Neil

I spent the next few hours resting, eating and trying to make conversation with Yallia. Unfortunately I found her difficult to talk to, it always felt like she was hiding something, or trying to redirect the conversation back to me. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to myself it was just that whenever I said anything about who I was and where I was from she acted shocked and dismayed.

I think she had been hoping to meet a living god and instead found herself with someone who had barely graduated high school and then worked as a cleaner in a hotel. When I finally told her who I was and what my job had been she looked visibly crestfallen and she sat on the chair at the desk and began writing in her little journal.

With nothing much to do and not being very tired I set out to make a replacement weapon, my first spear having been bent enough to make it almost useless.

Getting out the partially rusted file from my pack I set out to use that to sharpen a new fence post. Despite the poor quality of the tools I found progress to be fairly quick and before long I had sharpened the end into a reasonable point. It wasn’t great but it should allow me to break the skin on most of the monsters I had seen so far. Turning it over and sharpening the other side I was almost finished when I was interrupted.

“What are you doing?”

Without looking up I answered Yallia. “I’m making a new weapon; my previous spear was damaged. Would you like me to make one for you?”

“Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“I just woke up; I can’t really sleep anymore and if I have to stare at the walls any more, I’m going to go crazy. Besides don’t you want to head out to the Mana Concentration room as soon as we can? We can leave faster if I have my new weapon already made. I really recommend you use one, the extra reach is useful.”

“If it’s not too much trouble then yes please, but you should use this.” She said reaching into her pack and removing a new steel file and handing it to me. “It was supposed to be a gift to the Lamia but they weren’t in the mood to receive gifts then and I think we need it more now.”

Once I finished my weapon, I picked up a second post and began sharpening that one too. Feeling her eyes on me I decided to see if I could distract her.

“You mentioned the Empire and the Old Empire before, what are they?”

Yallia looked off into the distance as she spoke. “The Old Empire was the largest civilization that has ever existed. They spread across the planet trading with, subjugating, or uplifting every other people that they met. Almost every single civilization that exists today can trace its history back to the Old Empire, and the Old Empire is synonymous with Humans.”

By now I had finished one half of the post and started on the other half. “What happened?”

Yallia paused for a few moments seemingly considering her answer. “No one knows exactly what happened. The Empire had ebbs and flows of course like all civilizations. There were periods of expansion, then retraction, civil wars followed by peace, but for the most part the Empire was stable.

When the end started it was sudden. Roughly 1100 years ago, we’re not sure exactly when the capital of the Empire simply disappeared. Overnight it was just gone.

After that for the next 75 years Human settlement after Human settlement was destroyed. This time period is called the fall. In some places the Human inhabitants were mutated horribly and they attacked others, sometimes they went mad and killed each other, in other places there were plagues that only killed humans, there are even stories of shadows coming alive to strangle people in the night.

Every area seemed to be afflicted with something different, and as I said records from that era are sparse at best so we don’t know exactly what happened but we do know that whatever was happening seemed to be targeting Humans, or at least that’s what the people of that era believed.

With the destruction of entire cities the Empires government collapsed in most places which led to civilization regressing. When people realized that whatever was happening was targeting Humans and everyone else was just being caught in the crossfire the people took action. In some places entire cities were abandoned by anyone who wasn’t a Human, people hoped to escape from whatever was targeting the Humans. Eventually Society collapsed and an untold number of people either starved or died in the chaos that followed. The last confirmed sighting of Humans was about one thousand years ago when a mob stormed a fortress and slaughtered the people inside. People spent the next thousand years clawing their way back to civilization.”

“And no one has seen a Human since?”

“We thought not, but the scholar who told my father of this place is claiming that there are records of Humans living here as recently as 500 years ago. If that’s true it would change everything, we thought we knew of The Fall.” Yallia said.

It was a good thing I was already sitting down if I hadn’t probably would have fallen on my ass “That’s insane. What could target an entire species like that?”

“We don’t know. Scholars have been combing the remains of Human cities, libraries, anything and everything to see what can be found, and so far, we consider it lucky if the only things we find are corpses and more questions. Every city was destroyed by something different. In one there was a plague that wiped out only the Humans, in another random mutations caused the Humans to turn into monsters and they ate everyone else. I even heard of a remote farming settlement where evidence was found of everyone eating each other in what looked like a ritualistic fashion. The only thing we know for certain was that about 1000 years ago every city, settlement, military outpost and even research facility had been wiped out, each by something completely different. Every single one, except for this place, this place may have been the last Human settlement to be destroyed, if it was even destroyed by whatever caused the fall.”

Looking at Yallia she was staring at me with an inquisitive look in her eyes, after a few minutes I managed to ask “And no one has any idea what could do something like that?” I asked again.

“That question has haunted everyone since the collapse, what destroyed the Humans, and could it happen again?”

Leaning back I thought about what she had said, the scale of it boggled the mind. “Jesus Christ. So the Empire is coming here to try and find answers to what caused the fall?”

“Possibly.”

“If they are coming here looking for answers then should we really be trying to stop them from getting those answers?”

“Not if they’re trying to use it as a weapon, but to be honest that’s not something I’m worried about right now. My only real concern at the moment is rescuing my father. The Coalition can worry about the Empire.”

