>"Stay..."
>The floating stops
>"Stand..."
>Your body begins to reform
>"Still going..."
>You feel blood drain from your face
>"Still going...?"
>Your weight sinks onto your legs
>"Still going on..."
>A solid, single breath charges your body from top to bottom
>What's going on?
>"What's going on?"
"What's going on...?"
>Your eyes work now
>You're standing
>The weight of the metal on your frame and held in your hand is at once familiar
>"It's you..."
>You kneel toward the voice
>It's soft
>Gentle
>It is the most beautiful voice you've ever heard
"I'm here."
>You said it, there is no way you're wrong
>"You are... I have waited for so long for you..."
>Her voice is lax
>Every word has it's own weight that is almost too much for her to bear
>It isn't pain that turns her voice lethargic but fatigue
"What comes next?"
>That is all that matters, isn't it?
>"Please... proceed up the hill... the chapel... do... you remember...?"
>A chapel
>A hill?
>Something that is supposed to be important
>Rather than answer, you stand
>As was her wish
>Without any fear or sense of hunger, you turn and leave the statue
>It is old, defiled
>Destroyed except for a torso and half of one foreleg
>You can see her so clearly even without a full effigy
>Your gaze was so full and whole that you would be defective to experience otherwise
>She's waiting for you
>You hear some voices in the distance
>Not important
>Not hers
>Your leg hikes up and charges
>It crashes through the aged bricks and mortar
>It had been centuries since they were laid, hadn't it?
>One of the small group of unwashed men shrieks
>The others rush to arm themselves with field tools
>"W-what the 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 is that!?"
>What?
>Are you a "what"?
>The question lingers while you hack through them
>The first swing cleaves down one's torso
>The second falls to a harsh step forward and a punch against the face
>The body spasms despite the front of the skull getting crushed in
>The third stabs into your torso
>You finally feel something that isn't the angelic voice that commanded you to once again rise
>"Ha! Ha, you're bleeding! No matter what happens, if it bleeds, you c-"
>This pain is invigorating
>Your body surges with a boiling heat
>Your hand grabs the face
>Your fingers clench and dig into the flesh, pulverizing bone in the motion
>The screaming doesn't last long enough to register as an attempt at words
>The fourth, having failed to flee while gathering as many belongings as possible, is on his knees
>You can sense such strong terror
>You kneel before the man
"What's going on?"
>Your voice is clear despite the lack of hydration
>"W-wha?"
>Your free hand raises and rests on his shoulder
"What's going on...?"
>The man shrieks
>Your hand sinks down further than his skeletal structure can handle
>He scrambles away with a feral scream
>He is badly damaged
>"F-fuck you, you freak! You 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠!"
>You simply watch him flee
>He will not get long in that state
"What's going on..."
>You wait
>Is it indecision that holds you back?
>The lack of information?
>Do you believe the man will come back?
>No
>It isn't any of that
>Her voice
>You long to feel her voice so strongly, to sink down and wait is a craven act to force her action
>This feeling
>Disdain
>You dislike it
>You stand while imagining her voice
>The blood on your hands have dried
>The bodies of the three men had long liquified into wet, decayed messes gone past the point of any identification
>No one came to find them
>They must not have been worth identifying
>You have a place to be
>You have her to meet
>Your legs carry you outside
>It is dark out, swirling abyssal black lingering overhead
>Countless eyes and glints in the distance peer down at you
>How many are of her?
>How many are ashamed to see you walk once more?
>You too feel shame at walking under such a stark blanket of stars
>If only you were in her embrace, and in turn embracing her
>You watch the empty void
>A stray memory comes
>You haven't seen the sun in so long, bec