For a moment, Zara didn’t know where she
was when she woke up. She looked around the dimly lit room and soon the chiseled white stone
walls brought it all back. She was inside a Crystal Temple.... The Crystal Temple. The chapter
on Crystal Temples was also missing
from her Architecture lessons, up until now the only Crystal Temple in her life
had been mythological, a textbook rendition that hardly resembled anything like it. She let her gaze drop down to the coffee table by her
bed, the Death tile was still out of the box, laying in front of her, assuring
her the dream coming back to mind was a very real nightmare.
As
the dawn's reflected light illuminated the space, there was more to see. There
were strange carvings in the wall, hundreds of them. She got up to take a
closer look, there were more spiral designs, moon shapes, star symbols, it was
a masterpiece of artwork that had been carved into the white stone blocks. She
ran her fingers across the lines, examining the dust it left on her fingertips, sparkling in the light, wondering... What was this strange world and why had it been so hidden?
Curious,
she crept out the room into the main hall, it was all still there, the big egg,
the skinny window, the yummy smells, it hadn't
been a dream and it wasn't all a nightmare... It was a strange temple indeed. Nowhere were there any signs of Medel, there were no pews,
tables and chairs made it resemble more of a student lounge than a temple. It was the
strangest place she had ever been in. The fireplace was completely odd,
animals roamed throughout it as if they owned the place and the kitchen was almost
the same size as the hall itself! And what of the egg? Did the egg symbolize
food? Was that it? They worshipped
food because it came from an egg? Why was that so bad? It didn’t make sense at
all. Nothing made any sense and it was making her crazy already. Hellias was
evil, she was realizing the deception was thick now, she would need to remind
herself of this from time to time, just so as to stay sane.
There
was a group of villagers working in the kitchen already, Mina was eager to introduce them all. "Zara, I'd like you to meet my friends.
They have volunteered to show you the way out of the Darkness."
It
didn't sound good at all. Fists clenched, Zara inched forward, not knowing what
else to do. She tried to smile politely as Mina introduced her friends one by one, some of them were visitors from Mu,
some were Dogons from Kergal, some even looked like Gens, which only added to
her confusion.
As she took a seat her thoughts collided. This
was happening to her for a reason. The Earth goddess hadn't eaten her sins. Sophia
had warned her and she had ignored her. Panic was setting in, she could feel it, realizing it made her panic even more. She scanned
their faces, they were all very beautiful masks of evil, each of them dressed
like an angel in beautiful bejewelled clothes, designed to lure her or make her envious, no doubt. Many of them even had braided hair, threaded with crystals that sparkled in the bright morning sun to attract her eyes, all just to suck her in to their evil... It was a convincing act but she could see right through
it... When all of a sudden she recognized one of them!
"MATA?"
She stammered in utter disbelief, sitting up now. "Mata?
Is that you?"
But
Mata shook her head and returned a blank stare. "My name is Mira" she
replied, offering her hand to Zara with a timid smile. Bewildered, Zara took
her hand with growing unease, she knew
it was Mata! She behaved like Mata! Was this another elaborate prank?
"She
may have been Mata" Mina offered, noticing her shock. "Mira came here
through the tunnel just like you did" she explained. "She couldn't
remember anything about Atlan, however. We gave her that name because she
couldn't remember who she was."
"WHAT?" Zara was completely
dumbfounded. How could this be? Mira was Mata... "She came through the tunnel?" Images
of the terrifying ordeal flashed by, reminding her of the sheer terror she had
overcome along the way. "Wow…" Instantly
the friendship was rekindled. She studied Mira's face in a new light, struggling
to believe how it could be. Mira was
Mata! Her
long lost childhood friend from Culloom was safe and sound after all!
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