I broke the silence that Azarus and I were walking in. “Do you…have any idea what this place is?” I whispered to Azarus. Despite my low tone, my words still echoed through the desolate halls that we found ourselves in. I don’t even know why I was whispering, there definitely wasn’t anyone in here.

“No gods damn clue,” Azarus whispered back. I guess he felt it too. “Ain’t never seen or heard of anything like this.”

Something he said niggled at my brain for a moment before I figured it out. “Is this something that the gods left behind maybe?”

Azarus immediately shook his head. “No way. I’ve seen divine architecture before. Ya can see some in the capitals and it don’t look like this. This is…” He trailed off with a troubled look on his face. He stopped for a moment to pick up some kind of broken machinery from the floor. I couldn’t even tell what it was or what it had been used for. It just looked like a mangled collection of wires now and what might have been some kind of ceramic. “I don’t know what this is.”

You and me both, buddy.

Up ahead, I spied an open doorway that wasn’t blocked by rubble, which was a first. I pointed it out to Azarus and exchanged a nod with him. Together we advanced on the doorway, carefully stepping over the debris that was nonetheless getting thicker in our path. When we reached it, I let Azarus go first. Not because I was spooked or anything, but because he was the one with the light.

At least that’s what I told myself.

This room was different than the others. In a way, I thought I might be able to recognize what was in here. But I didn’t like it.

This looked like a classroom. And not for adults.

Scattered haphazardly around the room were dozens of small desks and chairs made of the same white material everything else seemed to be. Many of them were either overturned or fractured into individual parts. Turning around, I found what I was dreading, but expecting. On the wall next to the door was a large expanse of raised material that reminded me of a whiteboard. There were holes and slashes burned into it though, exposing wires and strange-looking circuit boards.

I tried desperately to ignore the patches of dried blood that dotted even this room.

I breathed in and out before catching Azarus’s attention. He had been in the process of looking around the room with a grim look on his face. Despite the tech gap in understanding, my dwarven friend wasn’t a fool. I think he’d gather what this room was for. He turned to look at me.

I shook my head at him. “Let's…keep going.”

He nodded silently before following me out of the room.

……………………………………..

This continued on for some time as Azarus and I delved even deeper into the…complex we’d stumbled into. Because that’s what this had to be. Rather than some kind of hospital like I’d initially though, this had to have been some kind of all-in-one bunker or something.

Over time, the path began to branch as we headed deeper into the complex. We tried to stay on the main path though. Azarus and I had decided in a whispered conversation not to stray too far from it, just so we didn’t get lost. Not only that, but I meant deeper literally. It was hard to tell, but I think the main path gradually spiraled downwards into the earth. I had no idea how deep we were at this point, but we weren’t anywhere near the surface by now.

I could admit that this place was spooking me out somewhat, but my curiosity was greater. Before we left, I wanted to get a better look.

What impeded us though, was the fact that the debris grew denser as we got further in. Whatever kind of battle had happened in these halls, it had grown fiercer the deeper it went. Sometimes, we had to carefully climb over rubble that nearly blocked the path. Under advisement from Azarus, we tried not to shift too much of it about. We didn’t know what could ultimately cause a collapse over our heads.

There were other open doorways that we explored on our trek. Thankfully for my peace of mind, we didn’t find many more classrooms. Sometimes we’d find what looked like a storeroom of some kind, its shelves bare of anything at all, but containers constructed from unfamiliar materials still present. Other times, we’d find what looked to be office space. Hell, I think we even found living quarters a few times. Difficult to tell though, with how everything was smashed up from some kind of obvious battle.

What I found odd, though, was the lack of dust. Despite how old this place must have been, there wasn’t a single dusty surface to be found. Maybe that blast of air we’d experienced when the door had opened meant this place had been sealed in some way? That might have something to do with it.

It took us nearly an hour of exploration to reach the end of the main path. At that point, I was wondering if those locals had actually managed to rouse Grey and gotten him down here. We hadn’t seen or heard anyone else on our tail yet, so who knew? Maybe they were just further back.

The end of the main path was curious, however. It terminated in another door, very similar to one that had blocked the entrance into this tomb. This one wasn’t covered in greenery, or thankfully rubble. Instead, it looked battle-scarred. Where before the first door was virtually unmarred, this one most certainly was not. It was covered in deep scores and dents from top to bottom. However, it was still mostly intact. Whoever had tried to get through this door had failed, because it was still sealed. With how damaged it was though, would it even open like the other one had at my touch?

I guess we would find out.

Exchanging a nod with Azarus, I stepped forward and laid my palm on the door. Luckily, whatever was causing me to be able to open these doors was still working.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The same blue-green glow of concentrated Aether began to spread across the door in fits and starts, sometimes being interrupted by battle damage. Again, there was an explosion of air as it rushed into the room. Luckily, Azarus and I had hastily retreated to a safe distance this time, remembering what happened last time. Haltingly, the door the door began to unfold in a similar manner to the first, before stalling out. The door had only managed to retreat halfway before failing. Still, that was enough for us to duck through.

For once, I stepped through the doorway first. I didn’t need Azarus to go in first to light the way.

It was already bright in here.

Gazing around in wonder, I found that I had entered into the largest room we’d found so far, lit by the glow of concentrated Aether. In here, the glow was radiating off of large, smooth blocks of the same ceramic-looking material that defined this complex. Each of them had tracers of the energy running in grooves on their surface. Still, the glow wasn’t uniform, and it wasn’t on all of them. Even on the blocks that still had Aether, it was weak and flickering. Even though this room seemed to be bereft of the marks of conflict that had littered this complex, I guess time had nearly finished the job.

