ORIGIN

Asimona had waited for cycles for things to get moving. She had returned to the half-completed statue a number of times to see if anyone had had any luck getting another piece, but all there was was the original piece, apparently from Orion, and her own that she had retrieved after a battle up a waterfall. It seemed like such a long time ago now. Well, it was. She was just a child when she had set out to find it. Now she a fully grown adult and there had been no more pieces added to the pile. So she had decided to take matters into her own claws.

As Asimona stepped into the murky, dark room of Canis, she paused. She hadn't been here for a while, but the scents of the place were still familiar to her. Instead of being barraged by strange and foreign scents, she felt herself relax a little bit - the air was relatively clear for a room she had not visited in a long time. Hopefully that would make her search easier.

She picked her way through the bones, trying to ignore the sound of shuffling that came from behind her. She didn't care which one of them it was, she had more important things to deal with. She breathed in deeply, trying to catch a scent or even an inkling that there was a piece in here. She remembered the scent on it from earlier and had even stopped by the statue first to reaffirm.

Just for a moment, Asimona thought she caught something. She froze and breathed in deeply. Yes...there it is! She could smell something!

She turned around in a circle, her nose twitching as she tried to figure out where the scent was coming from. She finally pinpointed the direction and sprung off, not daring to fly in case she lose the trail. As she got closer to the Chambers, the scent got stronger until she was sure that she was in the right spot. There was a statue piece here, somewhere. She just needed to find it.

Ducking down into the first chamber, she began her search, both her eyes and nose active all the way.

Asimona could tell that the scent was farther into the chambers then she realized. Breathing in deeply, the continued forward, trying her best to follow the trail through the musty chambers, deeper into Canis. It was a bit hard to squeeze into a lot of the places, since she was so big, but she managed it somehow. The outer layer of her skin received quite a scratching, but there wasn't any blood. It would take more then that to get under her hide.

Asimona had given up trying to map her path a long time ago. While there was a nagging worry in the back of her mind about how she would get out, she pushed it away. She could worry about that later. And if all else failed, she could probably try to bust her way out. It probably wouldn't work, but it would be worth a try. The maze just twisted and turned as she followed the trail and then she stopped dead.

It split off into three directions and, despite all of her efforts, she couldn't pick up an clues as to where the stone might actually be. She would just have to guess. If she had to, she felt that she would be much more comfortable picking a larger tunnel. More room for her to move, especially if something attacked her. Besides, she was really sick of squeezing through tunnels.

With a deep breath to calm her nerves, she headed into the largest tunnel.

For a little while Asimona dared to hope that this round would be much easier then her trek up the waterfall. No water trying to throw her down, no tunnel to squeeze through, no peril to her life. Just a walk through and unsavory cave with the scent to guide her.

But then the lights flickered out and she froze. The tunnel had fallen into complete pitch darkness. A sudden feeling of claustrophobia fell over her and she shivered uncomfortably. She took a few steps forward, a lot slower then before, opening her wings a bit to rest them against the walls to try and lead her along.

But then a familiar presence tickled across her skin and that horrible, oppressive feeling weighed down on her back. Her heart began to beat faster and faster as she felt breath against her back. "Long time no see..." His voice was deep, dark, and mocking, penetrating deep into her mind. That familiar haze of fear settled over her. Her eyes widened and, suddenly, she was a child again, cowering before the towering presence of Father. His blazing red eyes instilling fear into her very core. She couldn't stand it, she had to run. She had to RUN.

She shot forward, sprinting through the tunnel as fast as she could, bumping into the walls occasionally as she ran blindly through the tunnel. But Father kept pace with her, his dark laugh chasing her through the cave. Impossibly, she could feel his claws caressing her skin and she shivered as she ran, trying to go faster, but nothing she did got her away from him.