[Skyspirit]

self-rp

Zhira::.......:.......::Echo

She was waiting.
Echo got to the top of a ridge of rocks, and there, outlined against the night and the storm, was the shrine. And outside it, a void serraptor stood, drenched with rain, unmoved by the crack of thunder and flash of lightning.
Echo approached her cautiously. Who knew what she was going to do.
But she simply stood there, waiting. Her expressionless eyes followed him.
He tried reaching out with his mind, even though he couldn't really do it well, and though she also had thought-speak she had put up a wall around her mind, so he could not reach her.
He sighed and entered the shrine, Zhira following.
They walked down a long, warmly-lit hallway. He wondered why Zhira was so secretive, so different from them. He was different than most other pets too, but the serraptor...
She didn't even try to communicate.
She just shut herself away from everyone.

[Skyspirit]

Echo stepped into the center of the shrine. Three huge statues surrounded the two pets, each guarding something different. The first hallway, on the left, seemed to be calling him.
I'm here. Finally, I'm here.
The gyraptor didn't know what awaited him there, but he knew it was part of his destiny. He knew if he followed the call, his life would change forever.
He turned to look at Zhira. She was gazing back at him, eyes completely impassive and expressionless.
Echo turned away from her and started to walk down the long, dark hallway. He could hear the clack of claws on stone behind him, and he knew the serraptor was following.
Reaching the end of the hallway, he emerged into another room, lit by candelight, smaller than the first. What would he find here?
My destiny is calling.

[Skyspirit]

The room had an... aura to it.
Candals glowed everywhere, making the room seem warm and inviting. Still, there was something deppressing about it. There wasn't anyone else there, which Echo knew was unussual for this part of the shrine. And it felt... sad. Like the candals were to mourn the dead.
Why have I been called here?
A chill wind hissed through the room. The candals all flickered, throwing strange patterns of light and shadow across the room.
And Echo saw it. Incribed on the wall on the far side of the room was a strange symbol. The very same symbol that was on him, etched in blue light. The symbol of all the Temple pets.
A soft whispering reverberated throughout the room.
Echo, drawn by something he couldn't understand, walked steadily forwards, toward the shimmering light on the wall.
This is it.

[Skyspirit]

Echo's markings and eyes glowed blue, swirling with light. He reached out, cautiously. Even though the gyraptor knew this could change his life, he did not hesitate. This, he believed, was his destiny.
As his hand touched the symbol, his mind erupted with white light. To someone watching, Echo and the room might not have seemed any different. To the temple gyraptor, it was as if the brightest star in the heavens had come down to earth.
His mind blazed with fire, and it seemed to him that the moments passed in a heartbeat and a thousand years, at the same time. Time had no meaning.
Distantly, he felt a conciousness touch his.
Echo! Echo, let go!
It was a young-ish, female voice. Somehow, he instinctively knew that it was Zhira's.
The light erupted in his head once more, and then faded suddenly. Echo blinked open his eyes, suddenly back in reality. He was still touching the symbol.
Carefully, he drew his hand away, and turned to look at Zhira.

[Skyspirit]

Zhira was watching through dark eyes, and yet her mind was thinking constantly. She never displayed emotions, because she rarely felt any. If she did, she simply got... impressions. Sort of like what she sometimes felt from other pets or people, but instead of coming into her thoughts it came out of her thoughts. It was simple, really. She could see pets' auras too, see their emotions and hurt.
As Echo touched the Temple symbol, she felt a rush of energy in Echo's aura. Then it dropped, his aura frighteningly close to dissappearing.
And then she felt concern.
Zhira blinked. Concern. She was worried about the gyraptor.
This was something new to her. But it was clear. She didn't want him to get hurt.
She stepped forward. To her outside eyes, nothing had changed. But to her lifesense, his aura was fluctuating wildly.
Zhira opened her mind and said as forcefully as she could, Echo! Echo, let go!

[Skyspirit]

Echo blinked. His mind felt more... open, after his contact with the temple symbol. Tentatively, he reached out to Zhira's mind with his own. It was much easier now, to contact other pets' minds. But Zhira had put her force field back around her thoughts. She hesitated for a moment, and then dropped it, gradually, for the first time letting another pet in.
Zhira...?
Echo was surprised at how easy it was for him to use his thought-speak.
Echo. What was it?
It... changed me. Opened a barrier.
You can speak with your mind now.
Yes. He hesitated, then added, And so can you.
The serraptor was silent for so long that Echo was worried he had done something wrong.
I had a reason to. I have a reason to. Now.

[Skyspirit]

We should go. Zhira turned and walked out of the room.
Echo followed.
The gyraptor had been changed. He knew that. He could use thought-speak now.
But he also realized that Zhira had been changed as well. She had opened up a little. Only a little, but it was a start. And Echo realized that he was happy about that.

[closed]