The Discarded Saint

Dome Arc: Part 2

Ariana came to slowly, her head muzzy and her body heavy and cold. Even before she opened her eyes she could tell that she was in some kind of cool, damp place, the scent of swamp muck heavy in her nostrils.

It took a second, but she eventually managed to lift herself up into a sitting position, blinking in away the sleep in her eyes, she found herself surrounded by shadow and darkness. Beneath her hands was solid stone, but that was about all she could work out at the moment.

She knew that all of this should be alarming. And she knew that waking up in a strange place was never good; but that was about all she knew for sure. Well, that and her own name, of course.

Squinting into the void, she tried to recall something, anything. The best she could come up with was a vague memory of a lot of light, and an inkling of being dead. But, if she was dead then how could she be here? Where ever here was.

As her eyes adjusted, Ariana looked down at her hands. She clearly had a body, and why would you need a body if you were dead? Also, she was hungry. And surly you shouldn't need to eat if you are dead.

Deciding that just sitting there, contemplating her own existence, was not doing her any good, Ariana cautiously got to her feet.

She was pretty sure that she was in a cave of some sort, due to all the stone and echoes she heard floating around. Getting to her feet was the easy part, walking proved to be the challenge. Not because she was hurt, but simply because she could hardly see her hand before her nose. She was rather worried about falling of a cliff or some such in the dark.

Luckily, she only had to walk about four steps before her out stretched hand landed on the cool surface of the cave wall. She still walked very carefully, even with a wall to follow it didn't mean there wasn't still a drop off she could tumble into. Then she really would be dead.

Things started to look up when her eyes picked out a feint light up ahead. The entrance to the cave, perhaps? If she could just get out of here, maybe she could figure out where she was, and how to reach civilization too.

That thought actually had her stopping in her tracks. Civilization? She knew the meaning of the word, and what finding it would mean... But for the life of her, Ariana could not remember a single personal memory of it. She couldn't remember a single, specific person, face or name.  Forget other people, she couldn't even recall what she, herself, looked like.

This wasn't good.

Still frozen a few feet from what may well be freedom, Ariana reached up with a shaky hand and traced out her own face, trying to jog some memory of looking in a mirror. She felt the expected eyes, nose, and mouth. The shape felt like what a face should be, but she did not remember any of it. Not the shape of her nose nor the distance between her eyes. What color were these eyes? Or her hair?!

Well, the hair was long, she could feel that, at least. Nearly down to her hips. But she couldn't remember the color what-so-ever.

Biting a lip worriedly, she decided that she needed to get out of the cave first. Once she was free, she could, then, try and figure the rest out.

That decided, Ariana continued her staggered trek to the exit. She was still cautious of each step, but now moved with a little more vigor, eager to get out and breath some fresh air. However, when she reached the curve, where she detected the light, it was not a cave mouth, nor a steep drop off that she came face to face with.

Instead, Ariana stood frozen, a mere fifteen feet from what appeared to be an extremely underfed and possibly rabid dog. Its fur was grey and molted, and its eyes a bright yellow. Most concerning was the lack of fear with the animal. Some vague recollection told her that it was a sign of rabies if the infected animal showed no fear of humans. Though, Arianna was a little relieved to not see an foam around its thin muzzle.