Madness

“This is where we will part ways.” Kaylin told me.
I was still looking down at the half-buried structure before me. Every fiber of my being wanted to rush down there. There might be archives holding knowledge on how far away my home is, right there. I clapped my face. Rushing this would do me no good. I have to approach this calm and collected.

“By the way, do you know where I am supposed to go?” I asked Kaylin, turning to her. 

But there was nobody there, she had left. I let my shoulders sag, so much for making friends. Maybe this was for the best, after all I wasn’t planning on staying on this cursed planet. 

Not knowing what to do with myself, I started walking towards the sheds. As I approached, the smell of grilled meat and burning coals reached my nose. Yet again I was faced with my dreaded enemy, food. People had gathered around a bonfire, fat dripping off their lips as they ate. I could hear the conversation as I approached.

“Have you heard? Warships from Ampyr have been sighted in the Ina’cian Sea.” One of them said. 

“Ay, that I heard, it is why I chose this over ship work.” Another answered.

“It’s worrying, ever since they fought it out with the elves they had been calm and kept to themselves. Why would they start moving again after all those years?” Said someone with a robe much like Kaylin’s, the emblem of Windbreak visible on his back. Maybe I could talk to him?

“Ay, those religious fanatics better not start another war.” Said the second one. 

Standing behind them, I pulled out my guild emblem and coughed.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I just arrived and am not sure where to go,” I said. The robed one from Windbreak turned around to take a better look at me. 

“You took the contract we posted?” He said. 

“Yes.”

“Good. Ah wait, where are my manners? My name is Letto. I am from Windbreak, so you asked the right guy. Let me bring you to the one in charge here.” He said. 

“Thanks. My name is Tepin.” I said, as he stood up. He had short brown hair and wore thick glasses. 

“So you are knowledgeable about rota, right? Because that would definitely save us some time. We haven’t been able to document and register all the runes yet. So help is very welcome.” He said, as I followed him towards a shed in the center of the camp. 

“I am sure I can help out.” When he opened the door to the shed we approached, the fresh smell of ink hit me as we entered a small, dimly lit room. There were some makeshift shelves around the windowless walls, filled with books and documents. Before us was a wooden desk littered with papers and drawings of different rota. A disheveled young-looking man sat in front of the mess, studying the paperwork. He also wore the telltale robe that marked him as someone from Windbreak. As he looked up at us, his sharp, almost entirely black eyes stared at me. Inky black hair fell down almost meeting his shoulders. Another elf, maybe this one is more like Dust?

“I thought I told you not to disturb me, Letto.” He said. 

“I know, I know, but we finally got someone who took the assignment at Eventyr. And well, you are the one in charge, so…” Letto said, pointing at me. 

“I see.” Said the black-haired guy, looking me up and down. He sniffed. 

“And they call you what?” He asked. 

“Tepin.” He continued looking me up and down while wrinkling his eyebrows. 

“You don’t look like much of a scholar, let alone a mage. Are you sure you read the assignment properly?” 

“I assure you that I am…” Before I could finish, he interrupted me.

“I don’t care, it’s not like you have studied at Windbreak, so I know the answer already. But we don’t have a choice but to rely on contract work.” He just spat that last part out. Ugh, I hated him already. But as I wanted to backtalk, this was not the time. I should not take any chances when I was so close to gaining access to more information. Taking a deep breath, I readied myself.

“Either way I will assign you to… hm, let me check.” He took one look at a large stack of papers. Not bothering to read them, he looked back up at me. 

“You know what, Kaylin just arrived, so she can deal with you.” He said with a smirk. My “heart” sank, that was not going to be fun. Why her? She didn’t even seem to want anything to do with me. Swallowing my annoyance at this whole situation, I reminded myself that this didn’t matter. 

“Then…” I tried to say.

“Now leave; I am busy.” He said.

“Dain, you know as well as I that Kaylin likes to keep for herself.” Said Letto. 

“I don’t see how that is of my concern. That failure of an elf can handle this adventurer.” Dain said. 

“As you wish, oh great Illvalur. Let’s go, Tepin.” Letto said, rolling his eyes as he turned towards me.

