I do not own the rights to any of the following extremely well thought out, characters.
She looked around, feeling as if she had been here before. The room of the cave had thick green moss on its floor. She could feel it softly give as she walked towards the back, in the direction of the passageways that were drawing her in. She walked to the first one she came to, pulling out her flashlight, and casting it towards the darkness. There were spider webs, but she just knew that this wasn't were she needed to go.
She simply flicked the flashlight down the second passageway, as she walked slowly by. Her attention was already focused on the remaining passageway. It had been hard to see when she had first walked into the cave. The light from the outside didn't reach this area and the entry was hidden by shadows and an outcropping of rocks.
The same cobwebs hung from the walls, connecting to the ceiling and floor. She shone her flashlight into the darkness. Unlike the other two passageways that had continued past the beam of her flashlight, this passageway curved out of sight a short distance away. She unfolded her walking stick and clipped her flashlight into the holster at its handle to aid in knocking down the cobwebs. She put her hand against the wall for a moment and was about to start in, when her fingertips brushed against something out of place in the rock. She wiped away the webs and dirt and saw a carving, in an old language, the word MASON. This had to be the right place.
She finally came to a steel door. It seemed odd at first, until she cleaned it off. She recognized the Valkyrie symbols. She ran her hand along the carvings. It was the same type of door she had seen many times training as a young Valkyrie. It was enchanted and if she was meant to open it, it would simply open. She ran her fingers down the edge until she came to the latch. It unlocked with a click. She pushed the door open and walked in without hesitation. She found a torch just inside the doorway and lit it. As she walked along the wall she lit every torch she had come to until the entire room was lit. She was glad to see that the air was getting out somehow, pulling the smoke from the torches with it. So, she went back and closed the door.
Her eyes moved around the walls. Upon first inspection, the shadows had hidden the ledges lower in the walls. She shone her flashlight in and saw several chests. She recognized the type of chest, too. They were also enchanted. They would keep the contents safe and preserved over time. Chests such as these were a necessity when you lived many lifetimes. She pulled the first one down and opened it. It contained down filled pillows and several types of blankets. Two were thick cotton, two older woolen ones, and further towards the bottom there were animal hides. She had only brought a sleeping bag with her, so these were a welcome sight. She moved on to the next chest. It contained leather binders filled with papers. Most of the papers were very old ones from the looks of the edges. She pulled a stack of binders out and sat them atop the chest filled with bedding. Glancing the bottom of the chest she saw books, old ones that she was certain Trick would love to add to his library. She decided to save the books for later, as she turned her attention back to the binders.
The first document she came to was a very old land deed for a large piece of land. It was drafted in the year 1014. 'Un-fucking-believable...' She thought. She wondered if she would ever get used to knowing that her soul was so old, surely she would. Her name was on the deed as the sole owner. She wasn't even surprised. As soon as she had seen the carving at the entry to the passageway, she had known that everything in this cave belonged to her. The memories attached to it, however, were still not in her possession. There was a map attached to the deed. It wasn't even a decade old. Her old self must have visited this cave and kept the maps somewhat updated as she flipped through the other maps. On the first map, a cave was circled. This cave, by the looks of the landmarks she saw as she walked in. She was now standing on her own land. That felt very strange. She had been told that in her previous life she was nomadic, she lived in her truck after all, and yet in her hand as she flipped through more deeds, she realized she owned a great deal of land.
She decided to save that revelation for later and picked up the next binder. Inside were addresses and account numbers to safety deposit boxes and bank accounts...She glanced over the amounts and the list of contents.
"Kenz isn't gonna believe this!' She excitedly thought, and she immediately reached into her backpack for the satellite phone. Hale had given it to her before she left to call Kenzi, in the event of an emergency. The clubhouse was in serious need of repair and Kenzi would be ecstatic that this bitch right here, was rich! But before even opening it up, she realized if she called, she'd have to explain what she was doing, why she was doing it, and then hear Kenz try and convince her to come back. She wasn't ready to do that yet. Tamsin shook her head and decided that the note she left would have to do, for now. She put the phone back in her pack. Hale promised to let her know if anything happened that required her to return.
With a sigh, she returned her attention back to the other binders. She sat a few things aside to read later, before putting the rest back inside the chest and closing the lid. She pulled down the next chest and smiled to herself when she opened it. Her armor. She traced her fingers along the intricate designs. She didn't need to look any further inside the chest. She remembered each and every curve, each component. While she relished the first times she wore this armor, she wasn't in as much of a hurry to remember the individual causes to each of the deep scratches, or to remember the lives she took wearing it. That was something she could do without ever remembering, they haunted her dreams. That was enough. She looked at it once more and closed the lid.
She pulled down the next chest. It was filled with weapons of the past, from many eras. She was rather pleased to see the bow and quiver of arrows. It didn't even register that some of the arrows weren't the type that Valkyries usually used. She wasn't sure how long she would stay here, but the thought of fresh caught game actually excited her. She recognized the first dagger she had ever received. Still sharp. It had the same design as her armor. The wings etched in the handle. The chest did an excellent job of preserving the finishes. They appeared to have been just oiled, polished, and put away. She set the dagger, bow and quiver aside and closed the lid.
She pulled down the last chest. When she opened it, she immediately smelled leather. One of her favorite scents. There was a hint of jasmine. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. Both scents were a deep source of comfort. Smiling to herself, she pulled out the dark grey leather top and pants with laces down the sides.
