In one of the darkened corners of the ruined temple, a series of stone biers were set into the floor. The majority of them were bare, yet on one of them, an ebony armoured figure lay in repose. The body, indistinctive underneath the plate armour, hooded helm and cloak, was clutching a broad-bladed, two-handed sword in its gauntlets and, at the foot of the bier, was a rucksack containing various possessions. 

All was still and silent within this corner of the building ... until a soft, sibilant command was whispered within it:

[i]"Awaken."[/i]

Two tiny luminous scarlet orbs opened behind the helmet's visor; wearied, laboured breathing caused the armoured chest to rise and fall as ragged gasping for air forced its way through the tiny breathing grilles of the helm. Groggily rising to a seating position, the figure placed the sword to one side of the bier as it tried to get its sense of bearing and direction. Catching sight of her gauntlets and armoured legs, however, the figure fell of of the bier in a panic, landing on the floor with a clatter of armoured plating and chain-mail. She moaned, pain from landing hard on her back flaring up her spine as, righting herself on her knees and hands, she weakly began to look for something that she could use to get a good look at herself.

[i]Who am I?[/i] she asked herself, crawling towards what appeared to be a cistern or a pool that was buried within the floor. A name floated to the surface: [i]I'm ... I'm ... Krzysztanzia - that's it, that's my name. But where am I right now? And in whom or in what have I woken up in?[/i]

Like a wounded animal, the armoured figure came to a stop beside the cistern and, drawing the hood back enough, tugged the black helmet away from her head; it fell with a clang against the cobblestones, allowing Krys to see herself for the first time. Within the rippling reflection of the stream, she could make out a face - alabaster skin as ashen-grey as the stone she was kneeling on, crimson-irised eyes that stared back at her in utter confusion, pale white locks of hair that fell from beneath the hood that framed her face, and ...

Throwing the hood fully back, Krys gasped in shock at the pair of prominent ears that thrust themselves up from the sides of her head. She reached up with a gauntlet-clad hand and pressed the fingers against her face, gingerly caressing her cheek as if to confirm that the reflection in the water was, indeed, her.

[i]This ... this is me. This is ME![/i]

Scrabbling for her helmet, she placed it back over her head, her pale visage once again hidden by the protective steel that covered it. Wobbly getting to her feet and turning back to the biers in order to collect the objects that were left with her, she paused, noting that she was not alone within the temple's massive central chamber and that all of the other occupants were gravitating towards a massive statue within the center of the room.