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Side Story 5. Within the Woods, there is a House
🕑 Added 2025-09-29 02:53:35 +0000 UTCI nervously looked out the window, staring at the root-infested streets of Alenia’s Sanctum City. I spat out the sunflower seed shell I’d been chowing down on. For some reason, they had this seemingly bottomless complimentary bowl at the centre of our room.
Truly, the only saving grace of being stuck here for over a week: that and the fascinating sight of the overgrown city.
Galvian was lazily reading a book by a window alcove while wearing little more than underwear… Sometimes, I wonder if he even considers me a woman, but I guess that’s what happens when you spend so much time with someone.
It still astounded me how nonchalant he could be.
Was it a curse or a blessing?
Who knows, but it sure irritates me to see him enjoying himself while I’m quietly agonising a few feet away from him.
‘Await further instructions.’
That was the order we had received from our contact after giving them the message… And waiting we do.
I let out a sigh.
“Hersia, I swear to Seeir, if you won’t just relax, at least don’t be a drag and go take a walk or something.”
I scoffed.
“And be missing when our orders finally arrive? No, thank you.”
It was his turn to let out a sigh as he closed his book. He stood up from his perch and put on some pants before heading for the door.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
He looked at me with an annoyed expression.
“Following my own advice. Going for a walk before I shove what’s left of those seeds down your throat.”
He started leaving the room.
I felt my head churn for a moment before accidentally letting a few words escape my mouth.
“Wait… Uh…”
“What now?”
He turned to me, annoyed.
We shouldn’t be leaving the room, but…If I’m alone here…
“I’ll come as well…”
He looked at me incredulously for a moment before rubbing the bridge of his nose and letting out a sigh.
He stepped aside, letting me lead the way.
“So where were you thinking of going?”
I asked him, not expecting much from him.
“Don’t know… I was thinking of asking the Innkeeper for some place to eat…”
Just as we started down the stairs, we ran into our contact.
It wasn’t something unusual as this ‘inn’ seemed to act as some sort of base of operation for the Grey order and its associates.
Her name was Galeshia and had very little of the usual demeanour of the members of our order… Although that might be just fine for a local agent who had to blend in.
“Aye, kins! Ye goin’ out?”
“Ah, yes, just to catch some fresh air.”
“Aye ‘tis a sunny day I’ll give ye that!”
The Aleniakin said with a smile as she stared out a window.
“Well, if, da both of ye ain’t too strapped fo’ time, ye wanna go for a small excursion?”
Excursion?
That sounds like a mission… Exactly what I need!
“Sure, why not?”
“Great! Let’s head out then!”
Well, that’s a turn for the better.
For once, it paid off to follow Galvian’s lead… Although this isn’t exactly the type of ‘mission’ I had been looking forward to.
After a short explanation, it seemed that the excursion entailed a painfully trail through the thick forest toward an indiscernible destination.
The only saving grace was that this was an actual trail, as opposed to the trap the old man had led us through, which allowed for horses.
As we started down our journey, Galvian chipped in.
“Say, Galeishia. Why are the trails so…”
“Poorly maintained?”
She finished his sentence.
“I was going to say it some other way… But yeah…”
She shrugged.
“‘Tis how it's been fo’ more than a century nouw. Ye might have heard ‘bout da heresy of Duke o’ Sunbarrow?”
Who hadn’t? But I let her continue.
“Well, after da Duchy of Sunbarrow was no mo’e, replaced by da Grand Duchy, and da surviving members of our people were able to rejoin, it was decided by our leaders da we should recuse ourselves in Alenia’s Sanctum, to avoid any future… How do ya people call it… Displacement? ‘Nyway. Point bein’, it’s to defend ourselves. Armies canna invade us if they can’t reach us.”
We came across another group of Alenia-kin who casually greeted us. I was puzzled to see they were driving a carriage.
“But then, how exactly do you ferry goods on these roads? Don’t things get stuck?”
She laughed.
“Aye, if YE were to do so, it would, but for us…”
She pointed forward, and after a moment, the root which blocked the way swayed aside.
“..Tis but a minor inconvenience.”
Interesting.
“But then, if one of your kins were to betray the Sanctum…”
“Aye, it would be inconvenient, but that’s unlikely… And if one of our own was to betray us, it would amount to heresy.”
I nodded.
We continued our travel for some time, passing many small settlements.
Galeshia never told us where we were heading, and by the time the question formed in my head, it felt the timing wasn’t right anymore, but the question answered itself soon enough.
“What in Diid’s name is that?”
I heard Galvian swear to himself.
Before us stood probably the largest structure I had ever seen outside of Evergreen.
It looked like… Well, there’s really nothing I could compare it to.
It was an immense stone structure, built in what looked like three receding levels that cumulated into a cracked dome through which an enormous tree had sprouted. On either side of the dome, aqueducts poured down the structure like man-made waterfalls. It trickled down the structure until the edge of a cliff, which fed into the river currently blocking our path.
I turned to Galeisha, and she smiled knowingly.
“A god’s sanctum, kins.”
“Uh?!”
I let out a strange noise unconsciously.
