Don't look back in anger, I heard her say

another mind, another soul, another body to grow old. it's not complicated. Embraced by an unseen force you feel yourself stiffen. The sound of rock against rock surrounds you for a moment and as it fades away you can no longer move. But then you feel yourself start to float upwards. Soon you can see yourself below, absolutely stone-still. Too still. With an unpleasant jerk, you are suddenly back in your body...except you feel heavier than usual. You look at your feet, and realize they are beginning to turn to stone. Otem didn't even really mind the agonizing weight attached to each of her hooves, pulling her down. This was the Rift's doing after all, and so far the Rift had done far more for her than almost anyone else had. The Helovian's had blindly followed the wishes of their former Gods and Goddesses without question. Why should Otem's interactions with the Rift be any different? Should she perhaps be more clever as a granddaughter of a god? As Isopia's daughter- a mare who had never blindly done anything? Maybe.  But Otem wasn't just those traits that made up her history. She was so much more than that. "Alright."  Otem murmered to herself, taking a slow and shaky breath. A sheen of sweat had appeared across the autumn-coloured landscape of her body due to the extra weight she was currently pulling along. A glance downwards at her hooves showed that they were almost completely turned to stone. For the earthen child this was actually rather interesting, especially since her mother had the ability to simply melt into her environment if she stood still. Was this what it was like for Isopia? Did her body feel this heavy when she stood upon stone? "Vengeful spirit time, then." She muttered to Pandora, though really she was saying it to try and steel her nerves. Even though she still naively thought the Rift was benevolent in its own way, these were angry spirits she was meant to answer. But ... if she was meant to answer, what was the question?

_{art by Chloe!}