As we approach the building, we can better make out its details. Standing at least over 15 feet, it only looks like it's the tip peaking through the sand, with its base increasing in diameter as it progresses downward. It is made of this silvery material that presents no blemishes or smudges, even in the middle of the desert. I can see that at the top, a part of it is missing, likely having fallen on itself.

On my side, I hear Miah continue to squeal in excitement.

"Hold on, hold on. I need to get this recorded." She says while pulling the shard out and whispering 'record' on it.

The shard glows softly but, otherwise, doesn't do anything else. I see Miah then point the shard toward the building with an expression of wonder when a thought pops into my head.

"Wait, was this how you got captured?"

I see her pause.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you told me last time you found a Forgotten ruin. You just waltzed in there with no regard to possible dangers" I look over her. "Kind of like how you're doing now."

To her credit, she does seem actually ashamed when I point it out.

"U-Uhm. I guess I can get a bit overexcited and ignore some safety protocols here and there, but come on, Sophia. It's a FORGOTTEN Ruin. How can one not get excited by it? Who knows what kind of secrets we'll uncover in a place like this? Ooh, maybe we'll find some never before seen tech that completely revolutionized the modern world, or-or maybe we'll find out how the Forgotten actually disappeared, or-or-"

I snap my fingers in front of her face, interrupting her incoming monologue.

"I get it. Honestly, I do. It's a chance to unearth some pretty world-shaking shit, and I get it. I'm just worried, okay? I don't really want to get kidnapped again, much less let you get kidnapped again, and so I want to make sure we'll be exploring this place with as much caution as possible, okay?"

I see her nod in slight chagrin.

"Ok? Good, now get behind me." I take the lead and hop off the wagon, with Miah following closely behind me.

We search around the base for any signs of previous human activity but find none. It seems this place was somehow not found by those cultists. We also look around for any way to enter the building, but there were no entrances or points of access besides the ruined part at the top.

I see Miah put the shard in her pocket.

"Alright, time for some rope climbing." I see her go back to the wagon and extract a coil of rope from it.

I start nodding but then pause.

"Wait, how are we going to go about putting the rope to the other side? The breach is at least 12 feet high."

She grins back

"Come on! Was that 15 on your str stat just for show? Surely you can throw a rope some 12-odd feet."

"I mean, probably-but that's not the point. How are we supposed to make sure the rope can support us climbing it?"

She shakes her head.

"Tsk-tsk, did you forget my Domain, Sophia? I'm hurt." She says, not looking hurt at all. "I'm a tinker, Sophia. That means this rope ain't just regular rope" She points towards a metal tied to the end of it. "Fucking magnets, how do they even work?" She snorts a laugh but, seeing me not laugh back, stops with an embarrassed cough.

"Sorry, it was a reference to a-you know what doesn't matter. Because you see, the consensus reality is that a magnetized metal will stick to another metal, and so I have altered this magnet here in such a way that it will stick to any metal surface and stay there no matter what, even if it's supporting an impossible amount of weight."

She stands proud with her chest puffed out, looking like she's waiting for me to praise her.

"O-oh Uhm, great, that's brilliant, actually."She smiles, satisfied at that, but I keep going. "It seems you really put a lot of effort into using your Domain to its full potential, and it shows. Like honestly, besides your disregard for your own safety, from the little time I've got to know you, you really seem like a very intelligent and smart woman who can think things through and plan ahead for eventual hardships."

I see her face reddening from my shower of compliments, and I just can't stop myself from continuing.

"And that is to say nothing of how fun you are to be around. Despite your clear intellect, you don't lord over me or snob away from my clear lack of knowledge. You seem genuinely passionate about what you do, and to be honest, your enthusiasm about it gets me excited too. And that is not even mentioning how hot you are, especially when your eyes redden with exci-"

"Ok, ok, ok, I get it!" She manages to stammer out with her face crimson-And as soon as I think that word to describe how red she was, I feel a shudder running through my body. Wait, did I shudder at the word crimson?

I stop teasing her as I start analyzing the feeling I just got from thinking the word 'crimson', Arhg! There it is again. When I start thinking of it, my body just trembles in... fear? Disgust? Anger? It's not a good feeling, that's for sure.

Miah notices how quiet I've gotten.

"Hey, everything alright?"

I shake myself out of the feeling, pushing the word away from my mind.

"Yeah, just peachy. I was just taken aback by how cute you are."

She blushes, but I sense she noticed I wasn't telling the whole truth there.

"U-uhm t-thanks," She shyly says. "But Sophia, if there's anything bothering you, you can tell me. I think we can trust each other at this point, right?" She adds seriously.

I nod, but I still keep what I just experienced to myself. No point in telling her now. Not when I'm not even sure what it is that I'm feeling.

"Of course. Now let me do some practice throws with the rope. I really don't want it to get stuck halfway there."

