The tolling of the bells... ROUND I

[Chrysaeta]

You, me, and the Devil makes three.

The golden girl had always been an odd duck, but this was one for the books.

Endless days spent in the Dale exploring all that she possibly could. Sometimes with her brother by her side, occasionally trailing her father, but always with a mischievous gleam in her eye. She is one her own today while traipsing through the quiet hills of her home when she first hears it. The light echoing chime of a bell. A single bell ringing tirelessly in the distance is enough to peak her curiosity for the time being.

Like a butterfly, she flits place to place. Taking her time yet following the silvery chime all the same. The longer she follows the bell the louder it grows. Slowly,the lone bell is joined by others forming an ethereal and haunting chorus. Chrysaeta can feel the sound in her bones as she follows the symphony like a child bewitched by the piper. The longer she follows the sound, the further she feels herself leaving the Dale. Not just the Dale, but perhaps Beqanna itself. The trees and hills that she grew up with all look the same, but the color and life to the land are gone. A path is laid out more clearly before her and the bells are a persistent clash of discordant sounds in her ears.

With nowhere to go but forward, she follows the path. The bells ebb and flow like the tide adding new sounds to their number as others falter and sputter out, always building towards a climax that lies just out of sight until at last the path spills out into a clearing and the bells cease to ring all at once leaving an inexplicable yearning in her breast to hear the end of the story they played so beautifully. 

Others stand gathered loosely around a strange little creature, but she knows that the lamb has eyes only for her. She needs to be closer, needs to hear it's voice, needs the lamb to finish the story in her heart that the bells started. Then it's gone. A patch of flattened grass the only indication that the creature was ever there. Chrysaeta feels an overwhelming sadness threaten to crush her at the absence of an ending when a voice crashes like lightning around them.Behold, the end of the world is nigh. You are the chosen ones, will you accept your fate?

The girl listens intently as the others give the affirmation, the consent, and she follows suit. "I welcome it." she replies, her voice falling lifeless in the grey, unwelcoming inbetween.  

Chrysaeta