“Refrain from using my family name in vain,” he called after us, while we left. Well, he didn’t seem to like Kaylin or me, for that matter. I hoped that the ruins here would hold the answers I seeked. At this point, I was seriously reconsidering my plans on ever going to Windbreak.

Not having much choice, I followed Letto through the camp.

“Don’t mind Dain. He is an asshole to everyone. He belongs to a royal family in Thelledell. They are all a bit stuck up.” He said. 

“Are you sure you want to talk about your superior that way?” I asked. 

“Oh, he was just chosen for this excavation, doesn’t mean he outranks me. Just that he calls the shots here, as annoying as that can be.” He answered. Soon, a familiar white-haired elf came into my view. She was setting up a tent at the border to the forest. It was quite some distance away from the others. 

“Hey Kaylin! Good to see you again.” Letto yelled over to her. I looked everywhere but at her, not keen on having to meet her again so soon. 

“I am sorry to tell you, but Dain paired you with one of the contractors. She just arrived and seems nice, I am sure you will hit it off.” He said with a smile. When I looked up, I winced. She wore a frown on her face, looking at me. 

“She will support you with cross-referencing rota.” Letto said. Not bothered by the look on her face at all. 

“H-Hey there. We meet again.” I said, scratching the back of my head.  

“Oh you already met. Perfect, then no need for introductions. Kaylin, you can take it from here. Have fun, you two,” he said, a smile still plastered on his face as he left. 

I fidgeted with my bag as silence surrounded us, occasionally interrupted by the chirping of nearby birds.

“Dain, I will make sure you will regret this.” She sighed, looking at me. “Alright, Tepin my, no our shift starts within the hour,” Kaylin said. At least she is handling this professionally. A flicker of hope that friendship might still be possible, sprouted within me.

“I will provide you with some writing material, you can take notes for me.” With that said, she turned back to setting up her tent. 

Soon I found myself slipping over the muddy ground, approaching the ruins of my people. The light was almost gone, plunging the hole into darkness. Only a few flickering torches lend us a semblance of visibility. Most people had already left the pit, their working shift over. It made sense that Kay took a late shift if she likes to be by herself. Biting my lip, I followed her in silence until we reached the ruins. She felt further away from me than when I first met her. Areas around the wall were marked, indicating what had already been documented. We walked around the structure until we found an unmarked area. I traced the runes engraved in the cold wall with my fingers as we passed them. 

“Please stop that, it’s dangerous. We don’t know what these sequences do or activates them.” Kaylin said. I pulled my hands away, even though I knew these wouldn’t do anything. 

“Okay, won’t do it again.” 

“Are you capable of casting light?” Kaylin asked. I answered by letting warm mana flow up my hand and creating the rota needed for a little floating wisp of light. Our surroundings lit up, and Kaylin got to work. Brushing some of her hair behind her ears, she moved closer to the sequences adorning the wall. Studying them with a serious look on her face. I caught myself staring at her as my cheeks reddened. Unexpected, she turned to me, and I shifted my eyes to look at the wall. 

“It is difficult to understand where these sequences start and stop, but if I read it correctly, they are supposed to reinforce the structure in some way.” My eyes wandered anywhere but to her and fixated on a little round hole in the wall before us. 

“Tepin, you are supposed to take notes. Are you listening?” I was not. Pointing at the hole, I said. “What about that?” Knowing full well what it was. Her eyes followed my hands.

“That? Probably some architectural choice. That doesn’t matter. Notes now, please!” Did they not even know what a simple console was? 

“Look, Kaylin, there are rota to activate it.” 

“We will only document the sequences and not touch them. Who knows what could happen?” She said with a stern look. It was just a door lock. Sure, half of the sequence that would make this obvious was hidden, but still. 

“Tepin, again, please take notes.” 

Fuck it, the willpower to hold back left me, I was just too close. Lifting my hand, I rested it within the small opening. Letting my mana flow out of me, I used it to explore the labyrinth of connections within the simple console. Trying to find the correct combination to open the door. 

“Hey, what are you doing? Didn’t I just say that it was too dangerous to interact with any of this?” Kaylin’s hands grabbed my shoulders, trying to pull me back. Mana flowed into my legs as I strengthened them; little sparks of energy started shooting off my feet. 

