N. G. Blackwood
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Chapter 12 - Ruins
🕑 Added 2025-02-21 17:21:01 +0000 UTCAfter Erik made his way through a collapsed section of the wall, he found himself in a small, dark alleyway. Two-story stone houses lined both sides of it, some of which had collapsed rooftops or walls, while others were in ruins.
Staying still, he strained his ears and eyes, but nothing stood out. There was no movement. Slowly, he made his way forward while peeking through some of the windows. Derelict wooden furniture was inside most of the rooms, and there didn't appear to be anything of value.
This is probably the residential district.
Reaching the end of the valley, it opened up on a main road. He peeked on either side, but he saw nothing that moved. The road itself cut across the city from the south all the way to the heart of it, where a large half-ruined castle stood. Cautiously and keeping to the shadows, Erik decided to check it out.
Steadily, he moved down the main road, and a clearer picture of the city's state unfolded before him. Many of the buildings were in complete ruin. Some heaps of rotted wood stood here and there on the road itself, most likely from carts and carriages. However, something was starting to bother Erik. He wasn't sure what, but he felt like he was missing something.
After a while, he was starting to close in on the castle but stopped as he saw a particularly large wreckage of a building. He went closer to examine it and found numerous books among the remains.
A library? Or some sort of a guild?
He got a little excited. Perhaps he could find some answers here. But after looking through some of the books, they were all completely destroyed. Their insides fell apart the moment he opened them. The pages were far too molded, and the runes far too faded to be legible.
Still, he looked around and noticed that there was a smaller building that still stood, which seemed to have been attached to the larger one.
Curious, the young man walked over to one of the windows and cautiously peered through to vines inside. It was dark and empty. Some of the wooden furniture of what appeared to be a living room was overturned, and dust and cobwebs were everywhere. There was a small bookcase against the wall, at the far back.
He decided that he should look into it, maybe these books had survived.
The front door was unlocked and left slightly ajar. He opened it slowly to ensure it didn't start creaking loudly and made his way to the bookcase.
The titles on the books' spines were faded, but he could still read the majority. Most of these were on common topics. Erik pulled out one on cooking, but unfortunately the runes on the pages were quite faded. Still, these books were better preserved than the ones outside.
He put it back on the shelf and pulled out another. It had an interesting title.
World History: The First, Second, and the Current Third Age
Current Third Age? The current one is the Fifth...
This book was in the same condition as the others and revealed nothing new. But there were still a few more on history, none of them from anything later than the Third Age—the Late Antiquity Era.
Either this person was fascinated by the history of the first three eras, or they never lived past the end of the third.
It seemed likely to Erik that the city had come to ruin during that time. He skimmed through the rest of the titles, but he didn't find anything that could help him.
Signing in disappointment, he turned to leave but noticed from the corner of his eye something shiny buried under a collapsed staircase. Curious, he investigated.
After removing the wood that was piled on top of it, he found that what had caught his eye was a wooden chest with metal paddings. Runes were carved on it, but whatever sorcery they performed had long stopped functioning. Interestingly, there was no lock on it.
He flipped open the lid. Inside was a bundle of modest clothes, along with what appeared to be mementos and family memorabilia.
Sentimental...
Whoever lived here, out of everything they had, they had chosen to keep safe the stuff nobody would steal.
However, he did find something that was of interest to him. Another book, but this one with a metal clasp, and waxed leather.
No title...
Flipping it open, Erik was delighted to find out that this one had partially survived. The writing was a bit faded as well, but still legible at times. After scanning the first few pages, Erik realized that it was the journal of the person who was most likely the owner of the house.
There were a few dates written, and he confirmed that this city existed during the Third Age. Most of the writing was mundane and personal, the everyday goings-on of this person. Apparently, they were the librarian in the city, which explained the books.
Erik skimmed through it, and towards the end, he found a passage that gave him a better understanding of what happened in the city.
...The governor's vile practices are getting out of hand lately. It's an open secret at this point. Most are afraid of talking about it, but it's palpable in the air how everyone feels about it. Even in our current era, when everyone thinks that the end is approaching and abhorrent practices are everywhere, it doesn't justify it. It's just... sometimes I feel like I've been corrupted by the past...
...I've spent most of my time pouring over ancient text and the history of Nelum. Especially The Dawn of Humanity—The Golden Age—with the rise of the first Exalted and then the following reigns of the subsequent two, each one shepherding humans into greater heights, has left me dreaming and wanting of better times... And what have we come to now? Cowering and hoping that HE doesn't find us and slaughter us...
There was a part that was scratched out after that.
...Instead of banding together to weather these dark times, everyone devolves further into hedonism and barbarity. The library practically has no resources allocated to it. Everything is going towards buying more slaves for the mines or for hunting the local essence beasts. The poor creatures were docile in the wild, preferring to roam under the open sky, yet...
