There wasn’t much at the beginning. Despite the towering halls, grand statues and what looked like indoor plazas and gardens, the place was full of weeds and vegetation, traces of green and brown populating the otherwise empty, barren grounds. Yet besides the overgrowth, the place seemed almost untouched with ceramics still tucked inside storage rooms and rusted tools resting in their sheds. The air felt cool but a little humid. Insects buzzed and chirped about in the shadows... Well, shadows casted from the torches of the band. Other than slits of light here and there, the area was completely dark, the warm glow of the torches offering the only source of light needed to continue the journey.
There were many spots that reflected the torches’ light, but most of those soon turned out to be only cheap trinkets or patches of iron tools not completely rusted over. Usually the treasure hunters would’ve stripped them off the statues or structures anyway, but not for this expedition.
‘Mark the location down, but don’t pick them up just yet,’ Gennai ordered. ‘There are better treasures ahead. We can grab them on our way back if our chests still have space. Keeping track of our path, Roya?’
‘So far so good,’ a man behind Sofis answered. In his hands was a large, thick scroll of what seemed to be animal skin and a small, intricate knife that gently carved marks into the hide. As Sofis slowed down to peer at Roya’s work, she noticed the outlines of a path along with rough carvings of various rooms: the path they were on and the halls they’d been passing by.
‘Hmm…’ she mumbled to herself.
‘Are you interested in maps, scholar?’ Roya asked.
‘Oh, uh, a bit.’ She could tell the man wasn’t a cartographer. Unlike the ones she had come across in the Academia, the man’s carvings looked no better than scribbles, the scales of the rooms were completely off and were lacking in several basic details. Still, he was tracking their journey, the only one to do so in the entire group. It was at least somewhat reassuring that the chances of getting lost would be low with someone tracking their way.
‘I know I’m not the best artist, but what do you think of my work?’
‘I think it’s fine,’ she lied. ‘This might be of great use in my research, at least until the Academia creates a more accurate map of the ruins. Always useful to have manuscripts of the first explorers of these ruins.’
‘Tch, be honest, scholar,’ the tomboyish woman interjected. ‘Roya’s drawings have never been good. There’s no way it will be used in your research.’
‘Come on, Temia, you didn’t have to say that,’ Roya groaned. ‘You’re just making us both feel bad.’
‘I just don’t like fake appearances, that’s all,’ she replied.
‘And I thought you’d finally be happier no longer being the only woman in the band,’ Roya said.
‘Man or woman, I don’t care. I only care about their character.’
Sofis said nothing, and instead simply quietly shuffled her feet a little faster to get away from the unlikable woman.
The journey continued without much interaction between Sofis and the others. As much as she wanted to cut out large samples to store inside her many boxes, her heavy backpack was unfortunately still stored inside a chest, and with the relatively fast pacing of the band as a whole, she had no time to even pause to take a longer look at the ancient pillars and monuments. The further they entered, surprisingly, the more vegetation there was despite the lack of sunlight. Some of the plants and flowers were even emanating their own light, dimly illuminating the large, empty walls like stars in the sky. Occasionally, a few luminescent petals floated in the air, gently brushing against their clothing and skin before drifting away back into the darkness. Sofis had never seen such plants before, and without many friends in Academia Biologia, there was no point to even grab a sample when she had no knowledge of how to keep it alive on the journey back.
Despite the place being taken over by nature, the architecture was surprisingly well-preserved and intact, the statues that decorated the halls still stood tall and upright, and if one pointed their torch closer, one could even see the minor details on the statues’ hair. The cylindrical pillars were barely chipped away or cracked, the vines instead circled around the ridged surface and added splashes of green to the grey stone. It almost felt artificial, like the gardens of some nobles where they’d intentionally allow their exotic plants to combine with the stonework.
For ruins that seemed to have been completely reclaimed by nature, the art and masonry was far too well-preserved.
‘How deep does this place go?’ one of them asked, their voice echoing off the walls. ‘The ruins didn’t even feel this big from the outside.’
‘We haven’t even seen any staircases yet,’ another added.
‘How long have we been walking for? We should take a rest soon, right?’ a third chimed in.
‘We can take a rest once we reach the end of these halls,’ Gennai responded. ‘We’ve barely even turned a corner. There’s still so much more to explore.’
‘Wait,’ a fourth voice interrupted. As Sofis looked over, she found the sweaty man who clumsily handled her backpack earlier pointing at something in the distance. Just off to the side between two statues, placed close to the wall yet not leaning against it… was a singular wooden chest, free of any plants and rot.
‘How— what is it doing here?’ one of them gaped.
The entire band walked carefully towards it, the previous conversations all died down with their attention now focused on the suspicious chest. It couldn’t be possible. The band had seen hundreds of treasure chests before in their lives, and this didn’t look too different from the ones they encountered, but it was just so… perfect. It looked brand new despite being placed in these ancient ruins, as if someone had just left it there recently for no apparent reason.
