Anahita
It broke through like a blaze of sunshine and spilled over her like dessert sand.
Flame.
Her first breath in centuries was hot, carmine and ravenous.
Feet scraped against the ground, seeking balance, losing and finding it again. Limbs strained as chains jingled weakly amidst the purring flame. The palm of her outstretched hand closed around something that wasn't there, and fell.
And eyes, glass-like and seeking, soaked in all the searing light, as if for the first time, no more suffering the semblance of sight put on by dreams and apparitions that had danced through her mind in the slow and quiet pace of centuries.
She raised her head, strands of dark hair coming undone from the elaborate tie that once held them. Past the blaze, the bright life-giving flame, she saw him. At first, no more than a shape in the dark and fractured light reflected off glistening horns. Then, emerging from shadow, the eyes of someone strikingly unfamiliar.
"You." Her voice came up from her chest, steeped in elation borne of being truly awake. "You're new."
Flame.
Her first breath in centuries was hot, carmine and ravenous.
Feet scraped against the ground, seeking balance, losing and finding it again. Limbs strained as chains jingled weakly amidst the purring flame. The palm of her outstretched hand closed around something that wasn't there, and fell.
And eyes, glass-like and seeking, soaked in all the searing light, as if for the first time, no more suffering the semblance of sight put on by dreams and apparitions that had danced through her mind in the slow and quiet pace of centuries.
She raised her head, strands of dark hair coming undone from the elaborate tie that once held them. Past the blaze, the bright life-giving flame, she saw him. At first, no more than a shape in the dark and fractured light reflected off glistening horns. Then, emerging from shadow, the eyes of someone strikingly unfamiliar.
"You." Her voice came up from her chest, steeped in elation borne of being truly awake. "You're new."
