A White Cloak sat in the sand, head slightly bowed, cloak fluttering gently about her form as she meditated. Her glowing white eyes were partially closed as she concentrated on clearing her mind of all unnecessary thoughts and ideas. As she deepened her self-induced trance, she began to sag slightly. Her body responded to her mind, for as her thoughts slowly began to cease, her body began to sag. With each passing moment, the White Cloak drifted further and further into a world that she wished she could touch. A world in which she wished to live. She sensed that it was akin to a utopia, but no matter how far into the recesses of her consciousness she tried to reach, she could not see it. An unknown force seemed to be blocking her view- obscuring her vision and whispering phrases that she could hardly make out. It was as if the voice was chiding her. As if it was saying, "Come, my child. Come. Find what you seek. Find what you yearn for. Find it, and then you shall also find peace."
The wind picked up ever so slightly, disrupting the delicate concentration the the White Cloak wove in an attempt to once again breech the wall and see what her dream world was, and thus forced her to glare up at a rather high dune that she rested just under. Her eyes, which were mere slits, widened slightly as she noticed a glow just beyond the dune. It was faint, but she was sure that it was there. Curiosity now nagged at her stomach. How coincidental it had been for her to make an assumption of this whispered message, and then discover such an odd light illuminating the dune which she'd conveniently placed herself under. The White Cloak tilted her head to one side as she gazed up the sand dune, letting out a few curious and cautious chirps before slowly ascending the hill of sand. Her pointed feet fell neatly in the sand and propelled her forward with ease, and she thanked her ancestors for adapting so well to travelling in such conditions. As she neared the top, she noticed a few oddly shaped stones protruding from the top of the dune. On the tallest one, a red flag flittered in the dry breeze, and the White Cloak was easily intrigued by the cloth and how easily it flew. She stood in wonder for just a few moments, watching the flag as it slowly tore from the monument it was attached to and flew gently in the breeze to land somewhere just beyond her vision. The creature let out a few soft chirps before then resuming her initial mission: get to the top of the dune.
As soon as the White Cloak reached the top of the hill of sand, she was frozen in place. There, in the distance, sat a great mountain. The mountain produced that eerie glow that the creature was so curious about, and she held her breath as she gazed in awe of its light. She stood there at the top of the dune for a few moments, entranced by the mysterious light, before ducking down on her knees and emitting a loud chirp. The orb that was produced from such a chirp startled the sand around her, and the White Cloak continuously made loud chirps to try to make the light from the mountain come to her. However, it did not move. The creature let out a few irritated chirps in quick succession, then stomped both of her feet.
If she were to find out what that light was, she would have to go to the mountain herself, it seemed.
And so, the White Cloak walked to the very edge of the top of the dune and began her quick descent. She slid down the dune and found herself among many odd stone monuments much like the ones at the top of the dune. She zig-zagged through them playfully, until a sharp glow caught her eye. Just ahead, a broken down building rested in the sand and atop it, something small and bright. Once again, curiosity nagged at the pit of her stomach, and the White Cloak ran toward the crumbling building. As she neared it, the glowing object seemed to become brighter. This peaked the creature's interest and made her a bit excited, thus she elicited a few chirps. She stepped onto part of the building, then another, then another, until she was at the same level as the glowing object. The White Cloak brought herself forward cautiously and realized that the object was a symbol much like the one on her chest. She then stepped forward until she was just a meter away from the symbol. Almost as if in response to her presence, the symbol glowed blindingly and orange lights sparked from it, flowing swiftly toward the creature. The White Cloak was in too much of an awe to react, and so she watched as the orange lights danced and swirled around her, finally stopping on her back and forming a single cloth.
The creature chirped curiously and spun in a circle to view the newly formed, glowing cloth on her back. She wasn't quite sure what it did, but it appeared that the other cloth creatures, akin to the ribbon on her back in appearance, knew what she had to do. The cloth bits swirled around her, as if goading her to jump in the air and to embrace the sky. Almost as if they were willing her to... to fly.
The White Cloak sang in response to the cloth bits, taking their advice and propelling herself up and into the air. As if on cue, the ribbon on her back glowed and the lights upon it began to flit off of it. The White Cloak chirped quickly with excitement, as she flew higher than she expected with a simple jump. However, it didn't last long, as the ribbon on her back ran out of light, and she was soon hurdling toward the ground. Yet as she touched the sand, the light on her ribbon began to regenerate. The White Cloak experimented with her new ability, hopping around this way and that to test how long she could remain airborne. She deduced that she could only fly a few meters before dropping back to the ground. Shrugging off the mild disappointment, the creature ventured forth. She met a few more cloth bit creatures along the way and sang to them so that they could help her fly without her using her ribbon. Every time she sang, they would glow in response and quickly swirl around her before sweeping her off her feet and propelling her into the air. The White Cloak chirped her thanks at the cloth bits, then continued on her way.
