Alan
"Hear anything?" Lyra asked as we caught our breath. We were leaning against a fruit-bearing tree.
"I don't. So…"
"So let's move on. We don't know what's in the forest, but we do know what's out there," she said as she pointed to where we came from.
"Think we can sleep?" I asked as I checked my watch. "It's about two."
"I didn't get a wink, so I don't think so. We might as well continue, then?"
"Right. But uhh… Where to?"
"We lost our flashlight when you dropped your bag," she sighed.
"Yours has the map and a sleeping bag," I shrugged. "A flashlight wasn't necessary. We have the sun, after all."
"Yes," she replied dryly, "it's kinda bright right now." Her sarcasm was much appreciated.
"Let's just get going, yeah?" I said after I took the map out of her bag. "Let's see… These woods have no name. Great. They lead up a mountain. Even better. And there's-" I paused. "There's a town nearby. It's small, but it's just past this mountain. Cadmia, apparently."
"Oh, I see it. Just north of here."
"And north is…" I looked around. "The compass was in my bag, wasn't it?" I sighed.
"Doesn't matter," Lyra said as she sat on a root. "We'll wait for the sun."
I glanced at my watch, which, strangely, displayed the same time as when I last checked it.
"I'll… I'll keep watch, then. You're welcome to try and sleep."
Lyra nodded and shifted her position to lean against the trunk of the tree.
Once I confirmed that she wasn't fully conscious, I let my thoughts wander. Why? Why was it so quiet? When we entered the thinner forest, I saw ants, bees, and many other insects. Now, I saw nothing.
I didn't have any experience camping, so I wasn't sure if insects slept. Honestly, I had taken up night watch because the silence deafened me. If left with no sounds, my own thoughts would smother me.
I wondered if Lyra was the same.
I leaned against the tree next to her and waited for the sun to rise.
But it never did.
I had no way of telling the time, since my watch decided not to work and the sun refused to rise.
I looked up. Technically, sleeping under a tree was never a good idea. Trees took in oxygen during the night, after all. And yet, Lyra slept well. More importantly, the branches and leaves stood still, as if the wind had no effect on it.
But I could feel the breeze of the night.
So what was this? Had time truly stopped?
Then again, it could be a dream?
Maybe the chase was a nightmare I didn't wake up from. Finding that out would be easy, really.
So I climbed up the tree near me. As I did so, the branches swayed along with my movements. Once I reached a branch, I jumped off.
I'd like to say that I landed on my feet, but unfortunately, I found myself lying on my face.
At least I knew that this wasn't a dream, though.
But I'd been lying when I said I didn't hear anything. It was faint, but I could hear an indistinct whispering in my head. Strangely, they sounded like my own voice.
Lyra's face seemed normal when she asked if I hadn't heard anything, which likely meant that she couldn't hear the whispers.
I glanced up. When I jumped off the branch, it had moved because I applied a bit of force on it. That was Newton's third law. Since the branch is somewhat elastic, it would go back to its original position. However, it did not. It was frozen in the position I had left it in.
So time truly had stopped. If I waited, I'd probably be there until I lost my mind, especially with the whispering. So, I decided to, or rather, was forced to investigate.
I took a step forward, and then a step to my left. The whispering got ever so slightly louder. I took another step forward, and the whispering got louder again. I took a step to the left, and it got louder again. It was much more distinct now.
I took a step back, which made it quieter by a bit.
Using this, I kept walking until the whispers were intelligible.
I caught glimpses of "save" and "star."
More importantly, the whispers were loudest at the entrance of a cave.
I glanced back to where Lyra was sleeping. While it was blocked by the trees, it was a few steps away. I could venture in and not get lost upon exiting… right?
The forest around me was dark. Very much so. The moon cast a dim light on the ground, though the tree line blocked most of it. Strangely, the cave seemed to be brighter than it was outside.
I stepped in, and for a moment, I was blinded. I could see perfectly fine in the cave.
The rocks were dark brown and grey in some spots, but they had also been fashioned into a path. That much was obvious from the steps that led down the cave.
I slowly made my way down the staircase. All the while, I counted the seconds on my finger. I needed a time reference.
The staircase kept widening slowly until it opened into a gigantic room about thirteen by twenty by twenty meters in volume. The room housed a structure that looked like a temple made of bricks as dark as the night, and had many statues lying on the ground.