‘Someone might’ve been here already,’ Gennai concluded. It doesn’t take a genius to come to that answer.
The entire band was on edge, their eyes scanning the area far more carefully than they had before. Sofis slowly retreated behind a few of them, putting herself in a position of relative safety.
‘Check the surroundings. There must’ve been other traces,’ Gennai ordered.
The band fanned out slowly, crouching down with their torches as they examined the floor, brushing away layers of soil and dirt. Even Sofis crouched down with them, searching for any traces of previous human activity. She noticed some extremely well-preserved ceramic tiles near the statues, decorated in a checkerboard pattern, but otherwise there was nothing. She couldn’t bear to dirty her hands for too long.
There was no evidence of further human activity.
The band gathered together, surrounding the chest with perplexed expressions. Gennai shoved the chest, and sure enough, it moved slightly away, revealing the clean stone underneath. ‘This doesn’t make sense.’
‘Is the chest heavy, boss?’ Roya asked, finally able to take a break from his scribbling.
‘Quite,’ Gennai answered. ‘I just don’t understand how it’s just… here.’
‘Let me take a look.’ For the first time in the journey, Sofis spoke up at her own initiative, reaching closer to examine the chest.
As she looked at the bottom, she noticed the chest wasn’t even bolted to the ground, simply being placed there, an oddity in a mostly empty space. The metal decorations of the chest had little traces of rust, but clearly not matching with the estimated age of the ruins and the humidity of the area. She was no furniture expert, but the design of the chest was obviously too contemporary. It was as if someone decided to play a prank on them.
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‘What do you got, scholar?’
‘If not for the ruins we are in, I would’ve confidently said this chest was freshly made at the local carpenter.’
‘Should we just open it, boss?’ one of them suggested.
‘At this point… alright. I do feel there’s some good treasure in here,’ Gennai said. ‘Let’s focus on what’s inside.’
He reached for the lid and confidently lifted it up. Inside was, as expected, a load of treasure, the chest around half-full with gold, pearls and other precious stones and trinkets. All of them were clearly of good quality.
They had only ventured in for around half a day or so. To have treasure like this just lying around was beyond surprising.
‘No one would believe us if we brought back a modern-looking chest from ancient ruins,’ Gennai said. ‘Especially when it’s such a fine load of… average jewellery.’
He wasn’t wrong. None of the trinkets inside were of unique design. Sure, they were still of immense value, but none truly represented the ruins they were now inside of. It could be sold for good money, even an idiot would know that, but it wasn’t enough.
‘Well, they’re still good merchandise. Put them in one of our chests—’
Grrr.
Everyone stopped.
One of the statues’ legs shifted forward by a little. The stone began to shed away, revealing the layer beneath. It was still stone, obviously, but from Sofis’ eyes, they felt… softer. Like flesh.
She looked up. The statue’s face peered back at her. It was then when she noticed the statue was holding a long stone spear…
It was pointed towards them.
‘Everyone out—’
The spear drove straight into the chest, splintering the wood… or at least it should’ve. Instead, the chest disappeared into fog and mist, instead revealing a cracked stone floor beneath it with the spear lodged in.
The statue turned its hard, rigid head towards the band.
‘R… Run!’
Gennai didn’t even need to say that. The band immediately scattered, dropping their heavy belongings as instincts took over. Sure, they had tools, but those were to deal with possible booby traps and obstacles, not weapons of war used to kill fellow humans.
In a choice between fight or flight, there was only one plausible answer.
They sprinted, panting breaths filling up the hall as they heard further cracks of stone. None dared to turn their head back. Sofis could care less as her loose robes tore against the branches in her way, her well-maintained skin scratched and poked by vines. They had no idea where they were going. It might’ve been in the direction back towards the entrance, but no one really knew.
What even was that? This was probably what was in everyone’s minds. Well, at least that was the case for Sofis. Stone statues don’t move. This was a self-evident fact… at least until this day.
The vegetation, the halls, the chest, the statue… Nothing made sense at all. Nowhere in this world would something inanimate be made alive. She had heard about illusions called ‘mirages’ in deserts, but to have a whole chest disappear before her eyes? She might as well claim that she was blind.
She violently shook her head as she chased after the other treasure hunters. This wasn’t some stupid booby trap. The treasure hunters’ reactions said it all. This was something beyond the realm of logic.
Thud. Someone fell. She didn’t even look back, but one person did. Gennai turned back, sprinting past her towards the direction of the statue. A few moments later, he returned, the limp and unconscious body of Roya being carried on his shoulder. The man was like a doll, his arms and legs flailing about as Gennai sprinted forward.
Did the statue get him? Sofis would not like to know.
After a while of mindless running, the thunderous sounds of stone finally ceased and the entrance was up ahead. With the warm embrace of sunlight, the band finally stopped to catch their breath, unable to process just what happened with the chest and the statue. Somehow, Sofis was still breathing. Sweat poured down her hair, dripping down like rain towards the ground. She couldn’t even bother to fix it now. Her heart was still racing. Her backpack was still in the chest, and along with most of the heavy equipment, was left near the statue. But she couldn’t care less about those physical items as of this moment.