Stepping further into the room, I saw something along the far wall. I started making my way towards it, only to be halted by Azarus calling my name behind me. Turning around, I saw that he was staring at one darkened corner of the room with a solemn look on his face. Whatever he was looking at was underneath the shadow of one of the dead monoliths in the room. From where I was, I couldn’t see what he was. He’d canceled his orb of fire once he had stepped into the room.

I walked back over to where he was, confused. “Yeah? What is…it…” I trailed off. Once I was standing next to him, I saw what had caught his attention.

We had found the former residents of this complex.

Long, long dead.

Huddled together in the corner of the silent monolith, there might have been the remains of dozens of people. It must have been an extraordinarily long time since they’d died though, since their remains were all skeletonized. To my eyes, all of the skeletons looked like they were human, covered in only scraps of unidentifiable clothing that had long since decayed. Some of those skeletons…they…

Some of them were distressingly small.

I took a deep breath, trying to ignore the faint smell in the air that I had only noticed, not dissimilar to dust. I guess…these people had retreated down here, to this sealed room, during the battle that had occurred up above. Only, they had never made it out. None of them looked like they had died in any way but peacefully. If I had to take a guess…

Based on the way this room seemed like it had no air in it when I opened it, they must have all asphyxiated. Simply…nodded off together, once the air supply had run out. Or…

Was sabotaged.

Azarus and I stood side by side, silently taking in the mass grave before us. Abruptly, Azarus made the sign of the Gyre next to me and bowed his head to these long-dead humans. “May your spirits find eternal solace.” He said solemnly.

I copied him, bowing my head. “May you rest in peace,” I whispered.

We stood there, paying our respects for several minutes to these poor people before we were interrupted. Behind us from the door, we heard the sound of movement. I turned around just in time to watch as Grey, clad in his combat robes, duck through the half-opened doorway followed closely by Sylvia and Venix. Nobody else followed behind them, so I guess it was just those three.

Grey was looking around in amazement at his surroundings, looking more excited than I had ever seen him before he catching sight of us. He perked up and called out to us across the distance, causing Sylvia to turn around from where she had been helping the massive form of Venis through the gap. “Nathan! Azarus!” He said, jogging over to our position. I smiled weakly at my mentor, while Azarus just greeted him with a small nod. “This is incredible! Gods, it feels like I’ve been waiting half my life for this moment. I can’t tell you how long…” He trailed off, noticing what we had found. “Oh. I see.” He sighed, gazing mournfully at the long-dead people.

Sylvia and Venix had reached us as well at this point. The sight of so many dead caused Sylvia to gasp and cover her mouth, while Venix simply bowed his massive head.

“I had thought it odd that we found no remains, despite the evidence of battle,” Grey said somberly.

I nodded slowly. “No weapons, no signs of struggle. These were just civilians trying to get away from the fighting.”

Grey gave a long sigh. “I’ll make sure that their remains are collected later, and then given proper burials after examination. Now,” He said, suddenly turning a baleful eye on Azarus and me. I stiffened in surprise. “What, exactly, were you two thinking, entering this place on your own?”

Azarus and I exchanged wary glances. I cleared my throat. “Uh, that it sounded…fun? To…explore…an old ruin?” I said weakly. Okay, so maybe it hadn’t been the best idea to go charging into this complex, but c’mon! It had turned out all right.

Grey pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “In the future, Nathan, wait for backup. From long experience, I can tell you that some of the most dangerous places I’ve ever visited have been old ruins.” He lowered his head and muttered something indistinguishable about young people under his breath, before glancing back up. “You’re lucky there do not appear to be any active defenses in this…facility.”

Sylvia stepped past the group while Grey was dressing Azarus and I down. She made a curious sound in the back of her throat, before turning to look at us. “What is that over there?” She said, interrupting Grey and pointing at something.

We all turned to look and follow her finger. I blinked. “Ah, yeah. I was about to check that out before we discovered, well, them.” I said, indicating the departed. Sylvia was pointing at the object that I had seen earlier. Walking in that direction with the entire group following, I was able to see that it was a plinth of some kind as I got closer. Stepping up to it, I saw that, like everything else, it was made of the same ceramic material. It rose up to around waist height, and had a large, rectangular surface resting at the top of it. Kind of like a podium.

Curious, I reached out to rest a hand on it, only for that hand to be grabbed by Grey. Turning to face, I saw that he was raising an eyebrow at me. “Did I not just finish saying that you should be more careful, Nathan?” He said exasperatedly.

I shrugged. “Yeah, but that’s how I’ve gotten everything else to work in here. The doors only opened up when I touched them. I…really don’t think anything in here is going to hurt us.” I don’t know why I thought that. It was honestly just kind of a feeling.

Grey frowned for a moment before nodding slowly. “I see,” He said slowly, obviously making the connection about my Precursor status. “Well, I’m unsure about that, but at the very least I’m here now. If the worst happens, I should be able to prevent any harm from happening, even in my weakened state. Very well, go ahead. I admit I’m curious myself.” He let go of my hand.

Nodding at him, I finished laying my hand on the podium.

The reaction was immediate.

Around the room, many of the monoliths that were still glowing let out torturous creaking and screeching noises as they began to glow brighter. Some of them failed altogether, losing their light, but not all of them. On the ceiling far above us, recessed lights that I hadn’t noticed attempted to flicker on, only to fail, leaving the room in lasting darkness. On the wall across from the podium, a blank screen of white light flashed into existence, not unlike a hologram. On that white screen, lay a blue box of a recognizable shade, with a single flashing white vertical bar inside of it.

Under my hand, something familiar appeared, causing me to reel back in shock.

A standard English keyboard from back home, wrought from solid light.