A sanctum was a god’s residence… But…
“It’s not Alenia’s, is it?”
I asked her, confused.
She shook her head.
“Nay, if ‘twas Alenia’s, they’d already be a city built around it… Or at least it would be a little better guarded. Nay, this is a dead god’s home.”
I felt a shiver run down my spine.
Gods couldn’t ‘die’ per se, but they could become somewhat irrelevant. A dead god specifically refers to a god whose worship reached a point such that their influence over the world has become so weak that they could no longer grant blessings… But the blessings weren’t the only thing affected…
“Whose?”
Galvian asked, and after a moment of hesitation, added.
“And why so close to Alenia’s Sanctum?”
The kin shrugged.
“No one knows. Well, ‘xcept the gods I gather. Ain’t none of our business ‘nyway. We’re here to ma’e sure this place is clean. Ferals and scoundrels love this kinda place fo’ some reason.”
I frowned at her comment.
“Aren’t we a little under-manned to clear out a potential criminal hideout?”
She raised an eyebrow with an amused look.
“Well, ain’t we confident Missus Grey Knoight.”
She chuckled.
“Nay, I’m just teasin’. It’s only a short scootin’ mission. We spot anythin’ and we’ll just report it to da garrison. They’ll clear it out. But dona worry. It’s probably empty. Just people up top gettin’ a bit fussy is all. Come on, let’s head in.”
We tied our horses and started our walk across the stone bridge. It was large enough to accommodate three carriages side-by-side. I couldn’t help but wonder how such a place could fall into such disrepair.
Although most of the structure was still intact, it was overgrown by bushes, ferns and wild moss… And the pierced dome atop it all stood like a crooked crown on this fallen divine household.
We reached the large metal gate shortly. I wondered for a moment if we were supposed to somehow push these brass doors open on our own, but Galeisha simply headed for the centre, where, encrusted within the elaborate design, the door split into a smaller set, only large enough to let two people through.
Instinctively, I had started taking out my oil lamp, but seeing that the kin didn’t bother doing the same, Galvian and I simply followed suit, and after seeing the inside, that turned out to be the right decision.
The inside was… Spacious.
One would have expected long and cavernous corridors from the austere-looking exterior, but instead, the inside was built on four levels of interconnected passageways that led to what seemed like small building-sized rooms and alcoves. The large waterfalls we had noticed pouring from the top outside seemingly also fed a system of water canals that flowed throughout the interiors. The ceiling was dotted with lightwells, which reflected in these water canals and further illuminated the ceiling and walls with aquatic patterns.
I had been dubious at first when Galeisha mentioned this place would be the type to attract unwarranted residents; I was now more surprised that it had not.
“Heck, I would move in here…”
I mumbled to myself unconsciously.
“Roight? Well, we sometimes hold festivals in here, but the place’s keeper wouldna tolerate any more than dat.”
“Didn’t you say this was a dead god’s sanctum? They’re still around?!”
Galvian asked incredulously.
I perked up. A god? In here? Right now?
“Nay, they here no more… But da kinling, that she sure is.”
A god’s eternal servant? I would be lying if I said I wasn’t almost equally curious.
“Can we meet her?”
I asked as we continued making our way down the large stone pathway, flanked on both sides by water currents and catwalks splitting toward different rooms and walkways.
She shrugged.
“She’s quite… Shoy. Donna, get your hopes up.”
We continued down the path and arrived at what looked like the centre of the building, which had more in common with a town place than any hall I’d ever seen. Beyond being surrounded by walkways, waterways and doorways to unknown rooms, in the centre of the place, beneath the cracked dome, grew a large tree surrounding a pit.
Or at least, I thought it was a pit, but as we grew closer, I realised that the hole continued much deeper than I expected.
Drawn by it, I walked until I was only a few feet from the edge and peered down.
It was deep.
So deep I couldn’t even see the bottom.
“I reckon yee shoul’ take care na to trip. Ne’er heard o’ anyone falling down, but I donna think yee wanna find out what’s at the bottom.”
I let out a nervous chuckle and backed away.
“Ye two, take it easy fo’ a bit. Jus’ need to check on som’thing.”
Galeishia went ahead on her own, leaving Galvian and me to gawk at the scenery.
The air was strangely refreshing. The summer heat didn’t quite reach us here, but the plentiful lights filtering in mixed with the humid breeze of the water rushing all around us made for a relaxing atmosphere.
I leaned against the remains of a collapsed pillar and closed my eyes for a moment.
I felt calm. More than I had in months.
There were many things that had led me to this very moment, mistakes mostly, but right now I felt at peace.
I knew this was only a scooting mission, a little more than a house call, which Galeishia would have been more than able to do on her own, but I felt useful.
I felt needed.
And, perhaps most importantly, I was part of something.
“What god do you figure made this place?”
Galvian asked.
Compared to his other interruptions over the last week, I didn’t feel irritated. It felt… Apt.
As though this question had to be asked.
I opened my eyes once more and slowly looked across the place, looking for some sort of clue.
