Fading Echo

Chapter 1: First light

First translated chapter of my story. I hope this makes sense and I found the right words. 

Have a relaxing Sunday! 

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Her thought had cleared over time. She still didn't know who she was, her past was hidden behind a thick veil, but she didn't feel as lost as in the beginning. Mildred had accepted that she had lost her memories.

This place had become her home, by now she knew every corner and it didn't even take her long to understand where she lived.

In the larger rooms stood one marble coffin next the other. Niches housed ornate urns containing the ashes of her ancestors.

There were dusty vessels filled with sand and half burned incense sticks and resin standing in front of a huge statue of a god she no longer knew.

In her calmer moments she felt a sense of familiarity behind these walls. The characteristic smell of incense and rosemary, sadness, loneliness, respectful stillness and awe. The strongest feelings in this tomb however, were loss and fear.

She could imagine being here in the past, burying the dead, pray for their welfare in the afterlive and visit them for talks. But there was no memory of such actions.

Still the doubts gnawed at her. Was this really her family tomb? Mildred had read every name on the coffins and the metal plates under the alcoves, but none hat struck her as familiar or brought back her memories. They were strangers.

Maybe it had been necessary for her new life to begin, that she took a part of the void with her and left behind what she had once been.

She hadn't had much contact with other people since the tomb robbers had woken her up. No one ever came to ensure the welfare of the spirits in the afterlife, or appease them. There were no offerings, nor were herbs and resins burned, so that the dead would not leave the afterlife and pursue the living.

Mildred couldn't fulfill these tasks, she was missing something.

The statue of the god looked indifferently down at her and the coffins. He didn't deign to give her an answer to even one of her questions. But she didn't expect him to. It seemed to be absurd that he should pay attention to her. Why would such a powerful god care about a single person? Why answering her, Mildreds, questions, when there was a world full of living beings?

She had come to the conclusion that she probably hadn't been faithful during her life. That could be also a reason why the god didn't answer to her. He knew that she thought as little of him as he seemed of her, and in some way this arrangement seemed to satisfy both of them.

Nevertheless she had found herself a task down here. Relatives may no longer come to commemorate the dead but grave robbers would break into this sepulture from time to time. She had found her purpose in defending this city of the dead.

Her rage always took control over her mind and body and the first time it had unsettled her. But she had quickly realized the advantages and got used to it over time. The anger now stayed with her, as a constant companion. Whoever she had been before, she now was the keeper of this place. She didn't think that a little righteous anger would be inappropriate.

But most of the time she was alone and she had used this time to get to know her new home better.

Only a few days ago - or had it been weeks? - she had found a way to the surface.

She had been able to reach the entrance hall via a staircase and simply stepped out. The underground complex was surrounded by a dense forest. She had been able to see several paths and she thought that she had recognized another tomb like hers in the far distance. She still wondered if there was a keeper like herself, but didn't muster the courage to investigate up until now. The forest was unsettling with its shadows. Pendants made out of bone and crystal hung from the tranches of the trees, swaying eerily in the wind. They prevented her venturing into the forest.