She nods but looks not entirely convinced by my excuse.

I do actually start doing some test throws, it's not that hard to get the feel for it right, and soon I find myself at the base of this spire-like building winding up my throw.

I fling the rope in an arc so it doesn't accidentally magnetize halfway through, and I see it flying through the air and passing over the breach. After a moment, I try pulling the rope, but it doesn't budge, seems it's working.

I nod back to Miah, confirming our success, and start climbing up. Miah also starts climbing beneath me as we make our way to the opening. As I reach the top and position myself so that Miah can sit beside me when she arrives, I take a peek at what is inside.

The room is oval in shape, illuminated by the pale light of the ring. I can see the missing part of the building laying there, embedded within the floor. It is surprisingly clean, with only a few piles of sand here and there, not enough to bury the contents of the chamber. There is a large redwood desk opposite to the fallen piece of debris. Behind that desk, I can make out what looks like a dried-up aquarium and a small screen beside it. Before I can spot any more details in the pale light of the night, I hear Miah struggling to pull herself up the last few inches.

I pull her up and sit her so that she is balanced on the ledge.

"Thank yo-What do we have here!" She exclaims mid thanks.

I see her grab her shard and start recording everything. I take the opportunity to start making my way down.

Stepping on the floor of the room, there is a clear metallic sound, and looking around, I can see that mostly everything is made of the same silvery metal, with the exception of these long, clear windows on both sides of the room. Looking through, I can see that they overlook the desert and figure they must be oneway only since the outside showed no indication of any windows. Not long after I make it to the bottom, Miah joins me; she seems content in documenting every little part of this ruin.

I make my way to the desk, and it is beautifully smooth, with a simple but effective design that communicates a sense of importance. Tracing my fingers across the surface, I can see that there is no dust or sand covering it. It is impeccably clean. I go to the other side of it and inspect the drawers of it, pulling at the first one on its left side.

Inside it, there is a long rod, about 5 inches, give or take. The middle part has 3 buttons on it, and the top part is slightly engorged. I Press the bottom-most button with a strange sense of familiarity, and the top part of the strange object starts to then vibrate very quickly. Seeing this, I get a head-splitting headache that passes almost as quickly as it arrives. However, as the pain fades, I suddenly know what it is I'm holding, and I smile because this wand can do a lot of "magic." I deactivate it and pocket it inside my pouch.

At this point, Miah has recorded just about everything that there was on the other side of the room and starts making her way to me.

"Sooo, whatcha found?" She asks, peeking over my shoulder.

I show her my empty hands.

"I found something, but it was just a toy. Right now, I'm just checking the other drawers."

I see her ponder for a moment.

"What kind of toy?"

I smile mischievously.

"A fun one."

"I only ask because Forgotten relics are often misleading in what they do. It can be hard to figure out what they were thinking when designing something." She says, looking for where I put the "toy." "Can I see it?"

My smile grows, and I pull out the wand from the pouch, showing it to her.

"Huh, how do you even know this is a toy? It doesn't even loo-" I hear her squeak as I suddenly turn on the wand, and it begins to vibrate.

"It's an "intimate" toy," I say in my best sultry voice.

It works as her face turns crim- red! As her face turns red.

"O-oh, uhh, right. I suppose you'll be holding onto it then."

"Oh, do you perhaps want it for yourself? I did not know you had such base carnal needs, Miah. Was my company not enough to satisfy you?" I ask teasingly.

"N-no, of course n-not, I-I mean, y-yes, you're enough. I don't need the toy, is what I meant." She nervously says.

I let out a small giggle.

"Don't you worry, starlight. I will make sure to give you plenty of experience with it."

I see her freeze at my comment, flushing scarlet.

I almost can't help myself and jump at her, but that would be a bit too hypocritical of me. After all, I did warn her not to let down our guards here. Instead, I settle for just a quick kiss on her lips.

"Later starlight. Let's see what else this desk has to offer. Whoever owned it must have had great taste." I say while licking my lips and savoring the taste.

Miah, on the other hand, seems to have snapped out of her fluster when I mention the chance to find more relics.

"Yeah! Let's do that. But it is also curious that on your first Forgotten ruin, you just so happen to find the first sex toy ever from the Forgotten. Maybe your Domain? But no, your range is only 5 feet. It wouldn't activate that far." While she considers my incredible luck, I take a look at the second drawer.

Inside I find that familiar crystalline octahedron.

"Huh, you were not kidding. I guess they are common. On the plus side, at least I won't have to buy one, right?" I ask while holding the shard.

She stops her mumbling about DRs and coincidences and inspects the shard.

"Well, we'll still need to pay to unlock it since shards found on ruins are always locked. But yeah, I guess we won't have to buy a whole model now." She throws the shard back. "I would say good find, but honestly, it was kind of a given we were going to find at least one here. They really are everywhere."

