Rainfall Chronicles: Amelia Reinhart

Chapter 10: My Fault, Through My Fault...

Amelia: Chapter 10 — My Fault, Through My Fault...

I made it... this is it.

I'm standing right before the ruined temple that I ran away from all those days ago, only this time, I have some form of knowledge on it. This time, I know what I'm getting into, but that doesn't make me any less scared than I was the first time.

I have a clear goal in mind: Find the Golden Stone of Name

Sounds simple enough, but I just suddenly had a horrible thought: what if the stone isn't there? Oh, God, why didn't I take that into consideration before? It probably wouldn't make sense for father to leave it there, would it?

Come on, girl, now's not the time to think about the specifics. It's simple — I go down there, and if it's not down there, I go back and tell Mr. White Hair.

B-But... what if he's still down there...?

I shiver. Mostly because of that impending thought, but also because the cool night air is starting to appear again. Not to mention that the rain is starting up again.

Screw it. I can't afford to back out now.

Dismayed, I take the first step down. As I do so, the gravity of the situation is reiterated to me by the sudden striking of a thunderbolt outside. I jump in shock, shutting my eyes as the fear continues to envelop me. I didn't have time to get wet... with my eyes still shut, I walk forward towards the entrance...

Aaaand, I bang my head against the entrance again.

Goddamnit, Amelia...

I force my eyes wide open, and, carefully, duck under the short entrance... Holy crap, I'm actually back inside again. The fear inside me subsides for the moment as I traverse down the steep pathway. My heartbeat doesn't calm down, though... it just keeps pumping. I'm not the least bit surprised...

However, one thing that immediately catches my attention is that it's a lot brighter than the first time that I was here. Was it just me? No shot — it was pitch black the last time, and, now, I can actually vaguely see writings on the walls. 

It's all... gibberish? I don't know!— The writing looks ancient... I should've seen this coming; no way language is staying the same after such a long period of time. One thing I do take notice of is that the symbols look awfully... familiar? Close?

No, that's not the right way to describe it. The drawings on the wall felt... unnervingly natural. Like, it would be something you'd see casually while reading, but it's not. They're just meaningless scribbles, whose meaning has been lost with the passage of time. 

Even so, I can still make out whatever the drawings on the wall look like. This one kind of looks like veins... another looks like a spiky speech bubble you'd see in a comic book, there's a bird, a small doll I'm forgetting the name of, and... there's this huge thing that looks like... a smoking chair? Maybe a lowercase 'h' makes more sense, but there's something protruding off of it that looks like steam.

 And... I think that's an egg...? There are a lot of eggs, I just realized. I never thought of poultry as such an important aspect of these times that there'd be this many... Ah, jeez, what the heck am I doing? Frankly, I'm just trying to slow myself down... Get it together, girl...!

Just... keep... walking!

The symbols on the wall don't end. As I near the end of the pathway, the symbols remain. It's odd though... the symbols never change either. They're almost always the same from the top until the bottom. I'm so confused...