Our Second World book three: Personal Truth

Chapter 18: Nephinae

When I woke up, it was to voices. One was Harens', and the other was a female voice I didn't know. I sat up to find the familiar redhead chatting with a blonde girl I'd never seen before. As it happened, she wasn't the only new face; there were three others. A girl with bright copper colored hair and two boys with blond hair.

It didn't take long for Haren to notice I was awake and, with a smile, he beckoned me over. Slipping away from my familiars asleep next to me, I walked over and sat by his side.

"Morning, Nephi. Sleep well?" Haren asked, putting an arm around my shoulder.

I nodded," who's she?"

The blonde girl grinned," my name's Asashi. Those two are my brothers, Aien and Aimar, and the girl's Radelia." She pointed to the three sleeping behind her.

"They're here to help us out," Haren added.

"I'm Nephinae. It's nice to meet you, Asashi," I said, shaking the girls outstretched hand.

After a few minutes, the others started waking up. I help Haren get our things together, and, by the time the sun had risen, we were on the road again. Today, heading for the mountains. It was about noon when we reached the base of the mountain range. Our travels slowed considerably as we started scaling the large mountains, and we didn't make much progress.

Three days passed and the air got colder. Snow covered the ground and slowed us down, but we continued onward. After another few days, we stopped to make camp much earlier than usual. When asked why, Haren said it was because he thought we were getting close to the ruins.

"Sylviana and I will search for the ruins around this area," he explained," we'll be back before sundown."

"I'll come too," I said, walking over to the two.

"No. Stay here," Haren answered.

"I'm going," I repeated stubbornly, crossing my arms.

Haren let out a long sigh," Alright, but stay close. I don't want you getting lost."

"I will."

"Be careful you three!" Rala called after us as we walked away from the camp.

We searched around the rocky, snow covered landscape for a good few hours. In the end, we weren't able to find anything, and, reluctantly, started to head back as the sun neared the horizon. Disheartened by our fruitless search, the three of us silently trudged through the snow. That is, until I saw something strange. From a nearby rock wall I caught a glimpse of what looked like blue light. It seemed like an odd place for light to reflect, so I stopped to take a closer look.

"Something wrong?" Haren asked, walking over. Sylviana was close behind.

"I thought I saw something over here," I answered, brushing snow off the wall. In doing so I uncovered a strange symbol carved into the rock. There was a loud rumbling as the mark glowed blue, and a section of the wall moved to reveal a large tunnel,"...oops?"

"Nice job, Nephi. I think you found them," Haren praised me, patting my head," Wait here. I'll go get the others."

Before we could complain, Haren flew off. Leaving Sylviana and I with nothing to do but wait, and wait we did. The sun had set by the time I could hear the sound of approaching footsteps. A few moments later, I could see Haren and the others moving towards us.

"What took you so long?" Sylviana huffed, hopping off the rock she'd been sitting on.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Haren replied sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes," can we go inside now? It's freezing out here you know." Turning, I led the others into the large tunnel.

We hadn't traveled far when the entrance closed behind us. It got dark after that, and Silver took the lead, using a small flame to light the way. After walking for what's felt like hours, the tunnel opened out into a large, circular room. The high, domed ceiling had a number of intricate and detailed patterns carved into the stone, and three pathways led out of the chamber. Each lined with unlit lanterns.

Silver led us down the path straight ahead. Lighting the lanterns as he went. After a short walk through a dimly lit hallway, we emerged in a rectangular room even bigger than the last. Even though none of the lanterns scattered about the room were lit, the entire area was full of a bright, almost unnatural light. When I looked up, I discovered it was because the ceiling was covered in colorful crystals that were giving off an incredible amount of light. While admiring the ceiling I also noticed balconies that looked to be connected to other floors above us.

"Well then," Harens voice, amplified by the empty space, pulled me from my thoughts," let's rest here for tonight. Tomorrow we can explore the ruins in teams. Sound good?"

There were murmurs of agreement from the others as they started pulling out their stuff to make a camp. It didn't take long to get set up, and we had a quick meal before getting ready to sleep. I was feeling pretty tired, and ended up being the first to fall asleep.

I woke up to find everyone else sleeping peacefully around me. As quietly as I could, I pulled my pocket watch out of my bag to check the time. Ten after twelve; early, as I expected it would be. Storing the watch, I stood and stretched before carefully stepping over the sleeping figures of the people around me.

I wandered around the room for a while, but got bored pretty quickly and decided to take a look around in some of the rooms nearby. On the far side of the room was a hallway like the one from the entrance. I followed it to a room with a set of double doors. I decided to take a look inside and squeezed past the doors that had fallen slightly off their rusty looking hinges.

Inside was a room slightly smaller than the one I was just in. Carved pillars lined the walls, and unlit lanterns hung from them. Even though it was dark, I could make out the shape of a staircase leading down in the middle of the room, and another spiraling up on the left wall. I thought it was a little weird that the two staircases weren't next to each other, but I didn't think to hard about it. Seeing nothing else of interest in the room, I made my way back to the others.