She looked at Roya, his face frightfully pale as Gennai placed him on the ground. There were no obvious injuries. A treasure hunter hovered his hand near Roya’s nose. The hand quickly shrunk back as the man too began to pale.
‘What… happened to him?’ the man shook.
‘I don’t know,’ Gennai said slowly. ‘He’s just… dead.’
Dead?
Just like that. A drop to the floor. Dead. Was it a heart attack, an underlying illness, perhaps even fatigue? No idea. It didn’t matter what reason. The man whom she was talking to moments ago was now dead.
But surely it couldn’t have been that sudden… right?
Sofis crawled up to Roya, briefly placing her hand over his chest before she retreated back to her original place.
There was no heartbeat. Roya was actually dead.
It was merely moments ago when they shared a short conversation over his scribbles and mapping. Sure, the man seemed quite unskilled, but he was still an alive human being. He showed no signs of anything, and all of a sudden, he was now a cooling corpse to rot in these ruins. To die just like that was, at the very least, logically wrong.
She looked at the sweaty man who had guided the band over to that mysterious chest earlier. Sure, it wasn’t his fault for Roya’s death, but he was shaking with immense grief. She felt even a little pity for him, looking at his enormous frame just curled up and stricken with mourning.
‘What… now?’ he mumbled. ‘Do we just, I don’t know… I’m sorry.’
‘Jorn, what are you even saying sorry for?’ Gennai embraced the man. ‘You’re a clumsy man, but this has nothing to do with you, my brother.’
Ah, right. Sofis had forgotten the man’s name. Jorn. Not that it mattered much at this point in time.
The band sat closely around Roya’s body, their expressions defeated and sombre. After all, they had likely been together for a long time. It was probably an expression of grief of some sort. Only Sofis and the tomboyish woman sat away from the group, the latter even turning her back from everyone else.
Jorn was already crying, his stocky hands rubbing his tears in between hiccups. For such a giant man, he was extremely sensitive. Sofis didn’t really know what to make of this. The exact same expressions and emotions could be shown on a princess’ face and it wouldn’t even look the slightest bit out of place. A brute like him showing such weakness, instead, felt almost unnatural, though she didn’t dare to believe that it was the slightest bit fake.
Compared to him, all she did was sit at a distance, coldly looking at the body of a man whom she shared only a few words with. They would probably need to prepare a burial of some sort, laying Roya to rest in the grandest yet most destroyed of places. The ruins, the place where he met his demise, would be his eternal resting ground.
‘Look, Jorn,’ Gennai said, gently rubbing the man’s back. ‘It happens. We all knew this would be possible the day we chose to be treasure hunters. Roya is a brother to us all, but even he will have to leave at some point. You’re a big man. Crying wouldn’t bring him back—’
‘Hey, boss?’ one of the treasure hunters interrupted. ‘Roya, he…’
A cough. From Roya.
Sofis immediately turned her eyes towards the corpse. She wasn’t imagining it. The body, the chest… It was moving.
‘Huh…?’
The dead man suddenly jolted awake. His eyes were bloodshot, his mouth slightly open, his nose violently inhaling the air. His muscles were tense, but they were clearly moving. The paleness gradually receded, the hue of his skin returning to his body. It was as if he had simply taken a nap. It shouldn’t even be possible.
But he was alive. Again.
No less than a few moments after being pronounced dead, Roya was back.
Everyone immediately stood up and moved away from him, as if he was suddenly some freak that had stumbled upon an idyllic community. They were still in a state of shock. Frankly, it was difficult to even gauge what exactly they were feeling. There was a murky air of disbelief, shock, anger, and bewilderment all combined.
Sofis looked at her hand. She thought she felt no heartbeat from him earlier. She was completely sure. It wasn’t possible. There was no one who doubted Roya’s death.
And yet the man was alive.
‘R-Roya?’ Jorn stuttered.
The man’s empty eyes were staring into space, stunned at his own resurrection. He appeared as if he had seen a horrific nightmare, his hands and his mouth trembling. The entire band was silent, staring at him like some rare specimen. And he was. There were cases of people being accidentally buried alive, but never had anyone seen one come back from the dead. Even physicians would’ve been thoroughly terrified of such a phenomenon, and they were the most common eyewitnesses of the transition between life and death.
It just doesn’t make sense at all.
As the band sat frozen in place, unable to react to the events that had just unravelled in front of them, Roya opened his mouth to speak.
‘I…’ he croaked, his eyes widened as he struggled to force the words out of his parched mouth. He looked a bit deranged, the frantic movement of his arms like a blind man who lost his cane. His ears were twitching uncontrollably, his ankles rapidly tapping the ground. Even if it seemed like his body was alive, his brain was already far gone. But there was no stopping the crooked, slow, quiet enunciation of words, like the whispers of a man who lost his memories, his voice and his sanity.
‘I saw… it.’