Aura - Where Time Remains: Phantom And A Rose [1]
Jan 31 22:52:37 2005

Aura froze on the spot. Normally, she could easily sense the
presence of another life form nearby, an ability she still had yet
to derive an origin from. What spooked her the most at the sound
of the unknown voice, even without having yet turned around to see
who it was, was that she couldn't feel anything. And yet, the
voice came as solidly from behind her as thought someone had been
standing there this whole time. The dryad's reaction nearby was
nothing encouraging either; it quickly clamped herself down upon
Aura's shoulder, shaking visibly.

With instinctive precaution well-practiced, Aura whirled on whom-
ever it was behind her, a lengthy knife brandished from a hidden
sheath at either side of her thighs. As soon as her violet eyes
caught sight of the bearer of the voice, her fingers lost their
grip on the weapon, and it clattered to the floor with a nice ring
of metal against metal.

It was a person. And at the same time, it wasn't; the male figure
before her looked like any typical professorial type or human
ancestry, with the generic labcoat and spectacles for further
recognition. And yet, the dull blue outline that constantly pulsed
around his form gave the impression that he, at the same time, was
not of the living world. The eyes that regarded her were an off-
shade of blue, almost in similar fashion to the hue around his
unethereal form. He spoke again, but she didn't see his mouth move
in any way, shape, or form.

"Are you lost, young one?"

Aura wanted to reply, to say anything at all in compliance, but
between the sniveling little tree spirit on her shoulder and the
general layering of shock after shock she'd received since coming
in the room, her jaw merely worked soundlessly in a silent response
to his query. The man seemed genuinely amused by it, his eyes
falling with brievity upon the tiny little dryad near her neck.

"This place isn't somewhere people just come to play around in,
you know. There's nothing here except dust, cobwebs, and old
visions of what once was. If you don't require anything,
leaving might be wise, in case this old facility decides it
can't hold itself up any longer."

Something about his tone of voice, the way he seemed actually
concerned for her well-being caught Aura even further off-guard,
but loosened the invisible clamp over her mouth.

"Wh..what do you know about this place? I have to know, too!"

She hadn't expected to come out sounding that demanding, but she
felt somehow that the male figure might be holding back more than
he first let on. Still, he seemed to disregard her question, again
looking back at the little elemental at her neck before locking
eyes with Aura again.

"I know enough to also know that you shouldn't be here. You're
going to get hurt if you stay here too long; do you have any
idea what this place has been through?"

He tilted his head in a questioning manner. Aura grimaced, cocking
one foot behind the other.

"I came here -for- that reason; to find out! Something in this
old building is connected to me, somewhere, and unless you're
completely blind, you'd see that, too!"

Aura stepped aside just then, allowing the man before her full
sight of the diagrammed image of her all over the back wall. For
a moment, he seemed unphased, but in no less than a few moments'
time Aura could see the recognition settle into his eyes, that he
could recall something of times past. It was then that she made
her move, vocally.