“What, you just left the key when you came out here to take a nap, and the path somehow closed?” Michael was clearly frustrated.

“Well, it is not quite so simply you see.” Avialian’s fingers were going to wear a hole in her multitude of drapes if she kept rubbing them between her fingers so frequently.

“Well, could you like just run us through it real quick?”

“I agree, hearing…what happened may hold…clues as to how we…may overcome…this obstacle.”

Avialian looked at the three of them nervously before finally giving in. “Very well then. I will do my best.” She paused for a second and composed herself and went on to describe the events that led her here.

Even in the hall of ancients Avialian could still hear the squealing of the pits. It had once been such a soothing sound, but now it only made her heart ache. She had hoped the visages of her ancestors would soothe her troubled spirit as it had before. But now, as she looked into the crystalline eyes of the grand Faendogriche she saw the statue for what it truly was, just another hollow shell.

There was a quiet sound up ahead that shook her out of her thoughts. Her introspective thoughts had served her well, as if she had been talking like most of the others, she would have never heard anything.

She made her way towards the sound carefully and quietly. She could hear the soft muddled steps of someone approaching, and instinctually slid behind one of the statues lining the hall. Though she didn’t know why. Why there was this strange feeling gripping her soul. A trepidation, a strong desire not to be seen. It was especially strange because there was no danger here, nor had there ever been. Not in the heart of the universe.

As she watched from the darkness, she saw the jagged creases of an old male peek out from behind a statue further down. It was Elder Maghuif, and as his head popped out his eyes dashed around the room. It was as if he wanted to make sure no one saw where he was coming from. Avialian’s mind told her to greet him as was proper. Yet she could not. The strange feeling gripped her soul tighter as she found no words would come. She could feel her crystalline skin grow colder as she waited in anticipation.

The Elder seemed content, because it wasn’t long before he moved further down the hall towards the central dome. Avialian could feel her body almost shaking. All of this was so strange. What was her soul trying to warn her about? Were most instincts this strong? She wasn’t sure, but she did know that she had to see the hidden path where he had come from.

Her soul was guiding her. She knew she should speak of this to the Elders, as it was likely something only for them to know. Yet, she could not stop. A burning drive pushed her forward. She had to know. She had to see for herself, and not just be told what to do. It was the pits all over again. In her mind she knew this would likely make things worse for her again; but just like back then, she had to press forward.

She came face to face with the statue, and of course it was Triddian. A bitter anger rose inside her. He was supposed to be the savior of their people, the greatest of them all, and yet he was the one who set them so firmly on this doomed path. She could not meet his statue’s gaze and felt a great urge to scream at him. Which was odd, as she knew this would accomplish nothing.

She pushed her frustration down and crept behind the statue, but there was nothing there. She held her hand out and touched the wall behind the statue. There it was. She could feel the crack inside of it. She closed her eyes and let out a low hum. Responding to her call, the crystal split open to reveal the path inside. Inside there was a strange rod in a cavity on the wall. She picked it up, and it was covered with strange runes that made no sense. Almost as if their meaning would shift as she tried to understand them.

Her head perked up as she heard voices coming from out in the hallway.

“Truly a bore this year.”

“Quite right. Hopefully we can find some better stock soon, or I’m afraid I just won’t be able to force myself to pretend to care.”

“Or at least let them be a bit rougher with the ones they have.”

“Hoohoohoohoo! You’re practically a beast yourself, are you not?”

“I believe I will take that as a compliment, but I can’t help it. One’s excitement merely dulls over the years. Why just earlier, I was…”

Panic gripped her soul as she scrambled deeper into the cavern, but to her relief, as she moved from the opening, it closed behind her. It was so quiet, even this close she couldn’t hear it over the idle chatter that had been approaching.

She clutched the staff close to her chest as she let out a small sigh. She had already come this far, so she might as well continue further along and see what lied at the end of this hidden path.

It was unlike anything she had seen. She had come into a large room filled with massive statues covered in similar runes to the staff. But the statues were strange. They didn’t look like a person…

“Actually, come to think of it,” Avialian said as she took a pause from her story. “They look a good bit like you all." She pointed behind them, "That is one of them.”

The three of them turned to look at the statue again. It still looked like someone had carved a human by secondhand description alone. Carolyn giggled, Sharon nodded while seeming to be thinking a mile a minute, and Michael simply shrugged.

“Look, it’s cool and all, but really we don’t need all of the descriptions. The short version would work just fine.”

