2 years ago

At Mountain Ard…

Narya ceased at the moment from the blinding light upon ascending from the underground.

There were huge pillars on all sides of the room. Four pillars in sight, a concrete floor, open frames, and a ceiling as high as a hundred feet. She had never seen a place like a museum without displays, or a huge old building covered with cracks and signs of breaking. A ruin at first glance, but still intact to believe it is. Wood and concrete as patches are obvious to notice, holding the structure in its balance and covering massive holes. But the place is nothing different from the eerie atmosphere of the poorly lit catacomb where she just came from.

Emptiness and abandonment linger in the place. Even wild plants never dare to enter from the holes in the walls or the wide door up front. She noticed her companion almost near the huge open door, and thus she hurried to catch the long strides of the giant monk wearing long ragged clothes. His strides are big, expected from someone almost five times Narya's height.

The young woman noticed the mountain of trees as they drew closer outside.

"....", she was left unspoken. Surprised more than before by the unfamiliar landscape while at the top of a mountain overlooking the vast land of this somewhere.

"Ooh~ this dream is the best!", Narya reacted, thrilled at the thought of having a vivid dream and denying the possibility of it being real. The monk standing beside her remained silent.

Meanwhile, the young woman started to ask questions about where she was, but all were unanswered.

Despite knowing she was not somewhere in the city, the bright environment made her feel like she had just woken up from the frightening experience underground where she saw her body lying deep at the bottom of the lake within the catacomb.

As soon as they stepped outside, the giant monk turns back, leaving the amused human looking at the expanse of the land.

The monk enters the building- carved from a single monolith. He walks away silently without Narya knowing. A sudden tremor shook the ground, tumbling the little frame of the new arrival.

"No no no... WAIT!", Narya shouted as she watched the door being closed and the monk inside.

The tremor stopped as the door completely shut off by a massive slate emerged from the ground. She rushed and shouted at the monk who cares no less.

Narya, goes around the building, finding a way to get inside. Unfortunately, the open windows are on the side of the cliff, impossible to reach. And the wall on the opposite sides has no windows or holes to fit in. Narya then continues to bang on the door, throwing rocks, and shouting over and over again. Suddenly, it came to her mind that she was troubling herself with just a dream, but actually, clueless about her existence in this new land.

She decided to sleep, confident to wake up and escape the weirdest dream. She lay down under a tree, shaded and comforted by the fresh air and soft grass.

The sky was at its best, clear blue with the calmest of clouds. Her body relaxed at the moment while thinking about everything that happened: from waking up in an empty chamber with the glowing water of an underground lake; seeing her body on the bottom of it; passing through lined shelves of bones of different sizes and shapes; and realizing she woke up from a burial site.

The young woman opened her eyes, pinched her forearm, and felt the grass, the trees, and sniffed into the air... she sniffed once more, sniffed the grass, her hands but nothing, no smell. Suddenly realizing that she never knew the smell of her surroundings, even in the catacomb, she smelled nothing. '

'This means it's a dream', she thought, assuring herself.

She sighed and leaned on the tree again while looking at the mountain ridges on the horizon.

Few minutes after -

She fell asleep bearing the hope of waking up in her small apartment to get ready for work.

*Inside the citadel

Inside the building, balls of glowing light floated around, brightening the place, while there stood the monk revealing himself in front of the stone-made mirror. He is an old giant Kari- a scaled creature with a beak of a phoenix, completely black eyes, and a body of a man. His covered scaled skin harder than brass left no trace on the old Kari. Instead, the Kari was a bald monk with all the wrinkles and scars from his failing scales. Mighty once, he was now disgustingly sick. He looked at himself, unbothered by his condition, and slowly unwrapped the sheets on his covered limbs. He collected his scales that were stuck on the band, while few slip and made a soundless fall. The ailing creature bent down to pick these pieces, revealing to the mirror the long open slits on his already unscaled back.

After collecting his fallen scales, he places them in a large wooden box beside the stone-made mirror. A night routine of the hopeless hermit. He carefully wrap his dried skin and sat on the cold stone table and stared at his hands, slowly projecting a blade formed by his remaining scales on the back of his palm.

The triggered disappointment attempt him to clenched his fist and distressed by the harsh truth that the long-awaited summoning could be the first and the last. And yet, another failure as he grows old & weak.

"Astral~"

"Astral", he mouthed again.

He let out a frustrated sigh and stood, grabbed his robe, and wore his mask. A decision was made as he left the room with the thought of keeping the summoned in his keep, so he went outside.

The monk found the young woman sleeping under a tree. A hint of pity marked his heart, and there, the beginning to let the creature live with the cruelty of their world.

The monk approaches the girl, slowly grabbing her by his gigantic hand. And then.... he threw the asleep and unaware young woman on the cliff.

The monk sighed after reassuring his doubt.

"Astral~", he whispered, looking at the floating woman. Not moments later, the monk was flustered, realizing he had thrown her out of his reach.

So again, he made a loop using his new scarf and threw it in the air, capturing the floating young woman on her feet.