“Damnit, Tepin! Stop that now!” Kaylin pleaded. But it was too late; I had found the combination and activated the hidden gate. A line of purple light raced across the wall before us marking a square area. I felt Kaylin’s grip come loose, a moment later the wet sound of her butt hitting the muddy ground reached me. An audible hiss escaped the door as it slid back and sank into the ground with a grinding sound, revealing a small passage into the ruins. 

“See, nothing to worry about. It was just a console to open the door.” I said, as I turned to the elf still sitting on the ground before me. Her eyes were wide open, frozen in place, she stared at the entrance.. 

“But that is… What? Impossible.” Her hands massaged her temples. “Do you know what you have done? No one in known history has managed to find an entrance leading inside any of the ruins!” 

“Just my luck, I guess?” I said, shrugging. To be honest, I had lost interest in finding excuses. Trying to adapt was not working, and she was the only one here. 

“Just your luck? Just my luck, she says. Are you serious? No one just has luck doing that.” She stood up, pointing at me. 

“Again, I ask, who are you? Tell me!” Kaylin said. 

“Follow me and find out.” I wasn’t sure how smart it would be to try showing her who I was, having only known her for a day. But behind this hallway lay the chance to prove my story to her. Turning around, I walked inside.

Kaylin

I had a hard time processing what was happening before me. I had decided to keep my distance from Tepin, there just had been too many unknowns about her. Yet fate had brought us back together, and this, this topped everything. Now I was certain she was not just some random human. And now that unknown variable walked into the ruins before me. I hated losing control; but being clueless was so much worse. There was no way I would pass up the chance to see what was within these walls. The first rota had been discovered at ruins just like that. Ever since the discovery of these ruins, no one has managed to get inside them. My curiosity stronger than my sense of fear, I steeled my resolve and followed her in.

The second I stepped in, I heard the door grinding shut. I jumped at the sound. Two bright blue lines on the ceiling of the hallway flooded it with light. Sweat started running down my back. Turning towards Tepin, I saw her unconcerned, continuing to walk deeper into the ruins. Not knowing what else to do, I resigned myself to following her. Touching the walls, I found them to be smooth. How did the people who built this manage to make their structures this durable and precise? It was fascinating, there was so much to learn. 

“Kaylin, I know you don’t trust me, which is understandable.” Tepin had decided to break the silence between us, her voice echoing. “The reason why I might seem unusual to you is because I am not from Tendria.”

“That seems highly unlikely. Instances of planar travel aren’t exactly common. Yet you are telling me that you have traveled here from elsewhere?” It sounded far-fetched at best.

“And that exact reaction is why I kept it for myself. But seeing is believing.” Tepin said. 

“Well then, tell me where you are from and what it has to do with these ruins.” I said. We had rounded a corner and were now walking down circular stairs. There was no doubt that we were below ground by now. I heard Tepin take a deep breath before she started jumping into her explanation.

“I… I am from a world called Eriphynia. There I worked in a laboratory when an accident somehow ripped my soul out of my body and threw me into this world.” She continued telling me a fantastical story about surviving as a disembodied soul in a bottle of all things. Having the luck to have an empty soulcore dropped right in front of her. Creating an artificial body. It all was a bit too much. Who in their right mind would believe a story like this?

“And well, my people invented rota. We have visited and settled on many worlds. I am positive that Tendria was one of them considering these ruins clearly are Kirin.” Not being able to hold back, I laughed out loud. “Y-You are, ha ha ha, trying to tell me ha that you are one of the ancients? That is preposterous.” She stopped and turned around, I half expected her to grin, ready to tell me this had all been a joke. The hurt I could see in her eyes stopped my giggling. My smile vanished. 

“Kaylin, this is not a joke.” 

“Then prove it; prove to me that your body is artificial.” Tepin’s eyes widened.

“T-that, I can do actually. Why hadn’t I thought of this? Give me your knife!” She said.

“Wait what now?” I answered. 

