Chapter VI – The Insatiable Will August 22, 2009
Posted by L. Solange in Exa's Saga.add a comment
“What we require and what we desire are two separate things, yet closely intertwined: without the former, we cannot live; without the latter, we cannot be alive.”
-Klaudius the Drunk, philosopher extraordinaire and master of stating the obvious.
—
Exa stood still, studying the hallway which was barely lit by light from some outside source that shone through small cross-shaped arrow slits that pierced at regular intervals the wall she guessed to be the outer one. She could tell that there was dust in the air, both the flecks illuminated by shafts emerging from the holes and the ones that lightly teased her nose, but the floor seemed to be mostly swept clean by feet that left prints only at the less traversed edges. Although it was dark, she could see well enough, her pupils dilated to almost their full extent. The architecture itself looked old but sturdy and well-maintained, leading her to suspect that she was actually inside a fort or city wall, though it did not seem sensible to hollow it out.
Now that she had reoriented herself to this new place by establishing an awareness of her surroundings, her mind felt clearer and she felt nuances between the two pulls that she had sensed as soon as she had stepped into this passageway. To the left lay the one that seemed to tell her that she ought to go that way and it would be good if she went there, while to the right the sensation was one of need and foreboding as if bad things would happen were she not to follow that direction. Should and must, good or not-bad, she thought to herself, not very cheerfully but slightly amused nevertheless. Perhaps Takhris’ constantly playful nature was contagious.
