The Sacred

[Valeriya]

Valeriya had never felt such fur before. It was silky like wet clay when she swiped her hand along the fibers, but it mottled and pricked her skin when she ran her palm the other direction. Her head cocked sideways, eyes lit with curiosity. The markings were odd to her, shapes that depicted no scene. Nothing that resembled the drawings like in the throne room. These were just strange scratches. Rows and rows of them.

Vale blinked at the sudden break in the silence when Regus spoke. He spoke the drawings on the fur. It took her a moment to realize that was what was happening. There were legends that people could draw the sounds. That must be what the fur showed them: drawn sounds.

What he said pricked her ears, too. The words were familiar. She repeated what he said, tasting the words on her tongue. The flow and rhythm of the words seemed off to her.
"Agi-tki. Singilgen-duli. Lang-ngachin."

And it came to her. Something deep in her memories. It was fuzzy and obtruse, like she wasn't sure if the memory was of her own real life or if it was the memory of a forgotten Vision.

"Tingyuan,"
but she didn't know what it meant, but even as the word echoed in their ears, images of green flashed across the sight of the Eye.