Into the Dark

by M J W Harrington

  As we reached the lobby, we let out a joint sigh of relief. Green light streamed in the doorway, far brighter than the orb we’d left on guard duty. Unfortunately though, that orb lay on the ground, no longer casting its light. I was immediately suspicious. The one following Clara was still fully functional, and I’d never actually heard of any sort of light device shutting itself down without being damaged. It was almost as if it had been drained, which was a terrifying possibility. If the creature outside had found a way to disable or force its way through the light... I swallowed and tried not to show my fear to Clara. Hopefully she hadn’t made the same realisation, because I still needed her to speed up my search. We made our way to the doorway and peered out. The devastation from the night before remained, but there was no sign of anything untoward.

  Clara frowned down at the inactive light orb, “What happened to that?”

  I thought quickly, “Oh it probably just ran out of light, or sensed that it was ‘daylight’ out here and didn’t need to remain active after a while, some devices do that.” I tensed as I spoke the lie that could potentially get us both killed. Fortunately she ate it up, I’d been lecturing her on the finer points of devices and ruins for a few hours to take our minds off the carnage and keep her from getting us both killed, and people have a tendency to just keep trusting you once they start. I could probably have told her that she could fly from an upstairs window and she’d believe it. It didn’t make me feel good about it, but I couldn’t risk her leaving. With a shrug Clara collected the fallen orb, and started walking away from the square, trying her hardest not to look at the bodies of her comrades.

  I fell in step beside her. “Shouldn’t we burn or bury them or something?” I asked cautiously as we walked.

  “No, that is not our way,” Clara replied, “If we fall in an enemy’s lands, we lie where we fell, as tributes to our dying acts.” Her expression hardened. “As long as that thing is here, this city is my enemy.” I didn’t have a real response to that, it seemed a bit messy, but war is a messy business. We threaded our way through the buildings, jumping at every shadow, but there was no sign of the creature from the night before. Walking at street level I started noticing details I hadn’t seen before, neither from the rooftops nor from other ruins. For one thing, the doorways were much taller than usual, everything I’d seen previously suggested that the people who once lived here were typically smaller than humans, but they did have a tendency to build higher than needed, presumably as part of their aesthetic. I also saw a lot more carvings depicting day to day life. Besides the clearly stylised figures pictured in them, what I saw could’ve come from any city in the world above.

  “It’s funny how similar to us they were,” Clara commented, inadvertently echoing my thoughts and bringing me out of my head for a moment. Guiltily I realised she’d been talking for a while as we’d walked, but I was so focused on paying attention to our surroundings that I’d tuned her out.

  “Er, yes,” I attempted, forcing myself to take part in the conversation, “I guess at the end of the day people are just people?”

  “Perhaps,” she replied, twisting to face me slightly, “but some people are still thieves.” she said without a hint of humour. I believe she was actually still serious and I let out a derisive snort.

  “Oh? And just who’s carrying a bag of loot here?” I rejoined, gesturing to her pack, now relatively full of semi-expensive artifacts from her initial trip to the cart and our foray through the repository.

  “These are the rightful property of the Kingdom of Wusul,” she asserted confidently, her back straightening with that infuriating national pride I’d seen whenever the subject came up.

  “Really? Because I think the original occupants would have disputed that, and I’m still not sure you get to claim a ruin so far from your bloody borders, even if you were here officially first after them,” I replied snarkily. Something about that nationalism just didn’t sit well with me, Qalea isn’t a place most who live there will wax patriotically about, despite its wealth and prosperity from years of using devices looted from the deep, it’s just too… dirty, and so are the people. Clara made a frustrated noise.

  “Let’s just focus on getting to that damnable building you’re so fixated on, killing that thing and getting out of here, shall we?”

