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Words cannot describe the awe I feel in this moment. The sheer beauty of what I see before me stirs my soul.
This ethereal lush sunlit cave, hidden from the world’s greed in smooth mossy white stones. What I can only assume is divinity in tall ferns and blossoming vines hanging from the stalactites.
My bag drops from my shoulder and I fall to my knees, gaping at the marvelous, heavenly creature. Though I’m not sure how, I can tell it’s a she.
Her electric-blue gaze bores into me, curious but cautious. Her serpentine body remains loosely coiled around a glowing gem that hovers above a spire of large jagged pebbles. The strong muscles ripple beneath her pure white fur coat as she shifts to get a better view of me through the foliage. Her thick mane and long whiskers similar to a desert pocket mouse’s tail, wave gently in an non-existent breeze.
With a hammering heart, I slowly step closer. I hold my breath in an absurd attempt to stay quiet because with each step I take, the pebbles crunch and clatter under my boots. I hear her soft breaths the closer I get. With each gentle huff, the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand. Breathless, I reach out my hand, heart pounding, eyes aglow.
Her muzzle is velvet beneath my palm and a faint rumble comes from her throat, a sort of purr perhaps.
Suddenly her tail lashes my stomach and I tumble across the stones, flattening ferns and tearing up moss. My vision blurs in and out of focus as I cough, staining the ivory pebbles red. The palpitation of my heart slows, along with time it seems, as I watch a colorless light build up in the creature's majestic maw.
My skin tingles vigorously until my muscles seize. Breath and heartbeat make their final sound as I come to my endmost realization.
In her eyes was not curiosity and caution and her purr was a growl. The lovely misshapen ivory stones are the bones of past people that ignored her warning.
Fated to join those sorry souls by the thunderous judgment of the holy guardian, I get one last obscure glimpse of the gem that she protects.
‘’...right… …that’s why I was here…’’ My last thought fades, barely able to remember the importance of the gem, my quest and the test.