I pick up the shard and, just for fun, whisper "activate" near it. I don't know what I was expecting, but it lighting up and opening my sheet was not it.

Species: Empyrean

Age: [Redacted]

Sex: Intersex

Height: 6'10

Weight: 82.6 kg

Profession: Talun's diplomat

Balance: 250k

Status

Level: 4

Domain: Lust, [Redacted]

Range: 10 feet,[Redacted]

Hume level: 105-80

Strength: 14 (93.3%)

Dexterity: 12 (100%)

Constitution: 17 (85%)

Charisma: 22 (88%)

Magical Capability: Capable/50 Mp

I kind of freeze but then turn to Miah, expecting some explanation.

She looks just as confused, but then some understanding suddenly flashes through her expression.

"Well, that's another point towards our working theory of who you were, and I don't know if I should feel frustrated or elated."

I understand what she's trying to say, but my mind doesn't know how to even approach that particular explanation. Instead, I focus on what she said at the end.

"Why the mixed emotions?"

"Because. If we're right, and all current evidence points to that, then I might have a live specimen of the race I've been chasing shadows of. It's an opportunity to learn so much if the theory is right. But..."

"But?"

"Your memories Sophia, you might be the last living member of a society so advanced they took casual trips to other galaxies, but you remember none of it, and-and I'm afraid the [redacted] registered on your domain might be literal." She says, voice dripping with uncertainty.

My mind is still trying to cope with the fact I might be the "last," but her remark about my second Domain pikes my curiosity.

"What do you mean?"

She looks unsure.

"What I mean is. What if all that redacted stuff wasn't built into the shard? What if it's a real reflection of reality? The shard has no reason to expunge any information after all. What if your Domain is [Redacted], as in your memory, and any information pertaining to your past is made to be forgotten or erased?" But then she quickly adds. "Again, this is all speculation. We only have so much to go on, and I don't actually have any proof regarding this theory."

But it tracks. I remember the voice saying to me that it was my choice to forget. Maybe past me didn't want to remember and made sure to eliminate any chance of that happening.

Miah probably notices my graven expression because she is quick to stammer out a counterpoint.

"B-besides, the timeline doesn't even match. The Forgotten are predicted to have lived thousands of years before us. You don't look a day past twenty."

I nod, but it is hollow. I remember the other part of the voice's speech. Time is convoluted.

Miah definitely notices me turning pale because her expression turns inquisitive.

"Unless you know something I don't?" she says slowly.

I shake my head in denial, but she doesn't look convinced, and for a moment, I notice a quick look of hurt in her eyes. Seeing this, I hang my head and take a deep breath.

"I didn't want to say anything because I wasn't sure if it even happened, or - I don't know, I just felt like I shouldn't share it."

Miah takes a step back.

"Sophia, if it is something you're not comfortable sharing, then I don't mind. It's fine to keep secrets if you want, especially if those secrets are a sensitive subject."

I shake my head.

"No, it's not that. I just- Argh, I don't know, I felt it was unwise to blabber about what I experienced. No more, I trust you. I should not keep this from you just because of a vague feeling I had that hasn't even appeared since. I was not saying the whole truth before. I didn't lose my memories because of the poison. The reason I was lost in that forest was that I had woken up there with no memories." I see her beginning to say something, but I press on. "And that isn't even the whole truth either. I do have some memories, mostly feelings and instincts, that manifest when I encounter something I had previously known. Before I had woken up, I also remember someone talking to me."

I take a deep breath, and Miah seems to be listening intently.

"The voice was soft and melodious and yet communicated a bottomless sorrow. It spoke to me of events that had started, of me apparently choosing to forget. It spoke of how it had to be this way "less time get more convoluted," and it spoke of how I was somehow special." I lay it all out and feel surprisingly refreshed, with no feeling that I shouldn't have done that or of vague fears

Miah nods and suddenly hugs me.

"I'm sorry you got caught up in what seems to be some pretty weird and serious shit. But know that you made the right choice in telling me this. I will do my best to help you, Sophia, no matter if it's getting your memories back or even settling you down. You saved my life, Sophia. Without you, I would have likely just been captured again by those guys."

I scoff at that.

"You saved my life too, Miah. Without you, I wouldn't have even gotten out of that cell, much less have the chance to get captured again. And that is nothing to say of how much you've already helped me figure out."

She scoffs back.

"Well, then just consider it out of the goodness of my heart and accept my freaking help." She takes a deep breath. "Sophia, I don't want to help you just because you saved my life, though it obviously plays a factor. No, I want to help you because I like you. Maybe not romantically right now, though it's definitely getting there, but I like you as a person to hang around. You praised me before, but that is nothing compared to you."

I open my mouth to retort, but she interrupts me.

