The Passage of Time

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Breathe, breathe in the air.
Don't be afraid to care.
Leave, but don't leave me.
Look around, and choose your own ground.

For long you live, and high you fly,
And smiles you'll give, and tears you'll cry,
And all you touch, and all you see,
Is all your life will ever be.

Run, rabbit, run,
Dig that hole, forget the sun.
And when at last the work is done,
Don't sit down, it's time to dig another one.

For long you live, and high you fly,
But only if you ride the tide,
And balanced on the biggest wave,
You'll race towards an early grave.

"Breathe (In The Air)" - Pink Floyd

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The Albatross turned back around once she knew we were following behind her, stepping to the teal door that sat before her quickly. I naturally expected her to reach for the doorknob to turn and pull the door wide open, but instead she stopped short, lifting her right hand to hover above the wood paneling in the center.

"I need to open the door," Loki hummed gently, not bothering to look back at us. I could tell she was concentrating by the way her shoulders set themselves in a determined roll, a soft huff escaping her lungs. "It'll take a moment, so just... bear with me."

'How long can it possibly take to open a door, exactly?' I mused, my brow quirking in inquiry. Glancing sidelong to San and Jongho, I found both of their faces awash with the same uncertain puzzlement. The Starling shrugged with pursed lips, and The Sparrow lifted his left hand to scratch at his cheek with furrowed brows.

I watched curiously as Loki curled all but her index finger into a fist, moving her hand up slightly to press against the door. Her black polished fingertip began to glow, faintly at first, with the same golden hue that had climbed up the walls a minute before. Soon, that illuminated intensity grew, so that the tip of her finger were more akin to a shining beacon, than a useful digit.

When her finger reached it's peak luminosity, The Albatross began to move her hand, tracing along the teal wood. As her finger moved, a golden light was left in it's wake, leaving a glowing stain glimmering upon the door, until finally a perfect circle had been drawn. Within the circle, she hastily drew another perfect circle, which sat a good five inches below the original circle, it's circumference much smaller. Lifting her finger, she moved back to the center position, moving upward again to press her finger an inch below the top of the larger circle.

Tracing a line straight down, she stopped just an inch above the bottom of the larger circle, before moving in a slightly concave diagonal line north east, to stop an inch before the right side. In quick succession, she moved her hand due west in a a perfectly straight line again, stopping just before the left side of the circle, before finishing the symbol by repeating that same concave motion to connect this line to the top point. When it was finished, I realized this new, hexagonal symbol resembled an hourglass turned on it's axis, as though it were a quarter way through being flipped entirely.

"Ad locum ubi nemo inveniat," I heard The Albatross whisper as she let her hand drop back to her side, that glow slowly dimming until her fingertip was normal once more. 

'To a place where no one can find?' I mused, understanding the language immediately. Though, I knew San and Jongho could not. It was unmistakably the language of the gods, of that much I was certain. But what I could not be certain of was, why? Why did The Albatross know this ancient tongue, and furthermore, how did it tie into the magic she'd been using? As ever, I had infinite questions, and entirely no answers to be found. 'Just who is this woman, exactly?'

As soon as the utterance left her lips, four new symbols lit up within the strange sigil she'd drawn. Starting in the bottom left corner, and appearing in a clockwise motion, I watched a full circle appear, then a three-quarter crescent facing east, a perfect crescent, and another three-quarter crescent which faced west. With the new symbols lit up, the sigil appeared to be completed.

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