‘Sorry for that.’

Temia caught Sofis in her arms as the latter went into unconsciousness. For how intelligent Sofis seemed with her observations and deductions, she had missed out on one crucial factor in all of this: hunger.

‘Should’ve noticed this sooner, Scholar,’ she muttered.

It was originally supposed to just be another treasure hunt. Yes, Temia knew that the mission was given through the Academia Historica’s sponsorship, as were many other missions that were given before. Treasure held mere monetary value to the treasure hunters, but for those pompous scholars, those precious stones apparently held some greater inner value or purpose. More often than not, the various branches of the Academia would hire bands of treasure hunters like them to different places, exploring and bringing back anything deemed valuable. But it was only this time that Temia encountered an Academia scholar accompanying them, an individual with a far different upbringing and background compared to the rest of them.

She honestly hated Sofis during their first meeting. Though shy and reserved at the beginning, it was obvious that Sofis saw the rest of them as a lower class, if not an entirely different species altogether. Temia noticed that ‘scholarly’ expression plastered on her face, one that signified immense ego and pride over one’s profession. If Sofis had appeared to her alone, she would’ve quite literally knocked her out then and there.

After all, those scholars had no idea what the world was like beyond their thick books and fancy libraries, or so she believed.

For much of the journey, Temia found her gut instincts to be entirely correct. Sofis, like her, was unsociable, but took it to the next level with her manners and clothing. While everyone focused on the practical, the scholar had the guts to travel in her ‘scholarly’ garb, which was really another word for inappropriate clothing. Throughout the entire journey towards the ruins, Sofis had refused to talk to nearly anyone and showed displeasure to pretty much everyone. Gennai was extremely patient and Jorn was nice as ever, but as for the others… They could only hide their feelings lest they angered the Academia in some way.

Temia didn’t care for niceties. Though not to the point of being an outright bully, she made her attitude clear to Sofis at the start. If the scholar wanted to treat them as lower class, then Temia would see her as an alien being.

This persisted for a long while, and Temia would’ve thought the scholar was just some pretentious, hygiene-sensitive individual if not for the hall of silver.

She noticed how Sofis struggled her way to climb back up from the chamber she fell in though injured and bloodied. She noticed the scholar’s grit to fight back out of a desperate situation. She noticed the determination in Sofis’ eyes, that she wasn’t only here to conduct research, but to be a part of the group. And though probably accidental, it was undeniable that Sofis saved them all from the air that suffocated and drugged them into mindless hoarders.

In a way, Sofis reminded Temia of herself in the past during that moment.

And now, it was Temia’s turn to return the favour.

She placed Sofis softly down on the ground before analysing the situation. She perhaps had a chance in knocking out a few others, but it was impossible for her to work in a completely controlled space. There were too many sources of noise to handle.

Well, she could only cope at this point.

Judging from what she knew, the memory loss was induced by a feeling of hunger, and those that succumbed to it rewinded to the moment of their most vivid memory. Based on how most of them were in agony, the memories were probably extremely painful to them. There wasn’t much else to go by, but for now, that was it.

The goal was simple: she ‘just’ had to somehow force feed everyone food and things would return back to normal.

The most direct food source, the prepared rations, were already mostly destroyed by the others’ trampling feet. The ones still intact were meanwhile difficult to reach due to just how many of her companions were walking dangerously near them. It’d be a lost cause if she attempted to brute force her way to the food.

Instead, she began walking along the wall, listening for any noise. Earlier, she thought she’d heard the flowing of water despite this being an extremely barren place, meaning that there was some other room hidden nearby. If there wasn’t any door of the sort, she would need a tool to break down the wall itself.

She really hoped that wouldn’t be needed.

As she walked, she realised the formerly blank walls were beginning to warp and change into images. Scenes of violence, regret and sadness began to form, gradually becoming more visceral until it became fully formed carvings. She recognised some of these images. They matched the words and descriptions of the memories the others were now blurting out.

The wall was forming a tapestry of their collective memories.

It was frightening in a way, seeing the place mould itself organically like some creature. Yet it also fascinated her, being able to witness a transformation beyond one’s comprehension like this. Whatever magic the structure was building, it certainly kept her entertained.

Her mind briefly drifted to Roya’s crazed words. A ‘creator’ of this place. If such a being existed, Temia now believed it must’ve still been residing in here, waiting for their arrival. She still believed that Roya was just insane, but the thought of some magical being was becoming more and more realistic by the moment.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

She couldn’t distract herself like this.

As she stepped back, looking at the walls shift and change, she noticed a spot still blank, its rectangular shape oddly like a door.

Exactly what she was looking for.

She shoved against the stone. It was extremely heavy, but it definitely shifted. She attempted to push it from different directions. Pushing the right side turned out to have the least resistance. She leaned her entire body weight against it, her feet planted firmly on the ground as she pushed with her legs.

Bit by bit, the hidden door turned. She coughed from the dust that flew into her nose, but she kept on pushing. When she became tired, she rested only for a brief moment before continuing. The craziness had escalated, with some of her companions now fighting each other for whatever reason, throwing punches with their full might with no sense of self-preservation.

