ran through the dark, dense forest. Shadows stretched out like twisted fingers, and every step seemed to echo louder than the last, but her focus remained fixed. Her tears trailed behind her, soaking into the forest floor, each drop a prayer whispered into the earth.
At last, she reached her destination—her brother’s grave. Clawing her fingers into the dirt, as though it could somehow pull her closer to him, she tilted her head back, looking up at the sky. Its inky blackness pierced only by a single sliver of the moon. Her voice broke as she pleaded to the gods,
“Please… give me a sign. Show me he’s still here.”
She prayed endlessly, hoping for the smallest whisper, the gentlest breeze, anything that might tell her his spirit lingered. But the forest remained silent, and the stillness pressed in on her, unrelenting. She lay beside the grave, curled up as though seeking the warmth of her brother’s memory, and allowed herself to drift into sleep.
Airmed awoke with a start, a strange sensation prickling through her body. She sat up, rubbing her tired eyes, and gasped. Sprouting all around her, from the earth that held her brother’s body, were plants—hundreds of them, each one glistening under the moonlight. A bounty of three hundred and sixty-five herbs, each one unique, lay before her, covering the ground like a lush tapestry.
She realized that this was a gift—a blessing from her brother’s spirit. Her heart swelled, and for the first time in days, a smile tugged at her lips. She could sense the power in each plant, each one carrying a different healing property, a secret woven by the gods into their roots and petals.
Tonight was Hallows’ Eve, the night when the veil between worlds was at its thinnest, and she knew that her village would be vulnerable to the spirits that roamed freely. Already, the people had begun to suffer, plagued by maladies that no ordinary remedy could heal. Airmed gathered the herbs into her cloak, securing each one as though it were a precious gem. She rose, casting a final, grateful glance at her brother’s grave, and set off through the forest.
The village was in turmoil when she arrived. Each villager already bore an affliction, each one relating to a different joint and sinew. Airmed wasted no time. She ground herbs into pastes, brewed teas, and placed poultices over wounds, her hands moving with a precision honed by years of study and instinct.
Word of her work was bound to reach the ears of King Nuada, who was suffering himself, with his arm severed in a recent battle. When he discovered the healing power Airmed wielded, he summoned his chief physician, Dian Cecht, and ordered him to seize her and the powerful herbs she carried.
Dian Cecht wasted no time, and rode through the night to seize Airmed. As she bent over yet another villager, she heard the thunderous approach of horses and the sharp calls of men. Panic flared within her.
In a last, desperate act, Airmed gathered the herbs and threw them high into the air. The plants rose, as if carried by divine hands, then scattered, each one floating as though it had a mind of its own. They dispersed, drifting far and wide, carried by the wind to all corners of the earth, a gift to the world beyond her grasp.
Dian Cecht’s soldiers reached her moments later and seized Airmed, dragging her back to the king’s court, where she was imprisoned, ordered to craft a new arm for Nuada using her druidic skills. For days, she was left in a dark cell, her strength fading, but she refused to yield.
A week later, when they came to check on her, they found only an empty cell. Airmed’s body had vanished, and in her place was a small patch of leaves, fresh and green, sprouting defiantly from the stone floor.
In the years that followed, the villagers continued to honor her memory. Every Hallows’ Eve, they gathered at the shrine that had been built in her name, taking a single leaf from the patch that grew beside it. They carried these leaves with them, symbols of healing, protection, and the enduring power of her spirit. Airmed’s legacy lived on in the herbs scattered across the earth, a reminder that her love and knowledge would protect her people for generations to come.