It was not the voice of Ixh’reya that spoke, but a collective of others unfamiliar to me. There was a sense of reassurance and resolution within them—the alarmingly calm tone, the way the words held authority though made me feel as if I were the one in control of my thoughts.

No matter the way you take, your path will find you.
We will walk by your side.
We will assimilate.

I began to make my way into the plain. Whether it was of my own desire or the desire of those who spoke to me, in hindsight that point was irrelevant. Behind me rested an ocean of eternal darkness and unknown horrors—a graveyard to any hope of an easy return to my reality, if there was one at all.

The concept of time seemed to have no place within Ahm’qir Tzoa. There was no sun to indicate day, no moon to indicate night. What felt like seconds I could not distinguish from hours and what felt like hours could not be distinguished from seconds. I had no desire for food nor for water no matter the distance I traveled, which in and of itself felt immeasurable. I had watched as the various features of the landscape passed by and fell into the ever-expanding space between myself and the sea behind me. It began to feel more endless than the void that had brought me there. 

Time, or the absence of it, continued on, and as the world around me remained boundless and unchanging, my desire for a divergence in my journey, regardless of the outcome, grew tenaciously. The fears that clouded my mind began to subside, and instead of hoping for a way out of this realm, I simply hoped for a way to overcome it—a way to understand it.

***

Relinquish the mind and grant the flesh control.

I awoke to the sound of a choir of voices, all similar to my own, echoing against my skull. The infinitely-distant, guttural chants that had plagued my ears up until my slumber had now dwindled to deep hums of entrancing tones that emanated from within the temple that now stood in front of me; it was unlike every other I had seen along the way—small, and constructed of rich and calming earthen-toned stone—a humble sanctuary that held a beckoningly portentous presence. Flames traced with violent rose-colored flickers filled the braziers that rested on either side of an eroded stairwell. Atop the stairs was a column-lined terrace that preceded a decorated entrance to the chambers. 

Embrace.

The word resonated from within. The origin of it unbeknownst to me, this is what I had desired—a shift. Anything to create a ripple of comprehension within the anti-time loop that had woven its web around me. The abraded carvings of otherworldly beings and symbols along the entablature glowed with a welcoming radiance that spoke to me with familiarity even though I could not interpret its tongue.

I made my way up the steps, paused at the top. I stared through the dimly lit threshold from afar. It was as if I were peering into the void once more, uncertain of where an end might be but destined to reach one. I wondered again if this was to be my fate all along—if this hunger to understand Ahm’qir Tzoa—to become a part of it—had been an inevitable means for me to meet whatever new reality awaited my arrival.

Come.
Pray.

I was standing under the engraved arch-shaped entryway before my mind had realized it. The choir of my voices hummed from within the temple, each speaking with a warm, humanizing timbre of its own universe separate from mine. My mind flashed back to the ravine’s edge, when I realized that the angel of blood was not in chains but unbound and free to execute her will, and when my desire of escape became one of embrace.

This is the path of grace.
Come.
Pray.

I stepped forward into the darkness.