They floated alone in the dark surrounded by nothing, no memories except those scattered with a pain that they had suffered for an eternity. They had no sense of self nor, if it were possible, a sense of where they were. All they knew was the dark and even that sliver of self-awareness was barely noticeable. As this time passed flashes of faces with no name appeared and then dissolved just as quickly, faint images of places and items unknown, and running through it all every time a memory shard surfaced was an undercurrent of pain. They had spent an eternity locked in the dark with no context to understand what they were and why they suffered. This continued and the endless silence that filled this void was broken for the first time by a new noise. The being roused somewhat at this noise, and for the first time in the long eternity they had been trapped, a crack appeared in the emptiness, and a blinding light entered the void and seared long dead eyes. Yet more time passed and new sensations began to assail the being. The consciousness began to instinctually apply words describing them, the first word was cold. They did not understand how they knew this sensation, but throughout their being there was a cold that assailed them from all angles. Slowly another sensation began to surface, a slow building, rumbling and shaking sensation and the crack grew wider as it intensified, flooding them with light. They heard a new sound a rasping groaning sound which they soon realised came from themselves. Their mind told them this was sound and speech They struggled to open their eyes the pain intensifying as the light flooded into them. They blinked rapidly their eyes narrowed and it felt a new sensation, pain. Slowly but surely vision returned, blurred and indistinct but returning nonetheless. They looked around the darkness, their motion restricted and slowly they realize that they are contained in something.
Whatever it is has a long crack running down it, as they look down their neck cracking and clicking they behold their withered form punctured by spikes covered in runic words they do not understand. Whatever broke their containment had shifted enough they could begin to move their long atrophied limbs. Calmly they began to pull at their bonds tearing at flesh that was more like leather until they had one arm free and brought a skeletal hand up to their face. They turned it and twisted it regarding it strangely before moving it to help free their other arm. Time didn't matter for they had no concept of it, just an instinctual need to free themselves and eventually, they did. They regarded the crack in front of them, It was wide enough by now they felt they could fit their head through it, so at first they placed their hands on it and tried to pull it wider but it would not give no matter how hard they tried. They felt a slowly growing sense of panic, as this being was running on pure instinct, so for hours without end it shifted pulled, and tore its Flesh and Bones apart. As it sought desperate freedom it felt the spike in its chest break inside it leaving a small fragment behind, it thrashed and pulled until it once again felt the rumbling, low at first and then building in intensity it saw things fall outside its container landing with loud bangs before with a wrenching grinding sound the container split apart. Many of the spikes had broken in this latest event and it tore its body free throwing itself to the ground and once again slipped Into Darkness as the world shook around it.
When the being next opened its eyes the shaking had stopped, slowly and painfully it forced itself to sit upright and regarded its withered form seeing that the many broken bones and ripped flesh had started to mend itself. Looking around itself they could see they were in a vast space, with more runes similar to the ones that had been carved onto it's chains decorating the walls. It also noticed that it was on a raised platform in the center of this room and that there was a slow and steady trickle of water filling the room itself. It didn't know why but every instinct it had, screamed at it to take this liquid in. So it dragged itself to the edge of its platform and threw itself into the slowly deepening water, its mouth open and desperate as the body automatically gulped it down until it could take in no more and vomited it back up. The being sat in the trench around the platform confused, before drinking it again slower this time and stopping when its body told it it was enough. It leaned back against its platform the water barely above its hips. For a long time, it sat still ignoring the slowly rising water, they could feel strength slowly returning, and without words and only a long-forgotten sense of self, it knew they were a She, and with that word they knew themselves as a Woman. They had kept their eyes closed as they sat in the water and as they opened them more words came to them, She knew this place was a cave and that the squiggles were called runes, She also noted that after taking in the water her leathery skin had started to soften and their wounds had started to close much faster. Although as she looked at herself her form was much unchanged, still a skeletal withered being. Slowly on shaking arms and legs she forced herself to rise and look around. The first thing of note was that the thing that had contained her was sundered in two a massive chunk of the ceiling had landed on it and she realized it was probably that, that had caused the first crack and that the great shaking she had felt had merely widened it. The container had more runes carved into it covering it from the bottom to the top. She pressed her fingers to the now closed wound in her chest and realized that she could still feel the piece that had broken off inside herself. Slowly she checked the rest of her body and realised there was a metal collar around her throat. With a rising panic she knew that she had to get it off no matter what, that it was somehow dangerous. So, pulling herself back up onto the platform she crawled towards her container and grabbing one of the broken spikes used it to lever out the nails attaching it to her flesh. As she did this, the realisation hit that she should be feeling pain, and that while it was present it was strangely numb. Ignoring these feelings, she kept working until the last nail clattered to the ground, the collar fell free and finally the sense of wrongness had passed.