“I was giving you the short version I thought. So much of people's history, my history, and the events leading up to this breaking point were cut out. Is that not slimming the story quite a bit?”

Sharon elbowed Michael. “Please go on…it is quite educational…”

Avialian nodded her head towards Sharon as Michael rubbed his side. “Of course, now where was I? Ah yes, the statues…

These strange figures loomed far above her head, but they all felt off. Like they were wrong, unnatural in some way. Which was strange as they seemed to be made from Breath-Stone like everything else. Although they were all holding giant pillars with two sharp crystals at the top.

She felt a similar feeling looking at the statues as she did when she saw Elder Maghuif. Her soul was screaming for her to leave, but it was mixed with an intense desire to go further. She would already get in trouble if she was caught, so what did she really have to lose from pushing forward?

The room was massive, far bigger than even the pits, and it was filled with those statues. As she went further along, they seemed to get more and more crude. Like each one had just been a copy of the last, with each mistake magnified from one to the next.

After what felt like an eternity with that clutching feeling on her soul, she found two paths splitting off of an otherwise dead end. She started to head towards the one to her right but felt an almost imperceptible tug on her soul urging her to the left. So that is the way she went, and the path was very similar to the one she had to take when she first entered. It even ended with a small cavity and a solid wall.

She pressed her hand against it and with a hum it opened. In her excitement to leave, she walked forward and into a solid object. It seemed to be a secondary wall covered in the same strange runes as the staff. Figuring she may as well try something, she touched the staff against the wall, and closed her eyes. She tried to find the right note in her mind’s eye, but she could not pin one down for the strange crystal. So, she started to hum different notes, until at least there was a low rumbling, and the crystal began to move. To her surprise it was another one of those giant statues, but even more surprising was what it seemed to be guarding. A large temple of sorts, but the temple led to the outside.

With the staff in hand, she ran outside, but as she left, the statue moved back, returning to its post to guard the tunnel that was rapidly closing behind it. It was the first time she had been outside, rather than just reading about it. It was a new experience, and with it her melancholy seemed to melt away. She quickly found the edge and looked down to see the ground far below. She wondered just how high she must have climbed to be up past the clouds.

This became a sort of routine for her. She would leave as she grew introspective and visit the surface. The curiosity that pulled her never seemed to extend to that right passage, and so she left it unexplored. Besides, the rain, sun, wind, it all felt amazing to her, and she cherished every moment up there. Still, every visit her soul sank as she crossed the room of giant statues. It was a vibrant few thousand years, but over time she could swear the room housing the statues got bigger and bigger, and filled with more and more of them.

It all came crashing down when she was trying to slip away. As she entered the tunnel, she could hear Elder Maghuif yelling after her to stop. She panicked and ran. With the staff in hand, she sprinted as fast as she could. Her soul was clenched so tightly that she was shaking. She thought she might be able to hide among the statues, but her soul was practically screaming not to get any closer than she had to.

Finally, she reached the end of the line. She quickly put her hand on the wall and hummed to open it. Now there was just the statue. She pressed the rod to it and began to cycle through to try and open it. Then she heard the elder scream again, and when she looked back she saw him. His jagged face an unnatural twisting of pure malice and scorn. With a small shriek she dropped the staff and it started to roll back down the tunnel towards him and away from her.

She had moments to act, and in a panic, she reached towards the crystal without any runes. Then she shrieked. The loudest, harshest sound she could make as she held a hand against the crystal. Sure enough, it started to grow fragile and crack. With a small cavity peeking out to the side of the statue she forced herself through. In a moment of quick thinking, she kicked the lone guardian as hard as she could, causing a crack to form that split through several runes. As small bits of crystal fell from the crack, the glowing runes started to go dark. Slowly, the rest of the temple followed suit. Growing darker and darker, but despite the muffled yelling behind the regenerating crystal, Elder Maghuif never made it through.

Feeling faint, and like her soul might shatter at any moment, she lied down in an antechamber and went to sleep. Occasionally she would wake up, but total darkness had taken over everything, and the crystals no longer resonated with her words. Alone she did all she could think of, and simply return to sleep. She repeated this over and over again, until a voice and distant glint of light pierced through the darkness.

“Your light Michael. Thank you for that.” Avialian added softly as the story seemed to have taken a toll on her. “But my desperation appears to have split me from the Breath-Stone. It refuses to answer my call, so I am afraid I can not help you.”

Everyone had grown silent, as they took in everything. Until Sharon spoke up, “Then, allow me…I can open it...”