The runes in the following part were nearly carved out erratically on the paper.
...the fighting pits are practically full at all times! FULL! And not just with essence beasts... despicable...
It was followed by a barely legible last line.
I am losing hope.
The rest of the writing was too faded.
Erik sighed in disappointment, as he was unable to glean any information about the Whisper Tree. But what was written made him think.
Although he did not find what he wanted, he learned a bit more about the potential causes of the downfall of the city. Based on the wild destruction, it was most likely the result of the essence beasts going feral.
But no matter how degraded things had gotten, there should have been Rune Bearers present to contain the situation... mere animals should not be enough to do this. Maybe it was an uprising against this governor? Hmm... I am missing something.
The Third Age was known as the Dark Era because all three of the Exalted who arose during that time spread chaos and destruction, earning them the title of Fiends. Was the librarian suggesting they were in hiding because of one of them? There were still too many questions.
He placed the journal back in the chest and made his way to the outside.
His gaze moved towards the center of the city. There was the castle he had seen earlier, but now he could see that on its west side and placed right next to it was a large circular building. It looked like a fighting arena.
Those must be the pits.
Suddenly, Erik was curious. He should take a peek before exploring the castle—he might learn more about what awaited him in the Whisper. With that in mind, he adjusted his course and made his way toward the arena.
The building had many entrances. Ancient columns supported its outer wall. And interspersed between them like guardians that had long overstayed on their duty were crumbled statues of all sorts of warriors and beasts. Like the rest of the city, the wilderness spread its reach over it as well.
A large tunnel stretched from the point where he approached. Once, it had likely been the grand entrance to the arena, barred by magnificent doors. Now, it stood wide open, sending him an ominous invitation.
Seeing no danger, he cautiously made his way inside.
The passage led directly to a large open area. Surrounding it were enough seats for the whole city, in fact...
Wh-what happened here...
The stands were full of skeletal remains—thousands of them.
Erik swallowed hard, unable to tear his gaze away from the spectacle. He worked in a graveyard so he was no stranger to corpses and skeletons, but he had never seen so many laid out bare in the open like that. Many of them were facing towards the arena, as if they had been watching it in one moment and then died the next.
He couldn't wrap his head around what could have caused this. It sent a shiver down his spine.
Tearing his gaze away, he'd almost seen enough, but wanted to have a quick look inside the large holes before he made his way to the castle. Inching forward, he reached the closest one and peeked inside.
It took his eyes a while to adjust, but to his relief, they were... mostly empty. The walls of the pits were reinforced with stone. And on each side, there were metal doors. Most of them had collapsed and opened up to what appeared to be underground passages built underneath the arena.
Inside the pit, there were shattered chains everywhere. There were also skeletal remains of what looked like wolf-sized rats.
It reminded Erik of the Shackled King's Mischief.
Although the Nilgrim was far more deformed, while this one looks... so normal. These must be the essence beasts.
He was mostly sure that the one he fought earlier had come from here. Which made sense. In some cases, Nilgrim were originally essence beasts.
Deciding that he had seen enough, he quickly backtracked and left the arena.
In a little while, he was standing in front of the castle. It was located in the middle of a plaza that all the main roads seemed to lead to. Out in the open, Erik felt a little exposed, but he did not want to rush things.
Focusing on what was the castle he saw that signs of its former glory could still be seen here and there, in the intricate facade or the imposing tower that still stood at its center.
What caught his attention most was a large, striking statue of a female warrior clad in leather armor, standing above the main gate. Her hair flowed down to her thighs. A quiver was slung across her back, and a bow rested in her right hand. Perched on her shoulder were the half-crumbling remains of a hawk.
Despite the statue’s poor state, Erik felt as though her gaze pierced him… He had no trouble recognizing the figure—and the runes below confirmed it.
This city was built by the will of Vast Horizons Exalted Sage. May she always watch over us.
Some of the twelve Exalted had many depictions, their images well known across the world. One would be hard-pressed to find anyone who did not recognize them at a glance.
Vast Horizons was among those well known—the third to rise to the Rank of Exalted, the first explorer, and the founder of the guild that had spread across the world. She had expanded humanity’s borders into the wilds more than anyone before her.
I wonder what she would have thought about the state of the city now...
Leaving any further musing for later, his sight then moved back down to the broken portcullis of the main entrance. The castle was large, and although it was collapsed in places, Erik could not see any other entrances.
He took a deep breath and entered.
The halls were desolate. Nothing had survived. But when he peeked inside the closest room, his breath caught in his throat.
It was full of bones.
Keeping as quiet as he could, Erik continued down the hall, and every room he passed was full of human remains.
Aside from that, the castle was practically barren. Just skeletal remains everywhere.
Slowly, he made his way through the main corridor, and as he neared what would most likely be the main hall, he stopped dead in his tracks.
That was because he heard human voices.