  And so we walked, and we walked, this time in silence, pretending we were focused on the job but actually just trying not to ruin the trust we’d fostered over our night of terror. The extra hours spent awake were starting to take their toll, and I suspected Clara hadn’t even gotten the few hours rest that I had. She carried it better than I, however, in the manner of a soldier, so I put it from my mind and tried to focus on not yawning.

  Eventually our path connected onto one of the main thoroughfares, the ‘spokes’ of the wheel pattern I’d seen from above. Clara let out a gasp and I turned to see what she’d seen. The view up the street was frankly breathtaking. Perfectly unnaturally straight, there was a central road for I assume wagons and the like, with wide, smooth footpaths on either side. The buildings lining the road could only be shops, with large glass windows so clear as to be invisible at first glance, unlike the smokey panelled glass we typically use back home. There was little to be seen inside each as we passed, sadly, but this was clearly at one time a major economic center. Silence filled the air as always, but you could almost feel the hustle and bustle that once filled this place.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this…” I said slowly, taking in the street around us. “I’ve seen nothing but outposts and outbuildings… why is this place so intact?” Sure, we’d seen our share of collapses and rubble, but this street was impeccable, pristine, a snapshot of a civilisation at its peak.

  “It looks like they just packed up and left, like it hasn’t been thousands of years,” Clara noted, putting words to my thoughts once again. “Do you ever wonder what happened to them?”

  I shrugged helplessly, “Until I saw this city, I’d just assumed they died out over time, killed each other or something, but now…” I trailed off. No war had touched this place, no age or decay, Like Clara said, it looked more like the occupants had just collected their belongings and walked off. On impulse I picked up a stone and threw it at a window. Instead of shattering, it rang like a gong, echoing off the buildings around us and somehow growing in intensity. We both cried out, clutching our ears until the sound faded. The window stood, untouched. Clara wheeled and punched me in the arm, hard.

  “What the hells was that for?!” she yelled as I winced, rubbing my arm. That was definitely going to bruise.

  “Well that explains why all the glass is intact. Also, that seems like some kind of built in security. Someone tries to break your crazy strong window, it’s going to make a massive ruckus.” Clara remained unimpressed, so I just shrugged and tried to move on. “That means there’s some kind of device protecting the glass, unless the glass itself is a device? But that seems unlikely.” Regardless, we spent a moment inspecting the front and inside of the building I’d just molested, attempting to find whatever device was causing the effect. Unfortunately we found nothing, so we continued our journey down the street towards the huge structure in the centre, just visible in the distance.

  Finally we arrived, and if my jaw had hit the floor before, it was having to dig to drop further. Even taller than it had first appeared from a distance, the structure was maybe ten stories higher than anything else in the city. It was circled by a smooth road, off of which branched the main thoroughfares. The stone looked somehow different, simultaneously more rugged and more ornate than the surrounding buildings, and a huge set of stone double doors faced each road leading away from it. The doors were flanked by huge stone statues, not of people, but of what could only be described as devices.

  “Look,” I breathed, “that’s an orb, a cube, a rod, a crystal…” all eight major forms of device (don’t worry, no lecture... yet) were present in pairs as we did a lap of the structure, eventually
finding our path blocked by the collapsed spire that I’d noticed previously. This was the first evidence I’d ever seen or heard of that the devices were more than just tools used by the people who once lived here, this treated them with a sort of reverence. It gloried in their existence, each crisp line or perfect smooth curve carved with precision and inscribed with exquisite care.

  “Is this some kind of temple?” Clara asked, looking to me to deliver another of my lectures.

