Welcome to Gaia! ::

She entered the shrine again and from the moment she stepped in the room she knew this was going to be different. The fog seemed to dance around her, calling to her like a long lost lover. She followed the fog to a dark door peering at the inscription. She ran her fingers across the letters as she churned the words in her mind. She couldn't turn back now, not after everything that had been done already. She pushed the door open carefully, peering inside with her weapon in her hands as she braced for something terrible. Inside the goddess statues had changed, and around her were others like her. Other grey shapes with hearts that radiated power, just like her own. Just like the one she had gathered before. Memories flooded back to her and she fell to the floor with a heavy thud. They played like a whirlwind as they rushed back and she watched the bright red moon move ever closer. She had to wonder just how fast it must be moving to do that. The closer it got the more she wanted to scream, to run and panic. The thing, it couldn't be a moon anymore, reached for her as if to take her away, seeming only interested in her heart, her core. As it speaks her mind feels on fire and she curls against herself, trembling. She moved toward it, like a marionette being pulled along and as she was preparing to remove her own heart the sky split. Green and gold fought with the red and she fell backwards again as the moon's grip fell away.

Something tugged at her mind. Linithid wasn't her name...what it was she couldn't say, but it wasn't that. Before she could try and remember, the world around her changed. The grey turned to lush forest and plants before turning to a castle along the horizon. Fantastic structures sprouted from the ground that were marble and ornate architecture. Each change left less and less of the red, and for that she was immensely grateful. Each voice offered her a choice. Power, legacy or knowledge. Pick one, and only one. Her choice was clear.

"Creation." She wanted to know the world, to know as much as she ever could. The world changed around her again and all that she could see was green. Vines, branches and leaves everywhere. She stepped forward, scared but determined, and began to tear out her heart. A part of her was screaming, terrifed, wanting her to stop everything and just run and hide, but she couldn't. It was now or never. The memories begin to fade as her heart goes, and she couldn't help but cry. We are what we have experienced, and to be toyed with as they all had...it was almost too much to bear. She offered up her heart and heard Creation speak to her, but the words sounded hollow. The pain was all she cold feel as she fell to her knees, memories playing like a scratched disk or broken movie.

"Ithildin! Ithi!!" She heard the name but it meant nothing, not anymore. She looked around almost pleading to the others gathered but it was too late. Her eyes closed and she was no more.