Goodbye, Artemis (standard:other, 716 words)
Author: dying_for_salvation	Added: May 28 2005	Views/Reads: 3179/2067	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The price of taking your life will cause much more than your own.

The graveyard swallowed her in the darkness. 

The grey tombstones shone against the dark backdrop of the night. They
called to her, those cold slabs of stone. They called for her to come 
nearer. They cried to her, taunted her, and mocked her. 

“Why am I here?” she asked them. Their ominous laughter filled her ears.


We own you, mortal. 

The different voices sounded as one in a foreboding melody. A melody of
mourning. 

Her mouth was quivering, but she can't bring herself to utter the words
spilling from her lips. She touched her face. 

Flesh against flesh. 

That be not enough to guarantee that you still be part of the world,
mortal. 

That deep voice lined with sadness and pity, yet showed anger at her
action. The deep voice was intense...commanding. It made fear creep 
into her consciousness. 

Come closer, mortal. 

The second voice beckoned her to the white marble tombstone a few steps
away from her. She eyed it warily. 

Be you afraid, mortal? 

The first voice taunted her. 

Be you afraid of what lies in our realm? Of what waits? 

“No.” 

It was a lie. She was afraid. She was afraid of them. Afraid of what
awaits. Afraid of the unknown. Afraid of her fate. 

Say no lies, mortal. Death be not merciful. 

A strange wave of curiosity washed over her and a longing welled in her
heart. It drowned her soul. She longed for something. Something in that 
tombstone. There was something that she had to know. Something she lost 
but somehow... she doesn't know what it is. 

The tombstone was nearer. She could see its whiteness outline against
the brown earth. 

Her feet carried her there. 

Another step she could not stop from making. She could almost see what
was engraved on the stone. She could feel the coolness of the freshly 
dug ground under her feet. She could hear her own breathing, ragged and 
short, as she confronted the tombstone. 

Go now, mortal. 

The moaning of the wind echoed the anguished cries of her soul. She felt
like she was tearing apart inside, like she was deprived of something 
she once had. She felt her regret filling up the silence. Her 
hopelessness was knotting with her fear and longing. 

Leave fear, mortal. The dead dwells not on it. 

She closed her eyes and dwelled in the darkness of her own mind. Time
and space seemed to have frozen as she tried to escape the haunting 
voices and the unexplained longing and regret of her soul. Their voices 
rang once more. 

Your name, mortal. Your name is on the tomb. 



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