“Not sure really. Dead gods don’t tend to become that way when they’re widely known in the first place. Maybe the water’s a clue?”
I suggested as I glanced behind me.
A short trickle of water was pouring down from an upper gallery down to where once stood the other part of the pillar I was currently resting on.
I hadn’t really questioned it much, but it was truly curious to see all this moving water around the place.
By all means, we were above the river’s level, and I doubt there had been enough rain in the last few days to feed such an elaborate system, but then, where did it come from?
“Good point. Reminds me a bit of a fountain of sorts… Although this looks much more complicated.”
I nodded in agreement.
I wasn’t much of an engineer or technical person in the first place, so I didn’t have the first clue about how a fountain worked, but it would make sense.
“So… Maybe an artisan god of sorts? The likes that would know how to make them?”
Galvian shrugged at my suggestion.
“I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t be a god for something so specific…”
“How so? Nevaris is the patron saint of fermentation, Ercai of carpentry… It wouldn’t be too far-fetched.”
“Well, carpentry is a very useful skill…”
“So, gods have to be useful now? Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot how important Urlot’s diseases were to society! Oh, and who could forget Gills and his… What was it again?”
Galvian glanced up at me with an annoyed expression.
“Shadows… But that’s completely different! It’s an essential part of life!”
“Oh yes, you’re absolutely right! What would we do if we could see everything at any time of the day? My, we may very well be out of a job!”
We continued bickering for a while until we noticed Galeishia returning.
I immediately signalled for Galvian to shut his mouth. It was one thing to argue in private, but when others were around…
“Oh, donna stop on my account! Love ta hear a good shooting match!”
She said with a smile at the corner of her lips.
I could feel my cheek reddening in embarrassment.
“‘Nyway, if I’m not interrupting too much, I got somethin’ to show ye.”
Curious, I pushed myself off my spot while Galvian, almost as promptly, jumped to his feet and dusted his pants.
We followed the kin down a walkway and then through a large gate that led to a staircase heading beneath the ground.
The atmosphere became more claustrophobic. The walls narrowed around us into a long tunnel, which didn’t split nor turn.
It took us several minutes of walking through increasing darkness to finally reach the end of the tunnel and enter a large room.
I wasn’t sure what I was looking at, but it looked similar to the watermill systems in Evergreen.
Large stone basin, with long copper tubes pouring or draining water out of pools. There were other things around. They reminded me a bit of those strange furnace smiths used, but more elaborate.
Although the room looked and felt very busy, it was extremely quiet, as though all those stone gates moving and opening to drain water were little more than decorations. The water was also illuminated somehow. Perhaps it had something to do with light wells in the room above, but the light carried down here gave the entire room a strange,e ethereal feel.
I could tell something else was going on in here….
Or there had been. Large struts of metal poked from the walls, as though meant to hold some large tool, long gone from this place. I could also see chains and wheels on the walls, long rendered immobile from rust and dirt.
This room had once been very important.
For what? Only gods knew… Or one of them anyway.
At the end of the room stood what could only be described as an altar, which the kin approached and lightly touched, tracing the holy inscriptions engraved on it.
The only thing that stood out to me was a strange metallic indent at the top, but she didn’t bother with it.
Her hand slid along the side and seemed to find a spot on the rugged surface.
Her fingers pressed down, and surprisingly, the stone gave way, and the sound of some mechanism was heard. Without a warning, a loud rocky growl roared, and the wall that had been right in front of us began lifting itself.
Confused, we looked on as an enormous cavernous room was made visible to us.
Within it, more elaborate waterway systems, stone gates and large wheels moved in indiscernible patterns. Beyond it all, a light shone and illuminated a series of 4 large spinning stone dials. Symbols were inscribed in them.
The alphabet used was from a dead tongue, but it was still familiar to some. Euronic. It dates from the 3rd Era.
The dials spun on themselves for a while and stopped on certain letters before spinning again. It repeated this same pattern over and over again, forming what I recognised to be Euronic Syllables.
It repeated over and over again, like the pendulum of a clock.
Confused, I tried to understand what it said.
“Sap-, Eroc-, Ne-, Tot-, Neib-…Sap Eroc- Ne Tot- Nieb… Sap Erocne Totneib…”
Galvian mumbled to himself as he came to the same understanding as I did.
“Not yet, soon.”
I said, nodding in agreement.
“What do you figure it means? And why bother making all this for such a simple message?”
I looked to Galeishia for answers, but she only gave a vague smile.
“Le’s call it one o’ this place's great mysteries. Since I’ve known o’ this place, it’s been repeating ‘Sap erocne, Sap erocne, sap erocne’, but then last year the pattern changed. A new word. ‘Totnieb’; Soon. I canna tell yee what’s comin’ soon, but I can tell yee this place has been countin’ down to it.”
She said before turning back to the large dial, repeating the ominous words.
Not yet, soon.
Not yet, soon.
Not yet.
Soon.
Not yet.
Soon.
Comments
1v1 Me, No Items, Fox only, Final Destination
Ominous. So, is her name Galesha, Galeshia, Galeisha, or Galeishia? Because the spelling was wildly inconsistent.
