Aura - Where Time Remains: The Holy Intruder
Jan 29 22:17:52 2005

Despite the obvious lack of light within the room, the giant
diagram on the far side of the wall as no harder to see than any
other object. Made up to be some kind of writing board, the entire
wall was covered in a massive, intricately-detailed image of a
young girl in a bright red reploids' bodysuit, various arrows and
notes written out around various parts of the visual anatomy,
describing varying suggestions and processes. Still, this wasn't
what grabbed Aura's attention the most. It was who the diagram was
representing that did. It was...

Goddess... That's me! What in the hell...?

The general shock from seeing herself plastered against a wall like
some kind of test experiment kept her from being able to think
clearly, her eyes scanning the diagram from top to bottom. A part
of her wanted to run out of both the room and entire facility at
just that moment, and yet her feet remained glued to the floor. In
some way, she felt like this wasn't supposed to be something new;
finally managing to tear her eyes away from the wall, the rest of
the room did indeed look like it was purposeful for some kind of
testing laboratory or area, various tools lining a clutter of
shelves on all sides. Most of the room was in a state of disarray,
however, as though whoever was last in here had dropped whatever
they were last doing on the spot and made a hurried escape. Did
it have something to do with the explosion some years ago? Aura
frown, lowering her head thoughtfully.

It isn't making any sense... Kirono told me there was an
explosion here some time ago, just before he found me... but
he never mentioned any of this. Or even why... as if he
would have known, anyway.

An eerie feeling gripped Aura almost physically by the throat,
a tightness forming in the pit of her stomach as she found herself
looking back up towards the still-detailed diagram of herself
across the northern wall. She wanted to believe it was a joke,
in all senses of reality. That the last people who were here
had been a bunch of clowns, having nothing better to do than plant
pictures of her and label specific parts in neatly-written
manuscript form. That it wasn't... real.

I don't... why am I up there? Is that supposed to explain what
I'm missing? Why I feel... like an outcast? They really...

With the threat of confused tears all-but-imminent, the tiny dryad
popped into existence along her left shoulder, shaking her small
head in a sort of disbelieving manner. Aura couldn't help but feel
slightly hollow inside, as though she were expecting to find
something specific, but had uncovered a much darker find. The
spirit seemed to sense this, and leaned over to pat gently at the
side of Aura's face sympathetically. It didn't help, but she did
at least manage to hold the tears back.

"So that's what... this is. That's what it's been all along.
You all knew, too.. but you wouldn't tell me. Were you afraid
of something? Afraid of... me?"

The dryad shook her head 'no', gesturing timidly around the room
with her other arm. Aura shot the creature a confusing glance.

"I know this is what you wanted me to see. I gathered that
much just from the giant picture of myself that someone seems
to have deemed funny to decorate that wall with!"

The tree spirit winced, looking a considerably frightened at Aura's
sudden raise in vocal volume, to which the latter winced, looking
back towards a random spot on the floor.

"No, I know it isn't your fault... I wasn't yelling at you.
I'm just..."

"Lost..?"