Awakening.

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Kalona's Angel

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It was nice outside, for once. But that's what happens when you're on a strange continent, investigating new ruins. Amelia Taylor, more commonly known as Amy, was a world renowned scientest in several areas.

Usually, Amy didn't do so much leg work, but she had wanted to go on an adventure. Today was everyone's day off during the expedition, so Amy decided to poke around. You might think she would go into the ruins, but that was not the case. The day before, Amelia had noticed a section of rock that was different from all the others. It didn't look like anything native to the area.

Panting, Amy finally made it to the site. She took a swig of water, as this sun was really getting to her. Thank god for sunscreen, or else she would be a lobster by now. Amy noticed the peculiar rock section again and ran her hands over it. Her hand got snagged on something, and it was shallowly cut. "Ouch!" She said, looking at the wound that was no bigger than a papercut.

But some of her blood had gotten on the rocks, and there was a rumbling sound. Part of the rock slid sideways to create an opening. Amy, being curious, walked in. It was dark, and Anelia pulled out her flashlight, looking at the new ruins in awe. She walked until she came across a chamber type apparatus. "Well thats odd." Amy commented.
 
Everything was silent. Acha liked the silence; she was used to it. Time had lost all meaning for her long ago. She floated in nothingness the way she had when she was an unborn child protected by the eggshell; her eggshell now was made of stone and iron, and it guarded her well.
When the disturbance of moving thoughts first reached her mind, it was so unusually loud and unusually dynamic that it shook her out of her reverie and her first instinct, out of surprise, was to hide. Then she remembered that she had already hidden, and reassured by this, she could pay attention. She didn't try to pry into the moving soul, that would have been very, very bad form, practically a direct assault; she just observed. They were not like the calm, quiet thoughts of the plants that she heard sometimes above her when it was raining very hard. And they were close. They weren't supposed to be that close. They were somewhere inside.
She tried to track the movements of the ensouled creature in the sleeping chambers. Perhaps it will pass her by. She would have preferred not to be found; she was almost positive that whoever this was, it wasn't one of her own people. Patterns of souls were as distinctive about that as patterns of the body. And it seemed more careful to let this person pass her by, and then get out and very carefully look around by herself.
But it seemed that wasn't an option. She felt the person come closer and closer, until it stopped in front of her chamber. She was found, she knew. The stone tank made it impossible to see outside, and the water she was submerged in - designed to protect her from any shaking - covered the vibrations of the ground that her delicate feet would have picked up as sounds; she had no knowledge of the outside but by the patterns of thoughts. Suddenly she wished there wasn't an opening mechanism on the outer surface too, but there had to be, in case of emergency, so her only chance was that the person outside couldn't operate it. She braced herself for whatever may happen.
 
Amelia stared at the contraption in awe. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. It was beautiful. Amy walked around it, admiring the machine. Amy pulled out her journal and wrote several things down, still awestruck. "I am never sharing this with anyone." She said, smiling. This was her discovery. And she was possessive of it. Protective. As Amelia put away her journal, she experienced a feeling that rocked her from head to toe. It was almost if something were scanning her. Watching her mind. Amy grinned excitedly. It was possible that there was something, someone alive in this chamber. And it knew she was here. Amy had spotted the external opening mechanism long ago, but stayed back from it. Instead, she approached the contraption and gently placed a hand on it.

The waves of energy that coursed through her were incredible! Amy was now certain that this capsule contained life. Intelligent life. But, she didn't want to open the capsule yet. Amelia took a deep breath and cleared her mind, before placing herself in her minds eye. This was ridiculous, but she had a feeling that this creature was telepathic to some degree. She placed both hands on the surface of the capsule and reached out to the creature telepathically. Well, to the best of her ability. She was only human, after all. After a moment, she felt something pressing against her thought pattern and grinned. Amy had been right. Even if she didn't reach the creature, she knew it was telepathic.

