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[hr][@Brioko Jobe] - The Mall - 10:41 AM[hr][hr][/center]

It didn't take Aya as long to find this time, now that she knew what to look for - that stillness at the center of her mind, the indefinable point that let the rest of the world melt away. Her body was unimportant. Sensation was still there - the weighty envelope in her hand, the tickle of her hair against her face, lightly blown by the AC, the smell of espresso and sugar, the dull mechanical screech of the coffee grinder underneath a singer's falsetto. But it was all as distant as the stars, faint against the light of a full moon.

The dark of her mind wrapped itself around her. She wore it like a shroud.

[indent][color=aquamarine][i]Hiding in shadows.[/i][/color][/indent]
The pen slid across the paper, crisp Japanese characters forming. Aya laid in wait. There was that prickling at the back of her mind again - a misplaced familiarity. It was a different texture though. While with the last one it'd been all coal dust and smoke blackening her lungs, this one was smoother… sharp and precise, like the burn of ginger or a single, high note of a violin. It was in front of her - but there was something else too.

It was so vast as to be meaningless - like the ocean, or the sky, or time itself. Aya was nothing compared to it. She was a single candle, burnt out in an instant. She was atoms of stardust, floating through space. The universe carelessly breathed life into her, only to discard her a moment later.

She’d be dead for eons longer than she’d ever be alive.

A nebula pulsed into existence, throwing stardust against suddenly visible shapes - a man and a woman. Dense stars outlined them, contouring their forms, giving them color, [i]life[/i]. There was an air of intimacy. The two fit together like a tree grown around a forgotten skeleton, her head against his chest. Aya’s mind sparked in recognition.

[i]Finvarra and Sena,[/i] someone else's thoughts supplied. She felt her eyes narrow as she watched them, muscles coiled like a jungle predator. 

Aya didn’t know when it began, but a slow iciness crept its way through her body. It started as pinpricks in the tips of her fingers, in the pads of her toes and the back curve of her heel. It spread like frost, seeping into her skin, crawling up her wrists and ankles like a reminder. 

[indent][color=aquamarine][i]Finvarra and Sena, a tear between realms.[/i][/color][/indent]
The nebula spasmed behind Finvarra, blindingly bright. For a moment, the two were gone. Finvarra was unseeable, but Sena -

Wings flashed in her mind. The sleek feathers rippled with color, shining under their own light. A bird flew, too quick to grasp, regal and mythical, vibrant motes of light lingering in its wake. 

Finvarra’s eyes didn’t leave Sena’s face as two serpents like golden tattoos curled their way up his arms. They drew him back towards the increasingly frantic nebula. They warred for his attention, serpents and phoenix, both pulling at him in their own way.

The chill snaked its way up her own limbs. It was deeper than physical cold - it slowed her very soul, coaxing, whispering. 

[indent][color=aquamarine][i]Golden snakes pull him away from her.[/i][/color][/indent]
The nebula grew, writhing, throwing more and more stardust through the air. Just as it had made Finvarra and Sena visible, it seemed to outline their voices, snippets of words carrying over to Aya.

[indent][color=aquamarine][i]"Two more… Farplane."[/i][/color][/indent]
For the briefest moment, before the nebula swallowed him whole, Finvarra finally looked away from Sena - to look directly at [i]her[/i]. 

Aya suddenly realized what the darkness surrounding her truly was: a death shroud. She was already cold and stiff, wrapped in her shroud with gentle hands, and encased in her coffin. All that was left was the steady march towards her grave. 

All that was left was to seal her away under the earth.

Aya strode forward with sure steps. Her chin was high. She had a job to do - [i]orders[/i] to fulfill. 

The iciness had nearly reached her heart, claiming her fully.

Sena watched her, expressionless save for her eyes. They watched Aya with disdain. Unconcerned. 

Iridescent embers, the colors of an oil slick on sitting water, erupted around them. There was the sharp call of a falcon, piercing like a dagger.

[indent][color=aquamarine][i]Sena. A flash of color and a raptor's screech.[/i][/color][/indent]
Sena was gone. [i]Aya[/i] was gone. There was that solid whiteness again, that’d met her with the last envelope. Instinctively she knew she wouldn’t be able to see anything more.

But one fact rang clear and somber as a church bell in her mind.

[indent][color=aquamarine][i]I've died.[/i][/color][/indent]