  “I… don’t know,” I replied, breathlessly. “This is something new, something I’ve never seen before- something nobody’s seen before,” I corrected myself, “at least, nobody I’ve ever talked to…” I trailed off, lost in thought. Clara took my silence as a conclusion to my thoughts and pushed ahead, making her way to the nearest huge set of doors and tugging on them, to no avail. Then she gave them a quick push and they swung open smoothly, as if of their own accord, certainly in excess of the force she’d applied. With a boom, they completed their transit and locked into place, open this time. Casting a look back to me to beckon me forwards, Clara strode into the darkness of the building, leading with her light orb. As she walked forwards, the doors began to silently swing shut, and I hurried after her, slipping between them as they shut behind me with another echoing boom. Immediately the room lit up, drowning out Clara’s orb with cheerfully bright green light, so bright as to almost be white. We found ourselves in a short but wide corridor leading to a circular room at the centre. A few doors and stairways branched off the corridor, but we ignored them for now, in favour of moving forwards to the central point. Clara let out a breathless oath as she reached it first and looked up, stopping in place at the end of the hallway. I reached her back soon after, and couldn’t help but echo her sentiments.

  The circular area at the center appeared to be some kind of welcoming reception area, with a vast octagonal counter facing each hallway, with stone seating areas arrayed all around, with small fountains somehow still bubbling with clean, sparkling water burbling merrily and echoing off the walls. What took my breath away, however, was a vast pillar of stone in the middle of the room, which the massive desk formed a ring around. It led upwards… and upwards… it drew your eye ever higher to reveal the entirety of the core of the building, opened up with walkways branching off it, presumably to various different parts of the building. Lights illuminated the massive shaft at various points around its circumference, spaced evenly but staggered to create the illusion of a massive spiral of light to those looking up from below. As we watched there was a chime and with a huge grinding noise, the walkways began to shift and smoothly rotate until they each connected to a new location, the new configuration locking into place with a clunk. Clara and I exchanged a glance. There were no words that either of us could use to do justice to the sight, so silently we moved towards the central pillar. Double doors behind the counter called to each of us, made of that same intricately carved stone, promising wonders inside to surpass anything we’d seen. With trepidation we each grabbed a door and pulled it open towards us.

  Chapter 5

  Inside, ancient and yet unsulled by the ravages of time lay… nothing. A large octagonal room inside the pillar sat completely empty, without even a slab of stone to suggest its purpose.

  I heard myself let out a groan of disappointment as I raced inside and spun around. I could see nothing but the other doors and walls. The ceiling was relatively low, standing only maybe a metre above my head

  “Why?” I asked simply. Had someone else been here first? Was there something I was missing? There was no way a room with this much prominence held nothing. My mind raced to find an answer but my frustration overwhelmed my logic and instead I sank to my knees in the centre of the room with a growl.

  “Er, Dav?” Clara called, but I gave her no response. I could hear her moving around behind me. “Dav, I really think you should look at this… hello?” For some reason, it felt like that last ‘hello’ wasn’t directed at me. I glanced over my shoulder and almost fell over in shock. A small creature stood next to me, looking up at me with what could only be described as a quizzical expression, its head slightly cocked, looking down its long, pointed nose with eyes that seemed to take up half of its face. As I scrambled backwards to my feet, I realised it stood at about waist-height, and almost exactly resembled the outlines of carvings I’d seen, dressed in a plain black uniform with little shiny boots. Somehow, this was one of the inhabitants of this city, alive millennia after the rest of its kind vanished. It didn’t respond to Clara’s calls, and I stood staring at it for an uncomfortable length of time. It stared back. Eventually I tried to speak.

  “...Hi?” Immediately the creature responded with a series of peeps and whistles. Seeing no reaction from me it tried again, roaring with surprising volume. Again it tried, this time clearly speaking a language more suited to something with a tongue, but no language I’d ever heard. “I’m sorry, I can’t understand you. Do you know this tongue?” I tried. Clara stood off to one side, long knife to the ready should the creature prove hostile. I gestured for her to stay back, I didn’t think whatever the thing was meant us harm. It stared at me for a moment.

  “This is primitive,” the creature said in a confused tone, “No sentient life on record with rational thought is attributed to, but psionic readings indicate understanding, yes?”