Amy pulled back from the container and examined the opening mechanism. She sat down and sketched it, wanting to document everything before she changed the environment by opening. Amelia also drew the strange symbols on the capsule. They were arranged in a regular pattern, and Amy would bet her job that they meant something.
 
Acha felt the familiar sensation of a mind looking for hers, tentatively, like a child just trying to learn to speak, then it drew back again. Could this be what she was waiting for?
Of course she had hoped that someone would come one day, when it was safe outside once more. She imagined it would be one of her own kind, maybe from another city. But of course that was long ago - how long, she had no way of knowing - and maybe everyone else in the other cities had to hide too. Were their records found by another race who now sent messengers to bring the good news? In all honesty, she was very curious of what had become of the world after the catastrophe.
Carefully, seeing that the stranger was unused to this form of communication, she too reached out with her thoughts and spoke.
I am Acha. Who are you?
 
Amy was in the middle of sketching an unfamiliar figure when the telepathic communication reached her. Amelia jerked and looked up. 'Amelia. Amelia Taylor. But most call me Amy.' She thought back, trying to replicate the process. This was a bit frustrating, since Amy was not used to such methods of communication. Amy pursed her lips and continued to draw, wanting to record everything that was here. There was intelligent, supposedly female, life in that container. Oh angel. Amelia was excited. Amelia's fingers itched to open the contraption, but her instincts told her to wait. Amy put away her journal and stood, her eyes looking over the capsule once more.
 
Three different names for the same being? How unusual. Acha made a note to herself to ask about that later. Now, however, it was more important that this person called Amelia didn't seem hostile at all. Just curious, which she understood well herself. But there was something strange about the way she acted, and Acha now realized what that was. She hadn't stopped at any of the other sleeping chambers for any length of time, even though they were all just like hers - just with different writing on them, of course - and some were much closer to the corridor's entrance. This filled her with a sense of foreboding. What of the others? They hadn't come out, she would have noticed that. But for some reason there was still nothing to investigate there... This left, in the very best case, that their chambers were blocked by falling rocks. In the worst case, they might even have been demolished entirely. But she still had hope that for some reason they just proved uninteresting. She allowed herself a moment to gather her courage before asking about that. She had to know.
Is it safe outside? What happened to the other chambers?
 
Amy heard the question and bit her lip. 'It depends on your definition of safe.' Amy replied nervously. 'But yes, I suppose it is safe.' Amelia paused a moment before continuing. 'I do not see any other chambers. Just yours. Other than your chamber, these ruins are mostly empty. I think you might want to come and see for yourself.' Amy felt a sadness pooling inside of her. Worst case scenario, this creature was the last of her kind. Amy felt a yearning to comfort Acha, because she could sense a worry coming from the creature.
 
Empty.
Acha tried to imagine it, she really tried. Everyone gone... What should she feel upon hearing something like this? She tried to take it in piece by piece. Adie, in the chamber opposite hers, her best friend. Oula, her sister. Orem, Oula's mate; now he will never finish any of his inventions. Names, souls ran across her mind, a sense of loss accompanying each, so numbing that she didn't fully understand what she had lost.
Finally she prepared herself to see it with her own eyes. She pulled herself closer to the inner wall of her chamber, operating the macinery with her long, graceful fingers. First she had to let out the water. At the turn of a handle two apertures opened, one at the bottom for the water to go out, and one at the top to let air in and restore the pressure. Soon she was standing on her feet again, and her tank now had no padding; there was no turning back. Before she could lose her courage she started opening the shell itself, lowering it in six petal-like segments. She didn't fault herself for closing her eyes while she did that.
The corridor was entirely different than when she last stood in it. The stranger had said the truth. Opposite of her, an entire section of the wall had fallen inwards, obliterating the chambers standing there; her eyes wanted to wander on it, in search of familiar pieces of clothing, but she didn't allow herself that. It seemed all that protected her own chamber was a fortuitously placed column that took the brunt of the hit. Other than that, there was nothing but destruction, and she stood in the midst of it, spared, with not a single scratch on her bluish-tinted skin.
It was much colder now than she remembered. She was barefoot to allow her to hear better; her dress, a simple white shift clasped on her neck with a silver band, clung wetly to her delicate frame, protecting her very little. Her hair formed dark rivers along her shoulders and back. She instinctively drew her arms close to her chest, to keep her most vital organs from cooling, as she turned to finally take in the sight of her visitor.
 
