πππ πππππ πππππππππ endlessly before the lone figure riding upon her white horse to a low rise. A bruised sky looked down upon rolling meadows and nearby peaks, only the wind breaking the silence of a once pleasant landscape. Still, even in its eeriness, Vespera found beauty. It was far removed from the cold, cloistered stone of the convent and academy. Out here, amongst the extraordinary monsters and too ordinary humans, it was as if entering a whole new world. Willfully, she had traded familiarity for this --
Though she would claim it was in the name of duty, to prove herself true to her faith.
After all, all nuns who dreamt of knighthood were expected to take on a quest of proof -- whether that was through pilgrimage to a war-torn nation or building a new temple, sometimes even translating an ancient hymn.
Only ... why did they seek to test her with something only theoretical to retrieve ?
Her trial had been clear enough in word but clouded when it came to its purpose: She must seek traces a forgotten relic spoken of in legend. Whether it was a weapon or a blessing, no one could say. Only that it was storied to belong to a forgotten deity, not even mentioned in public scripture.
Yet each night since she had begun this journey, Vespera's dreams burned with images of a beacon leading her past the mountains ahead, flickering light an old lantern .
The would-be knight tightened her grip on the reins, dark eyes fixed upon the dark clouds approaching the peaks. They had begun to be partially veiled from what remained of the light of the sun as she approached the foot of one of these particular mountains, the rain began to fall in a soft drizzle and a grey mist covering the grounds. It was all eerie, as up ahead, she saw a carefully carved out entrance just as the villagers before had described and warned her of. Staring at this pitch black hole gave her a sudden feeling, one that told her that entering this dark place would likely be the first true test of her faith.
She lingered for quite a while, until the rain became too hazy and she had to leave her horse tethered to an old heavy tree. It was then with only a steadying breath and adjustment of her veil and single pauldron, that she steeled herself to walk past the dark entry into the mountain. Plunged into darkness, she took ginger steps that grew increasingly cobbled instead of what she had expected to be dirt path. She reached out to the walls and found them not so much as dug, but intentionally carved in some places. A few times she found herself filled with anxiety when the wrong step led to the wrong rattling sound of not steel, not rock but --
.... Until finally Vespera found up ahead a glimmer of something on the far wall -- a reflection of light.
Vespera was not afraid of ghosts or demons or even of death. But the darkness, the dread of darkness itself had been nearly been enough to turn one raised in the light such as her back. Only now did she feel aware of the comfort it had given her, for the unknown laid beyond the approaching corner. It pulsed and flickered just like the visions in her dreams.
Did she dare to look and see, the furthest into a pit she had ever ventured ?
Her hand gripping tightly the hilt of her sword, Vespera murmured one last brave plea before entering, β If this is Your will, let me be worthy to find this relic . β
ββΒ myth verse for @misericordiis .