The Wright (Friday Updates)

Tomb

Was the key I found the one that could open this structure? What were the chances? Furthermore, what would it be doing in the mud on the hill? Perhaps someone had simply visited and it fell out of their pocket on the way up or down.

That was all assuming it was the right one.

Tugging my necklace free of my shirt, I unclasped it and parted the item from the crystal. Pushing the head into the tiny slit, I turned it one way and then the other until there was a very faint click. Almost immediately, it was echoed by another and another, each deeper and heavier as if a large mechanism had been triggered and was unwinding.

I waddled backwards, knees falling into the cold grime, afraid it was going to explode. What if it was spelled and I had awakened it? Cowering behind one of the supporting awning pillars, I listened as all the clicking and thunking stopped. Where there had been no lines before, the lid of the tomb slowly eased back an arm's length, breaking the layer of crusted slime and forest debris, and then the short wall began to sink downward.

Daylight touched where it had not gone in years, lighting the stairs that led underground. When I attempted to remove the key, the stone began to move and so I left my necklace hanging. I glanced around at my surroundings and then descended into shadow.

Only in the case of an emergency had I brought a small fire stick, little more than a fist-length rod with a fire rune at one end. Activating it, a yellow glow coated the walls and showed me the floor at the bottom. The chamber was small like a mausoleum, but there were no urns or slots for caskets. Instead, toward the back was a pile of rubble.

All of this for nothing?

Sszzzchwamp!

I gasped, leaping backwards as my clothing was evaporated from my body. My butt hit the hard step, my single boot, half of a sleeve, anklet, and partial pantleg the only things remaining. As material dropped to my boot and wrist, I took in a deep breath, checking for any other injuries. I was stark naked!

Vaulk's artifact was here, the one that I had read about. Two components made a line between themselves that only flesh could pass. Chilly air nipped at my exposed body and I retrieved my satchel from above to stuff the remnants of my clothes in. Hair tie destroyed, my hair was the only thing providing warmth.

I should have left...but no one would ward an empty room.

The artifact allowed me entry and the curved shards of black stone were truly the only thing present. Crouching beside them, I lifted a sliver, marveling that it had shattered much like glass, but was heavy. A low thrum from deep within the thorn-shaped shard, buzzing with powerful and ancient magic that was so familiar. Like a lover's caress, it was the sun on my cheeks and a breeze parting around my body, the groan of trees, and the shock of diving into a lake. Pain was there in the way of grief, a bruised knee, or even an ache, but it was just as important as any other sensation, too. Happiness, exhaustion, contentment, and rage. It was experience, memory, heartache, and love.

Dazed with a nostalgia that could not be fully placed, yet that I already knew somehow, I scanned the pile for a similar edge. Perhaps half as long, the second shard buzzed as loud as its partner, calling and singing to be reunited. My heart squeezed tightly at the tragedy of their separation, the well of my feelings blown open and overflowing.

When I placed them together the seam rippled and vanished, melding the fragment into a stronger whole. The joy that both it and I felt was a wave that resonated between us, dancing and merry as the holidays or baking with Ma as a child. A tear slipped down my cheek, one of many as I began to sift through the thousand chips and pieces for another.

I wanted to fix this broken stone, the blackness as deep as the lowest point of any ocean or ancient cavern, but as comforting as the evening sky and sparkling with a coruscating light of its own. The spirit of this thing, whatever it might be, was neither malevolent nor fully good. It simply was, just as the world was. But the world could not lie forgotten and crushed in a grime-covered tomb.