Finally. It actually worked. Output has been minimal, but if the conductor and the panels are improved, I’m sure this will result in more than a flicker of light. Efficacy is estimated to be around 0.08%. All this energy, from nothing. I could power a whole city with this.

Diary entry from Aqueel nur-Yiban, later known as the founder of Al-Talash, dated 1261 b.f.

Someone tapped his shoulder. Silas jolted awake, his empty hand gripping a weapon that wasn’t there. Red swam before his vision. Unwanted, violent thoughts surged from the back of his head, tempting him just let loose.

A face looked down at him. “Are you alright?” Nurana’s voice shook him out of his stupor.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” A wave if disgust washed over Silas as he shook the disturbing thoughts out of his head.

„Just a dream, Silas. I don’t know what you saw, but for what it’s worth, I had nightmares as well.“ She gently shook Zaya, only to cry out in pain as a rock hit her in the stomach and took the air out of her lungs.

„By Ixchel’s mercy, Zaya,“ she panted, trying to take in shallow breaths as she cowered on the ground.

„I be much sorry,“ Zaya apologized, laying a hand on the Drakh’s shoulder. „Have bad dream. Maybe next time, make little boy wake me,“ she suggested, pointing a thumb in Silas‘ direction.

“Not my name,” he grumbled.

Having packed their few belongings, they moved to stand before the metal platform. Above the platform, the ceiling opened up, the walls littered with wires and tubes that went upwards before disappearing somewhere near one side of the wall, presumably into another passage.

Silas craned his neck. „Where does it lead to?“

„I have a feeling, but I’ll only know for sure when we get there. Either way, if we want to reach the surface, this is the way to go. We will have to climb.“

The tubes and metal bars interspaced within the walls made for surprisingly good footholds. Silas tried not to look down. It wasn’t like he was afraid of heights—he just didn’t fancy falling.

Gnarly, on the other hand, didn’t seem to share his sentiment. Vines latched onto the metal tubes, wrapping around them and yanking him up. Using his arms as elastic rope, Gnarly let out a creak of pleasure as he flew upwards.

The tubes soon began to twist, following the wall into a passage to their right. A similar panel to the one below stood beside the entrance, one of the tubes connected to it ripped open. A handful of insects, each one unusually large, squirmed under the protruding pipe.

Waiting for the others to join him, he bent down to take a closer look. An intrusive itch crawled under his skin, a feeling he couldn’t quite shake off. Focusing on his Artsight, he realized what attracted the insects to the open pipe. The air around the tube was positively thick with magical energy. He shuffled a few steps back. While he might not be an expert on magical theory, he knew this type of condensed energy wasn’t supposed to just leak out from somewhere. How odd. The energy had to come from somewhere.

Gnarly was the next to join him, immediately edging away from the open tube. „Creak,“ he voiced, trying to shove Silas further away from it.

A few pieces of stone shredded the insects to paste as Zaya joined him. „What? Insects be disgusting. I no like.“

Silas threw her a glare. „Didn’t you also make fun of me when we fought the Tokra a few moons ago?“

„Yes, because you have very high voice. Like singer.“

„What? That is not true,“ Silas defended himself with indignation, only to forcefully tone his pitch down again. „I do not have a high voice,“ he grumbled.

„Be ok.“ Zaya patted him on the shoulder. „You can still be pillow dancer.“

A chortled cough came from over his shoulder. Nurana hid her mouth with one hand before coughing again. „I’m afraid all this dust isn’t good for my lungs,“ she said, patting her chest.

Silas‘ right eye began to twitch. Calming himself with a deep breath, he chose to keep his witty reply to himself and stormed ahead of the passage, its walls littered with tubes of varying width. Some of them were broken, their ends bend like a nail that grew too long.

„What be all this?“ Zaya asked into the silence.

„The tubes probably powered the platform connecting the lower level to this one. We’ll find out soon enough,“ Nurana commented. Ahead of them, the tunnel lit up, a soft glow coming from its end.

Each of them stopped as they stepped out of the passage. Compared to the narrow passages and low ceilings from below, what lay before them looked like another world. How could something so massive be hidden beneath the desert? Above them, three metal chains were fastened into a high ceiling, meeting up in the middle to hold a gigantic ball of light that illuminated the whole cavern. It reminded Silas of a miniature sun, the thing so massive Tom’s cabin could have fit in it three times over.

Below, buildings stood tall and proud, their stone defiant to the passage of time. A wide street went straight through the remnants of a city with tall metal poles placed on either side, an ornamented socket holding a dull ball, reminding Silas of his Magelight. The street ended before a round square. In its center, a regal statue of a man posed, holding an oddly-shaped metal object in his hand.

Nurana let out a defeated sigh. „We are so screwed.“

„What’s wrong?“ Zaya’s eyes peered into the street before them. While they were too far away to see it properly, shapes seemed to stalk between the shadows of the buildings, some disturbingly huge.

„I was right. This is, without a doubt, Al-Talash.“

„Really? The lost city? We actually found it? Are you serious?“

„This is not a good thing,“ Nurana shook her head as if denying it would change anything.

