(Scars do not appear to be cause of death –shock ... - Bad Request

In the gilded halls of the Sensoriums there was one Stone that I had
intentionally avoided. I don't know why I was afraid of it. Its sickly green
crystal seemed to pulse like a pus-filled wound. Where the silver bands that
bound other sensory stones were delicate, almost chaste in constraining the
memories that lay within, the coils of metal around this one were more like
a cage trapping the horrors that lay within.
The inscription beneath it read, "The Messenger." The innocuous name
made it all the more terrifying, somehow.
As I touched the stone, its green exterior sharpened, clashing, its brightness
becoming more than I could bear, so much so that I closed my eyes to shut it
out...
The skin along my arms are numb, as if all sensation had bled from them.
Tired... so tired. I try and blink, yet the darkness remains; my eyelids feel
soft and sluggish, unresponsive. The dirt floor is hard beneath me, and
around is the smell of coppery blood and... herbs? Why am I here? I came
here to - what? My memory fails me, but a growing panic begins to well up
within my chest...
I try to get my bearings with a futile attempt to move my limbs. Why can't I
move?
"Ah... awake now, are you? A-questioning all-a-done?" The voice is an old
woman's, thick and scratchy, as if it is trying to force its way past a thick
layer of dust. Try as I might, I cannot open my eyes and see the woman, but
a shiver of fear crawls up my spine. Something is wrong, terribly wrong. I try
to respond, but all I can manage is a ragged croak. I can't feel my tongue...
my mouth seems blank and hollow. The smell of blood is thick in my nostrils,
but why can't I taste it? And my eyes? What's wrong with my eyes?
"Now, a-see me you did, a-spoke you did and poorly, so the price have you
paid, hmnnn?" The crone sounds amused, then her tone drops sharply. "No
more of your questions; now you will LISTEN, and you will a-member my
words, for in minding me, you shall live." She hisses. "Nod if you hear me, or
ANOTHER bit shall I a-take."
I nod.
"A-member me, traveler. A-member me to a stone, one of the pretty
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