“Your knife give it to me.” I was hesitant, but if she wanted to harm me, she didn’t need a knife to do so. She managed to down three men within seconds. Hoping I wouldn’t regret it, I gave it to her.
She pulled up her armor, revealing her midriff, and positioned the weapon above.
“Hey what are you d-” I stumbled forward, hands outstretched trying to grab hold of the knife. Too late. My knife glinting in the artificial light, plunged into her guts. I flinched expecting her scream to pierce the surrounding silence. It never came; instead, she looked at me and pointed at her stomach. There was no blood. My mouth stood open as she pulled open her stomach, showing that there was nothing but thousands of small strings of purple mana within her. Currents of energy running through it.

“See artificial!” With that said, she pressed the gaping hole back together and cast a complex-looking spell. Little strands of mana started shooting out of the glistening rota she cast. Knitting her skin back together until there was not a sign left of the self-inflicted injury. Her story couldn’t be true, right? Yet, I couldn’t deny what I had just seen. Frozen in my thoughts, Tepin grabbed my hand. Pulling me further downwards the spiraling staircase.  

At the end of the stairs, we found a circular room. The wall of the room was unadorned. As I ran my fingers across it, I found no dust was present. In the center of the room was a simple round pedestal half the size of myself. Tepin rushed towards it, skipping some steps. 

“Yes! Exactly what I was looking for.”

“Do you actually know what this is?” I asked.

“This is a terminal, an access point of sorts. We Kirin love to record everything, filing it away so not one piece of information can be lost. This should be one of these archives.” She said, touching the pedestal with her hands. I could see little bolts of purple lightning jump from her hands to the so-called terminal. My hand wandered towards my right stump, grabbing it. 

The pillar lit up as mana started to surge through it, a light pulse of purple light coming from it, warming up the room. A translucent flat plane of energy appeared before Tepin, and hundreds of rota sequences showed up on it. 

“I am still doubting you, but this… you truly seem to know how to operate this,” I said. She was silent while she read the rota on the screen. Could she really read them all? I tried to decipher them, but most were alien to me. “This is amazing, this could change the world.” She ignored me. Her hands wandered over the rota, which rapidly changed what was shown. I stepped beside her to take a look at her face. Noticing that tears were rolling down her cheeks as her breath quickened. 

“No no no no no no, this cannot be. No, no, NO!” She almost screamed the last word as she hit the terminal with her fists. Her breath became erratic as she started interacting with the ancient machine again, circling through different rota. “This isn’t possible. It makes no sense.” She was spiraling out of control. Whatever she is reading must be something very upsetting. The air in the room heated unexpectedly. I felt the ambient mana caressing me as it passed me, making its way towards Tepin. 

Her eyes were fixated on the terminal before her, her hands still moving wildly across it. Sparks of energy started bouncing off her skin. I stepped back. She was about to succumb to mana madness, I was sure of it. The telltale signs were all there. There was no doubt in my mind that she was mentally spiraling and that her sphere was getting out of control. Last time I was near someone giving in to this madness, I lost my left arm. If what she told me was true, she had gone through a lot in a very little time, whatever she just read might have done the rest. 

Should I run? I stepped further away from her. That is when I remembered the door closing behind us, which locked me in here with her. Okay running, not an option. If I don’t stop this, she will go on a rampage. 

I grabbed the stump of my arm so hard it started hurting. Looking back at Tepin I saw the surrounding mana grow more and more erratic. The pressure radiating from it, layed itself around me like a heavy blanket. My breath grew heavy, the weight of the mana suffocating me. 

This wasn’t good. Closing my eyes, I just did the first thing I could think of. Stumbling towards her, I embraced her from behind.  

Sparks of lightning jumped across me as I hugged her. Searing my skin as it connected with me, but I ignored it. 

“Whatever is going on, you are not alone.” I whispered into her ear over and over again. Hoping to somehow calm her. There was nothing else I could do. Her knees started buckling as the surrounding mana started to calm. Together with her, I gingerly sat down on the floor. She pressed her head into my shoulders and started crying. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding as I relaxed. The echoes of her cries accompanied me for an unknown amount of time until they fell silent. When I looked down at her, I noticed that she had fallen asleep in my arms. Tears still running down her cheeks.

Looking back up to the terminal that lit up my face in the dark room, I couldn’t help but wonder what it contained to have brought so much distraught to her.