Amy could feel the strong sense of loss emanating from Acha. Her heart ached as well. It must be terrible for Acha. Losing everyone like that. Amy was shaken out of her reverie by water splashing to the floor. The chamber opened and Amelia watched Acha step out of the chamber and gasped. Acha was beautiful. The bluish skin, the dark hair, and those eyes. Those old eyes that seemed to hold the world. Amy faltered for a moment, seeing Acha shiver. "It is warmer outside." Amy said and thought at the same time. Amelia tried to find a way to convey her sympathy.
 
Even through her pain Acha felt the compassion in Amy, and was grateful for it. She wanted out of here, but not only in hope of warmer air; this was a grave now, and though she would one day come back to mourn, she wasn't yet ready for it.
Yet there was a strange thing that she couldn't help but note even in this situation: as Amy spoke, she also moved her lips and made a sound, a melodious, comforting sound. Amy was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Instead of blue, her skin was a light pinkish brown, pinker around her lips; this let Acha conclude that her blood would likely be red then. She had a graceful, shell-shaped formation on each side of her head. Her hair was brown, an unusual colour. Her eyes were coloured differently in three circular segments, a white, a green and a black. Also strange was that she wore coverings on her feet, and Acha had to wonder if they were maybe wounded, and whether it didn't bother her that she couldn't hear the vibrations that passed through the ground. But she didn't want to ask; wounds were a personal thing, she didn't want to be so forward.
She was just about to say that she would like to leave when she heard it. It started as a low rumble deep underground, it travelled up her toes, and she knew this wasn't a choice anymore.
We must leave, quickly!
 
Amy was silent and still as Acha studied her, since Amy was studying Acha as well. Somehow, Amelia could feel the strong emotions that flowed through Acha. Amy wanted nothing more than to comfort this strange woman. As the walls began to shake, Amy was snapped out of her daze.

"Oh god, we've got to move!" Amy said at the same time that Acha telepathically spoke to her. In a rush of adrenaline, her mind went blank and Amy grabbed her new companion's hand and pulled her towards the entrance to the ruins. Just before they got there, the entrance closed and a large rock fell in front of it.

'Is there another way out?' Amy mentally asked, getting out her flashlight and pointing it at the rocks. This rock had cleared a space, and the dead, decayed bodies of her people could be seen. Amy recoiled and turned off her flashlight quickly, in hopes that Acha had not seen.
 
Acha's heart sank. She did see; Amy's horror and revulsion, like the peal of an alarm bell in her mind, pointed at it just as clearly as the shaft of light. And yet it was almost better to see. Because now she knew for certain. In the darkness she slowly sunk to her knees, reaching out towards the broken remains of a sleeping chamber in which a body lay in an impossibly twisted and broken pose, the water now gone. She smiled a melancholy little smile as she followed the inscription with her fingers, reading it without sight.
Andok. He would have wanted to die this way, all at once. It was fast. Rest well...
Then she stood up again and collected her thoughts.
All of the city was connected. This room had a way out so we could get in here fast in case of emergency, then seal the door. But there used to be a way inwards from here. The inner door is in the other end. Could you light your lamp again?
 
Amelia watched Acha sink to her knees and reach out. It was the ruins of an intellegent society, Acha's people. Their mangled bodies and crushed chambers. It placed a heavy weight over Amy's heart. As Acha spoke to her, the weight grew. A name. A person. A person with a soul that Acha knew. He could have been her boyfriend for all Amy knew. Acha had lost so much, and Amy was a mere bystander, with only Acha to help her understand.

