02
Orias

He didn’t want to be here.

He could make house calls, that he was comfortable with. The outskirts of Janahad was farther than he was used to for a house call, but it wasn’t the first time it had happened.

But Briar had lied to him. This was not a house call.

She had roped him into being part of the medical staff at an excavation site. Briar did these kinds of tricks on him often, her excuse always 'You need to get out more'. He’d be more willing to ‘get out’ if she didn’t try to trick him into going somewhere. And what was wrong with wanting to stay home? He could be on his porch right now, curled up with a nice book and a cup of tea, listening as the waters of high tide crashed against the bluff.

Instead, Orias was here, a hundred some miles away from home at some excavation site deep in the desert. Part of him wanted to find a way back to Maramagia without Briar, but this was an important job for his friend, and he said he would be here for her. So here would stay…

Orias was seated at the makeshift desk within the medical tent, absentmindedly writing something in record book. He didn’t see many visitors on a given day, which to a certain extent he was thankful for. The site was larger than he had expected, and he swore that there were more raene here than there were in the entirety of his small town. If he suddenly had a large influx of patients here, he was worried he wouldn’t be able to handle it.

He sighed, closing the book and returning it to the drawer. Maybe he should try going for a walk, get some fresh air and clear his head. He wrote a note saying he would be out, then stepped out of the tent.

Outside, the site seemed busier than ever. Teams of archaeologists made their descent into the sinkhole despite the afternoon sun beating down. He walked beside the railing, taking in the site in its entirety. Briar had explained some of the details of the excavation to him, but much of it went over his head at the time. All he was able to gather was that the structure was of some great historical significance. Even from this high above, he could see the grand statues of the Administrator decorating the front of the building. He’d heard some of the workers describing the statues as graceful, but they gave Orias an eerie feeling. It was like they were trying to escape their stony prison, eyes closed in solemn defeat. He had to admit to himself that he held some curiosity toward the structure, but that curiosity stemmed more from dread than it did fascination. The more time he spent here, the more he couldn’t shake the strange feeling that emanated from the site. And now with the deity sightings, it all greatly troubled him. He was thankful he has so far avoided the need to go down there.

Orias then heard the beeping of a horn as a boxy automobile with bug-eyed headlights pulled up behind him. It was covered in various sizes of intricately drawn sigils and tacky stickers from all sorts of tourist destinations across Asheva; he knew exactly who this wrangler belonged to before she even stepped out out of the vehicle.

The driver was Ribos, a kind of raene with long, ribbon-like arms that shimmered dully in the afternoon sun. She wore a tank top and khakis, and her long dark hair was tied up to keep it off her neck.

“Look who came of his hidey-hole,” Briar began, giving him a small salute as she approached. “Out for a walk?”

Orias nodded. “It was starting to get stuffy,” he said. “How were things in the city?”

“Meh.” Briar came alongside him, resting her arms on the railing. “Mainly spoke to the scholars at the university. Still can’t determine anything about those sigils that keep appearing. They’ve never seen them before now.”

Briar had an actual reason for being here. She had received a letter from the site’s director for her assistance. As a trained Sigil Master, she would have expert knowledge regarding things he couldn’t begin to grasp. But while her knowledge was extensive, even she seemed to struggle.

“How ‘bout you? Anything interesting happening here?” she asked.

Orias shook his head no, but then he thought about it again as he did hear a rumor this morning. “I heard that the Regis arrived today to help with the excavation.”

“That old hermit? Man, they must really be desperate.”

“It must be important though if they brought the Regis here,” he said.

“I guess.” She rested her head in her hand. “Honestly though, this place is becoming more of a hot spot for the supernatural than a historical discovery. The director’s running me ragged with every new sighting.”

“You are the expert.”

“And I trained to be a doctor like you,” she huffed. “I just happen to have Fulcanelli attached to my name… Oh! Speaking of—” she pulled a letter from her pocket, torn open and already wrinkly. “You’ll be thrilled to hear that we won’t be staying here for much longer. Got a letter from my old teacher saying that she wants me to come home for something, so I’ll have to head back to Maramagia to get my things.”

Finally, an escape from this dreaded site.

“Then you’ll be heading to Dearthain after, correct? I’m sure your visit will be… interesting.”

“Always is. Something’s bound to happen when Fulcanelli’s involved,” Briar said. “Anyway, I’ve got some work I’ve got to get done. You need a ride back to the med station?”

“If you would be so willing.”

