Her steps were heavy and firm, as she advanced through the darkness of the maze. In the corners of the cells, she could see shadowy figures, they were smiling at her, white teeth gnashing in the darkness, their smiles filled with emotions that she could sense easily. Expectation, fear, envy, hate, and happiness, were all in a terrible mix, but not a single one of those creatures dared to chase after her or even less to obstruct her way as she walked towards the almost ruined stairway that would take her to the first floor. When she had almost reached her destination she paused for a moment, there was a sign, almost too ruined to be able to be read, the words seemed alien at first, but then they re-arranged in her mind and she was able to understand it.
'Victims of the witch blight, do not enter' That didn't tell her much about the place, but even then she turned.
The way from where she had come was long, it was filled with a sea of endless cells almost fully engulfed in the darkness, if it weren't for the places where the roof had collapsed and the moonlight filtered inside. She had the sensation that in another moment this place would have filled her with terror and grimace, but now she couldn't feel that, even if her mind told her this was a terrible place.
And then it happened, for a single moment she was standing there, but it all looked different, the ruined halls looked much more vivid, armed guards looked towards the same direction as her, endless coughs and people begging for their lives screamed from within the cells.
"Wait! Please! Don't leave us!"
"I don't want to die!"
"At least my son! Take my son!"
A guard in ornamented armor looked toward the source of the pleading without any hint of mercy in his eyes and just looked at the other guardians near him.
"Close the door, we are leaving"
"But sir..." Tried to argue with one of the soldiers, he looked young.
She could hear a door being shut behind her, and under the stairs, another stairway to even lower levels was being tapped with planks and nails too.
"But nothing, know your place, trash" Said the leader of the guards looking at him with coldness "Or you can stay here forever with them, this fortress is lost! If anyone is to blame is that shitty goddess! So if she wants then she can come here and save them all herself, she can have all the sick and criminals!"
And as the doors shut and planks were placed in it the illusion faded, it was just a small gift from her place to her, a memory of long bygone days, stored in the evil fog that circulated this place, all the remorse stored by those left to die, and probably those guarding the fortress in the last days was all stored in here.
"Magnificent" She said with a smile on her face, her voice echoing through the dark halls "And even after all these years you have chosen to remain here, rooting on these cells, not even your bones remain"
She bowed towards the prison room, the place suddenly began to emanate even darker emotions from within.
"Thank you" she whispered, her voice dripping with a mix of mockery and reverence "For showing me this place's history, for leaving me these memories. I'll carry them with me, if only for the thrill of knowing what you endured"
The creatures in the cells stirred at her words, some hissing in response, others murmuring incoherent pleas or curses. Their emotions washed over her like a tide... raw, bitter, and unyielding. She could feel their envy, their fear, even a twisted kind of respect. These beings were bound to this cursed place, their lingering spirits clinging to the stones and shadows, unwilling or unable to let go.
Then she proceeded to the stairs, stopping for a moment to see the still closed gate to the levels, she had no business there, but she could feel the darkness from within, it was more violent, and probably those were the criminals left behind. In the end, it seemed that the so-called goddess didn't save any of them.
As she began to ascend, she could remember things, they may been carried by the miasma or maybe from a mysterious source, but as if she was a kid reading a book in front of a chimney during a winter night, she could remember something about the witch blight that devastated the world four hundred years ago, during the witch wars, memories were so blurry, but the southern part of the continent was claimed by demons and monsters... She shook her head, she will have time to think about that kind of thing later. Her hand brushed the cold wall beside her as she ascended, almost as if she were drawing strength from the agony buried within. Each step brought her closer to the surface, and as she climbed, her senses sharpened.
Once she reached the first floor of the ruined building, she found herself with thick wooden doors, closed, probably the ones that closed it were hoping it would last for eternity, but she just walked towards it and kicked it, the hinges exploded and the door collapsed in splinters and ruined planks, it was pretty easy to break it, revealing the entrance to a dark and humid room. It was a place crumbled, what little remained from the roof showed that once was a beautiful painting from some renowned artist probably, but now it showed the clear night sky.