Amelia took a moment to recover before Acha's question reached her. Lamp? After a second, Amy understood. She flicked on her flashlight. 'I have another.' Amy thought. 'So if you would like to hold once, since you know where you are going...' Amy trailed off, digging the other flashlight out of her bag.
 
Thank you.
Acha took hold of the flashlight Amy gave her and pointed it towards the far end of the corridor. Near her chamber, under a low arch that withstood the collapse of most of the corridor itself, was a door, a similar surface of rock to the one Amelia had encountered outside, but uneroded and smooth, not having been out in the weather.
The only way to open one of these is a drop of blood from one of our kind, she explained. They were designed that way in case we ever had to hide from an enemy; all of us would have the key, but none of them, and since it only works if the blood is completely fresh, they would have no way to take it either. This reminded her of something, and that something didn't seem right now that she thought about it. Did you find the outer door open when you came in?
 
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Amy looked at the architecture and gaped. It was beautiful! Amy carefully listened to Acha, feeling honored to know about this place. Amy nodded. 'Yeah, no. I opened it. My hand got snagged on something and it bled a bit on the wall.' Amy thought to Acha. The connection still hadn't clicked in her mind. Amy stepped forward and looked at the architecture. "This place is beautiful." Amy said out loud. Amy looked around for a way to get to the door.
 
Acha coloured a little. She didn't expect Amy to talk about such a thing so openly, even if it was a very small wound. But then she was from a different culture, and there were more important matters at hand.
That sounds as if you inadvertently opened it. I don't understand. That shouldn't be possible.
There had to be a reason for that, but for now, they had to get out of here before more of the rocks fell and this exit was cut off too... or worse, it could fall on them. She lifted her right hand, the one not holding the lamp, to her mouth.
Would you... turn away for a moment?
 
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'Oh, sure.' Amy thought, turning away from Acha and staring at the walls. Amy had noticed Acha's slight coloration. She assumed it was like a blush. Amy racked her brain to think of what could have made Acha feel uncomfortable. Amy was frustrated. Nothing in her own culture could have made Acha feel weird, so it must have been something from Acha's culture that made her uncomfortable. And Amy didn't understand that culture. She would have to ask Acha to teach her about her culture.
 
Acha bit on her little finger, making a little wound, and squeezed it with her other fingers as she touched it to the door, near the edge. Her blood was dark blue, nearly violet. The stone surface drank it up immediately. She licked the wound clean and made sure it didn't bleed anymore before she spoke again.
It's open, let's go quickly.
 
Amy turned around and smiled at Acha. Amy nodded at Acha and went through the doorway. 'Acha, why were you uncomfortable when I told you how I opened the door? I only ask so that I can understand your culture better.' Amy thought curiously. Amy took in her surroundings, a bit weirded out by the strange area.
 
Acha felt a little embarrassed to talk about this, but a scientific inquiry was, of course, beyond reproach, and she understood the motive quite well.
Well... we don't... didn't generally talk about wounds. Or show them. That's an opening into the other's body, and it's not supposed to be there, so we don't look until it closes.
While she spoke, she followed through the door and closed it after them. It slid seamlessly into its place again. They were now in a corridor that wound through the living area. While much of it had suffered the effects of the ground's movement, at least for the time being it seemed safe. Near a crossing, one of the lamps still stood untouched. The rod at its center was supposed to lead down into the Earth where it tapped into a vein of energy, using that to gain its light, but they had pulled it up as a precaution when they evacuated; she lowered it again and adjusted it a little until it found the vein. The orb of the lamp immediately glowed with a blue-green light.
I don't understand. This wasn't an earthquake. This vein hardly shifted at all. Something moved the ground and I don't know what it was.
 
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