"Ababa, I don't want to hear it. I'm praising you now, like it or not. You are... beautiful, and not just your appearance, though I won't deny it is also something of a factor. No, what I mean is that from the admittedly short time I had with you, you seem so ready to trust, to give, to... love. Even after being poisoned, you didn't let that experience taint how you view the world. You saw me for who I really was and decided it was right to trust me. When I'm with you, I feel safe because when danger presents itself, you face it with a calm that inspires and a willingness to protect that seems to grant you strength. You aren't haughty even after knowing the potential you have, and you don't let the shitty situation you find yourself bring you down, do you?"

The blush I feel is definitely visible, but I ignore it and nod.

"Good, now let me find a hole I can bury myself under." She says as her face erupts in embarrassment.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

I stop her from wandering off as I pull her in deeper and bury her in my bosom.

"Thank you." I let her go after a few seconds of enjoying her warmth.

After we separate, there is a moment of awkwardness where neither of us is sure what to say, but that is interrupted by Miah as she claps her hands together.

"Welp, guess we ought to continue our exploration, yeah? Spend more than a minute without getting all sappy and romantic."

I nod and open the last drawer, revealing a stack of papers.

Miah audibly gasps.

"S-Sophia t-thats-that is actual paper. I think I might pass out." She does not look ready to pass out. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Whoa, what's gotten you so excited? It's just a couple of papers."

She actually looks offended when I say that.

"Just a- JUST A COUPLE OF PAPERS! Sophia, darling, do you have any idea what it is you just said."

"Clearly not."

She ignores me.

"Sophia, the Forgotten didn't USE paper, not that we know of anyway. Thats why we know more about their capabilities than they themselves. They didn't record their lives in any physical media, and well, it's easier to figure out what kind of spaceship they used than what they ate for breakfast when you actually have parts of the spaceship. This is historic, and we should handle it with utmost care." She pulls out her shard and starts recording the papers.

I, for my part, delicately pull the papers out of the drawer and put them on top of the desk.

Most of the letters are faded with time, but there are some papers where we can actually somewhat make out what they say. What's strange is the language. Both I and Miah can perfectly understand it, even though they supposedly lived thousands of years ago. And the little that could be read was sparse and disconnected. The most intact page read:

" The DoMR has been complaining about their supposed lack of funding. I propose------------------------------------. The DoP has seen no success in their testing, and funding for them has proven difficult to support. I know you-------------------------------------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------.-----------------------. The ID Relic remains active, even after several months outside OD. The scientists at DoMR suggest that their MS is similar enough to our own and-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. They have successfully replicated it, replacing the original Mana engine with a Zero point energy field. This proves that----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. And lastly, the 6 p.m meeting with Talun over your current "problems" has been postponed since we have found a new--------------------------------------------------------."

And the rest continued in the same vain, repeating these various acronyms with maybe some words in between them. What did pull attention was the only name that was written in the paper, "Talun."

The same name that was written in my profession.

"Welp, I guess that's another point to the Forgotten theory. But also, this is fascinating. This suggests they knew more about magic than we had previously thought. To be able to imitate mana using some kind of energy requires quite a deep understanding of what you are trying to replace." She says thoughtfully, "The beginning also suggests that the Forgotten had a currency-based society, like ours, and that these acronymed groups depended on funds to continue their research. I cannot begin to tell you how these implications will shake the archaeological community!" She concludes excitedly.

I nod absentmindedly, glancing another look over the building. This is not all that there is. I can feel it. There is much more that awaits us down below, and I want to know how everything connects. My sight passes over the debris on the other side of the room and lingers there.

"Hey!" I snap back to reality. "Got another feeling? I've been calling you out a few times now."

I point to the rubble.

"Did we ever check what was beneath that?"

She shrugs

"Didn't really know how. You have seen my strength stat, right?"

Indeed, it looked too much for just the two of us to clear out. I look around the room again, and my gaze stops at the screen beside the aquarium. It is inert, but for some reason, I know it's not supposed to be.

I walk up to it and try pressing my hand against it, to no result.

From beside me, I hear Miah comment.

"Yeah, most of these buildings lost power ages ago. It is rare to find a ruin with still a bit of energy left. I could take a look at it with my Domain if you want, though. Might help us figure something out."

I nod to her, and she begins to inspect the screen. After a few minutes, I see her retreat her hand and breath a sigh.

"It's dead. Whatever was powering, this thing stopped doing so a looong long time ago. I could try and alter it using my DR to fix it, but it won't be solving the main issue that that is not receiving energy anymore."

"But theoretically, if you were to fix it, it would just require energy to activate it?"

She shrugs.

"I guess. What? You got an idea?"

I glance at the screen.

"I suppose I do."

"Do you want to share that idea, or am I supposed to be left in the dark here?"

I shake my head in denial. I don’t really know how to explain how I got the idea other than 'it was a feeling I had.'

