Pilargadis (Priestess of the Skeleton Goddess)

(From the author's work)
...One of the amazing, and at the same time creepy, corners of Lanbi Island in the Indian Ocean is the so-called Bone Goddess Cave. This place is not accessible to the general public, besides being far from the usual tourist routes, therefore you can visit this location only by knowing about it in advance, and by agreement with the locals. The Cave of the Bone Goddess, or Gua Dewi Tulang in the local dialect, is a large karst formation up to 400 meters long, located at the southern end of the island. Geological exploration suggested that the cave was formed due to the combined work of groundwater and ocean surf waves, at a time when the cave was at sea level. Today, the entrance to the cave is located at a height of three meters above sea level, due to the tectonic rise of the land.(...)
However, the most interesting curiosities of the cave are unusual structures, consisting of human bones and calcite, about 130 cm high. There are 13 such "sculptures" in total, 7 at the bottom of one well, and 6 in the gallery next to the second. The study of these objects has raised many questions among scientists. The bones are not folded or glued, they seem to have grown together, forming a monolithic structure. The lower part also seems to grow into the floor of the cave. The objects can be conditionally divided into three segments: the "head" - a skull with an enlarged fontanel opening, from which a calcite outgrowth sticks out, the "torso" - a neck and chest deformed in the form of butterfly wings, and a "flower" that replaces the object's hip joint and legs, and consisting of many "petals", flat processes of different lengths. The locals call these structures "pilargadis", which can be translated as "maiden of the column" or "columngirl", and they treat them like living beings, talk to them, bring gifts and decorations...