She had an idea.

‘Oi, idiots!’ she shouted. ‘Do any of you have mothers? Because I know I do!’

That was a lie. But a very good lie.

She immediately attracted the ire of many of her companions, including Jorn and Gennai. The two strongest men in the band led the others as they came barrelling towards her. One wrong move and she would be dead, but in that moment, she had no fear.

Just before contact, she swiftly dove away, letting them ram against the door. It was outright hilarious seeing her companions act like this, but she couldn’t savour the moment. The door didn’t open, though it was pushed more than halfway. She needed another try.

They turned their eyes towards her. She sprinted. It was definitely not a good idea to anger so many at once, but it was needed.

It was a wild goose chase now.

‘Sofis could never think of this,’ she smiled in glee.

With the path to the food stores now mostly free, she made a beeline towards that chest, using her arms to scoop up as much food as possible off the ground. While most of them fell away, a few managed to stick to her arm in a rather disgusting manner. She didn’t care. She took a bite at her arm, licking some food off to satiate her hunger. Something about the hall made her feel hungry faster.

She turned and looped back towards the door. All she needed to do now was to replicate exactly what she did earlier, and the door should be opened—

She tripped and fell. She had somehow stepped on Sofis’ unconscious body. She collapsed right in front of the door, and it was too late to stand as the men gained on her.

‘Shit.’

Temia saw Sofis being crushed in front of her eyes before she too was trampled upon. She heard the cracks and squelches inside her body, excruciating pain shooting up everywhere with no outlet to escape.

Being stepped on by men of various ages and sizes. What a way to go.

The last thing she heard was the grinding of stone.

----------------------------------------

‘Temia, Temia!’

‘Huh…? Give me a break, man. I’m trying to sleep…’

Wait. No. She was supposed to be dead. As Temia groggily opened her eyes, she saw a clean, alive Sofis before her eyes, gently shaking her as the others looked. Gennai was washing his face, while Jorn was playfully tapping her head.

This was some sort of afterlife, wasn’t it?

A splash of water suddenly smacked against her face, violently waking her up. She shot up in anger, knocking away Sofis as she looked around, trying to find the culprit.

Instead, she saw a pool of pristine water with a few smaller, raised tubs nearby. A fire was lit below each tub, heating it up as the water bubbled and trickled back down into the pool. Somehow, water was also going up from the pool in reverse, defying any previous logic in other bodies of water that Temia had seen before.

She thought she had gone insane.

‘Temia, thank you,’ Gennai said. ‘You saved us.’

‘Thanks for finding this as well!’ Jorn called out. He was sitting comfortably in a tub, wiping his hair with a rag that was surprisingly clean given it being, well, a possession of Jorn’s.

‘What happened?’ she asked. She couldn’t really make sense of anything. The last thing she remembered was being trampled and stepped on. Was this pool what lay beyond the blank stone door? If so, then she might’ve just uncovered the greatest gift known to Man: the cleanest body of water in the entire world.

‘I only remember waking up in the middle of the pool after nearly drowning in it,’ Gennai explained. ‘My memories came back soon after, including the insult you shouted at us in order to get our attention.’

‘That was mean,’ Jorn added and pretended to sulk.

‘Anyway, without you, we’d all probably wiped each other out in confusion and panic.’

‘How… did you manage to figure out what was causing this?’ Sofis questioned. It was rare for her to humbly ask a question like this.

‘I just figured out we were hungry, that’s all,’ Temia answered. ‘But was drowning in water the answer? And how am I still alive?’

‘Water does fill up hunger a little usually, but we also found these white pieces of crackers lying inside the chests.’ Gennai showed her a handful of white, circular crackers. Curious, Temia took a bite… and immediately felt the sensation of satisfaction and fullness.

‘It’s called “mana”, apparently,’ Sofis explained. ‘One piece is enough for a meal for each person.’

‘How’d you know?’

‘I… just know.’

There she was back with her old habits again. Temia silently forgave Sofis inside her heart.

‘And as for how you’re alive,’ Sofis continued. ‘I found out that it is impossible to die while inside the structure.’

‘What?’ Then back then when Sofis was bloodied and injured… Temia wouldn’t go further.

‘It’s true,’ Gennai attested. ‘I even tested Sofis’ claim by stabbing myself. I would black out, but the next moment, I was breathing again.’ He pointed towards a hole in his clothing.

‘You idiot.’ Temia had no more words to say to this action.

‘You should’ve seen how freaked out Jorn was,’ Gennai laughed.

‘Not funny,’ Jorn protested.

‘This structure is filled with so many strange occurrences, huh?’ Sofis commented.

Temia nodded. There was still so much she didn’t understand. However, at the very least, the band was back to normal. To figure out what exactly was going on in this structure wasn’t really her job. That was Sofis’ responsibility, at least that was what Temia believed.

For now, she would simply enjoy a good rest in the pool. It was nice to have everyone’s memories back.