Ryckel fell into darkness, the air whistling past his ears until he hit a floor of solid, cold stone.
Luckily for him, the fall was cushioned by a pile of leaves and vines that had gathered there over the years.
He groaned, rolling over. Above him, a small circle of grey sky marked the hole he'd made. Ruined stairs, slick with mud and moss that clung to the walls like broken teeth in a sprial.
Ryckel stood up, his breath hitching. He wasn't in a simple pit.
Uh…where am I? How the opaque did I…
As he stepped forward, pale blue lights flickered to life, giving off the same glow as the stones that were littered across the lands of Wistnan.
They were old with some twitching and dim, but they revealed walls covered in writing that Ryckel couldn't read.
The walls also had drawings depicted on them. Ryckel froze. He could understand these drawings.
Because he had studied them in the free time he used to teach himself how to draw.
These drawings were from the Dark age, a period of time full of great uncertainty to people of the current age with the only thing left from them were old and ancient ruins scattered across the continent.
There are three ages. The Dark age. The Voyager age and the current age, the Found age.
Ryckel had also noted that ruins that were normally above ground where from earlier points in the Found age while the ones that were underground were from the Dark ages.
Reason why he didn't count the Voyager age was because that period took place after the great flood that wiped out that made the Dark age end.
Humanity was forced to live on top the peaks of mountains that quickly became islands, becoming mostly sailors or some legends said that they conquered the skies up until the waters receeded and lowered, hereby shifting the world into the Found age.
So if they were any ruins from that age, they'd be on top mountains by now.
He moved deeper into the ruins, looking at the drawings on the wall to piece together what they were about. But more importantly, maybe they told of some way to get out of this place.
Unluckily for him, the drawings did not tell him such. Instead they told of some great Knight that impaled a sword in someone that was faceless. Ryckel couldn't tell whether the faceless person was a male or a female.
Gah! All these won't help me. I need a way out… maybe I can climb my way out?
Ryckel looked back to where he just came from. He decided that he should search for a better way out first before resorting to climbing.
He passed into a central chamber, more of the pale blue light sparking to life. Fallen statues lay toppled in the corner.
Upon closer inspection, those weren't statues, but were rusted pieces of armour. Corpses. Belonging to a time long past and forgotten.
How can they still remain intact? Didn't I read somewhere that the dark ages are over a millennia ago?
It greatly confused Ryckel.
And there, in the center of the room, stood a figure.
It was translucent, bearing the same colour of the pale blue lights. It was a man, covered in armour, fidgeting with his hands, muttering in a language that sounded familiar yet so vastly different.
He then summoned a great long longsword in one hand from a sputtering blue flame that appeared and disappeared quickly. Ryckel stopped. Whatever he was witnessing wasn't normal. He took a few steps back.
The armoured man stopped. His head snapped toward Ryckel.
It then hit him. The way the armour looked. The designs and the longsword.
It was the Knight depicted in the drawings.
But how? How can someone from the Dark ages still be alive up till now?!
In the silence of the ruin, the white words flamed into existence. But they didn't hold. They were flickering in and out of Ryckel's vision.
What the…?
Ryckel's instincts were screaming for him to get out of there as soon as he can.
The Knight tightened its grip on the giant sword, and the air in the room suddenly felt heavier than the mud of Wistnan.
Ryckel's heart was hammering. He quickly made the energy in his body to swirl around, fortifying him for what may come.
The absurdity of it all hitting him as the Knight began to raise its blade.
---The End of Chapter 10---