The World Inside
Xxaallya closed her eyes. She had to do this.
But why? She put her right hand to her head at the sound of the distant, tenfold voice. Five female, four male, one kran.
"No, don't..." She tried to clear her mind, she clenched her left hand into a fist, claws digging into her skin. She had to do this. She had to look inside. The ten voices laughed simultaneously in her head, distant, echoing.
Do what, sweetheart? Kill yourself? Fat chance. "Enough of you!" Xxaallya screamed, digging her claws in further. Blood trickled out of her hand, but it seemed infused with all six ways at once. "I'm tired of your prattle! Begone!" She slashed the air violently with her claws. In her mind, there was silence. She waited a second. Ten seconds. She took a deep breath, and focused on herself. What she knew was her. She let the breath out slowly. Closing her eyes again, she focused on her mental realm. There was a job she needed to get done.
Xxaallya found herself in her mental realm. It changed every time, always something was different. She ached where her scars were. The old wounds were acting up. Always did. Her right forearm and hand, the enki claw marks down her spine, and that scar from her right temple, down past her eye and onto her cheek. Not to mention the wound leading to her heart and the twin ones just below her chin, one on either side of her neck. She looked down. Same clothes. Brown tunic and pants. Her hands had leather gloves on them. She looked around.
This time, the realm was a large, grassy valley, flanked on every side by large, rolling hills. The ground was soft and springy, and the air was clean and fresh. Xxaallya wasn't fooled. She looked around. That rock, there. Harmless, yes? No. Simply immobile. Silenced. That tree? A deadly enemy. That breath of wind, that silent pool, that gentle crystal ray? All killers. She looked in the distance. That tiny flame, the tall, rough mountain, the quiet desert sand? They could destroy everything. She spotted a golden hue. The fields of grain. One of the most dangerous things there is. But where was it? She needed to find it. Badly. She searched through the grass, ripped clouds apart, moved stones, and splashed through puddles.
"Where is it?" She asked, angry and confused. "It has to be here. It always is," She looked up at the shadowy crystal. The deadly thing. She shook her head. "Of course."
Xxaallya flapped her wings and flew close to it. She held her breath. She hated doing this. Relying on
them. Letting her breath out, she unclenched her left hand. A couple deep breaths later, and crystal energy was glowing at her hand. She formed it into a barrier around her hand and arm, pushing it in, splitting the darkness apart. She reached in with her hand. Ah, yes, there it was. She grabbed the metal mask and pulled it out, withdrawing several yards as she stopped providing crystal energy to the shadowy orb. She watched as the two forces warred, and as the shadow orb appeared to eat the crystal energy, engulfing it in darkness.
Xxaallya noticed a strange tune was playing. Sad, happy, and angry at the same time. It was full of grief, regret, love, joy, and hope. The notes of the song resounded through the realm, and Xxaallya shed a single tear as it unveiled the emptiness within herself. Her heart ached. Or, at least, the space her heart should be did. She rubbed her hand over the mask. It was a burial mask. She was searching, for something, anything. A sign. A clue. A message, maybe.
The song started to fade, the music gave way to quiet. Silence fell, and her time there was up. She plummeted from the sky, watched as the blackness engulfed her world, observed the death of her control as one would the death of a fly. Indifferently. She saw, emblazoned in the blackness, the emptiness, ten runes, glowing, fierce. Crystal, shadow, water, flame, earth, air, forest, mountain, desert, and field. She fell far beneath them, and they whirled, spinning around faster and faster, shrinking, and finally settling into an indistinct spiral, swirling gently, with ten tiny points of light, unrecognizable as having once been runes. Then, even that went dark, and Xxaallya awoke.
[The next segment will most likely also be by me. Perhaps a diary segment, hmm? Hope everyone enjoys.
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