The Spire was a needle in the night when Isla last saw it with these eyes. Since then, she has learned, it has been all but destroyed, and yet the medic finds herself standing before it with as much chilling reverence as when they had all first appeared in Caido. Footprints mark her way from the town through the snow, and clearly the Spire doesn't get many visitors these days (at least, unless it's through the portal), because her steps are the only ones around tonight.
Standing before the monolith, fractured though it might be, she peers up at the moon and the stars hanging in the sky overhead. What secrets must the Spire hold, inside its obsidian walls? More than she'll ever be able to dig out, of that she has no doubt. [say]"What a sad thing you are now,"[/say] she remarks, the words hummed out on a sigh.
Sad things are not bereft of their secrets.
So it is that Isla will feel a longing in her fingertips; her sensors picking up on a faint vibrational ping from within the Spire. In and up, lovely medic. In, and up.
It's like the feeling of static before an electric shock - Isla glances up at the Spire as if it has just spoken to her, and her footsteps bring her in and up before her more logical mind has the chance to object. [say]"Hello?"[/say] she calls, almost on autopilot, having to duck around ruin and stone to pick her way within.
She knows that beneath lies the portal and yet more devastation. But up, into this column that scratches towards the sky? Isla was dead long before the Spire was breached in this way. And so she tip toes, careful and quiet, her pebble blues flashing in the dark. Curiosity would not kill her a second time - of that she would make certain.
Hello and goodbye and hello again.
These stones hold more than old conversations, for those who know how to listen.
No not that door, sweet Lockwoood. This one. Here, here!
[say]"Where...?"[/say] Isla has no idea who is speaking, or whether she is just imagining the sounds that seem to reach from the walls and right into her brain. But whatever it is that has infected the Spire, it's in Isla's blood now, and she halts in the stairways to glance around, curious and firmly following that curiosity. Caution has been thrown thoroughly to the wind, and so she follows her instincts - or the crazy voice in her head - until she finds what looks like the right door.
The only way to find out, though, is to open it. [say]"Here,"[/say] Isla says to herself, her pale fingers reaching for the ancient obsidian, pushing at the door to open it and slip inside. Providing, of course, there is even a floor to step upon.
Has this door been opened before, during another's exploration? It might have, though it won't look the way it does now. Absent of anything save for dust motes and a single pedestal upon which sits a small item, this circular but tiny room beckons the medic in.
Here, here!
The item appears to be a pendant, completely round, and made of glass. It isn't of course (made of glass, that is). Palm-sized and light as a feather, once it is picked up Isla will feel...well, nothing.
I wonder what it does?
~FIN