"Just figuring out how to word this. I assume you'll have to open the panel to fix it, right? Something about how it's easier if you do things as close to consensus reality as possible?"

She nods.

"Well yeah, but how does that help your idea?"

"I think I might be able to use my lightning magic to power the device. However, to do that, I would need to see where the energy comes from."

She does not look convinced.

"We could try, but you would need to power your lightning in a very controlled and specific way. Otherwise, you risk frying the system or not even matching the right voltage. How long could you even maintain that for?"

"Long enough. I only need a short time. Besides, if what I think is true, I only need a small jolt."

It was only a vague feeling I had. But it felt that for what I needed, I only required a small amount of energy.

"You're being really vague here, but alright, not like I have a better idea." She says as she turns to the panel and starts to mess with it.

It takes a while (which Miah blames her lack of tools for) but eventually, the screen is pulled free, and a complex mess of wires and boards is revealed behind. As Miah starts inspecting it, her fingers stop over a melted part of a board, and I can see it morphing in real time to what I presume was its original form.

As Miah turns around, I see that she looks pale.

"What is it? Did it not work?" I ask in a hurry.

She shakes her head.

"It did. I just underestimated how complex what I was restoring was. There was a real chance of things turning unpleasant if I hadn't been lucky." She says, cold sweat on her.

What?

"What?"

She looks unsure for a moment.

"Remember when I said that things can go badly if change reality too much?" I nod. "That could've happened. Turns out that repairing a millennia-old complex piece of high-tech in but a heartbeat with no tools or material is not really how reality is supposed to work. It could've easily blown up on my face or started reverting everything around it or something equally as terrible." I see her tremble a bit at that. "Note to self, don't mess with Forgotten tech unprepared. But it should be working now. You can do your thing. Just be careful. I do not want to test my luck again"

I nod back to her and start gathering the mana at my fingertips, but before I start.

"Can you point out which cable is the one supposed to carry the main power?"

She nods and points to the middle green one.

I put my hand around the cable and transfer small jolts of electricity down the system.

It is harder than I thought to keep the energy at a consistent voltage. Even harder is to not flood the system all at once. I have to consistently keep up the pace and not deviate for a single second using nothing but vague feelings of my mana. It does get easier with time, though. As I finally get the cycle of transferring the mana to my fingertips, transforming it to electricity, and sending it down the cable.

After a few seconds of repeatedly doing this routine, I hear Miah exclaim something.

"Oooh, the screen is turning on, Sophia! It's working. I can see the boot-up sequence starting."

However, I don't get as excited as Miah, as I can feel that my mana pool is already at half and draining rapidly.

"Describe to me any changes. I have to keep concentrating on this!" I say, not turning my attention away from my routine.

"Uhh, there's a spinning circle in the middle, an-Oh wait, the screen just changed. It's showing a bunch of icons. Uhh, there are six icons on it. One is a-"

" Just press the one with a lowercase g on it!" The words leave my mouth before I even recognize what I'm saying, but I have no time to ruminate. Only a quarter left.

"I see it! Alright, I'm pressing it!"

"Oh, and hold on to something, I guess!" I exclaim as I get the feeling things would get unpleasant if we didn't.

"What?!" She says as she presses an icon, and I suddenly feel myself become weightless for a moment before suddenly the weight returns, and I feel the gravity pushing me upward.

I stop channeling my magic down the cable as I turn around and hold Miah with my other arm as gravity begins to pick us up.

I somehow knew something like this would happen, but it is still surprising seeing gravity invert. For some reason, I thought it would be more like zero gravity instead. Whatever, as long as the next part works.

And it does as I see the debris begin falling up and reveal a hole that was beneath it. I inwardly breathe a sigh of relief (I think trusting these hunches that I get from time to time is proving to be the best of my decisions.).

Hanging from my arm and slightly above me, I see Miah screaming both from surprise and joy.

"HOOOLYY SHIIIIT, WHAT IS GOING ON!? This is awesome! But also TERRIFYING! Sophia, explain?!"

"I think it's pretty self-explanatory. You pressed a button, and now gravity is reversed."

"NO SHIT, I meat how you knew this would happen."

I grin.

"I've no idea!"

"WHAT?"

"I just had a feeling something like this would happen. Now, c'mon I imagine you're going to want to explore the rest of this ruin, right?"

I see the small panic on her face gets drowned out by the excitement.

"HELLS YEAH? How is that even a question? Though, how do we even go about it?" She says, still hanging from my arm.

I nod and glance about the room, looking for a way for us to cross through without falling to the ceiling, which is now littered with debris that looks oddly spiky.

The table is weirdly not getting pulled up, so we can try and reach that, but it would still leave us a 10-foot gap of no ledges to the hole. Wait- The rope, if we could reach the rope we used to get here, we could use it to throw it at the hole, and then all we need to do is climb it down, or is it up? Whatever, it still left us with a big gap to jump, seeing as the magnet landed halfway down the opposite wall.

