The Inner Ring

BETHESDA, The Central District, The Earthly Temple 2420AA, "The Great Scale of Bethesda." The voice told her, before she could even ask the question and why? She already had an inkling as to the reason behind its inertness. A Great Scale? A Great Scale! Sure the scale was large. But the scale of Bethesda? Bethesda was a town, right? And scales were meant for judging souls, weren't they? She struggled with the concept until she finally exploded, her brows wrinkling as she glared at the very empty space beside her. The place she had last heard the voice. "I do not understand! I mean, why is it just this one and why is it so big?" She questioned, "Bethesda is a town, not a soul, is it?" "Both soul and city are judged alike." the voice replied with a patience that had been lacking earlier. Could this have been what it had wanted to show her all along? Havillah cocked an eyebrow even as it continued to explain. "Sure, the scales you have known until now have been used to weigh souls and their Virtues, but haven't you heard? The tales of judgement upon cities?" Of course she was aware. There was no Great alive that did not know the story of Trosarid or Zkanar? Or the other ancients cities that had been judged for their malevolence. "Yea yea...they were all burnt down to a crisp all because they couldn't stand to be in the all awesome and dazzling light of..." she trailed off even as a horrific thought took hold over her thoughts. "Oh no!" Havillah gasped. "You are the Light! Aren't you?" The words rasped out from her gasping mouth. For the first time since their encounter, the voice chuckled and Havillah twirled around to face it. What was so funny? she wondered irritated by the fact that she could not see. If only... If only... "Why do you keep doing that?" She complained even as she quickly forgot her initial shock at the possibility of having conversed with the deity. "Can you contain the wind in one place? Can you imprison the air so that it does not move?" "I do not know. Can you?" The girl responded angrily. "Why are you so angry Havillah? Why is there so much bitterness in your heart?" "You are seriously asking me that right now? What happened to your own attitude?" The furrows etched deeper into her forehead even as she frowned at the offending question. "Anyway, How do you even know all that?" "Where there is Light there can be no darkness." "I have no idea what that means, but I am pissed off! If you had been watching, then you'd have noticed that my life is in shambles. Couple that with the fact that you enjoy being cryptic and the fact that I am talking back to a being that allegedly destroyed two nations for being insolent...then I think I have earned that right to be bitter." Havillah huffed back. "Oh Havillah..." it sighed tiredly. "You've so much to learn." The voice was as a soft breeze caressing her cheeks while it sent down tingles down her weary spine. Unconsciously, she leaned in into the touch and found the comfort it offered. A soft sigh escaped from her lips even as the exhaustion finally took over and slowly she found herself closing her eyes. Suddenly, a violent jolt racked her and she snapped her eyes open only to look around and find that she was now outside the temple, all alone at sunset and with nowhere else to go. "Grrr!" An irritated Havillah stomped her feet. "That thing! that thing!" she growled out in frustration. "My my, I never thought I'd see the day when the Great Havillah is anything other than her usual calm and composed self." "Gabriel!" Havillah turned around surprised at hearing his voice in that place. "In the flesh!" The man bowed in a show of mock obeisance, a wide smirk stretched upon his annoying face. "How did you find me?" "A single red dot in an abandoned zone? Considering this is where I first found you, it was quite to put it together. " he answered and she thought over it for a moment. "Are you here to take me back? " He shook his head. "As much as I would live to watch a cat fight, I am afraid I have orders." "Orders?" Killion had asked him to search for her, but considering Selene's condition what did that mean to her? And then there was the issue of the voice and the things she had just learnt. "Yes, to search for you your highness." he bowed again and smirked. "Aaaargh! Just leave me alone! I need to think and you're not helping." She swiftly walked down the stairs and stopped at the bottom to study the area around the temple. "And risk rousing the Captain's wrath?" Gabriel moved to stand beside her. "No, thank you!" He retorted and her fists clenched with barely restrained anger. "Fine!" She hissed back at him. "Do whatever you want, just Stay. The. Heck! Out of my way!" Havillah snapped back before gathering her robes and bristling past him in a fit of fury. "I see you have gatherrd new vocabulary as well." She turned to glare at him. "Fine! Fine, I will stay out of your way." he raised his hands in a show of mock surrender, secretly hoping to get another rise out of her. However, Havillah was no longer listening. She had just stumbled on something and her mind was very busy with new thoughts and theories even as she surveyed the area with renewed interest. "Of course! Why didn't I see it before?" She scolded herself, her eyes roaming, taking in the view of the ring of houses that seemed to