And in my darkest moment, fetal and weeping/
The moon tells me a secret, her confidant/
As full and bright as I am/
This light is not my own and/
A million light reflections pass over me/
The source is bright and endless/
She rescusitates the hopeless/
Without her we are lifeless satellites drifting/

- Tool - "Reflection"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja3LGFY1i0o


Sometimes kindness speaks in tongues with one of them/
I can see love in her eyes/
And if I fall death will never stain one of his hands/
I find safety in these lies./
A second chance at life is all I've dreamed of/
For now inside these walls I stay/

- Periphery - "Priestess"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8SvF8MLrHI

---

Planet [unknown]

[unknown] Nebula

[unknown] Arm


[unknown] lightyears from Earth


May 3rd


“Come closer,” a hushed voice issued. “Let me have a look at you.”

Stopping altogether, the rabbit was startled by her sudden change in circumstance.

Suddenly distressed, Maven nearly leapt out of her skin and asked, “Huh? Who said that?”

Blinking awake, Maven found herself standing inside a building she’d never seen. The spacious interior was warmed by bright sunlight shimmering through tall, ornate windows, yet where the sun didn’t shine, it also appeared as dark and desolate as an unopened sepulcher. These walls and most other smooth surfaces she could see were composed of charcoal gray basalt bricks. While brick lined the walls, the floor was entirely comprised of unblemished black marble speckled with white splintered veins. The sterilized air and antiseptically polished sheen of every surface lent a lifeless yet sacred property to the premises. Groaning underneath was the steady, soft rumble of machines at work. However, Maven’s interest was transfixed on an ornamentally-framed, geodesic dome embedded into the bricks a good fifty feet away from where she stood. The sunlight saturating the oppressively solemn interior through the dome’s glass paneling was an island of warmth protruding up from an ocean of gloom.

“I’ve seen you once before. Either in my past or my future, I have seen your face.”

The speaker’s voice was oddly subdued and bathed in reverb. He wasn’t so much whispering so much as he was speaking from the other end of a long tunnel. Yet in the eerie, unsettling silence it was relatively easy to understand his queries and commands. Whomever it belonged to must’ve been old, tired and haggard.

“Come closer. I must insist. I can’t commune with you if I can’t bridge a connection.”

With increasing unease, Maven asked, “Who are you? I don’t understand what you mean.”

“If I may ask, child, what is your name?”

“Uh, M-Maven,” she nervously stammered. “I’m Maven.”

“I don’t wish to frighten you, Maven, but the longer you stay, the more danger you may encounter. I know we have only met, but I do not want any harm to befall you.”

“Okay,” the rabbit said apprehensively, stepping backward, “but who are you, and why can’t I see you?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been sleeping for too long. I can’t remember. At least, not now. I’m not yet in phase; but please, tell me, how were you able to access this temple?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know how I got here. If I’m not supposed to be here, I’ll leave. I just need to find an exit.”

The rabbit was unsure why she was acquiescing so soon, but when the disembodied speaker spoke again, there were hints that her response had fascinated him to some extent.

“You would not be present if your presence here served no purpose,” the voice replied with palpable incredulity. “I don’t know how you accomplished it, but you’ve achieved the impossible. The gate is closed, and yet here you are.”

The rabbit then felt a presence beside her take form. She still couldn’t see it crystallize into anything, but it took the form of a cold spot drifting in from the breeze. Maven intuited that this apparition was likely the speaker she sought and turned to face the direction she felt the cold spot manifest.

“I wasn’t lying,” said the rabbit, addressing the empty space to her right. “I don’t know how I got here. It’s like when you’re dreaming and after one dream ends another begins. This is like I’m starting in the middle of a new dream, but this isn’t like any dream I’ve ever had.”

“Yes, you are here, and yet you are not. I see that now,” the voice confirmed, sounding closer than ever. “I’ve been dreaming for far too long, and I’ve only recently awoken. An intruder made its presence known. A former inhabitant. He woke me from my long sleep. Unlike you, however, it harbored a wicked intent. It was searching for a visitor like you, but I do not know what became of either. You didn’t happen to chance upon them, did you?”

“No, you’re the first I’ve met since I got—”

A sudden flash of light caught her eye just then, and its source came from none other than the splendid geodesic dome which first captured her interest upon waking. It was there, standing conspicuously under the glare, Maven saw the translucent likeness of figure gazing out the window. Even though its back was turned to her, the young woman could still perceive a few key features even with its presence shimmering like a blue-tinted mirage.

“Hello?”

After Maven received no response, the rabbit hailed the stranger once more. In the tomblike silence, Maven’s voice resonated in the stale, melancholy air like a loud bell.

“Hello? Can you hear me over there?”

Captivated by what she was witnessing, her feet thrust her toward the geodesic dome like they’d taken on a life of their own. The young woman felt the chill in the air shadow her from behind as if the spectral figure which had formed beside her was now silently trailing each step she took. As the rabbit approached the wraithlike stranger, the more details she could discern from under the glare. With each new step, Maven saw that this new presence retained features she recognized as inherently familiar and intrinsically male. Much like her, it was a rabbit. The telltale tall ears and petite tail were plainly visible. While Maven could only guess that the ghost was a young man about her age, the short, austere haircut and athletic physique surely gave that distinct impression. However, upon crossing the threshold’s boundary, the specter quickly disappeared.

“Intriguing. Much like you, Maven, he’s a visitor,” the bodiless voice determined. “Although, he is decoherent. As of now, you cannot interact with him. What I find intriguing is that he must also be here under similar circumstances. He, too, is here in spirit, but not in body. I wonder if the two of you originated from the same star system.”