"Hey, Miah, do you have any more trinkets up your sleeve that we can use to get that rope back?"

I see her look up? down? We'll go with up.

"Actually, yeah!"

"Great can-"

"I did leave them on the wagon, though."

I almost bring my hand to my face, but still holding on to our lives and all that.

"WHY?"

"I didn't think it through, ok? I was too preoccupied with the implication of finding a Forgotten Ruin out here."

"Whatever, that leaves just one option... and I don't think you'll like it."

I hear her sigh.

"Don't tell me." She says in a tired voice. "You're going to have to throw me."

"Yup."

"Sharp rocks at the bottom? Top? Whatever?"

"It's certainly a risk."

She sighs again.

"Bring it."

I'm actually a bit taken aback by her brazen attitude.

"Alright, good, because I don't think I could hold for much longer, so listen up. On the count of three, I'm going to throw you with a swinging momentum, and while I'm not that good at it, I'll also summon a wind to push you with air magic."

I pause, waiting for her reaction, but her face seems focused on the rope.

"I need you to grab that rope and slide down it till you're outside, from there you can go back to the wagon, grab what you need, climb back, retrieve the rope and throw it up the hole, then all you need we need to do is climb down."

"That's solid enough, problem is. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Can you even hold for however long it'll take me to do all that? Moreover, how will you get to the hole yourself? You're just going to swing yourself?"

"Uhhh, yeah? It should be actually easier than swinging you, at least." Besides, I felt oddly confident I wasn’t going to fall to my death here.

Miah grimaces but eventually nods.

"If you're certain." I see her take a deep breath. "Let's do this."

I start swinging (thank fuck that the Forgotten used study cables, by the way.), building momentum and, at the same time, building what leftover mana I had in the hand I am holding Miah with, picturing a hard wind pushing her to the rope. As I feel the magic start to coalesce into form, I throw Miah with everything I have and see her being pushed by an invisible force as the wind I conjured carries her over to the other side of the room, easily placing her well within the reach of the rope.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I see Miah successfully grab the rope and not let go, and I grin when I see her raise a thumbs up as she then begins descending, opening space for me to grab the rope.

I don't have much time to observe her, though, as I feel my grip loosening on the cable. I have to make a play sooner than later. I gather the last remaining vestiges of my mana and focus them around my own body, it would take too much force to keep me up with only the wind, but it's easy enough to create a force behind me. I, at the same time, start swinging myself to create as much momentum as possible, and right at the peak of a swing, I let go and blast a current of air to push me forward, carrying me just barely within the grasp of the rope as I grab it with all I have.

I quickly start sliding down the rope to reach the breach and almost fall off from the disorientation of switching to normal gravity again as I sit on the ledge, sweating bullets from the magical and physical exertion. At this point, my mana is bottomed out and only just slowly recovering. By the looks of it, it'll take an hour or two before I can even throw another spell out.

As I'm catching my breath, I see Miah making her way to the wagon and elect the time it will take her to get back up to rest.

It doesn't take her too long for her to get back up with me, but by then, I had mostly caught my breath and was already helping her sit up on the ledge.

"Phew, ok, that was intense." She says in between her ragged breaths." Do you think this gravity thing will last long enough for us to take a rest? What with your sudden familiarity with Forgotten technology."

"Probably not. Even if it did, aren't we running on a tight schedule?" I ask her, remembering our very limited water and rations.

"Ehh, you're probably right on both fronts, but we can probably spare half a day, or so we should be getting close to the Mountains in a few days from now. "

I pause to think for a moment, but ironically the safest thing to do right now (if we want to explore this ruin at all, that is.) is to rush ahead and try to finish it as fast as possible.

"I don't want to take that gamble. Here we at least have some agency on our survival, dying because we couldn't reach the Mountains in time and we dehydrated would be a shitty way to go." I finally say after a moment.

"Alright, I just wanted to play devil's advocate there. I really don't want to wait to explore this ruin either." She says, having stopped panting from exhaustion. " Right, let's get this going then, shall we?" She declares, pulling out a round metallic disc from her pocket.

Before I can ask, she points the disc to the magnet stuck to the silvery wall, and I see it just drop, taking the rope with it a few feet up to us as Miah swiftly grabs it with her free hand and then points the other side of the disc on her other hand to the metal.

"There you go, should be magnetized again." She says with a grin. " Up for another throw?" She says while offering me the rope. I take it and begin preparing my throw. "Do remember that gravity is acting against you here. Treat it as if you were throwing it straight up." I nod, focusing on the hole as I fling the rope, seeing it slightly slow down upon entering the reversed gravity area but maintaining enough velocity to make it to the edge.