She only vaguely remembered when she began wearing this kind of armor. If you could call it armor. It was reserved for only the Valkyries with exemplary skill and was more like a second skin. There was no use for heavy armor if the target couldn't be hit and the nature of the leather enable more agile movements.
Tamsin knew she had risen through the ranks throughout her many lifetimes. That knowledge was an integral part of her Valkyrie training that always came back early in her rebirth. A sense of pride came with that knowledge. It was the death that was associated with it that caused nightmares. In her brain's youth, it felt as if she only watched the acts, not actually perpetrated them. This time around, it wasn't something she relished to remember at all. She shook her head slightly as she set her grey leathers aside. She pulled out its remaining pieces, placing them on top of the rest.
When she looked back in to the chest, she stopped, frozen. She saw red leather. In waking moments and her dreams, she had seen flashes of red leather ever since Massiomo's. But red leather was never a Valkyrie armor color. Unless of course, it was covered in blood. She grimaced at the thought.
With shaky hands she reached in and pulled out the bundle of red leather. 'Why was she so shaky?' She asked herself. She sat atop one of the other chests, placing the bundle atop another. She slowly began pulling it apart. There was a well worn, yet excellently preserved leather top. She held it up close to her. It seemed about her size, if her breasts were bigger. She rolled her eyes at that. She caught the stronger scent of jasmine, so she pulled it to her nose and smelled the leather. It amazed her that the chest preserved even the scents so well. The mix of Jasmine and leather that she inhaled into her nose forced her to close her eyes. She saw a flash of this shirt from behind, with blonde hair cascading down the back, in her mind's eye.
She let her finger brush along the leather lacing. She didn't miss lacing up her clothing! She pulled the shirt to her nose and inhaled once more, drinking in the smell of jasmine, leather, and another scent that she couldn't place. She hoped the sensory input would trigger more information. Then she set the shirt and the neck piece aside.
She held the belt in her hands. The silver buckles were an embellishment you wouldn't see on the Valkyrie grey leathers, along with the strange holsters on the belt. She looked over everything so far and realized there was no place, at all, to sheath a sword or dagger. She noticed a worn pattern on the back of the shirt. The quiver must have rested there, with the bow strapped to it. A thought went through her mind as she reached back and ran her fingers across the feathers on the arrows, settling on one. She drew it out confirming her suspicion. There was a "C" on the arrowhead, akin to the "T" she always etched on her own arrowheads. She laid it with the rest and pulled out the pants, realizing they were about 2 inches too short for her. These were definitely not hers. Although, when she saw the boots, she realized the length of the pants didn't mean much. The boots would have easily covered the lack of length. She pulled out the grey leather boots and the red pair.
Underneath them was a box. A box she didn't recognize as anything Valkyrie. It had rich dark wood with intricate carvings covering the outside. She traced her fingers along the symbols and old world letters as she translated them out loud.
"Cara." Maybe the red leather belonged to a Cara? If so, why was it amongst her things? She questioned herself.
Before sitting down, she caught sight of the last things in the chest. A red leather pair of gloves and two matching, worn leather books. Upon opening one, it appeared to be a journal. She recognized her own handwriting and another handwriting that did not belong to her.
As much as she wanted to read the journals contents, she was more drawn back to the box. She opened the lid and saw a note written by her own hand on top. "Do not touch the contents until you know what they are". Hmmm. Lifting the note up, she saw 2 rods clad in red leather with a golden chain coming from the hilt. 'What odd weapons.' She thought, no doubt as to what went in the holsters on the belt.
The warning on the note only made her curious. What could it hurt to touch it? It's a rod covered in leather! She reached a finger down and almost dropped the box when she felt what could only be described as the worst case of static electricity ever, times infinity, accompanied by a strange hum. The shock was accompanied by a memory of full red lips and green eyes. She cursed Kenzi's influence on her under her breath. She knew in her other lifetimes she had not been as curious as she was this time. She stared at the rods a little longer, willing herself to see the woman these belonged to. When nothing further came, she laid everything back into the chest, with the exception of the red leather shirt and the journals. She felt the need to have it close. Besides, it was quite chilly in the room even with all of the torches. She had a jacket tucked inside her pack, but this looked so comfortable. She slid the red leather shirt onto her arms taking in the comforting scents coming from it.
She rolled out her sleeping bag and used some blankets as an overlay. Placing the pillows on one end, she found a couple of bottles of vodka wrapped in one of the hides and said, out loud, "Thanks old me!" as she placed it near her bedding. She settled down with the journal. Before opening it, she took a very long pull of the vodka. "WOW, that's smooth!" She said out loud in a deeper than usual voice as her throat stung from the alcohol. This new body still had not acclimated to the effects of alcohol.
She wanted to read the journal, but something inside of her was hesitant. She shook it off and looked at the first page. Flipping through the pages, she realized it looked like a VERY old version of text messaging. It consisted of messages back and forth between her own hand and another. She flipped open the matching journal and realized that they were almost identical. The only differences between the two was the location of the wear on the cover, and one appeared to have been folded at some point. The most curious difference was the way that each of the handwriting styles appeared to be put to paper in alternating ways on each journal. Where her handwriting was in a brownish red ink on one, it seemed to be burnt into the paper on the other. The opposite was true of the other hand. This must be enchanted as a way to communicate, but it was not one she had ever seen in her early Valkyrie training. She picked one and settled down to read. She read and drank throughout the night. At some point, she drifted off to sleep, but not before muttering the name Cara, absentmindedly pulling the red leather tighter around herself, in the haze.