„This place has been buried for how long, two millennia? Just imagine all the things we can find here!” Many tales spoke of the lost city, each of them praising its splendor and the countless inventions waiting to be found by any adventurer lucky enough to stumble upon it.

„Speak low,“ Zaya reprimanded Silas, her gaze still ahead of them. Silas caught a glimpse of a tail, at least six feet long, slithering between the buildings.

„You don’t understand. This place, this city, is the reason why nobody comes back from the Crimson Dunes and why every creature either mutates or dies. Not to speak of the unnatural phenomena plaguing the Dunes,“ Nurana explained. „And somewhere, right within this city, is the origin of the Taint. This place is cursed, Silas. We need to get out of here before it affects us. It probably has already, and we just didn’t realize it.” Both hands went over her head, fingers clenching on strands of hair. “And all that is without taking into account the hordes of monsters that undoubtedly hide here. Ahh, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad.“

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Calm down,” Zaya said from her side. “Know where exit is?”

Nurana took a deep breath. “Al-Talash is supposed to have three levels, each one for a caste. The rich lived at the surface, while the poor dwelled in the caves below us. Technically, there should be another platform somewhere, similar to the one we climbed up. If we find it, we can reach the first level and escape from this place.”

Silas pointed at a tall structure a bit to their right. Built like a dome, it spotted four black towers on top of it that ended in roofed platforms. Two of them were already collapsed, revealing a spiraling stairway connecting the dome to the top of the towers.

“If we climb on top of one of these, we should be able to spot the next platform.”

“Creak.” Gnarly seemed to agree with their plan.

“Walk between buildings,” Zaya gestured her hands in a zig-zag pattern towards the dome-like structure.

“Yes. If we get seen, we need to either flee or end the fight as quickly as possible. Who knows how many creatures roam these streets. We should also avoid open terrain if possible,” Silas said, scanning the ceiling. From afar, he could spot multiple shapes circling the air, long, sinewy necks looking down onto the city below.

They stalked along the passages between buildings, stopping before each corner to ensure they wouldn’t walk into any surprises. The fight with the undead creature from yesterday still weighed on their minds, neither of them eager to repeat the experience.

A roar shook the air. They stopped as one, each one stock-still. Around the corner, two creatures faced each other, one a large, two-headed lion with red veins crossing through its fur, the other a comparatively small lizard, a green crest on its back. Although the reptile was longer than a human was tall, facing the massive, six-foot high lion, it looked like a mouse trying to fight a cat.

The lion roared again, its fur bristling in a final warning. Red veins pulsed, hindlegs lowered as it readied itself to pounce. The lizard opened its mouth, a ball of dense, yellow energy beginning to condense between its fangs.

Silas’s eyes widened as he spotted movement by the windows near the alley. Two more lizards lay in wait, each one preparing the same attack. One beam of fire shot towards the creature. Pouncing forward, the lion dodged it with ease, stumbling awkwardly as two more beams hit it from either side and burned through its fur. The stench of burnt flesh filled the air, and its fur caught on fire.

Its body sported two gaping holes, blackened flesh cracking open to reveal deep red blood. Letting out a roar in a final act of defiance, the lion closed in on one of the reptiles, chomping down on its neck and ending its life with a single bite.

The remaining two lizards slithered out of the windows as the lion collapsed, finally succumbing to its wounds. Above, Silas saw one of the winged creatures, claw-like feet gripping onto the edge of the building, its long neck gazing down patiently. Leathery wings threw dark shadows over the once-white walls of the buildings.

Dread spread through Silas’ body as they ever so slowly backtracked. How could there be so many creatures down here? What did they even eat? These were not normal animals; any of these creatures would be an apex predator outside of this city, or whatever this was.

The dome-like building was enclosed with a waist-high wall of stone. One large, heavy door lay on the ground near the entrance, its hinges long rusted away. Bricks of stone lay near what may once have been a garden. Smooth, copper-colored metal made up the dome, only ruined by the occasional hole where the surface had cracked.

Silas pointed at a large boulder near the entrance and motioned for them to take cover. Making sure nothing was in their vicinity, they crept towards the entrance and peeked around the corner. Inside, a long hallway led to a spiraling staircase at the end of it. Archways were placed on either side of the hallway, each one leading to a different part of the building.

Although Silas, and by now Zaya as well, were able to walk near silently, the same couldn’t be said for Nurana. Crunching sounds filled the buildings as she stepped on another pebble. Most of the adjacent doorways were connected to corridors, which turned out to be empty.

They saw the problem only when they stood right in front of the spiraling stairwell. Multiple steps were missing. Jumping seemed to be the only option, but if one of them didn’t make it, the noise would be sure to attract any stray beasts.

“Creak,” Gnarly voiced, nearly inaudible, reaching out with his arms as vines grew and latched onto the remaining pieces of the railing.

Zaya patted his head affectionately, and Silas had to force himself to not glare at her. He knew she didn’t mean Gnarly any harm, but seeing her so casually touching his friend still irked him.