I hear Miah clapping in excitement as I inwardly celebrate making it first try. Wordlessly I call out for Miah to follow as I begin climbing the rope down.

I almost throw up again as I feel the pressure change as I pass through whatever limit keeps the reversed gravity contained and begin climbing up to the hole.

It's relatively easy enough to get there, but as I peer down the edge of it, I can't see anything.

Beneath me, I hear Miah vaguely mumble something about 'light', and I try to activate a simple light above my head and am pleasantly surprised when it actually goes through, as a bright white ball of light materializes from thin air.

Huh, well, apparently, I'm really good at light magic because that consumed nothing. Like, that actually consumed nothing from my mana pool... huh...

Questions for later.

The light above me illuminates a deep chasm of which I can barely see the top of, though, looking closely, the bottom looks broken off, like a wall is blocking the way up.

Along the walls of this shaft, I can see openings on it, each standing about 11 feet from each other and opposite to them, large faded-out numbers descending from 69 downwards, likely a way to mark the floors, which, if true indicates 70 floors on this building, if we were including the one we are standing on.

The one directly above me, the 69th floor, is a bit closer than the others, only about 7 feet away, but it is still too far for me to jump it, and from this position, it would be impossible for us to throw the rope further.

"Crapbaskests. Miah, I don't see a way for us to continue, not until my mana recovers, that is. Do you have any ideas?"

I see her think for a moment, looking over the chasm.

"Hmm, maybe if I stood on your shoulders and jumped from there, I could do it. Think you can handle it?"

"Eh, you're light enough. I think I could do it. What about the other floors, though? I don't think we'll be able to continue doing that from there."

I see her shrug.

"We got this far. I'm sure we'll figure it out late. Right now, let's do what we can." She says as she begins climbing up my body.

It is as I predicted. She is light enough that it barely feels any different from just normally hanging on to the rope, and as she stands on my shoulders, I ask.

"Think you can make it?"

"Oh yeah, piece of cake." She haughtily declares as I feel her jumping off my shoulders and see her pulling herself up the ledge to the 69th floor.

After a moment, I see her again peering out as she extends her arms as far out as she can. I take the hint and extend my own to grab her, and with both our efforts combined, she manages to pull me up the ledge.

We spend at least 15 seconds just laying here, sprawled out.

"You know, we should really invest in some cardio, maybe even practice rock climbing, because holy shit, this is a workout," Miah says, panting.

I, on the other hand, feel mostly fine. After the 15-second break, I feel ready to go on.

"How come you haven't done that before? I thought your line of business would at least require some preparedness in terms of fitness."

At that, she sits up and looks away.

"Weeell... I might not technically be in the business of unearthing lost Ruins?"

I sit back up and look directly at her face.

"What... do... you mean by that?"

She tries and fails to meet my eyes as she stammers out a response.

"This... might be the first time I actually practised any kind of fieldwork."

My brain kinda fails to process that for a second.

"WHAT!? Wh-HOW-WHY?" I ask in disbelief.

"It just kind of happened?" She shrugs and, seeing me not calming down, adds. "You have to understand, ruin hunting, especially Forgotten ruin hunting, is not usually done on this side of Aker, so I thought that a quick expedition through those parts would be minimal risk, maximum reward. I didn't even have to necessarily venture deep into Aker. I just had to take some more esoteric routes."

I hold my temple in honest incredulity.

"So, let me get this straight. You, with no prior experience, to tomb raiding-"

"Hey! I did read a lot about them."

"With no prior PRACTICAL experience to tomb raiding." I add, " Decided to ALONE, go to uncharted routes and search for an- and forgive me if I'm mistaken- known to be elusive races ruins, in the hopes that you would stumble into one, and with no-for fucks sake, you explore it ALONE. Did I get that right?"

By the end of my tirade, Miah looks positively mortified.

"ye-yes?"

I unconsciously let out a groan of frustration.

"I am never letting you out of my sight."

"It did kind of work out." She quickly adds in a whisper I am sure was not meant for me to hear.

"Only because you were unbelievably lucky and had enough of a brain to capitalize on it. Now come on, we are still not out of the frying pan." I say, turning to the room we worked so hard to get in.

It is a bit weird making sense of it, seeing as we are standing on the roof with the floor above us, but it looks like the flooring is this lowered circle made of a pale golden material. In the center of this circle, there is another smaller one with a small clear square embedded within it; on it, I can see a weak purple-ish glow and a white one as well. These lights are separated from one another by a diagonal line made from the same pale gold material as the floor. On the roof we are standing on, there is another circle, this one raised, and on it, a glowing purple drawing of a tower with an arrow above it, pointing up. Above this circle is a series of arrows pointing toward another glowing drawing, one of a circular structure with lines inside it forming almost an "H". The raised circle appears to be spinning clockwise, turning the drawing of the tower with the arrow with it.

