“My child…”
It was like a whisper on the wind, too quiet to hear and then gone. Even in the darkest hour of the night, Mother Darkness could not come here - Overground. That was what she had always believed.
And yet, there She was. It was almost too quiet for even Achlys to pick out, but the sound of the goddess was unmistakable still.
She looked all around, trying to make a guess which way it came from. Shhep skull clutched to her chest, she finally started heading outwards.
It was a long walk, and she didn't hear from Mother Darkness the whole way. Still, something deep within her told her that this was the way she was meant to go. She followed the old roads out into the periphery of Principality, and then wrapped her robes tighter around her as she turned off and walked out into the desert sand. It was colder here, where the heat from the Underground didn't radiate up and the tarmac didn't absorb a day's sun. After a short distance she stopped atop a dune and looked around. The city was still huge in her sight, and the night sky with its myriad tiny flames spotting the darkness strange, but beautiful.
She stood still and listened. One minute. Two. Five. Ten. And then…
“My child…”
It was even quieter now, as if what was left was fading away. She looked around again, her fingers pressing into Shhep's eye sockets as she tried to find some sign of what her goddess was leading her to.
Ah. There it was.
Visible from here was the next dune over, and atop it lied a small, fluffy form. She hurried over and climbed the next dune.
There was no mistaking what she was looking at. It was a shhep, the very creature her goddess had chosen as a vessel before. Down the other side of the dune were ten, twenty, fifty more, all lying in quiet slumber.
The first shhep stirred as she approached, and almost on instinct Achlys sat down next to it. It pulled its head up, looking up with her at the night sky. Principality was a frozen city, left in time a century ago. How many people had seen it like this, cast in shadow against a beautiful night sky? How many people would see it like this, before a thousand streetlights were turned back on?
Achlys relaxed. It was beautiful.
“My child…”
“Yes, mother?” asked Achlys.
The sky responded with silence for a second. Achlys' heart sank. Was that the last she would hear from Her?
“Thank you…”
Achlys reached her fingers up to the sky as the voice faded, and traced lines between the stars. She found Mother Darkness amongst them, and sketched down the constellation haphazardly. Just as had been the Goddess' wish, she would never be forgotten.
She waited for a little longer, but heard nothing more. Even through her cloak, the chill began to get to her. She gathered up the shhep by her side and her sketch and headed back into the city. Luna and Promethea, she knew, would love to see these.