“Star system,” Maven muttered in astonishment.

Upon reaching the position where he stood, Maven gasped and marveled at the view she was experiencing. The geodesic dome overlooked a gargantuan facility composed of stained glass and dark basalt bricks. Megalithic spires, columns and towers soared into the blue sky like monumental displays of inconceivable ingenuity shrouded in heavy fog. What left the rabbit awestruck in that moment wasn’t the massive scale of this complex but by what was seen suspended above it. The large, icy rings of a cyan-tinted gas giant were protruding from the horizon’s edge. Orbiting around the celestial body’s mass were numerous cratered satellites coalescing together in an intricate spectacle within an alien sky.

“It’s real, isn’t it? Wherever I am right now,” said the rabbit, stepping back from the window, “it’s not a dream, hallucination or anything like that. This is real. All of it.”

The constant gentle grinding beneath the surface suddenly grew louder. The rabbit turned in time to behold a configuration of basalt bricks unfold out of the wall and seal them inside the dome. An adjacent array of flashing blue lights revealed itself near the emerging wall. Once done, the entirely room promptly descended much like an elevator. The rabbit looked up and saw the lavish glass dome shrink down into an insignificant circle of sunlight the deeper she descended.

Disquieted by this sudden change, Maven asked, “Where is it taking us?”

After she received no response, the rabbit instinctively searched the small cabin for signs of life. However, there was no glimmering mirage in sight, and the chill had since deserted her.

“I hope he’s okay.”

It took several seconds for the cabin to slip under the dense fog. The speedy plunge into the haze should have elicited an unfathomable fear, but for Maven, that fear never manifested. Even when the elevator veered back into the building proper and was thus surrounded by absolute darkness, the young woman felt only genuine wonderment in the voyage. Once back inside, the small cabin passed a series of luminous pylons which momentarily bathed the glass enclosure in eerily lurid blue light. Less than a half-minute upon descending, the elevator came to an abrupt halt as that same configuration of basalt bricks withdrew to reveal a darkened corridor. As Maven’s eyes adjusted to her new surroundings, she was taken aback by the sudden reappearance of the blue-tinted mirage. Again, Maven swiftly moved toward the idle visage of a young man standing before an illuminated set of doors at the end of the corridor.

“Wait!”

Racing out the elevator with a singular, inscrutable desire, the rabbit ran down the hall. While she wasn’t entirely sure how this shadow could entice her to act with such haste, nevertheless, Maven still felt an inexplicably strong connection with this young man on such a primal, visceral level. The words which came to mind were surprising in substance but natural in their candor. For whatever reason, the rabbit felt this shadow’s kinship as certain as the very air she breathed. As the distance separating them closed, the more it became apparent to her that she knew this boy.

“Please wait!”

The heavy, filigree doors slowly opened the moment she came within twenty feet of it. Standing within the bright crease of white light dividing the heavy doors down the middle, Maven swore that the figure heard her steps fast approaching. Before the light fully engulfed the blue-tinted mirage, she swore the figure appeared to look over his shoulder. With both eyes wide from surprise, at long last, the young man acknowledged her.

“Please! I can help you!”

Before they collided, the mirage collapsed, and the young man’s image dissipated like a cloud of smoke. Thankfully, the rabbit was able to catch herself from tumbling past the edge once she came to an abrupt stop. Speechless, the rabbit was left standing all alone inside the entrance of strange chamber.

Nearly out of breath, she asked, “What happened?”

Beyond the heavy, filigree doors laid a neatly-arranged, circular room reinforced by massive black and white columns. The floor was primarily comprised of four descending concentric circles alternating from white to black starting from the door. In the center of it all at the very bottom was the sole source of light in the small space. The light which shone came from what appeared to be the still water of an ablution pool. The water, if one could call it such, was so flat and so tranquil that it seemed more like a sheet of glass than a body of still water. However, upon closer scrutiny, Maven could see its surface ripple ever so slightly the closer she approached it. The young woman was so hypnotized by the blue water’s radiance and the sounds it emanated that the root of her enthrallment had not yet registered.

“That sound,” she muttered, stopping altogether. “I know that sound; but from where?”

The water’s surface was then wrinkled by an emerging entity rising from the pool. This article was, in fact, the source of the spellbinding sounds compelling Maven to enter. It was a floating cube alight with colors and resonating with sounds which stimulated memories she could not consciously recall but still lingered out of reach beneath the surface. As the warbling artifact rose to meet her eager grasp, the rabbit was titillated by the possibility of revelation.

“Wind chimes,” said the rabbit, attempting to draw out these elusive memories. “They’ve always been wind chimes, haven’t they? Ever since I was little. How did I forget? All this time I—”

With a single glance, she looked down and her train of thought instantly unraveled. With eyes filled with astonishment, the rabbit saw the boy’s reflection in the tranquil waters. The features she saw were muted and obscured by shadow, but nevertheless, Maven still recognized them. Even though her mind had forgotten him, her heart still remembered. Whoever he was, much like the sound of wind chimes, the truth behind it remained frustratingly out of reach.

As Maven spoke, the other mouthed her words. Together, they whispered in unison.

“How did I forget you?”

---

Honestly, I can't thank  aerokat enough for all her hard work and effort. I truly love how this commission came together, and it would not have happened if not for her. It's through her talents that characters like Maven come to life, and for that I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to commission her so often. Maven was one character I'd longed to see brought to life, and as always,  aerokat did not disappoint!

If you like what you see here and on her page, then check out Patreon page if you'd like to help support her craft:
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art is ©  aerokat

Maven Kelley is ©  nazcapilot