Shattered Bonds [Book Three]

Chapter 6: Awakening

        Nothing felt like the moonlight.

        Christiana found her way to the doors with little thought but the need to be outside, to see the moon with her eyes and feel its light against her skin. Her mind was blank, chasing the white light that filtered through the windows until she found herself beneath it. Her feet were bare against the stone leading from the door before finding the gravel that made up the circle drive in front of the mansion. A light breeze blew by, and she drew in a deep breath as she looked up.

        Stars glared down at her from their positions in the sky, almost as if they were waiting, the same as she was. She could feel it through the moonlight that met her skin, surrounding her where she stood on the grounds like energy. Her eyes darted to the moon then, the slits of her pupils narrowing as they stared up, taking it in.

        There was a whisper in her mind, a name by some language she could not recognize, but it felt true. It felt like her name, the very sound of it beckoning her. Home. 

        How long she stood there, she did not know. Finally, she felt a shudder run through her being, a tingling sensation that dragged through her body and led to the ends of her fingertips and toes. Eyes staring, back straight, she barely registered the hue glowing around her. No fear rose inside of her; all she felt was trust. Whatever it was, it would take her, bring her to where she needed to be. It grew around her, encircling her in a purple sphere that came to a close where the moon remained overhead.

        Her eyes closed, and with a deep breath, the sphere gave a final shudder and swallowed her with it.

        The Xavier grounds were empty, once again.

        When she opened her eyes, she could see the sphere melting away, the tingling sensation subsiding. The stars looked different than the patterns she saw before, the moon holding a different position in the sky than before. There was the buzzing of minds around her, more than she had felt in the mansion, but she did not focus on them. Instead, her eyes narrowed, adjusting to the dark around her in the new place, ready to take in her surroundings. 

        The ground was dirt with no stone or gravel. The very smell of the air around her was different, yet almost familiar. She stood surrounded by stone structures in a square that encased her. There was a path that could lead her away, but she knew better. Something called beneath where she stood, and she searched the ground for the answer.

        Just a few feet away from her, centered in the square where she remained, was a hold in the ground. There appeared to be a heavy cloth thrown aside from it, where it must have covered it before. Christiana knew that was it, where she needed to be. 

        She could feel it, the sense of home, of answers as she approached the hole in the ground. Wasting no time, she stepped down and made her way down, following where the hole led her. The inside was incredibly dark, but her cat eyes adjusted so she could see the tunnel leading her down further into the earth.

        Her hands dragged against the walls of the tunnel, collecting dirt beneath her nails as she stepped over chunks of rock and stone that littered the path. Closer and closer, she could feel the answers nearing with every step.

        At the end of the tunnel, she found herself in a large room filled with remains of the walls that had stood before. Some stood halfway, marking and symbols etched along their bases, telling stories she felt like she should know as if she had been there when they were written.

        Still, something beckoned her forward towards the center of the room. She could see the slightest shimmer of metal with her eyes, a structure that came to a tip, surrounded by debris. Christiana stepped forward in a rush, hands reaching out to shove at the large pieces of stone, desperate to uncover the pyramid structure. It could not remain covered; she knew that, felt it inside of her.