She tries to breathe through her mouth, but ends up gagging when the smell heightens upon the walls’ continuous state of duress. It’s almost like she can taste the rancid and blood-dripping skin in her mouth with the way the stench hits her tongue, and it takes all her patience to not heave all over herself.
“Come to me!” that similar voice yells, but it’s drowned out almost immediately by the constant howls of the walls. They clash against each other as if trying to push away the pain they’re experiencing, but it’s a fruitless effort. They seem to be trapped in a maze of agony, and she has no idea what she can do to ease them out of it.
Because really, it was hurtful watching them struggle like this.
“Cignette!”
She swallows and returns her attention to the edge.
“Take my hand; let me get you out of this mess,” says the voice. “You do not deserve this. You know you don’t.”
The screams get louder, and she has no other choice but to retract her hand from over her nose and bring it to her ear. It’s too much… God, it’s simply too much.
“Listen to me, Cignette,” the voice urges. “Let me lead you out of here.”
“Who are you?” she finally manages to speak, and even though her words are scratchy, they still hold firm against the havoc she’s standing in the middle of. “I recognize your voice, but I…” She shakes her head a little. “I can’t remember who you are.”
“You know me,” the voice answers. “More than anyone else in the world, you know me the most, Cignette.”
“I–” She stops when she hears it – sharp, consistent flapping of wings.
The formless ground beneath her trembles, and the walls – still lost in their own demise – start falling apart in various forms of debris and ruin.
“Time runs short, Cignette,” warns the voice. “You must hurry.”
She brings her right arm forward, then second-guesses her move and pulls it back. But when she again glances around at the ongoing destruction, she reluctantly steps forward.
I may fall into yet another trap, but at least I’ll get out of this one, she thinks to herself.
A probable risk to avoid watching the end of…of whatever this is.
She’s about to place her hand over the one awaiting her in the darkness, but stops and turns around when a piercing cry cuts through the chaos.
The cry of a raven.
It flies over to her – majestic and fearless – before perching gracefully over a misshaped boulder a few feet away from her.
Cignette watches the raven with keen interest. She studies it.
It tilts its head and watches her back – more relaxed than alert, as if it knows exactly where it’s supposed to be.
She’s fascinated by it; drawn to its endless, midnight-blue eyes.
She runs her gaze over its obsidian feathers, and its strong talons that grip the stone to keep it standing.
Her lips twitch, right before she smiles a little, and the raven, in turn, widens its chest, while its gaze all but twinkles as it shifts in her direction.
She can’t understand why she’s so captivated by the bird, but somehow, she is; she simply can’t help it.
She pushes a long strand of hair behind an ear, then moves toward the raven. Her feet are steady as she keeps reducing the space that separates her from the beautiful bird.
She moves closer, and the raven watches her in silent anticipation. She stops when she’s in front of it, and then reaches out a hand before slowly, almost tentatively, running the backs of her fingers over the side of its neck.
The raven leans into her gentle touch, which makes her smile again.
Her knuckles graze its beak, and it all but croons in return. But, it’s when she’s about to kneel in front of it so that she can get a closer look at it, that it happens; that she’s propelled backwards. She’s pulled away from the bird with such force that a piercing scream rips its way out of her throat.
The raven screams with her, and she hears the agitated flaps of its massive wings as she starts to lose her footing. She falls, and is immediately hit in the face with the unforgiving stream of water she was standing amid. Frost-like droplets cut through her skin, and when she tries to stand, something grabs ahold of her ankles.
