You may want to start here.
>>o<<
And so everyone vanished. Every single inhabitant of that part of the land. There were a couple of human remains scattered around of course. But y'see, at this point, you cannot actually tell anymore which belonged to men and which belonged to dogs or pigs or the long-necked krappa. The city, or what remains of it, was more like a ghost town when we got there. There were no lush gardens, rivers dried up, and there were no Ganymede towers standing to challenge the Gretian skies. No doubt they were humbled down by the great conflagration. In another time and another instant, not seeing the grandeur of the Ganymede towers and the rest of the city should be a big disappointment. But seeing the city wiped out by unknown forces was totally a different thing. The smoke had already settled down. But the dust came swirling into the air. We had to wear extra clothing to avoid dust from entering our bodily orifices.
Ambrocia was freaking out. She'd just cry suddenly, utter incomprehensible words, and gestures with her hands and fingers, I would like to guess, used to summon the creatures of the deepest earth. Mog tried hard in hushing her. Even telling her that another eye might decide to come out beside the one she already had if she'd just only keep quiet. But Ambrocia's serious about what she had just seen and continuously seeing. I could feel the heaviness in those arms. It's as if all the suppressed feelings of that place was haunting her.
Help us and later Stop it. And then she'd laugh but immediately her face would turn expressionless and shouts Don't laugh you stupid...No you don't wanna laugh...you don't know what you were doing. She's sweating and spittles flying around her. She was horribly tensed. And that was no good. I have seen Ambrocia in a trance a couple of times. I'm not expert in all these things so I could not tell if it was real or she just wanted to attract some attention. But I see the sincerity in all those tears. Much to my desire to survey the whole city and take any valuable goods we ever could find. After all, gold would just melt and take another form, right? But we had to get out of that place right away. It's so heavy. I mean I started to feel the heaviness and the sadness in the air. It's as if it was slowly entering our exposed pores. The terror became visible dusts that tried to drag us out or pull us in forever.
And so we tried to find our way out. That – we knew much later – was better said than done. Or, in a more gentler way to put it, a pathetic wishful thinking. Y'see, the city was huge with confusing streets to begin with. At some point we had no choice but to admit that we were lost. In there, our sense of direction was of no use. If we try to walk straight east, buildings would eventually block our way. Mog said it was like one big labyrinth of sort. And I think for the first time I agreed with him.
It was when we turned to a corner to take the street we perceived to be on the southern part of the city when I noticed a human-like form lying on one side. It didn't bother me a bit. Another unfortunate lifeless Gretian, I'd say. It was also at this point when Ambrocia collapsed to unconsciousness. Mog caught her before she could hit the cobbles. The twins meanwhile had another thing in mind. Claudius (at least that's what his name tag suggested), later gestured that he could at least sort out dead people and people who appeared to be one. And definitely that man lying in the corner can be conveniently regarded as very much alive. The twins wanted to check further for any signs of life. But before they could do so, a terrified youth about 14 or 15 of age, though it's hard to tell from its dismal state, sprang to consciousness upon sensing two similar individuals walking towards him. He was trembling. Crossed his arms between us and him as if his improvised shield could do him any good if there really was genuine threat.
He was truly terrified. From the looks of it, it's as if he had just recently fled from the grasp of unthinkable monsters who wanted to dine on his innards. Body full of burns, bruises and scratches, frail and filthy, and eyes that saw every terror that might have seen the unthinkable horrors of the legendary Agnotius mountains. I know you knew that. Or at least have heard of the stories. The twins comforted him. I must admit I was amazed how'd they do that without even saying anything. I guess it's just simply inherent to them. They got the heart of the kid. He cried. Maybe because he knew from that moment, he could breath and live without ever fearing for anything ever again. He cried of loved ones who were lost amidst the ruins of the city. He cried of of relief and mourning. And his cries echoed through the nearby empty streets and alleys. Looking back to it right now, I had this eerie feeling of deja vu. I don't know why.
He led us out of that place without ever looking back though he would answer my inquiries not with too much enthusiasm I guess but answered them as well. Ambrocia regained her consciousness when we reached a hill not far from the city. This boy of the lost city of Grete who was called Norman joined our caravan from that day on.
No comments:
Post a Comment