Hallow. Sanctified are the blessed who spill blood, consecrated is this holy ground void of doubt, hallow are these cries that are so far away but reach me, oh so susurrant. Do you hear them too? The whispers? The voices? They all cry out quiet shouts from so far away, they all make the same noise with the many different tones of voice. They all resonate into a reverberating hum that flows with a never-ending cadence through these wires. They all go BMMMMMMMMH-

 

Haha!

 

  My fingers dig through the pile of coins, as I claw my way through them and they clink around in all directions, rolling against the far walls behind me. Soon I reach the bottom of the pile. It isn’t here. No, it’s here. It has to be. I’m sure. I spread the pile of coins laid all around me wide and begin to sort through them anew. It’s here somewhere, I must have missed it. I must have tossed it to the side because I was digging so haphazardly. Yeah. Yeah, that’s it! The light of my body and wings shimmers all around me, as the reflection bounds off of the many golden tokens. If I ever find the keeper, the one who stashes the coins and other such treasures throughout the dungeon, we’ll have to have words about his hobby, haha! Communication is key, you know? Communication is key to any stable relationship, haha! I hum as I work.

 

  I’m not sure how much time passes, but time flies when you’re working hard. The sound of metal comes from behind me, from the staircase. I pay it no mind as I keep digging. Wait. Wait! I turn my head around after all. She’d be traveling with them, right? I stare at the hero and his party, who are standing halfway down the staircase and staring at me in return. Fair is fair. She’s not there. Haha. That rhymed! I turn back and continue digging through the coins. That’s fine, she likes to walk off on her own. I bet she’ll catch up soon!

 

Susurrant.

 

Susurrant.

 

  Susssssssserrrrraaaaant. What a funny word. Susurrant. Haha! It sounds like something that would come from a series of skitters in the dark, like the sound that something would make at night, when you are laying in your bed in the dark and a tiny, creeping voice makes itself heard from the shadows of your slightly ajar closet. That would be the single word that it says, susurrant, as its disembodied mouth moves towards your ear with a wet tongue. I hear their voices from behind me, they are talking to each other. Hallow. Hallow are their words.

 

“-ould I blast it away?” asks the wizard, I can hear the crackle of red fire behind me, I see the fire-light bouncing off of the heap of coins that I dig through.

 

“Wait!” protests a soft voice I know as the priestess’. “You can’t, it’s just minding its own business!”

 

I’m an ‘it’, huh? I guess I am.

 

“So?! I’ll bet you three bits that it’ll try to munch us the second we walk by!”

 

“I’ll take that bet!” says another voice from next to her. The monk. I remember that sound from when I was a dire-ape. Haha. Remember that? There was something in the water. There was something in the water! It went Bmmmmmmmmmh-

 

“It’s a valkyrie, they don’t fight. They’re beings of the old white-magic, you can’t hurt it!” explains the priestess. Is that true? I look at my hands, they do look kind of white-magicky. Huh. You never stop learning, I guess.

 

“I can’t, or I ‘can’t’?” asks the wizard.

 

“You ‘can’t’ because you shouldn’t!” yells the priestess, exasperated.

 

“Can I?” asks the monk.

 

“No!” yells the priestess, apparently hitting her on the arm, as I hear a dull ‘thwack’ ring out.

 

“Ow! Sheesh! What’s it doing though?” asks the monk.

 

“It’s digging through the coins.”

 

“Yeah, no shit, but why? Shouldn’t it be off… I don’t know, valkyring or something?”

 

“Hmm… well from what I remember from my studies, they never really leave the battlefield, -“

 

Wait. Wait. The thought hits me, I should just ask them where she is. Duh! I turn my head around and look at their still confused gazes, though I do feel kind of annoyed by their staring. Just kill me or move along. Sheesh.

 

“SAY! Are you guys on your way to the miller’s by any chance?!” Wait. That wasn’t what I wanted to ask. They look at me perplexed.

 

“Did it just try to talk to us? Did you catch any of that?” asks the wizard looking to the priestess.

 

“I think it did? But no, I can’t speak the old tongue. Maybe someone at the cathedral could, but…”

 

Oh. I turn back around to keep digging. They can’t understand me in this body. Hallow. Hallow is the tongue with which I speak. Sacred are the eyes with which I see. Blessed are the hands that do my holy work and the wings so swift, that carry me. Hallow.

 

“Let’s just go,” says the wizard in her high-pitched, young voice.

 

  Yeah, get out of here. You guys are talking too much, I can’t hear the hum right anymore. I look around the pile of coins that I have spread around flat twice now. I still don’t see it. Scratching my head, I shrug. I guess I must have missed it twice, haha! Oh well, third times the charm! I lean back forward on my knees and sift through the coins again.

 

  “Wait! Stop!” yells out a voice from behind me. I turn my head, as I feel the fabric of the bottom of my robe being lifted up by the arm with heavy wooden beads on it, as the monk takes a peek. The priestess arm-bars the monk from behind, locking her grip beneath her shoulders and drags her back and away.

 

  “What? I just wanted to check!” says the monk, laughing, while the red-faced priestess is dragging her away, profusely apologizing to me and yelling something about hellfire to the monk. Haha! It’s a good thing she isn’t here yet, she’d be pretty upset if she saw. Haha! What fun people they are. Hallow. Hallow!

 

  I return to my work as the rowdy group of humans walks past me. The monk, now having pulled herself free from the priestess’s grip, points her fingers towards me with a wink as she walks down the buzzing hallway, just behind the hero who hasn’t said a word during all of this. Sorry we couldn’t fight today, hero. But tomorrow! Tomorrow we can, I promise! But I have a lot to do, haha! My hand reaches to the side, towards a pile of coins. But instead, my fingers rise up and I grab the fabric of the priestess’ robe.

 

  She turns to look down at me and I look up to her. It hums. Bmmmmmmh- I like your eyes, priestess. My hand lets go and I return to my work, humming an off key melody as I dig. She keeps staring at me for a few seconds, before a voice calls her from up ahead and she runs after the rest of the group, leaving me here alone to fulfill my sacred task.

 

Hallow. Hallow.

 

 

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