The creature neared a grand area where strong buildings stood around a dip in the desert. She looked curiously into the dip and saw that there were but more cloth bits, though they were trapped beneath fallen pieces of buildings. In the center of the dip rested a rather high platform where four long bits of tattered cloth fluttered in the wind. She slid down the wall of sand so that she could investigate said cloth pieces before another glowing symbol caught her eye. She neared it and once again the symbol glowed both white and orange around her back before producing another piece of a ribbon on her previous one. The White Cloak chirped in excitement for now she could fly a few more meters without fault. And so, she used her ability to fly toward the platform in the center.
Venturing around the platform, the white creature discovered another glyph and thus made her ribbon longer. Satisfied, she flew up to the top of the platform and gazed at the rather long pieces of cloth tied down to the ground by a grate. The White Cloak neared one piece of cloth and hesitantly touched it. The cloth responded to her touch by glowing with the symbols akin to those on her ribbon. Turning her head, she realized that her ribbon, too, was glowing. Now intrigued, the creature used her ability to fly up the cloth, thus making the whole thing glow brilliantly with the intricate symbols. Yet as the creature began to work on the other pieces of cloth, she realized that the first that she had touched was now back to its original tattered, ugly state. Pausing in the middle of all four pieces of cloth, she thought for a moment on how she could solve this problem.
She recalled singing to the cloth bits earlier and how they all reacted to her voice, and so she decided to try it with these pieces of cloth. Ducking down on her knees, the White Cloak gathered up her breath and sang a loud and powerful note. The visible blue-white wave rang out from her and she watched triumphantly as that wave touched each piece of cloth. They responded accordingly and glowed brilliantly. Suddenly, the grate in which the White Cloak stood upon rumbled, and she scrambled out of the way as it opened to release many of the cloth bit creatures. As it closed, the White Cloak made her way to the center once more and she gazed up at the free cloth bits. She looked across the platform where a large, odd looking stone monument rested. The cloth bits seemed to urge her to go that way, and so she sang to them so that they could help her across the rather large gap between the platform and the next area.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, she immediately made her way toward the stone. Six of the smaller stone monuments she had passed to get here stood beside the large statue in the very middle. She chirped at the statue to get a response, but there was none. The White Cloak stood there, stumped, and then gazed at the six stone monuments resting on either side of the statue. She neared the three on the left and nearly tumbled back in surprise as a blue-ish glow illuminated from the center. She then ran to the other side to make the other three glow, and as she did so, the lights converged in front of the statue in the middle of them and created a glowing, gold circle on the ground. The creature was astonished and cautiously made her way to the circle on the ground. She stood on the very edge, looking at the golden light that was produced by some unknown force.
A voice in her head cried, "Sit." It was the same voice from before. The voice that told her to seek what she saw during her meditations. "Sit and you shall see."
And so, she sat.
As soon as her rump touched the ground, the White Cloak knew what to do. She meditated.
A flash of white, and the White Cloak was now in an unfamiliar place. She looked around, not sure of what to do. The world around her was nothing but white, and she could see nothing. Yet as she stood up, she then noticed a large, faint silhouette and the glow from the mountain. She slowly walked toward the silhouette, unsure of what it was and how it would react to her being here. Yet as she took a few steps forward, the large creature sang a loud note, and once again the White Cloak was blinded by a white light. As her vision cleared, she was viewing the image of the top of the mountain, its light calling for her. She so wished to touch it, but then, in an instant, it turned into a picture. A hieroglyph. The light still glowed at the very top, but it was nothing more than a picture drawn on a wall. As she gazed at it, the light grew stronger and made a line straight up onto the wall, thus creating many other glyphs similar to the ones that she had absorbed to make her ribbon longer. They were glowing in the sky much like stars, and she watched as each of them were created. They led down to another row of hieroglyphs that looked much like birds, where ten of the symbols appeared. Then, just below the bird hieroglyphs, eight tree hieroglyphs created themselves. Within them, a light glowed, then dimmed. Next to those trees, five creatures much like herself appeared to be standing. Beside them were four more tree hieroglyphs, two more creatures like her, then what appeared to be long pieces of cloth, a glowing orb, more long pieces of cloth, and two more creatures like her. Excitement built in her body as she saw the glowing orb spark and draw a very long, criss-crossing, red line into the sky where the cloth bits seemed to be flying around in circles. Just as she was interpreting what this all meant, the image slowly faded into another white flash.
The White Cloak's eyes flashed open, and she was once again in the real world. She stood up and, as she did so, the golden glowing circle was gone. She looked up and frowned, disappointed that she couldn't see more of what that silhouette wanted to show her, but was torn from her thoughts as she heard a mechanical noise. The ground shook as the enormous gate beyond the statue parted. The White Cloak eagerly went around the statue and its stone monuments to go up the steps, where she stopped dead in her tracks.
Down the long corridor, she could faintly see another creature standing in the light. Its shape was much like hers, and she chirped rapidly to get its attention. It seemed to have heard her, as it stood absolutely still as if to wait on her. Now shaking with excitement, the creature ran through the corridor to meet the other wanderer. However, as she was halfway through the long passage, the other wanderer ran off into the light where the White Cloak could no longer see it. She sang in despair to try to get the wanderer to come back, but it didn't. Instead, it sang back to her.
It was faint, but it was calling to her. It was telling her to come. And so she went as fast as her lithe legs could carry her.
The journey has begun.