5

 

She woke up a few minutes later, a dull throbbing in her head. Her eyes focused on the darkened face of the weasel boy.

“Sem’Illin? Are you sure?” she asked feebly.

He nodded with an apologetic smile.

“And this is really a ruin of the Gods?” she asked even more desperately.

He nodded more vigorously.

She sat up and hugged her legs to her chest, letting out a feeble, hopeless moan.

She sat like this for another few hours, just staring around her in wonder. The room was large, the ceiling stretching up into the dark abyss above the lightened area of the orb’s glow. The shelves were made of stone, carved from the rock and immensely tall, as tall as the room. They held a myriad of contraptions, devices, and artifacts, none of which she could identify. At the far end of the room was an illuminated work table, taking up the entire corner. There was a similar type of illuminating device as a glow orb but it was attached to wires and had no dark lines running through it. On the desk, papers and metals and small parts were scattered about, spilling off on to the floor and into the open drawers. Tools hung on hooks in the walls behind the desk. In front of the desk, a few feet away, supported by one of the shelves was the hammock that Angelous had used.

Zomera got up once to wander into one of the caverns, but she returned a moment later and sat back on the bed and hugged her knees. The bed was at the opposite end of the room as Angelous’s hammock. It was partially hidden by one of the shelves, with only the foot of the bed in his view. Zomera felt safe in this small little alcove, safer than she would were she anywhere else in the ruins.

Angelous watched the girl from his hammock, a good thirty to forty feet away. He felt sorry for her, but he could do nothing to help her but let her think things out for herself. He read a book, glancing up from it from time to time to keep an eye on her.

After a while she got up and started to wander around the large cavern. It was mostly made up of large stone shelves that stretched to the ceiling, lined with ancient machinery and artifacts, covered in dust and cobwebs. Other parts of it contained smaller shelves of countless books and scrolls. She went on like this for another silent eternity before she spoke, startling Angelous once again.

“What was Tydatri?” she asked, her voice more confident now.

Angelous twisted around to look at her. “It was a small human city, built hundreds of thousands of generations ago. It was a port city, like Safeltsa, but much, much bigger. This was one place where they stored their goods,” he gestured around him.

Zomera shook her head, and wrenched her eyes closed, still unable to believe him. “No, this city was built by the Gods. They left it behind when they went to the heavens, and we are forbidden to go there…er…here,” she said stubbornly.

Angelous stood up from his hammock, “No this city was built by humans, long ago.”

Zomera waved her hand through the air, gesturing towards the countless metal devices, “How would you explain all this? This is all clearly the work of magic! Humans have no such power!”

Angelous bit his lip. “Long ago, humans did. They had the power to create such things, though it was not magic. They grew so powerful with their creations, they challenged the Gods themselves. The humans were cast down by a plague sent from the Gods, and their cities and society were brought down to nothing. Ruins are all that remain of them, accept for the humans that thrive now. The gods never lived here,” he said.

Zomera lifted her head and stared at the machines high up on the shelves for a while before speaking, “If what you say is true, these machines should still work by my hand, a human hand, a hand without magic,” she almost asked.

Angelous smiled, knowing that she finally believed him. “Yes, many of them you could still operate, though just as many have been wrought useless with time. It is those that I am trying to fix,” he gestured toward the work table.

Zomera nodded, still not entirely satisfied. “And there is a way out of here? A way to get food, water?”

Angelous nodded.

“And I can’t go back to the town?” she asked.

Angelous paused, “Well I supposed you could if you wanted to, but your town’s laws prohibit the aid of a criminal, being me, and you would most likely be stoned to death or hanged or something.” He shrugged, “I’m sorry, I got you into this…I had no choice…”

Zomera finally smiled, she walked over to Angelous and gave the small boy a hug. “I never want to go back again!” she yelled, her triumphant voice echoing off the cavern walls.

Angelous smiled. “Alright! Zomera, welcome to the ruins of Tydatri!”