It was there, it was at that precise moment she saw the moon and her smile faltered. For a moment her heart ached as if someone was grabbing it and solitary tears rolled down her cheeks. For some seconds she wasn't alone, somewhere else, at another time she had contemplated the same moon accompanied by many as they jocked and told each other stories.
"Who am I?" She asked herself again.
Her head ached, it was trying to understand the situation, but it was all so confusing. She didn't even have a name right now. But the clarity of the night gave her some insight. She knew where she was. In front of her, she could see a mountain, the peak looked like fingers reaching out to the sky, and assuming this was those ruins.
"Those are The Penitents" She said looking at the mountain "So these ruins are The Devil's Wail"
The stars in the sky looked gorgeous, for a moment she just stood there witnessing the majesty of the night sky, she didn't remember the details, but this place was not that far away from the southern lands... even so not many would venture here, these were dangerous ruins with so much miasma and few treasures that no sane man would come here just for money.
"The Rock at the land of the First Men" The voice had told her to go there, that place was beyond the great wall of the south.
Then her eyes got fixated on the direction she must follow. For some reason, she didn't feel anxious about it, but the wall was a massive construction, a place to guard the kingdoms from the monsters. A place to keep out creatures like her. She had so much she didn't understand, yet, if crossing it was the first step in this new life, then so be it. With her scythe in hand and the moon at her back, she continued forward, her path stretching endlessly ahead into the unknown that awaited her.
As the nameless mistborn creature descended from the ruined castle, she looked behind. The ruins were covered in an ominous mist that discouraged people from entering. The only path was lonely, and covered in layers of white dust, it almost looked like ashes. The stark, barren landscape stretched out before her, barren and desolate, and strangely it looked alien but familiar at the same time, she felt at home in this desolate place.
'It's a strange land' She thought as she looked at the horizon 'But I prefer green fields' Then she stopped for a moment "I might need a name" She said looking at the starts, everything was so strange right now, there was a greenish star a little separated from others, her broken memories brought the name she needed "Kirai, the lone star, the decadent star..." A small smile adorned her face "That's it, Kirai will do".
Once she finished her little monologue the silence was so strange, it felt thick in the air, only broken by the soft crunch of her footsteps on the cracked earth, echoing faintly in the vast emptiness. The white dust that drifted with the wind settled in thin layers across her body, clinging to her skin and hair as though it wanted to mark her as part of this land.
As she advanced, the petrified trees along the path stood like twisted sentinels, the testament of the story of this place, their branches stretching out like brittle, skeletal arms, frozen in time for everyone who came to this remote place to see and remember.
...
...
...
And so, many days passed before her. She crossed the dusty silent road, endured intense dust storms that rose when the wind blew, crossed a stagnant and smelly river with green water, discovered ruins filled with endless seas of skeletons and for a week she marched without stopping, she wasn't tired, she didn't felt the need for sustain or the necessity for sleep. But she felt something inside of her, it was a longing that she didn't understand. And even if she could keep walking until the end of time without consuming anything, she felt an antinatural hunger dwelling inside of her too.
Then, at the dawn of the eighth day, she finally arrived at the great wall that separated the civilization from the wasteland. It was imposing, a fortress that proved the defiance of the people against adversity, no matter the sacrifices made in the process. It was located between two mountains, it housed three fortresses that covered equal parts of the wall, built in red stone, it was the only secure passage between the two worlds, and it was heavily fortified. But that wasn't what caught Kirai's attention. As the miasma mist quickly began to spread at her location to protect her, a lonely figure soared in the sky and quickly descended toward her.
"Going anywhere, monster?" A masculine voice full of wonder asked.
A man, dressed up in extravagant clothes looked down at her, and with a flick of his fingers, everything got engulfed in fire.