Between The Crystals

Ch 29 Questioning the Past

With a final wave to Grant, I rested my hand on a spire. "Golden Oak Forest."

I carefully looked around. No one was here, which was what I had hoped for by coming this late. I didn't see the cat either.

"Cat? Kitty?"

The words felt silly, but a rustle nearby was followed by a light brown cat trotting this way with a small bird in her mouth. I grinned at the sight and knelt down.

"Good kitty!"

She readily dropped the limp ball of feathers in her eagerness for the handful of guts I dumped on the grass. I quickly cleaned the bird and gave the cat the insides.

I pet the cat while she ate. "That's all I have. Pickings are slim."

She purred happily and bunted her head against my hand.

"You really need a name... As much as I always wanted a cat called Luna, you aren't black."

The cat continued purring and rubbing against me.

"Sandy?" It fit her color but didn't seem quite right.

"Sahara?" Naming a sand-colored cat after one of the biggest deserts in the old world seemed ideal, but I knew at least three people with that name.

What about a prominent desert ruler of the old world? "Cleopatra?"

The cat looked up and meowed.

I smiled. "Cleo, it is." Who was I to disagree with a cat picking her own name?

I played with Cleo for a while, although she was more interested in pets. About the time she wanted a break, I was ready to leave. The shadows were lengthening in the forest, and anything could be lurking nearby.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Cleo." With the bucket and bird in hand, I stepped away from the cat and reached for the crystal, my mind already focusing on a nameless overrun village.

The air hazed around me. The solo port drained just enough energy for me to feel it, with just the smallest hint of an ache. I quickly investigated the crystal. Alas, it hadn't dropped the shard yet. The crack had lengthened, so I'd have to check another day.

I gazed around the sand-blown ruins. The original occupants had cut blocks of stone and used them to build homes and dwellings, something only the earliest villages had done. Alas, such buildings were easily spotted from the sky, and the Saursunes had discovered it centuries ago. A few faint smudges could be faded warning murals, but it might just be a darker section in the stone. It was impossible to tell.

The sun was higher in this location, so I wandered between the toppled structures, marveling at the size of the stones and how straight the sides were. My feet sunk into the blown sand, leaving prominent footsteps that the wind would erase in a few days.

I paused in the shade of a leaning stone column. The sides were carved with intricately detailed trees, vines, and leaves. I looked around for other things to admire while I passed the time and recharged.

A vertical stone wall emerged from the edge of a sand dune, and I went to investigate the sand-caked carvings. Some images were geometric and seemed to frame a large stone with a big clump of sand caked on one side.

The sand clump had been left behind as the sand dune retreated, but the way it clung to that part of the wall was strange. I stepped onto the low, flat stone in front of it and brushed the sand away, revealing a curved stick made of metal.

I twisted it up and down, seeing if I could pull the valuable object out. A click came from within the stone, and I jumped away when the entire stone block swung forward. It only opened a handspan before the sand around the bottom stopped it. The blackness behind it could only be a hidden cave.