Darkness.
It was thick and sickening, like being wrapped in sheets and sheets of old bandages. It even smelt of sickness and pus. She could hear movement, rustling, in the distance, the clink of machinery. She waited like an actor waits for a play to begin, with intense excitement and nervousness as the shadows twisted on the stage.
And then, the show began.
A spotlight shined directly onto her face, a sneer and a gasp all in one. Clickclickclick, and a few more lights flicked onto a line of severe soldiers of the Imperial side, their eyes dark and their guns at the ready. On the other side were men, women, children, all a bustle and weeping profusely as they backed up against a stone wall. Although their faces were blurs, she knew that these people were her friends, family, everyone she once loved. She knew all too well what happened next.
She raised her paws, and the guns rose. She let her paw drop, and a million screams rang through the night.
Moe let out sorrowful yowl, twisting out of her bed between two large statues of long-forgotten gods and onto the cold floor beneath. Her heartbeat was like hammer striking stone as she boosted herself up on her front paws, looking around in shock.
It was only a dream.
A mere dream.
She slumped back down onto the rock, giving herself a chance to calm down, to think properly. Once her heart had time to normalize itself, Moe rose up and trotted back to her nest. Digging through her small, muddy (She could no longer tell whether it was originally brown or just very travel-worn...) backpack, she brought out a silver pocket-watch. Flicking it open, the hands pointed wearily to nine and ten.
“Almost nine...Time to get moving,” she said to herself, closing up her bag and giving one last scan of the small shrine to make sure nothing was left. Deeming the place as clean as she found it, she leaped off and started down a tunnel glowing with dull lights. This path was once open to the public, but after a tragedy with a Hunter it was long since closed off and forgotten. The old gods were clearly pleased with this, as the air was not as dark and murky you'd expect a cavern to be. Gods did like the offerings the visitors left sometimes, but they were ancient and tired and just wanted peace and quiet to rest.
Moe gave a small bow to the two relics before bounding off into the near-darkness, her burlap tightly strapped to her back.
“Since, I mean, this whole place is a shrine, one of these places must hold a god that can help me, yeah? Do you happen to know of any particularly helpful gods?” she asked the walls and the sleeping battis above, but only received a dull echo and a tired screech in reply. “Guess I'll just have to find out for myself, right? Thought so.”
[1]
"Duck- tell me more about this place."
))