  “Er, yes?” I tried, after piecing together what it was saying. “I’m Dav. Who are you?” This entire exchange was breaking my mind on a fundamental level, but in for a penny…

  “Designation is- “ the creature opened its mouth and let out a strange popping, whistling noise. I stared at it for a second and exchanged a look with Clara, who stood similarly dumbfounded. The creature cocked its head to one side, “Confusion detect. Suspect primate unable to sound form yes?”

  “Yes?” I croaked.

  “Yes,” it replied, “as such new designation… Jeff.”

  “Jeff?”

  “Jeff.”

  I began to laugh helplessly. “I’m sorry, we meet a survivor after tens of thousands of years and your name… is Jeff? Sure, why not. Hi Jeff. I’ve actually gone insane. None of this is happening, my mind is broken and I’ve begun to hallucinate.” Jeff, as he now apparently called himself, tapped a finger on his nose in what I suspected was a sign of consternation.

  “Your mind broke?” he tsked, then folded his arms. “Transit to doctor level we.”

  “Wha-” I was interrupted as the doors around the room simultaneously slammed shut and a loud humming filled the air. There was a sensation of motion and I staggered, barely maintaining my footing.

  “What’s happening?” Clara called out, clinging to the wall to anchor herself, although now we were in motion the shaking had lessened considerably.

  “Oh, that talks too,” Jeff noted. “We are go to doctor to fix the broken one.” With a ding, the room slowed to a halt and the doors opened to reveal one of the broad walkways we’d seen from below. Jeff gestured for us to exit through the nearest but made no motions to leave. “That is the way.”

  “...ok?” I said, puzzled, “are you… coming?”

  Jeff shook his head. “Elevation I control only. To leave is not assigned.”

  “What happened to your people?” Clara asked, approaching him slowly. I cursed myself internally, the first time anybody meets one of the ancient builders and I told it I was insane, asked no questions and somehow convinced it its name was Jeff. Good job, Dav.

  Jeff looked puzzled, as much as I could work out expressions on his wrinkly little face. “Question not recognised, try better?” he asked. Clara gave it another shot.

  “The builders of this city are no longer around, surely you know that? Where did they go?”

  If anything, Jeff looked even more confused before assuming a slightly glazed expression and in a monotone voice he stated, “This Jeff elevates. For other questions, see Information Jeff.”

  We exchanged a glance and Clara shrugged. “Guess he doesn’t know.�
��

  “Please go to doctor now,” Jeff chimed in, pointing again to the doorway. “Have good!”

  “Have good, Jeff,” I sighed, and began walking in the indicated direction. I still had no idea what was going on, but he clearly wasn’t feeling particularly forthcoming and we were still on a timer. If the lights in this place went out around the same time as the rest of the city I’d rather not end up trapped here with only the walkway and a strange moving room operated by a crazy little man who didn’t seem to understand what had gone on around him in a few millennia. “Come on Clara, let’s go.” Clara seemed unwilling to leave the room, so I just started walking. After a few steps I heard a gasp, so I glanced back. I found Clara close by, having caught up, but looking back there was no sign of Jeff, disappearing as quickly as he had appeared. We exchanged another glance, but with no way of understanding what had happened, we could only push forwards.

  The walkway we were on was broad, with tall, smooth stone railings on each side, almost like slatted walls, presumably to protect the occupants from any accidental falls which I realised, peering through the railings, would definitely be fatal at this dizzying height. As we walked, Clara made a thoughtful noise and I turned my face to her in askance.

  “Have you noticed the handrails?” she asked, curiously. I couldn’t say I had, but I took a look now. At first I didn’t spot them, but then I realised Jeff’s height would have an impact and looked further down. Sure enough, there they were, at about my knee level.

  “What about them? Seems about right for someone Jeff’s size?” I replied.

  “Not those ones.” Clara simply pointed up the side of the railing and my eyes widened as I noticed the secondary railing, just above my head level, unmistakably for hands but way out of the reach of what we’d always presumed were the only occupants. I gaped for a second before responding.