Aura - The Pure Truth: A Place With Soul [2]
Feb 8 12:26:05 2005

"Generally speaking, this village is home to all the good and
pure aspects of mana's blessing. While we know that the
Goddess can be both kind and cruel at times, we strive to
make prominent the former in the village, as there only lies
so much of it in the entire world. Do you understand what
I'm saying, child?"

Aura nodded dumbly, the width of her eyes not lessening by even
a fraction as she listened. The dryad on her shoulder leaned over
and patted her cheek gently.

"Don't fret too much about your condition right now. It is
merely an unpleasant side effect to regaining as much of your
former self as we could manage. It took all of our efforts
to remove that ludicrous hunk of machinery that you had been
fused with while you slept. Even then, we could not remove
every bit of it and still leave you with parts vital for your
own survival. But I believe we did well for what little
knowledge we had. She will help you remain upright, of this
I am certain. You are one of us, after all."

With that, the man smiled cheerily, and turned off to walk down
towards the creek in the distance. Aura and the dryad exchanged
looks between each other, the former of hesitance and the latter
of optimism, before she slowly pushed herself away from the wall,
stepping cautiously through the grass upon the earthen floor as
she made her way after the old man, guided subtly by the spirit's
ease of movement.