Kiriima

I made some changes to the title and description so the people who might like this story would be able to notice it.

Enjoy the new chapter!

Having analyzed her battle with the spear wielder, Rhiannon arrived at a conclusion: the skeletons didn't get a sudden rise in specs. Neither did they get smarter or skillful. The sole difference was the weapon.

Spears were just that good. Immense reach allowed to keep an enemy at bay and completely defensive, while each stab had tremendous mass behind. Just by moving hands a bit one could shift the strike trajectory entirely. Having experienced battling the spear first-hand Rhia started to want to change her main weapon. And she had one on the wall of the crypt! A beautiful spear waiting to unleash its wrath on the undead!

Which was kinda the problem. Stabby things performed worse against human bones compared to human flesh, Rhiannon knew it from experience. Much, much worse compared to blunt weapons like her mace. Skeletons moreover were bad targets for spears in general, consisting mostly of holes.

Besides, a spear would be completely useless against, say, a golem. The mace would offer minuscule chances, while spears and swords...

...

So here was Rhi now, baiting another spear bony fellow from the labyrinth. It was following her in zig-zags between the statues towards the Buddha-blessed arena.

"Come on!" the woman snarled at him, readying her Lion shield.

A powerful stab followed. Rhia blocked it. She stared at the skeleton with all her might, having figured out she would be always one step behind if she only watched the spear. Her single fire seed beat. That works? Amazed, the woman allowed new changes to happen while evading and parrying the spearhead.

Slowly, Rhiannon adjusted to her attacker's rhythm. Just a bit she could discern small motions and predict honestly very simple strikes. Just a bit.

With growing confidence, she shifted out of the spear range and it missed entirely. She threw out her left hand, hitting the spear away with the shield, and rushed forward. A mace strike finished the fight.

That was my dynamic vision!

Twice amazed, Rhiannon crashed the skull with a foot and wondered what else those ashes could do. Arguably it was her growing reading skill, but the dynamic vision was a very biological function. It could be trained, but more like muscle mass instead of muscle memory, different categories.

Full of newfound vigor, she entered the forest of idols again.

On her third spear skeleton, Rhia trained her evasion skills. She found out she could weave steps into a chain, learned it through fire, and rushed the bastard down.

The fourth bony foe got its spear deflected, after which she closed in and bashed its skull in. Then she changed her rather damaged Lion shield on the strapped to her back one (with a boring coat of arms, no lions or any mighty beasts).

After, her next enemy got its spear blocked end then crashed by a mace with such power it directly fell from its hands.

Rhiannon spent ten minutes exclusively dodging spear strikes from the sixth skeleton without a shield at all. She retreated from the eastern wall halfway to the western wall until she finally chose an angle and trampled it.

"You are the last," Rhia informed the poor bastard before her. The labyrinth could have more skeletons, of course, but it also had golems and unknown monsters in the depths therefore she didn't have the guts to dive in.

The skeleton clicked its way to her silently and brandished its spear. The woman raised her mace and slammed it down, completely diverting it from the path. Unhurriedly, she advanced, her gaze following its bony hands only. Before the spear could move into position before the retreating skeleton, she stepped forward and struck it again. Like a predator, she kept bashing the falling apart spear until she drove the bastard into a corner.

"Poor Yorick," Rhia murmured and broke its neck with a side sweep. Accepting the ashes, she glanced at the shrine down the mound.

"I think I am focused enough."

Playing with three sparks –the rest having been used up – in her heart, Rhiannon sat on a large rock to rest and think her following steps through.

The shrine, the monument with a fence behind, the ruins of carious (most likely religious) building... The south of the graveyard was densely built so Rhi couldn't see far. One thing, it was quite populated for sure.

"I shall call it a day."

The urge appeared and grew. For once, Rhiannon wanted to return to the bonfire normally and save up the death express ticket.

Moreover, if she were to die now just to go grind the same skeletons again, she would cry.

Though she would die sooner and later anyway and have to hunt skeletons again.

Now Rhiannon wanted to cry.

The woman tiredly rolled her eyes at the boring grey skies and trudged back to the shrine.