Silas was the last to climb over the vines to reach the other side of the stairwell. One foot already on the stone, he suddenly felt his other leg give way. Pieces of stone fell to the ground in loud cracks. For a moment, nobody moved.

Hisses came from the doorways behind them. Three lizards scurries over the ground, their narrow eyes immediately fixating on the group.

“Go,” Silas hurried his friends up the stairwell.

Three pointed mouths opened at once, a bead of fiery energy swirling in each of them. “Move, move, move!”

Taking two steps at a time, they sprinted around the pillar in the middle of the stairwell. The air singed with heat as multiple beams of flame shot into the railing a foot away from them. Within a few heartbeats, the stone crumbled and joined the other rubble below. Silas choked on his breath, the air threatening to scorch his lungs. His vision swam as he followed Nurana and Zaya up onto the terrace.

“That was too close,” Nurana said once they collapsed onto the grey tiles.

Taking a moment to catch their breath, all their worries were momentarily forgotten as they beheld the view from the tower. The whole city lay sprawled before them, now cast in a dusky light. Below, the top of the metal poles beside the main street glowed with soft light and illuminated the broken stones of the road.

“Is it just me or has it gotten darker?” Silas commented.

“Be darker. Ball be dead soon.” Zaya pointed at the miniature sun hanging from the ceiling.

“I don’t think it’s dying. This seems too much of a coincidence to happen. It probably does this every day. Otherwise, why would those lights go on?” Nurana gestured towards the wide street below.

To their left, a long metal wagon stood on rusted iron bars that went both around and in between the buildings. Massive tubes emerged from each corner of the ceiling, disappearing somewhere within the city. At least three tunnels were interspaced at the other end of the city, each one adorned with half-crumbled, mosaic-adorned archways.

Right in the middle of the city, the statue of Aqueel stood towering over everything else, a smile on the man’s face as he looked at the cube-like object in his hands. Its outer layers were a loose maze of tubes and wires leading to four glowing orbs each placed in equal distance from another. A sphere was held in its center, four thick tubes piercing through its shell. Even from this far, the sphere within the object seemed to emanate a strange, vivid light.

“What be that thing?” asked Zaya.

“It’s a dodecahedron.”

Both Silas and Zaya looked at Nurana dumbfounded. “Stupid greenlander language. Words no make sense,” she said, the frustration in her voice evident.

“A dodecahedron,” Nurana repeated, more slowly this time. “A figure with twelve equal pentagonal faces.”

“Penta what?” Zaya seemed to be short of losing her patience. “Speak normal, Nura Kana!”

“It means that each side has five corners. And you really need to work on your temper. If I may say so,” Nurana hastily added.

“And you need work on your language. Be stupid.”

Silas chuckled.

“What be funny, Nura Kai? Want tell us joke?”

“No, I’m good, thanks,” he said, trying to wipe the smile from his face.

Zaya threw him one more glare before returning her attention towards the object in Aqueel’s hand.

“So what it do?”

“I don’t know. But it seems to be rather important.”

In another corner of the city, vegetation occupied every square inch. One tree stood out in particular, dwarfing everything in its vicinity with its sheer size. Instead of leaves, it held hundreds of twisting branches that grew across the stony surface and over the buildings near the park. Spherical, almost transparent fruit hung from its branches, some of them as large as Silas’ head.

“Are those glowing fruit?” Silas asked as he pointed at the gigantic tree.

“Creak,” Gnarly nodded, his mouth chewing involuntarily.

Nurana squinted her eyes. “It appears so. There’s no way they’re edible, though. Who knows what caused them to be this way, with all this energy corrupting them.”

Silas and Zaya’s eyes met, a moment of mutual understanding passing between the two.

“Look tasty,” Zaya shrugged.

Nurana threw her a deadpan look. “That tree has been under the influence of magical energy for over a millennia and is sporting glowing, spherical fruits, and you’re telling me you want to eat them?”

“Creak!”

The Drakh turned to Silas for support who smiled apologetically. “They do look good.”

“That’s not an indicator for…”

“It’s going to be fine,” Silas argued. “Besides, see that tunnel near the park? It seems to be sloping upwards, so it might lead us to the first level.”

“But that’s at the other end of the city!” Nurana exclaimed. “How are we supposed to get there without being seen? We almost got burned to death.”

“It wasn’t that close. And I can teach you how to walk without making noise. Even Zaya here got it eventually, so you’ll pick it up soon enough.” Silas had to suppress a wince as a stone hit his shoulder.

“So you plan to just stroll through this completely monster-infested city we, by the way, know hardly anything about, reach the tunnel without being seen and hope that it will lead us up to the first level? Anything else?” Nurana asked, throwing her arms to the side.

“You forget tasty fruit,” Zaya reminded her.

Nurana glanced at Zaya before letting her head fall down. “Ixchel, I am going to die here,” she mumbled.

“At least not die alone.”

The Drakh sighed in defeat. “I’ll take the first watch.”