Chapter 15: Discovery
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Aynilia had lost track of how long she was falling through the abyss. After an eternity she hit a hard-stone floor with a thud. She lifted her head and took note of the room. It was barely lit by blue and white flames hanging mysteriously from the high ceiling. Six large stone pillars stood before her in a circular pattern. Beyond the pillars was a raised platform with a large sarcophagus made of brilliant white marble in the middle. A shimmer caught Aynilia's eye and she turned towards the strange light. In a long line around the top of the walls of the room were glowing runes. They pulsed with a sky-blue power that felt very strange.
Aynilia felt herself becoming much weaker as her limbs didn't want to cooperate with her anymore. She forced herself to stand and slowly made her way to the stone coffin in the middle of the room. Her heart pounding faster and harder within her chest. With every footstep her heart felt like it was going to tear through her chest and fall onto the floor. As the next step forward came, she reached up and clutched at her heart to save it from leaping forth. ‘What is this feeling?’ Aynilia wondered as her eyes widened. She couldn’t tell if it was the fear or the curiosity that was moving her forward. She neared the steps and took one painful step at a time. Her feet became heavier with each step. Her breathing turned short and slow. As she stepped into the last step she froze, the image before her nearly stopped her rapidly beating heart.
The marble coffin had an image carved into its immaculate surface. Shining in bright white with grey and black streaks was Aynilia. She was laying on her back with her arms folded over her abdomen, her face appearing in a peaceful sleep. The marble image of Aynilia was holding a slim stick in her hands. Both ends of the stick were broken out of the image, leaving small craters in the surface. She couldn’t control her motions as her hands grabbed the side of the top of the marble casket. Before she realized what, she was doing she was using her Creegin strength to push the lid off to the side. The sound of marble grinding against marble filled the silent room. When the lid made it so far off to the opposite side it tilted and hit the ground in a quick and deafening motion. Inside the coffin was a peaceful, pale and beautiful corpse. The gasp came from deep in her gut, the only sound left in the room.
The woman had an ethereal glow to her, a pale and shining glow. Aynilia was reaching for her face, her hand shaking fiercely. The warm, wet tears rolled down her cheeks slowly. One made its way to her chin and broke free. It fell and splashed onto the ghostly white cheek of the girl. In an instant it felt as if a seal was broken. A gust of strong wind sprung out, Aynilia instinctively crossed her arms in front of her to fight off the wind. She clenched her eyes shut almost expecting something to collide with her.
Her head started feeling like it was going to split in half almost as if there was a knife digging into her brain. Aynilia stepped back and grabbed the sides of her head in pain. The intensity nearly brought her to her knees. The gust of wind had died down and a strange mist flowed out of the coffin to the floor. Aynilia was in so much pain she didn’t notice the mist creeping towards her feet. Nor did she notice the deathly pale skinned hand grasping the edge of the coffin.
“I am you, young one, as you are me” a low, but graceful voice spoke. Aynilia opened one eye through the pain to see the form, that was once still in the coffin, slowly sitting up.
“What…are…you...talking about?” she tried to speak through the pain. Aynilia forced her one open eye to focus on the face before her. The woman’s head turned towards Aynilia, her face as pale as moonlight, her eyes red as blood with metallic cyan pupils.
“Who...are…you?” Aynilia choked out before her mind was sent shooting away to a distant place.
The land before her was vast and full of golden grass. The sky shone a pale pink hue as the moon glowed brightly overhead. A gentle breeze blew by letting her hair dance peacefully around her body.
“Young one. You have found me. I have been searching for a millennium for you” a soft, graceful voice echoed around her. Aynilia tensed and looked around in all directions for the voice. A strong gust of wind blew by her and drew her attention to what seemed to be her reflection.
“What is your name child?” the pale doll-like lips breathed out.
“Aynilia” the sound was small when it escaped Aynilia’s lips.
“I am Atuya” the reply was simple and graceful. Aynilia was captivate by this girl. Her hair the color of the white moon, skin like porcelain, and eyes that bore into a person. The two girls were caught staring into one another’s eyes seemingly trying to figure the other out. Atuya raised her hand slightly and slowly traced the space around her. Her image became blurred and almost unrecognizable. When she focused again Aynilia saw that Atuya was wearing immaculately designed robes. Her robes were adorned with simple yet stunning jewelry that hang from her neck and hands. Her hair was pulled back into a simple braid with shining silver pins placed in the interweaving hair. This image was so familiar to Aynilia, and yet she could not place where she had seen it.
Within moments she realized who was standing before her. Her eyes widened in shock at the realization and her mouth fell agape.

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