Not focused enough. Damn puzzles. Her thoughts naturally drifted towards her talks with the raven. Then her eyes fell on a particular monument. Hm?

The monument was a rather wide obelisk. Without much thinking, Rhiannon unhurriedly walked over. Being suddenly separated from the internet, she as a modern woman had been thirsty for some entertainment.

Pictograms that were covering the obelisk were quite schematic, yet distinct and in fact, were hieroglyphics – a word Rhi remembered after a while. Mostly they consisted of curved lines, the style as obviously ancient and as it was utterly unfamiliar.

Besides the ancient script, the obelisk was covered with pictures seemingly intertwined with text. Rhiannon tilted her head and traced the glyphs with her fingers. She felt warm.

"How?" she uttered, lost. Up to this moment, Rhia had felt warm from the ashes and bonfire. Entranced, Rhia placed her both palms on the obelisk.

Nothing happened, which brought her mild disappointment. Still, the woman squinted an attempt to search for some sense in the drawings.

"They show a ritual. Sun ritual? No, solstice ceremony? On the highest end of the step pyramid. So many people... processing."

Glyphs seemed to be coming alive under her palms. They whirled and danced. Rhiannon's voice was gradually changing...

"My name is Itotia, chosen bride of Kinich Ahau. This is my life story..."

She had been born in the pre-historic era when gods walked amongst humans. Stars and moon congregated for her birth and the sun went dark when Kinich Ahau descended to bless the people of Ma'ya'ab. Rhiannon grew, knowing no sadness nor need. Sunlight was her hair and daybreak was her chariot with eagles harnessed, deers and jaguars fawning in her feet.

Golden age came with her birth and they were worshipping her name: "Rhiannon!". They sewed her dresses and built the monument for her wedding, highest and proudest than any. When the day came she ascended the steps, her head high overlooking the kneeling mortals. Her eyes were set higher than the stars, past the raised blade of the humble cleric.

Obsidian glowed in bright red when it carved her heart, and she was freed from the cocoon called life.

Rhiannon opened her eyes wide and stared unblinkingly at the fire. In the corner of her eye, she saw the raven watching down the dark passage.

"How?" she muttered.

"You died."

"I was there," not hearing him, Rhia was murmuring shaken. "I remember being born in another place, another time. Being betrothed to a god. I remember walking under a knife, eager. So much more than a human...

Was it my past lifetime?

No," she denied immediately, countless possibilities colliding in her mind, seeking the answer. "Not focused enough... not focused enough on the right thing...

It was Itotia's memory. The unwritten memorial she passed down. But how? She was untouched until..."

"Her death?" a rasping voice intertwined and Rhiannon looked in the raven's eye. "You shall know by now that not any death is the end."

"Right. She couldn't wait to leave her mortal shell and be transformed. Like a butterfly. I am Itotia's descendant!"

Immediately, Rhiannon frowned.

"No, it seems wrong. Generations were born since. Even if I am a scion of gods, so are countless other people."

One could only be astounded how easy Rhiannon had accepted the existence of gods. Plural.

"Divinity, magic, myths... everything is but the Earth's past, not present," slowly stated the raven, his eye still watching her expectantly.

"Not focused enough on the right thing..." repeated she. "Was it important for you to riddle? Yes, it must be important. Fundamentally important. Let's see... my predecessors by my mother line are Chinese. Peasants and monks, that was the same thing in isolation of mountains for hundreds of years. That leaves my bastard father line."

Her face didn't change at all when she called her parent as such. Once Rhiannon had been wishing nothing but to find him, to meet him. Learning the truth and therapy helped to discard this unhealthy attachment to an ideal.

Only the fire was creaking through silence. Rhiannon was thinking, the raven was patiently waiting for her.

"I figured it out," she suddenly lifted her head. "The main points, anyway. First thing first though...

Who are you?"

"I am your guide," the raven flapped its wings proudly. "If you need a name, young lady, think up one yourself."

"Names," Rhia gave him an eye, not even frustrated by his avoidance. That was a hint, and also a test.

"Munnin."

"I shall call you Munnin."