Wings of Destruction and Duty

21.2 || Aurnia

Baffled, Aurnia could only rock back onto her heels and continue to eye the inscription hovering above Agrona's gift. Unicorns did not die. At least not in the conventional sense. Their life threads never faded and would instead unspool and weave themselves into a new younger form whenever the time was right. So it was with the greatest sense of irony that Agrona had chosen them as her token animal.

Aurnia turned the orb in her hand, squinting to make sense of what it meant. Then Koa leaned forwards with a curious little chirp, paws out as if he was asking for a turn. She handed it over and watched as he batted it back into the hollow. His tail dragged awkwardly on the ground, and he hopped to and fro until Aurnia noticed that he'd arranged the orb's inscription so it lined up perfectly with the one on the ground.

A loud rumble filled the cavern, and she quickly scooped Koa back into her bag before retreating into the tunnel. Blue light scattered across the room as a series of concentric circles flared to life before them. Piece by piece, they then began to fall away, grinding and heaving until they formed a set of stairs that descended freely into the darkness below.

Aurnia blinked and the rank smell of old vinegar wafted steadily upwards to reach her nose. She gagged, then shuffled over, offered a short prayer to the gods before venturing unsteadily into the caverns below. The steps were uncomfortably smooth beneath her boots, and with every step, she could feel herself lurching precariously close to the edge.

Agrona might have been smart, but she had somehow forgotten to chisel handholds from the stone she apparently adored. Aurnia hissed and shoved her churning stomach to the side. It all felt wrong. The air was too damp, too heavy and it left a rasp on the back of her throat.

She felt a sharp tug on her heart, and without hesitation, she opened her mind's eye once again. This time, the stairwell was awash with the bright hues of wild magic loping freely through the air. She eyed the walls and was pleasantly surprised to find them lit, and ready to show the world ahead. Footsteps, worn by time and tired feet blossomed clearly on the dark steps beneath her feet. Relieved and with a new sense of determination, she plunged onwards, soon finding herself standing before a small room no larger than her own bedroom back at home.

To her left, a deep alcove had been carefully hollowed from the walls. And within it, a large silver bowl, filled with a thick oil like substance loomed up before Aurnia. She wrinkled her nose, eyeing the crude figure hewn into the rock above it. In its arms, the screaming creature gripped a still glowing lantern within its claws and cast an unsettling sheen over what remained in the bowl.

Koa propped his paws onto the edges of the bowl with a thoughtful chirp. What's that? Aurnia frowned, then gently pushed his tail away to make out what he was pointing at. She squinted, desperately trying to avoid inhaling the putrid remains of whatever substance lingered in the room. Threads, coarse from the bite of old acid and bile, lay just submerged by the liquid within.

Aurnia tilted her head, carefully trying to discern why they looked so familiar. Then, eyes widening, she turned to Koa and shook her head. "Those are hairs from a unicorn."

And watching Koa's enthusiastic nod, she couldn't help but feel guilty about not sharing the complete truth. After all, even she wasn't sure why Agrona would have wanted to experiment with fragments of herself.

Aurnia moved quickly through the room, turning over pages and wincing at the sharp tools that lined Agrona's old workbench. Dark liquid encrusted the end of what looked like a knife, upon closer inspection, Aurnia realised it was blood and she threw it across the room with a shudder. Then her gaze fell upon the mismatched jars that lined the shelves above. She held one up to the light and then it struck her.