The Ruins

The Ruins are a place of powerful wonder, a place where strange things come to life. It’s a place of lawless solitude, a never-ending silence looms over it, and the broken stones of what was once a place of magic and mystery lay in the shadows.

The morning sun rose and with it him. He was lost, what should he do? Why should he do it? The ruins are his favorite place to visit but he only went there once with his mother. That was four years ago and yet it still calls them. Should he go there and look for the body of his mother? He was full of determination, but was swathed in fear. As light shone on the city he called home, he groggily walked to the door. He ambled through the hall clumsily, while the excited shrieks of children swept his ears. He wasn’t in the mood to go to the village library, and the noise of horses made him want to stay home. It was a busy day for the village, the emperor’s horses always came at noon to check for any non-believers. He was fine with the Emperor’s rule, as his father worked as an ambassador for the Emperor. However, his father was a great and nice man, always donating to charity ever since his wife had gone missing. Suddenly, his head started throbbing and his legs wobbled; he felt a need, a merciless roar through his head over and over. Your fault…. He was surprised, he had not thought of his mother in a long time. He always had work to do, whether it be working with the Emperor’s scouts or assisting the village in carrying goods, he never had time to think. 

He stepped out into the room adjacent to his, his head still swimming, and slowly picked up his gear, a satchel, helmet, bow, a quiver, and some light chainmail. As a scout, he was expected to watch for rogues, robbers, and enemy scouts. He didn’t like his job, but he had to do it to help support his village. He stepped into the stables, lazily jumped on his horse, and galloped to the gates of the village. As soon as he reached the gates a shout could be heard.

“Hey you! What are you doing here late? You already missed the scouting team!” He already knew that most scout captains didn’t bother learning their subordinate’s names, especially the younger ones. He was preparing to turn around and head home until. “Hey! You can’t head home, you still have to do some work.” He slowly turned around, he was already irritated at this man’s yelling, and the same person telling him to do some work. He was about to snap back at him until he heard the man’s next words. 

“You’ll be scouting the ruins up north,” The captain stated.

“Y-you want me t-to scout the..,” He stammered. He couldn’t go there not after that, he vowed he would never go back there.

“Do I look like I want to repeat myself?” The captain hissed at him, clearly annoyed with his subordinate’s lack of obedience. He was scared, but he was more fearful of the captain’s wrath. Not wanting to invoke a fight, he spun his horse and galloped north. 

The leaves swirled up around him as the wind tickled his nose. The meadow was beautiful to everyone but not to him. The woods are nature’s traps, inviting the unfortunate to enter and never come out. Birds taunted him, flapping their wings to show that their superiority was out of his league. The river roared as he crossed the wooden bridge, slightly wincing at the bridge’s rotting wood. He passed by many merchants and travelers, most were happy and jovial, while some were rude and angry. He did not care for any of these merchants, as he knew that none of them were real people, or at least acted like them. They demanded money to benefit their own selfish desires taking from anyone buying their silvery words of appeasement. He was lost in his thoughts for the majority of his ride, until he passed a familiar looking waterfall. The one that his mother used to visit every weekend, they would look at the fish dancing in the waters for hours and they talked about hundreds of things in life. He missed those days, and used to childishly hope that they would come back, until he grew older and learned that the world was a horrible place full of thieves and scammers. Why did he even want to go to the Ruins? Even he didn’t know the answer until he reached it. He could sit here for hours looking at the etchings and marks that tell a story hidden in shattered stone. He leapt off his horse and made his way into the cave.

He wasn’t following orders, but he wanted to see. No, he NEEDed to see. He walked inside the cave, holding his breath. The silence broken by his echoing footsteps and the ever-maddening sound of dripping water. He paused and looked at the broken pillars and the pedestal in the middle. He slowly walked up to it trembling as the pedestal called to him.

“Mother, mother what is that?” His mother looked at him with beautiful hazel eyes and black silky hair flowing with the chilly air. “That my son is a pedestal.” The pedestal was a pale white and had a purple stone the size of his head in the center. His mother held him tenderly as he looked in childish awe at the number of broken pillars and the captivating light of the stone. While his mother wasn’t looking, he broke her hold and ran to the stone laughing happily. “Mother, look what I found! It’s so shiny!” His mother turned and looked at him, her face contorting in horror. “No! Don’t touch that!” Her voice echoed through the cave. He was oblivious to her voice and reached out to it. His mother caught up to him and quickly slapped the hand away from the stone. However, her fingers brushed the dazzling violet, and suddenly a voice echoed through the room.

“WHO DARES ENTER THE RUINS TO ROB US OF OUR MOST GUARDED SECRET…”

He looked at his mother than at the stone. His mother tried to speak to him

“

Ṛ̴̢̭̯̝̼̬͕̥̺̣́̔̅̏̈̏́͗u̷̲̤͙̦̲̟̻̞̠͑̂̏̅̽̔̏̉͆͌̉̿͊́̾͘̚͝͠Ņ̶̛̠̳̻̈̔̊̓̇̈́͌͑̏̀̍͛̇̔̓͛̚͝͠ ̶͇̭͉͉͈͎̪̗̩̯̤̭̹̦͔̯̈́̎̿̅͌̂̇͋͒̇̉̍̂͑̑͜͠͠”

He was scared, his mother never sounded like that, and her distorted voice rippled through the rocks of the cave, tearing into his feeble mind. He screamed and then… nothing. Nothing was there, the pedestal was broken, all the rocks lay lifeless. But his mother had vanished into thin air. 

He walked cautiously to the pedestal, and sat on his knees, head pointed to the ground. He burst into tears and replayed her death over and over. His headache intensified as he grasped his throat for air, his tears dropping on to the purple rock. He screamed one last time, hoping someone would come to him. No one ever came, except one. The purple glow emitting from the rock stopped, and it broke the shockwave sent in all directions, the cave was breaking. Stalactites fell from the ceiling, and he ran as quickly as possible still wiping his tears, but failed. The rocks caved in, leaving him trapped in the cave. He wanted to cry, he wanted it all to be over. He was about to yell for help, until a voice was heard. He hadn’t heard that voice in so long. It was her.

She walked toward him and kissed his tear-stained cheek. He looked up at the same hazel eyes and midnight hair that he thought was gone long ago. She looked at him and pulled him up. He was too shocked to say anything, he watched her die, it’s not possible.

“Don’t cry, I’m here.” She murmured, pulling her son into her warm embrace. She looked back at the purple stone’s remnants giving them a strange look. He cried and buried his head into her dress. He looked at her face and hoped that he could stay like this forever. He looked behind him at the wall of stones, or what was supposed to be a wall of stones. It vanished into thin air. He was scared, if that was all a dream in his mind then… He quickly whipped his head around and found his mother still holding him in his arms. 

He got up and mumbled through sobs, “Do you…want to go back home?”

The Ruins are a strange place full of mystery and wonder, and as he rode back home with his mother, all the birds whistled happily at him, the river sang in peace and all the merchants looked happy. It felt like paradise.