Eventually, she moved her shaking hands to her throat and could feel the wounds closing beneath her fingers. Once again she looked around the cave and this time spotted something different. Her mind supplied the word for her, door. So she crawled towards it, dropping into the trench around her platform where the water had risen higher than she remembered, it occurred to her that eventually, the water would fill this cave. Already it was up to her shoulders and so, stopping only to drink more she fought through the water and with great effort pulled herself out the other side of the trench and finished crawling towards the door. When she reached it, at first she pushed against it, before bashing her fists against it, but it would not give. She forced herself to stand up and look around the door before noticing two indents containing bars made of metal that she could wrap her hands around. Gripping one, she pulled it and pushed it with all her strength to no avail over and over until her amrs burned with the exertion. Eventually, the realisation hit that if she exerted all of her strength she could twist it to the side, although doing so left her gasping for air. Nonetheless, she persisted until it settled into position with a click, She took long breaths until her hammering heart slowed and then repeated the process with the other one. Still, nothing happened when she was done, and in frustration, she yanked on them both, slowly but surely and with a grinding screeching sound they slid free. As they did so some ancient mechanism fought against unknown ages, and the door slowly but surely began to crack open. She stepped away from it, shocked and scared, later she would note these were the first two feelings since she had awoken. But for now, she waited with bated breath until the door jerked to a shuddering halt, it had opened enough that she could slide through with some discomfort and so she squirmed through, before leaning against it and pushing with her full strength until it screeched shut behind her, she was finally free. For a long time, she panted, filling her aching lungs with air until peering into the darkness beyond before she slowly began shuffling through the wide corridor in front of her filled with trepidation and confusion
She wandered through the corridor for an eternity, and her body was slowly filling out slightly. The gnawing emptiness in her core however had not ebbed since she had last drank of the water in the room she had awoken in. Her mind was filled with fog and confusion but as she ran her hand gently on the wall of the corridor she could feel more of those runes carved into them, and felt like things were shifting inside her mind. The confusion slowly faded and left an emptiness in its place that was no more calming to her than what had come before. She stumbled to her knees in the dark of the corridor and pressed a withered hand to her head. "I am me. But what am I? Who am I?" The words tumbled around her head as she thought them, bringing her no clarity. But at the edge of her mind, she felt there were things almost in reach, yet when she tried to focus on them nothing but pain filled her mind. She forced herself to stand and start shuffling onwards, with no concept of time or how long she had been walking it was only much later she realized the darkness was becoming lighter, she could make out various details of the corridor even if much of it was still blurry to her eyes. Eventually, she came to a second doorway, almost identical to the first that she had encountered, and so with desperation repeated the actions that she had performed earlier, leaning on the door with all her weight until it barely moved enough for her to slip through it. Once more she collapsed to the floor gasping and lightheaded from the exertion, and when finally she gathered herself enough to look around, found herself in another great chamber. The darkness had faded considerably by now and she slowly looked around at carved images that decorated every surface, with a band of similar runes running around the top and bottom of the walls that she had seen in the first room that she had awoken in.
She looked around the room's graven images and could understand that they showed a story, but what it was meant to convey was beyond her comprehension. One image in particular kept drawing her eyes, a monstrous figure, its wings spread and its face a thing of horror opened wide with sharpened teeth while hundreds of figures lay crushed and broken beneath its clawed feet. She shuddered and drew her arms around herself, ripping her eyes away from the image, and looked at the great door in front of her, with a symbol carved into its surface that left a strange heat in her chest the longer she looked at it. She was mesmerized by it, her mind racing to name what she was feeling, and a word bubbled to the surface, Anger. This image made her angry, but she did not know why and nor did she enjoy the feeling it had conjured within her. Slowly approaching it and running her hands along the door, she explored its surface with her fingertips tracing edge of the symbol. Her attention was drawn by a painful feeling in her right hand, and realised that she had smashed her fist against the great door. She looked at her hand in wonder, she hadn't decided to do that, and marveled at the blood that ran from her hand, and at the sight of her hand shifting back into its former shape. As she watched, the skin slowly knit back over her fresh wound. Shaking her head at the strangeness of this she began looking around for a way to open the great door, and after many hours she suddenly heard a distant and echoing boom from back the way she came. She had finally sat with her back against the door so that she didn't have to look at the symbol that made her angry everytime it entered her eyesight, and instead she looked at the other door in front of her. Her head cocked to the side as she heard a strange noise, a faint roaring noise that was rapidly getting louder. She began to get back to her feet steadying herself upon the surface of the door, and looked at the door that had led to the corridor wondering what was the noise that seemed to be growing in volume. She took a few hesitant steps towards it, and her eyes widened as she saw a great wall of water that filled the corridor had slammed the door back off its hinges before mercilessly breaking into her.
When I hear "Woman" "Runes" and "Spear" the first thing I think about is Scáthach