Bra stopped briefly when she entered the ruins, noting that the floor was already sodden due to a water flow at the top of a rock formation that seemed to mimic steps. It was beautiful, she thought, smiling as the rain began to pound down from overhead. This made it virtually impossible to ascend the steps.
Nevertheless, she climbed wearily to the top of the stairs where an extinguished torch sat in what appeared to be a basin. With the torch out, she could draw no comfort from its heat; but water had collected in the bottom of the basin in which it sat, giving her the benefit of having a drink.
After a treacherous climb amoung the ledges to the west side of the fountain, she found herself rounding a corner and stepping into a strange room. Resting at the far end of the room was an enormous headless statue with its hands, palms facing upward, extended to the floor.
Making her way into the room she stepped onto a switch--prompting, as it seemed, an eerie voice to sound off; a voice that sounded familiar...
"Mortal..."
Bra stopped where she was upon hearing the voice, fear trickling up her spine and chilling her to the point of shaking in terror. "Who are you?" she asked, her tone timid and phobic.
"One who wishes your blood to be used."
"Is it your intent to kill me?" Her voice rang out in an irascible way; tired
"It is my intent to turn you into a warrior! Does your blood not cry out for battle, even in your laziness? Does your royal line not demand that you fight?"
"The royal line is dead!" Bra shouted, her manner of speaking surprising even her.
"It shall be so no longer!"
There was a pause, and the voice spoke no more. She was about to relax, but heard a footstep behind her. A menacing growl sounded off and echoed eerily, causing her to whip around so quickly she became dizzy for a moment.
Before her stood an enormous cyclops with a large club in its hands. It glared (at this she would have laughed were she not in danger; the glare of a creature with one eye is comical to observe) at her and lumbered forward, roaring as it attempted to flatten her with the club.
Bra had no time to do anything other than react--her first instinct told her to roll forward, towards it--because jumping back or to the side would leave the cyclops with more time to respond to her movement-- and then she would have had to move again.
She had assumed quite correctly--the thick-witted creature spent a few seconds looking to see where she had gone. This delay gave her just enough time to jump back, use the wall behind the creature as a springboard of sorts, and rebound so that her fist would be driven directly into its neck, creating a lovely CRACK! noise. It was sent flying into the headless statue's hands, which naturally crumbled as a result.
There was a pause as she waited to see if it was still alive. When the cyclops did not stir, she walked forward to it, leaning over the club...it was an interesting weapon, was it not? She was about to grasp its handle when the ground behind her trembled and she turned in haste to see--another cyclops?
"You have got to be kidding me!" Bra stumbled back, sure she would fail to slay this creature as she had done with the other cyclops. She met its gaze, and stumbled back, mind only on how bloodily she would--
And that was when she tripped over one of the crumbled fingers of the statue and without thinking, heaved the largest chunk of stone at the cyclops. The piece would completely decapitate the beast, and leave half the room covered in an utter mess.
It also left Bra fighting for her breath, clothing coated in blood...
She took a step back to survey the damage and would find herself falling…landing square on her back. "Ow, now that…" she would struggle to her feet, noting a small pool of water with, apparently, a container holding a gardening arrangement in it.
The flora, she paid no mind to, but the water, it she relished the sight of. Without a second thought she removed her boots and clothing, and began to bathe. Though the water was cold, the simple act of a bath brought her some comfort.
When she finished, she grabbed her now-much-cleaner garb and began to dress again.
However, her thoughts were not far-reaching--as she dressed she heard the crumbling of a few rocks overhead, the tell-tale symbol that someone, or something, was watching.
She heard neighing, and when she turned around, she was staring straight into the nose of an enormous grey stallion. Seated atop this magnificent beast was a blonde man with a flawless complexion and the face resembling the etchings of angels.
"Who…who are you?" Bra asked, taking a step back in absolute fear.
"I think the better question, my lady, is, who are you?" The man didn't move from his place, but he gazed down upon her with a fierce stare. "And why is someone as pretty as you here alone?"
Their eyes met for just a moment; but Bra broke the look when his eyes became clouded, as if by sorrow…though this look passed, she had still seen it; and her curiosity about the lordly stranger was piqued as a result.
"I was brought here by someone I do not know," she said in reply, "…I am still trying to figure out why anyone would want to bring me to such a ruin."
"A ruin, my lady?" the stranger said, with a raised brow. "This is far from a ruin," he continued, "This is the Temple of the Fates, though unused by the former occupants."
"What happened to them?"