The temple's entrance was a gate, which had been knocked down at some point.
But what had broken the gate down?
I had a pretty clear idea of that, actually.
There was a skeleton of a figure that looked like a mix of a dinosaur and a human by the gate. It seemed to be leaning its back against the wall of the temple. On the ground, there was a slate with a few words written in my language.
"The Deinops reached, but to no avail," it read.
The top of the slate had 'REPORT' written on it, so this creature was likely a soldier. He didn't have any weapons, though.
The temple itself was about as big as a house. It seemed minimalist, but undeniably old. However, when I stepped in, what I saw was a huge room. I took a step back, and it went back to being small. A step forward, and the interior was huge.
But that wasn't even the strangest part.
The walls of the room were lined with murals. There were murals on the left wall, the right wall, and the biggest mural stood on the wall in front of me. Over there, a beam of light concentrated on the mural.
I decided to look at the murals in order. I noted that this 'temple' did not have an altar.
I walked over to the murals on the left. The first mural depicted a man shrouded in darkness. His eyes were locked onto the viewer, and when I took a step to the right, it seemed like his eyes followed me. In the background, many figures stood with their backs turned to him, each with narrowed red eyes.
It was at this point that I noticed that the darkness around the temple had come to inspect me, the newcomer. From this, I guessed which god this temple was built for.
The next mural showed the image of a star being enclosed by two strong hands. Through the fingers, a bit of the star's light peeked through.
The next mural irked me. It was the image of a star at the peak of a mountain. The mountain was covered in snow, save for the peak. The light of the star covered the mountain in a blinding light.
Now, it was time to move on to the middle mural.
I walked over to that one, which was the biggest mural thus far, and frowned.
It focused on two people. The first was the dark figure from earlier, and the second was a man who looked just like him. The dark figure's face was caught in a strange scowl, while the other man had a lopsided grin.
They, however, held weapons. Both of them wielded swords. The dark figure had a deep black sword with a white streak down the middle, while the man had a white sword with a horizontal black streak.
In the background, there were many figures, all either shocked or distraught. Most had their hands on their heads.
However, one did not. One of the figures had her arms crossed, and this was the one the light fell on. The light made this figure's long white hair glow. Her face was set into a determined frown.
I looked up to see where the light was coming from, but only found a tiny hole in the ceiling. But even if it was small, light meant one thing. It was daytime.
I glanced at my watch with a grin, only for it to fade. My watch was still stuck. More annoyingly, I'd lost count of the time.
I walked over to the next mural, which showed the image of a village bathed half in light and half in darkness. Perhaps it was the aftermath of what happened yesterday, but upon seeing it, my first thought was my own home of Magnes.
The following mural was fairly simple. It was just the image of a ravine. Granted, it was a very dark ravine. I quickly moved on from it to the next mural.
It depicted an image much like the first one. Yet again, the dark figure faced me, but this time, the people in the background didn't turn their backs to him. Their eyes were blown wide, and a few even had tears.
This temple didn't seem like much. If anything, it was more like an album.
But that was all there was to the temple, so I decided to leave it. I didn't get why I had heard my own voice, but upon looking up, I saw another mural that stretched across the entire roof.
It was the image of a lady with black eyes, black hair, and an eagle on her shoulder. The background to it was a canvas full of stars.
More importantly, there was an inscription.
"True Power is strength in numbers.
The wealth of Light, the treasure of Darkness,
Unsealed shall the Stars be at Sunrise."
Power… it was capitalised. So they meant that it was unique?
So were the Stars.
I had heard tales by our Elder about the Stars and Power. Space, Time, and Power made the universe, and the Stars soon joined. But the Stars were sealed? Was that why my voice kept whispering 'save' and 'star'?
I let out a sigh as I walked out of the room. Once again, it turned small.
Instead of leaving directly, I stopped at a statue near the temple. It had fallen over, but I could see what it was.
It depicted a mother holding a child. While I did not get who or why, it was nice to see.
I made my way back up the staircase and glanced at my watch.
I stopped right there and nearly fell back down to the room. The watch had moved.
I ran up the staircase and went out of the cave. When I reached Lyra, I found her there, sleeping like nothing was wrong.
I glanced up to see that the trees were moving with the wind.
Taking a deep breath, I sank to my knees and leaned against the tree. The sun had started to rise… but I could get some rest, couldn't I?