Prushka?
Location: St. Diane Cemetery
Phase: Morning Phase
Date: 10.09.1994 (SAT)
Weather: Overcast
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Wind.
It howled.
The earth.
It waited.
As the girl pulled aside the creaky lid of the coffing, revealing the contents within, it seemed that all of the world held its breath for just a moment. Like her friend in an owl costume, unable to move a muscle as she peered further in. Like her friend with a single eye, standing besides her. Like the ■■■■■■■■ that had been with them the whole time. It was all... frozen. Just for a moment. Just for one singular moment as they all took in the sight of what lay in the grave, what awaited them after all that digging and cold ground.
What lay within the wooden box that should have, perhaps, been left unopened.
The silence stretched.
Longer.
And longer.
And longer.
Until eventually...
"------------------ Yeah. I figured as much."
Ahti's grunt broke it, shattering the spell that had overcome them all for a moment.
The reason for those words?
It was simple.
So very simple.
The coffin...
... Was empty.
Not just empty. Clearly, it had never held anything within it. It was too immaculate, too clean, too untouched. Nothing had ever burdened the interior of this wooden box, and nothing dead had ever laid within it. The only thing there had been dust and time, and now even that was gone as the wind picked up, making dirt and gravel trickle down onto the soft velvet lining on of the box.
But while it was empty of corpses...
... There was still something within that coffin.
-------------- A single bullet. A rifle bullet. A hunting rifle bullet.
As if a message, as if a warning, meant to say:
"I know what you did."
Hisa Momoi
Location: Old Train Yard - ???
Phase: Unknown
Date: Unknown
Weather: Clear
For a moment, the world had become dark.
Then, a singularity of light had shone within that darkness.
Like a blade, cutting through the inky black.
And then...
----------------- Her world was swallowed up by a fire.
As Hisa's eyes blinked, as she tried to make sense of what she had just seen during the activation of her powers, a sudden heat struck her face and she recoiled instinctively, taking steps back from what felt like a blazing inferno. In her ears, she heard the crackling of fire and wood, the burning of forest, and in her nose, she smelled the stench of smoking wood and nature in flames. Great plumes of black smoke drifted towards a starry night sky above, and though the orange blazes of the wildfire might have created a beautiful contrast to the midnight blues of the dark world, this was no time to appreciate such things. She had no idea how, she had no idea why, but as soon as her powers had activated and she had tried to form a link to the bones and the discoloring she saw... Hisa had been whisked away into some other time, some other place.
What was around her was not the abandoned train yard.
What was around her was not her friends.
What was around her was not the same day.
--- This was a different time, a different place, a different moment.
Almost like she had hopped through time and space itself...!
However.
Just before a momentary, instinctive panic had managed to set in...!
------- A familiar, yet strange, presence calmed down her heartbeat, calmed down her nerves, calmed down her raging mind.
Even her natural fear of the flames felt now oddly... dulled. As if it had dissipated to manageable levels. And the reason?
... If she had to describe it, it was almost as if there was a certain woman, clad in black veils, standing behind her, with her hand on Hisa's shoulders. Like a guardian. Like a guide. Like a mentor.
Ah------
So that was it.
That presence, it had to be The Lady of the Shadows, and then this... this was what she must have meant. What Dorothy Canseliet must have meant.
--- The Blessing of Dún Scáith.
Now that she walked in the shadow of the Lady of the Veils, who stood between this life and next, the ability which had given momentary flashes of vision, brief glimpses into moments that had been lost to the past... it had become something else. Something greater. Perhaps it was because she had used in a place where death had seeped into the ground, or perhaps the reason was some other, but now - instead of brief vision - what spread out before Hisa Momoi seemed to be a reconstruction of some sort. A living memory. A travel back to the moment when those bones had been alive - their final moment. That moment between this world and the next. Instead of just peeking into it, she was able to thrust herself into it completely, turning a spying eye into a proper investigation.
Then... what was this moment that she had dove back into?
Looking around, Hisa saw that she was not, indeed, at the train station anymore. No, this was some nondescript place in the Ghostwoods, a patch of forest that looked just like any other. The only real difference between it and the rest of the Ghostwood was that this place... it was on fire. Deep crimson flames had swallowed up the trees in a form of a line, like a blazing inferno had shot through the undergrowth akin to a bloodhound making a beeline for their prey. It was not an uncontrollable flame, but rather, a deliberate one - perhaps signs of a battle or something.
However, one thing Hisa immediately understood. These flames, as accursed as they were... elicited no annoying feeling from her memories. They were not her flames. The culprit was someone else.
And looking to the roof of the fire, there... yes, there was a group of people there - not far away from where she was.
Two of them were laying on the ground, looking like they were wounded. One of these two was wearing what looked to be a hospital gown... same sort of tatters that the skeleton she had touched was wearing. The other one's clothes were slightly strange, but since they were still in the shadows, it was hard to make him out. Still, these two looked almost like a pair of rabbits that had been driven into a corner, bleeding heavily and shivering from exhaustion.
... So, a chase then? The fire was something that had cut off their escape. Crude but effective.
But if these two were the prey, then the people gathered around them...
--- Had to be the predators.
They... along with that fifth, larger shadow that stood behind them, like some sort of gangly monster out of a urban legend.
But... what was going on here?
What were they discussing about, their words nearly swallowed up by the flames?
And who were the two people they had cornered?
Well... considering nobody was paying any attention to Hisa, it was quite unlikely this was an interactive vision.
So perhaps it was best to get closer and see just what secrets the last moments of this skeleton hid...
Originally Posted by Ahti
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