Holy Site

The soft sound of sand shuffling underfoot and glints of Kupen's light gently urged Voah's eyes open. She found herself leaning against Gonyaul, still upright.

She stretched the chill and last vestiges of sleep from her weary body as echoes of some forgotten dream taunted her now conscious mind. It was like trying to catch raindrops that would evaporate and elude her just as they hit her tongue. The dream failed to come back to her and their was no refreshment to quench her mind, just a feeling of urgency, aggression, and bitterness.

She roused Gonyaul, who smiled graciously at her and the new day born to them. It melted away her internal worry. How she wished to wake up like that each day.

They watched the robed men milling about and going through their morning routines. Their business was uncovering the towering white skeleton. This was indeed some holy site and though she was not of their religion, she felt a certain unexpected reverence for it. The magnitude of the desert and the strength of people who could survive here was undeniable.

Here with Gonyaul, between the titanic bones of some great beast, a monument and shrine claimed by the Arcadians and devoted to some foreign deity, Voah strangely felt at peace. It was like being back at the monastery. What did that mean? The feeling couldn't linger long as guilt crept in, a by product from her own devotion the Pillars to which she still clung tightly.

After a few minutes of waking up and getting their bearings, Gonyaul pointed out an arch of carved stone half-buried in the sand. If the priest hadn't beckoned them inside their curiosity and the dark maw leading down into the earth certainly would have.