Gate of Memoirs/Memories of a Flood

Inara recalls a cataclysmic flood that seems important in some way.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Devil's Heart"	Music: "Devil's Heart"
 	
*—Inner circle.
*What few guardians remained roamed the halls aimlessly, their biomechanical forms unaffected by the years.
*The laboratory—constructed in the ruins of a drowned palace of some sort—was littered with artifacts from some lost age.
*Here and there were remnants of the people she remembered only as indistinct forms and blinking lights.
 	
*Thumbing the fragment of a skull lying in its shattered container, Inara narrows her eyes.
*The few intact papers she could make out seemed to paint this item in an oddly intimate light.
*Inara: "Remains of artifact found near an unidentified decayed body at a depth of 3,203u."
*Inara: "Resonance with artifact observed in core sample from TSV."
*Inara: "Flagged for follow-up regarding TSV cult in the final years"...
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*Familiar Voice: My Goddess.
*Familiar Voice: Are you pleased, my Goddess?
*Familiar Voice: You have nothing to fear. I am your eternal humble servant.
 	
*Haughty Shadow: <I fear nothing, ah'legeth!>
*Haughty Shadow: <The Endless Abyss hungers.>
 	
*Inara: *gasp*
*Inara withdraws her hand from the artifact as soon as she regains her senses.
 	
*Vishap: My lady?
 	
*Inara: ... ...
 	
*Inara: I'm all right, Vishap. I just heard a voice, like yours.
 	
*Vishap: Perhapssss it is not. Though my memories are far scanter than yourssss, my lady.
*Vishap: If they are memoriessss at all.
 	
*Inara: You may be right.
*Inara: Come. There is nothing else here...
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*—Outer circle.
*The pulsing grows steadily stronger as they reach the outer sectors.
*Through the glass walls, the open sea seemed almost endless, and Inara felt herself stir longingly once more for that comforting darkness.
*?: <... ...>
 	
*A white shadow rounds the corner like a wraith, before trailing down the long hall toward Inara.
*It seemed to hover in midair, watching and waiting for a reaction.
 	
*Inara: A phantom?...
*Inara: Who are you?
 	
*The white figure inclines its head, and reaches out a small hand.
*?: Tsovinar...
 	
*Inara: ... ...
 	
*A lance of pain shoots through her skull as a vision resurfaces from the depths of buried memories.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Sky Fort"	Music: "Sky Fort"
 	
*The land swells into a tide before Inara, and thousands of serpentine creatures swarm the storm-tossed beaches.
*Each of them chanting that strangely familiar name in sibilant tones, as if it were a prayer.
 	
*Perched upon a high rock was one decked out in ceremonial garb, his grinning smirk bright against the dark clouds.
 	
*Standing against the swarm were armor-clad humans, their nervous grips on their weapon as awkward as their bipedal gait.
*Though the storm threatened to drown out his voice, it rang out clear as day in Inara's mind:
 	
*Saerenthis: Rise, my Goddess!
 	
*With a great cacophony the two tides clashed, tearing flesh and ringing metal lost in the cries and shouts.
*Men disappeared into the churning darkness below, their final looks of horror illuminated by the lashing lightning overhead.
 	
*And before Inara, that strange, shining form continued to beckon.
*?: Wake up, Tsovinar.
*?: Come with me...
 	
*Inara: Enough! 
*Inara: I will not be enticed by half-remembered phantoms!
*Inara: Vishap, strike!