"A man seeking to change his past came here," he replied, "…they refused to grant him the change that he so desperately desired, and in his ensuing anger he slaughtered them."
"Why would he do such a thing?"
"Tragedy drove him to madness…" was the short answer. "But we should get back to you--really, my lady, you should not be traveling these dangerous halls alone. Will you allow me to accompany you?"
"Not until you tell me who you are," Bra said, in an anxious tone. "I do not travel with those whom I do not know."
"How rude of me, then," he said with a smile, "…my name is Apollo."
"The…Apollo the god Apollo?" Bra asked, dumbfounded--partly at the fact that the god was before her and partly that she had managed to make such a guess.
"That would be me," Apollo's lips lifted, showing an incredible smile. "You look surprised, my lady. Is my existence really so far-fetched an idea to you?"
"I never thought that--" Bra started to speak, but Apollo cut her off very quickly. "Come. I can get you through here a lot more safely than you can do on your own."
"I am perfectly capable of--"
"Getting through here yourself? But you don't even know where you're going, little one. On foot, it will take you many days to find what you are looking for…" Apollo smiled, reaching his arm down to her, extending his hand. "On horseback, it will be much faster."
After a moment's consideration, Bra took his hand and felt herself pulled up onto the saddle. She was nervous for a moment (as she was seated in front of Apollo), but gradually this fear lessened--Apollo's silence told her more than his words would have…
She had nothing to fear from him.
"Now, let's be off," Apollo said, clicking his tongue. The stallion would move onto the upper platform with ease, and less easily out of the broken window and into the courtyard below.
Rubble littered the area, as did blood.
"What happened here?" Bra asked, blinking in surprise at the surrounding carnage.
"There is no time to explain," Apollo said, "We must continue, my lady." He paused…and this pause turned into an awkward silence as his eyes strayed southward.
"What are you--"
"My lady…did you injure yourself?" Apollo asked, his right hand running over her right forearm. "Your arm is…"
"What are you talking about?"
He indicated at that moment a spot around her wrist. On this spot, Bra's skin was tinged a strange grey color, and no matter what he did--he tried scratching at it and rubbing at it with the edge of his sleeve, to no avail--nothing seemed to make it go away.
"This is indeed a strange thing," Apollo said, "And you are sure you haven't burnt yourself, or something of that sort?"
"I just got here," Bra protested, "…and the most I did was fight those ogres from earlier. If you recall, I was bathing before you found me. There's no way I missed this spot…there's just…no way…"
"We should be going," Apollo said, changing the subject quite suddenly, "…before more of those creatures show up."
It was very strange to Bra to be on a horse's back, and to be traveling so quickly over such distances. The steed crossed the bridge, and made an enormous jump over the stone railing, landing before a path that lead through the woods.
Then, as if it were eager for a break, the stallion began trotting quietly through the eerily silent woods--as if it were enjoying the peace, and the quiet, unaware of Bra's unease at the situation. Unaware that she felt some impending sense of doom, the farther they got into these woods…
In this pace, this quiet trotting, Bra began to nod…and it was not soon before she was fast asleep.
She would awaken in what appeared to be a temple, bodies littering the ground everywhere. There seemed not to be an inch of ground to be seen that did not have a body or blood covering it.
She would continue walking, aware now of the fact that this was a dream--this was not the same temple that she left just moments before. This was one from a well-populated area, one which obviously had many visitors at the time this apparent slaughter had hit.
One body in particular seemed to grab her attention, and she looked quietly over it. It belonged to a most beautiful woman with dark brown hair.
"Who are you…" Bra said, more to herself, than anyone else. The burning desire to discover this woman's identity was puzzling. Why did this matter so much? It was a body…amoung a sea of bodies. What made it any different than the child's body laying next to it?
It most definitely scared her, then, when the body's eyes opened…when the body's arms pushed it up, and looked directly at her.
"So…" it would say to her, "So, you have come at last…do you know how long I have waited?"
"Waited?" Bra asked, "But…but…waited for what?" She sat down next to the woman's body, feeling a bit scared of her, despite the fact that the woman was (or rather, should have been) dead.
"Waited for you…" the mysterious woman said, "Do you not know?"
"Not know what?"
"Oh, yes…that is right…" the woman's already beautiful face was graced with a lovely smile, one that could melt the heart of the hardest warrior. "You wouldn't know…"
"Wouldn't know what?" Bra asked, beginning to grow quite impatient. Dead or not, she wanted this woman to get to the point.
"My dear...that you...are me."
What lies ahead for Bra, considering this revelation? Read, review, and wait for my next installment of this gripping tale...
