Aura - Where Time Remains: The Second Truth From The Left
Jan 28 00:37:16 2005

The old building was in slightly better shape on the inside than
the outer appearance gave the impression of; though still without
any positive signs of life or upkeep, the winding hallways that
Aura found herself aimlessly meandering through were more or less
in a stable sort of condition, to where she wasn't afraid that they
might suddenly collapse, or suchlike. The sounds of select few
scratching and squeaking let her know, however, that the facility
wasn't completely uninhabited. A few doors she had to force open
held nothing on the other sides, save for the occasional abandoned
work station, which held not more than old, outdated computers and
illegible documents, most of which she could feel just from looking
at that they didn't concern her.

She muttered irritably to herself as she wedged a door closed
behind her, stepping back out into a main hallway which seemed to
lead on endlessly in either direction, where darkness prevailed in
both. It dawned on her momentarily that it felt weird being able
to actually -see- in the dark, but then remembered that was part of
a larger reason as to why she was here in the first place. She was
just about to try another door on the opposite side of the hallway
when a familiar leaf-haired spirit burst into existence with her
green-hued fanfare, looking relatively urgent. She waved both tiny
wooden hands in a direction further down the hallway, large green
eyes glowing softly in the otherwise-pitch blackness. Aura glanced
the same way, then back at the dryad, puzzled.

"But that's the way I just came.. I didn't find anything
important down there. And besides, I thought you weren't going
to help me in here? Did you change your mind?"

The spirit shook her head, placing her tiny arms over her head in
an exasperated sort of gesture, before pointing down the same
hallway again, looking more and more fervent.

"Yes, I checked every door from that direction. They all had
pretty much the same things in them, and I couldn't read any
of what I did find, anyway. Did I miss something vital?"

With a nod, the dryad veered off suddenly down the aforementioned
hallway, leaving a subtle green streak of light in her wake as she
did. Leaving her faith to chance on the creature's sense of
urgency, Aura herself sped off down after her, metallic boots
creating a sizeable ruckus throughout the facility as she did.

I could've sworn I checked everything. What did I--

Her pondering was cut short however, as, upon reaching the now-
immobile little tree spirit, a bright green flash of light
illuminated the area around her airborne form, startling Aura out
her thoughts. At the same time, a large, rectangular square of
steel seemingly carved itself out of the wall in front of both of
them, creaking off to one side of the same wall and out of sight on
the other side. As all went quiet again, both Aura and the dryad
were quiet, looking almost expectantly at each other for different
reason. Vocal as she was, Aura broke the silence with a simple-
enough question.

"... What?"

The dryad just pointed, again, into the room that lay beyond the
newly-formed doorway, before poofing out of sight in the familiar
green-lighted, grass-bladed fashion. Aura herself just stood there.

This is just getting more and more irritating. Why can't I just
get a straight answer, sometimes?

Scoffing at the metal floor, she tossed her head back before
stepping around the doorframe and into what lay beyond, without so
much as a backward glance.

What she then saw would forever justify her desire for an 'answer'.