be surrounding the earthly temple. "If the scrolls are true, then that would mean..." she trailed off, her feet commencing the long walk between the temple and the row of houses that formed the ring. Unlike the other houses these were completely intact. No chipping paint or wreckage what so ever and the whole thing had her skipping with excitement, so much that she did not hear the soldier's protestations. Left with no other choice but to follow, a puzzled Gabriel ambled along, grumbling as he went on after her. Still, Havillah paid him no heed. Her mind was set forward and focused to unravel the new mystery that she had just stumbled upon. Finally, she came to stop in front of the massive front doors of the seventh mansion just as Gabriel catching up to her. "One, two three..." she turned around to count the houses once again. Three on the eastside and three on each side of a compass direction just as her long walk had just confirmed. "See... I told you! Unlike all the other houses in this area, this twelve are tightly shut and no one has been able to breach them in years." Havillah ignored him and took another step forward. "Where is the Captain when you need him?!" Gabriel grumbled to himself. Unperturbed by her companion's disparaging comments, Havillah took another step forward and surveyed the familiar seal that was etched on the front door. She had been right,  she thought as she stretched out a hand and traced the it. For the first time in a while, a smile broke forth upon her face as she reminisced the past and the many times she had done this. As expected, as if sensing the connection, the seal glowed brightly and then,  the great doors swung open revealing a vast lobby that was so much beyond her wildest expectations. "Wa...wa...what?" Gabriel fumbled for words even as she put a foot forward and began to move across the threshold. "If you're coming, you had better hurry up before I let the doors slam shut on your annoying face." she told him as she made the step forward. Almost immediately, the once darkened interior filled up with dazzling lights that mimicked the lights in the temple. More hope crystals, she smiled as the glass chandeliers glowed with such an ethereal light that seemed to have no source, but she felt them. The radiating crystals concealed within each glass. "How?" Gabriel gasped, moving closer to inspect the outlandish phenomenon. "What are they?" he murmured. "Crystals?" Havillah replied quite ambiguously. "I can deduce that, but you did not create them." "No." She anwered, her eyes still surveying the lobby which was spotlessly clean despite the hundreds of years of desolation. "Is that all?" an annoyed Gabriel inquired when she refused to offer more. Instead of responding, Havillah moved on as she continued to survey the rest of the house. "This woman!" he let out a frustrated growled. Torn between the act of following her or choosing to remain outside to wait for his Captain, the man hovered by the doorway until it slowly started to close and he was forced to jumped off the threshold in haste. "Captain is going to kill me." He mumbled to himself as he stared back at the now closed doors. "Why am I going to kill you?" Gabriel jumped, startled by the sudden appearance of the Captain. "I'm sorry! I panicked! The doors were closing and she was leaving! I could not decide whether to follow her or remain here. I mean how else would you have known we where to find us, and then," he paused to breath in even as he turned around to acknowledge the face his superior. "I know you told me to stick by her side, but she's furious and very uncooperative." he finally stumbled and Killion narrowed his eyes at him. "What did you do?" the Captain growled back. "Nothing I swear! She was that way when I found her!" "Mmm..." Killion turned away as his glower morphed into a thoughtful look. "How did she get in?" He questioned, turning back  around to face the unyielding doors of the great white stone mansion. "That's just it! I don't know how. She placed her hand on that bird over there and bam! The doors flew open." Gabriel Connors replied animatedly. Strange things were always happening when this guy was around. Killion gave him a disbelieving look, but man stood his ground and to his extremely ridiculous story. "You're trying to tell me that the door did not zap her? Gabriel, you of all people should know that people have died from just touching the things around here hence the reason we guard it." "I know, but think about it. From what you said of the 'accident',"  he said putting airmarks on the name accident, "The things in this ring react in almost the same manner as her robes did." Killion thought about it for a moment, connecting that new piece of information to what his grandmother and mother had just told him. Finally he nodded his head in acquiescence. "Alright. I guess you're right. How then do you propose that we get..." He did not get to finish the sentence even as agony filled screams pierced through night sky. "What was that?" Gabriel questioned as the two soldiers stood at alert sensing the sudden change in the atmosphere that was around them. His captain did not answer him, even as the sound of marching filled their ears. Puzzled, the two soldiers turned to look at each other before bolting off eastwards in the direction of the screams.