ORIGIN

After her encounter with the Monster, the ice wraith found herself in a part of Cetus she had never been to before. She had run far away, away from the Divine, her Mother. And now she was alone. Being alone had never bothered her before, but there was a problem now that she had never experienced before… The lights were off in the Cave.

The wraith was not even aware of the other parts of Origin Cave, did not know that there were other rooms besides Cetus. Her whole world, it seemed, had plunged into darkness. Little did she know that there were dozens of others all experiencing the same darkness as her in other rooms. She did not care about anyone else in this moment. She was truly alone, stuck where she was for two reasons: she was exhausted and starving to death, and she could not see. These two problems together was causing a panic attack, a silent, still panic attack that could not gain anymore than small sobs in her throat because she was so exhausted that she had no energy left.

Slowly, though, something in her body was changing. As she cried, her gem and eyes began to slowly light up with a glacier-blue color. She stopped crying to stare at her gem, aware of the light also at the corners of her vision. The glow grew and grew until it was so bright that she could actually see a bit of what was in front of her. All she saw only confirmed how lost she was. Nothing was familiar, and she could not see the Divine in the dark and the fog.

She also noticed another change. She was no longer starving, weak, or headachy. And she felt truly strong for the first time since she had hatched, as if she had had a full meal in a matter of seconds. In fact, that was exactly what happened. Her body had somehow absorbed the nutrients from the muddy water she was laying in, and had filled her body with what it needed for her to get by for at least a few days, if not longer. It had been a strong cast. The wraith felt refreshed, at least in body, if not in soul. Her soul was still… wounded, as was the skin around her gem and on her back, from the long talons of the Monster.

She flinched at the thought of It, and pushed it with a shudder from her mind. Now she faced another problem: what was she going to do now that the lights were out she didn’t know where she was? As she mulled this over, the last of the light from her gem and eyes faded away, encasing her again in darkness.

The wraith could hear movement nearby in the darkness, and she immediately thought of the Monster. What if it had come back? What it was coming for her? Her heart rate increased, pounding in her chest, and throughout her body. She took in short, shallow breaths, trying to make as little noise as possible. But she did not flee… Not yet. She was trying so hard to keep a grip on herself. What if it… wasn’t the Monster? And she ran away from someone who really… wanted to see her? It spoke then, whatever it was, and she… thought she recognized the voice.

Who had a voice like that? Whose mouth-sounds were those? A fuzzy memory surfaced, but she just couldn’t piece it together in her mind. Still, it was enough of a friendly memory to cause her to stay. But she did not call out. She said nothing, did not move, simply waited in the dark. The idea of having other Gembounds anywhere near her still made her crazy, so she hoped that, whoever was here, they would simply stay put and be content to be where they were, over there, away from her. She needed space.

Whoever was there, she could hear it when they took another step towards her. Her breathing rate increased, if that were possible, and now she felt lightheaded from hyperventilating. Why were they getting closer? Why couldn’t they just leave her alone? She let out an odd, strangled sound, as if she were trying to hold back a scream, but still, she stayed where she was. What was the point of trying to run away in this darkness? Right now, the best she could do was not move — not breathe — not make any noise, and pray that whoever was there would be too stupid to track her in the dark. She didn’t care if they knew her, if they were friendly. She was slowly losing her mind at this point, her instincts screaming at her to run or fight, it didn’t matter which. She swore, if they touched her… it would be over.

Well… they weren’t coming any closer, and from the sound of it, whoever it was had backed up a bit, even. The wraith let herself breathe a little more, feeling her heart rate drop a fraction. Perhaps… perhaps they wouldn’t hurt her. And then they spoke. She tensed up again with the noise, but heard the words regardless. ’I will protect. I will protect.’

That voice… she tried to pinpoint it again. It was just… there… at the back of her mind, on the tip of her tongue. She remembered only… something uncomfortable. Whoever this was had done something she didn’t like, yet her relationship with them didn’t seem… bad. They were not friends. She had no friends. But she remembered that he had not tried to harm her before. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and repeated a word back to him in a whisper so he would know that she was there, that she trusted him. “Protect…”

It was so unfortunate that a heartfelt creature like Aries had to feel so protective for a strange and un-emotional creature like Alaska. Even as he was telling her that he would never let anything hurt her, she was drifting in and out, barely aware of his words. Part of this was just how she was, the rest was due to the horribly traumatic incident she’d gone through with Teyouma. If she simply hadn’t understood others before, now she didn’t trust them. Not at all. Not really. Even her calm around Aries was only until he moved again, which would probably be soon. Even if she wasn’t really listening to him, she was definitely watching him, waiting for him to make one… wrong… move…