Seeing this, I get that feeling of the coming headache, but it never arrives. Instead, the feeling simply washes through me, and I am left with nothing, not even a hunch of what this could possibly be.

I direct the light above my head deeper into the room, positioning it right in the middle of the chamber, right below the glowing lights on the floor, trying to see if there is anything else in the room.

But as I look around, this truly seems to be all there is.

"Sooo, got any feelings or hunches about what this might be? Because honestly, I'm kind of stumped. This looks nothing like any of the ruins I read about." Miah asks after fiddling with the raised dais for a bit.

I shake my head

"Afraid not. Though, I got the feeling I should."

She tilts her head at that.

"What do you mean?"

"It's just that normally when I get these "hunches," they're accompanied by a head-splitting migraine, and I felt one approaching earlier, but it then just went away. I dunno. This all seems very arbitrary, on what I can and cannot "feel out"."

She shrugs.

"So are a lot of things in this world. I'm sure there are reasons behind it all. We just need to keep searching." She says with an undecipherable expression, like a mix of longing and hope.

I nod but then freeze, noticing that the raised circle is getting close to lining up the tower arrow with the other arrows, and before I can warn Miah to take a step back, something weird happens.

The light that I put in the middle is suddenly engulfed by a sphere of darkness that seems to bend space around it. For a moment, it looks like this light is at a thousand places at once, like it is being refracted by the sphere, and the other it is gone, and so is the black sphere.

Before I could react to the fact, I, for a moment, felt the light I had summoned be thousands of miles away from me. The raised circle suddenly clicks, and I see the arrows line up perfectly, and as it does, I see that sphere of blackness and bent space appear again. This time, however, it is expanding at an alarmingly fast rate.

As fast as I can, I grab Miah's arm and try to jump away from this expanding black hole. It is in vain. As I try to jump away, my perception of the world fractures, and I see Miah's arm stretching to an impossible size, and soon my arm that I am using to hold her stretches, as well as space, seemingly bends around us, and I am engulfed by the sphere and see...nothing.

And then I see space bend away again, and the sphere shrinks away, letting us out of it, and for a second, I feel myself falling, and then I hit my head on the floor.

"Owww," I hear Miah groan out beside me as I rapidly get up and look for the shrinking sphere seeing eventually disappear into the center of the room... a room that I do not recognize.

The lowered golden circle is the same, but as I look around, the rest of the room isn't. For starters, the walls form a circle around us instead of the previous square room we were in. Embedded in them are also these spinning circles with the same drawing of a circular structure with an "H" in the middle and an arrow above it. Above them are different designs of tower-like structures, all with arrows pointing up to them. There are five of them total surrounding us. They all look to be asynchronous, and not one has their arrows lined up with the drawings above them.

This, however, is not what catches my eye; no, that goes to the glass above us that overlooks the magnificence of a mostly blue planet with a pale ring surrounding it with the colorful cosmos behind it.

I vaguely hear Miah hyperventilating beside me, but that is drawn out by just how beautiful it all looks, how I can see the sunlight slowly peeking over the edge of the planet, how the planet itself slowly spins with a continuous and practiced speed, how the stars in all their hues serve as the perfect backdrop for it all, how I can see the ring in all it's glory and how beautifully it captures the light of the peeking sun, how BLUE it all looks with the continents I can see being such a small part of it all, and just how these continents diverse.

A part of one is made up of four colors, a brilliant blue, different from the ocean in that it shines like a sapphire, a sizzling red that gleams like ruby, a crystalline green that dazzles like an emerald, and one that shimmers like a diamond, clear and glass-like.

Another part of the same continent and one that is significantly bigger, however, is covered in a desolate yellow; near its edges, I can see other colors joining in, but almost 40% of the continent is just this bright yellow, and I have to stop looking at it all as I am overcome with nausea and a profound sense of... something.

I take this moment off to look around the room again and see that there is a metallic door opposite us, I turn to signal Miah of it, but as I look towards her, I am enraptured by her expression.

The first thing I notice are tears in her eyes, not from the sadness. I don't think, no, by the look in her eyes, these are tears of joy. She looks bewitched by the scene above us and has raised her hand toward the glass almost longingly.

I am unconsciously drawn closer to her. There is just something enchanting about the unfiltered look of pure joy and awe that attracts me, and suddenly I find myself beside her, with the courage to look again.

This time I glaze over the barren yellow and focus on the other continent. This one is smaller than the other and is separated into four different islands, the largest of them just a fraction of the size of the yellow. They are southeast-bound and not that far away from the main continent.

I turn over to look at the main continent again, noting that the gleaming colorful part of it is directly south of the yellow. North of it, there is white, likely snow and ice. West is the blueness of the ocean, and east is divided into many more colors, these ones more muted than the one's southwest but much more varied.

I suddenly feel Miah leaning against me as we watch Aesir slowly spin.