The day continued quietly with Orias seeing the odd patient or two, and before long the site began wrapping up its operations for the evening. Briar had returned to the medical tent late into the afternoon and crashed on one of the clean cots, listening to the mindless drabble of the evening radio. Orias took this time to reorganize the inventory, though the necessity of it was debatable. The two of them had decided they would leave in the morning, much sooner than Orias had anticipated. Briar had already informed the director of her departure before she had run into Orias. From the sound of it, even she was starting to get fed up with the site.

“The director needs to give me a good reason to come back,” was Briar’s answer when questioned about it.

Orias had just finished sorting one of the cabinets and about to move onto the next when he heard the rumble. At first, he thought it was coming from the radio, but he soon noticed how the items on his desk were clattering.

They felt the earthquake soon after, the large boom nearly toppling the tent. He saw Briar fall off the cot before he too was knocked to the ground, holding onto the desk to keep both it and himself in place. The cabinet soon toppled beside him, its neatly sorted contents spilling onto the floor and rolling away.

With one final tremor, a support from the back of the tent broke, causing the ceiling to cave in on itself.

And then it was gone, the earthquake stopping just as quickly as it had began.

“Briar, are you alright?” Orias asked as he pushed himself off the ground.

“Yeah,” Briar replied, pushing the fallen cot off her.

Orias helped Briar back to her feet, and they headed outside to check the extent of the damage. Around them, other temporary buildings had fallen or caved in on themselves. But it was quiet, the area being strangely deserted of others.

“Hey! Is there anyone here?” Briar called out, but there was no response.

“We should look around,” Orias said. “There may have been some caught under the rubble.”

So one by one, they scoured the fallen buildings, hoping to find any signs of survivors. But even after pushing aside fallen supports, there was no one. They even made their way to the director’s tent, the fancier tent still in tact. He too was missing.

“Could there have been an evacuation?” Orias asked.

“Without us? We would have heard something about it.”

The two of them then made their way to the edge of the sinkhole to see if anything had happened below them. They didn’t see signs of people, but what they did see was thin sliver of light coming from the structure’s entrance.

“No way…” Briar began. She then walked farther along the edge, trying to get a better a glimpse of the entrance. “I think it’s open. The structure is actually open…!” She turned back to Orias. “Let’s head down— we might be able to find someone.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” said Orias

“Do we have any other choice?”

They could leave. That was an option. They could find someone more qualified to handle this, even if it meant going to Janahad. But he was a doctor, and if there was someone who needed help, then he needed to be there.

“Alright, let’s go.”

They headed for one of the ramps spiraling down into the pit. The air was still as they descended, only broken occasionally by the sound of skittering bugs and lizards. When they reached the bottom, they stepped into a courtyard with statues of the Patrons bearing down on them as they passed. In front of them was the structure, so much taller than it had seemed from above. He could see light seeping through the doors that had been opened just a crack.

He glanced over to Briar. Despite this being her idea, she seemed just as uncertain as he was. In any other circumstance, this would have comforted him.

Wordlessly, he approached the entrance, pushing open the heavy doors to reveal the other side.

Before them was a grand foyer made of marble and crystal. Wildflowers blossomed between cracks in the stone flooring and emerald vines had wrapped themselves around pillars and buttresses. In front of them was a large set of stairs that sloped upward to another floor with hallways on either side that went deeper into the structure. A chandelier made of glass and gemstones hung above them, taking in the evening light and refracting it around the room in a brilliant display of colors. All of it beautiful, but haunting, like time had never touched these halls.

As they entered the foyer, he noticed that some of the flowers had been trampled.

“You were right,” Orias said. He knelt down to get a closer look. “Someone did come in here.” He then noticed that her attention was elsewhere, toward one of the hallways to their side. “Is something the matter?”

“I don’t…” She paused for a moment. “I thought I saw a shadow or something…” She shook her head. “Sorry, it’s nothing.”

Just as she finished speaking, he heard voices come from the top of staircase. It sounded like… bickering?

“We’re leaving,” said a voice.

“Oh, come on!” complained another. “You said this trip would be good experience, so let me do something!”

“We aren’t equipped to do anything, Vincent. This is vastly out of the scope we can handle right now—”

At the top of the staircase were two figures. One was a tall Mezur, the kind of raene that bore horns on their heads. He had a dark complexion and was wearing a lavender uniform that the knights of Janahad wore. The other was a Humil with strawberry blond hair and a pink and gold poncho to match.

At first, he was relieved to have finally found someone else at the site, but it quickly turned to anxiety as the knight drew his sword.