The Tragedy of Renya

6.1 Entering the Curse

Clouds rushed through the sky. The abandoned city had not changed for almost a hundred years, the buildings still pointing proudly at the sky, the roads between barely touched by weeds. The owners could return today and barely notice a difference with the day they'd disappeared.

It was a strange sight to behold. Erica looked at the city through the open gate and saw the scene so many before her had seen.

It was haunting.

"You'll have to go in," Nick said.

"Won't you be with me?" Erica whispered, awed by all she saw through the gate.

"I'll be right behind you. Hopefully."

"What does that mean?"

"It was a Wyndri that caused the tragedy. I can't enter unless you go first."

Erica breathed in and stepped forwards.

There was a strange feeling in the air, which Erica had noticed the moment she stepped into the city's boundaries, and which grew in intensity as she approached the center of the city. Faced with the view of this unchanging city she felt insignificant. Five other cities surrounded this one, and she had visited all of them over the past month. To the west she could still see the city she'd come from. That place was slowly growing to reach this city and eventually these ruins would disappear to make place for farms.

They walked until they reached the middle of the city, which was marked by a large pentagonal tower, without speaking. They looked up at the tower. At the top of this tower was a statue of the goddess the city had venerated, someone who the man swore was his friend. The man who had started out as her enemy, but now said he was her friend, said he would help her. They had never spoken about the cause of her problems. They were caused by him, although he would insist he had not changed her fate. Her fate. He'd told her that she was the one who would discover what had happened to the inhabitants of this city.

"It's all your fault," she said, when Nick took a step towards the tower. But they were both already aware of this.

"Are we going up?" She asked. As she closed her eyes she tried to imagine the way this place would have looked many years ago. A bustling metropolis, with people going everywhere while the merchants would shout as they tried to sell their wares. She could almost hear their voices echoing through the city. When she opened her eyes again the city was abandoned again, leaving only ruins that had been preserved in excellent quality through what Nick said was some sort of magic. Following Nick, up stairs that were in surprisingly bad condition compared to the rest of the city, was not something Erica wanted to do. Still, she went up the stairs, in an eternal spiral, but she could not keep her complaints unvoiced. She had never wanted to do this, she tried to tell him, but he ignored her.

They reached the summit of the tower without their surroundings changing. Erica tripped as she reached the top of the stairs and bumped into both Nick and the large door that separated them from the outside world. As it fell onto the floor with them on top they were covered in light once again. The view was unlike anything Erica could ever have imagined.

The entire city was reaching out in front of her. Wherever she looked she saw the city that had been abandoned.

"Nobody's been here in a hundred years," Nick stated. Erica looked around and saw him looking at the statue.

"That's the Goddess of Renya?" she asked. Nick nodded.

"Leandra." He turned around, "She left things unfinished, that's why the tragedy happened. That is why she had to enter the city and activate the curse."