“How can you not be worried about them using this as a weapon, I don’t even know who they are and I’m worried about them using this as a weapon!” I said more heat working its way into in my voice than I had intended.

“People have been exploring Human ruins for centuries and we are no closer to understanding what caused the Fall now than we were a thousand years ago. While it is possible they may find something here I seriously doubt that this expedition will succeed where everyone else failed. But if you’re so worried about it then maybe you should rethink your stance on encouraging the Lamia to help us.” She said.

Was this woman for real? Was she really this bad at talking to people? That had to have been the most transparent attempt at manipulation I had ever seen. Deciding that it was probably at least partially a joke I ignored her. Focusing on the post in my hands I started sharpening it again.

“So how are Humans remembered then? I imagine we must be thought of as boogeymen.”

“A what man?”

“Boogeyman, it’s a story parents tell their children to get them to behave. Eat your vegetables or the boogeyman will come get you, like that.”

“What no why would people remember Humans like that?”

“Because we all died horribly? Because people formed lynch mobs to kill them all? If that happened where I’m from people would assume it was some kind of a divine punishment, and if more of them turned up again, they wouldn't be warmly welcomed.”

“That’s not how Humans are remembered by most people. I mean certainly people are afraid of the Fall happening again, and people actually look at the targeting of Humans by mobs as a terrible crime. Humans themselves however are idolized. They were the first people to really create civilization as we know it. The Old Empire touched every corner of the world and everywhere they went they brought that civilization with them. To some Humans still represent a lost golden age.”

That sounded really nice, but also the opposite to how Empires usually behaved. I might not have paid too much attention in school but even I knew that Empires didn’t grow by travelling to new places and being all benevolent and kind. When I said as much to Yallia she agreed.

“Well it is true that many people view the Empire through rose colored glasses. In the early days of the empire Humans were usually first-class citizens and the peoples they subjugated were often second-class citizens or even outright slaves. Some cities and fledgling civilizations were even destroyed by the Empire when they expanded.

However, by the time of the Fall it wasn’t just a Human organization. Non-humans were able to hold office and for the most part had equal rights as humans.

Then when the Empire crumbled, it was the end of civilization as people knew it. Entire cities starved to death and were abandoned, banditry and pestilence were rampant, many considered it to be the end of the world.

It took almost five hundred years for things to stabilize enough that civilizations began to rebuild themselves, and when they did, they were faced with ruins, buildings and works that are on a scale that boggles the mind to this day. So, while yes, the Empire may be remembered as being more benevolent than they perhaps were, it isn’t completely undeserved.”

“I had no idea, when the Lamia called them the Ancients I knew that they must have been important to them at least, but I had no idea they’d had such a significant effect on literally the entire world. If I ever get out of here am I going to be famous? Cause I’m not sure how I feel being famous.”

“The average person doesn’t know what a Human really looks like, if we claim you’re a demi-human from some far-off land most people would probably believe it. How’s that weapon coming along? Almost ready?”

With a start I looked at the post in my hand and realized that I had in fact finished, it was as sharp as I could manage to get it with the tools I had at my disposal. “Yeah it’s about as ready as it will ever be.”

“Good, then I think we should get some rest soon, I want to take a look at that Mana Concentration Room as soon as you're ready to travel.”

“What’s so important about a Mana Concentration room? What is it exactly?”

“You know how your soul has to purify mana so that you can use it right?” At my nod she continued. “A Mana Concentration room can partially purify the mana for you. If you could usually cast 10 spells before you have to stop, working in a concentration room will allow you to cast 20. It can also assist in helping you learn; Mana is easier to shape in them. The rooms are extremely rare and only a few have been found intact in ruins. Specialists have been studying them for decades and we still have no idea how to actually build more of them.”

“Do you know how to use it?”

“I’ve never used one before but I’ve read about them their fairly straight forwards, we shouldn’t have a problem.”

Our plan for the next day decided I tried to stand up to get myself something to eat but found my side and leg still bothering me. Taking a moment to meditate I tried to get an idea how much unrefined Mana I had sitting around in my system. After a few moments I decided that I could probably have two or three potions without risking Mana Shock again so I had one more healing potion. Finally, my side and leg were back to feeling one hundred percent.

With a sigh of relief, I put my arms above my head and started stretching back and forth, and then stood on my tip toes. “Oh god finally, I had forgotten what it was like to not be in pain.”

“I noticed your injuries were pretty bad when you came in, what exactly happened to you?”

“I was attacked by a tree.”

“A tree?” Yallia said in disbelief.

“Yes, and its evil fruits.”

“If you don’t want to tell me you don’t have to.” She said laying down facing the wall and placing her jacket over her like a blanket.

“No really, it was a surprisingly fast tree. I’ll show you it’s corpse later.” Yallia waved me away instead of replying.

I still didn’t really feel tired but with nothing else to do I made myself as comfortable as I could on the ground, before I knew it Yallia was shaking me awake.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’ve been asleep for almost ten hours, it’s time to get going.”

Nodding I stood up and we had a quick breakfast of some fruits, not bothering to cook them.

“The Mana Concentration room isn’t very far, it shouldn’t take longer than five minutes to get there normally, but I want to make sure there aren’t any monsters in the rooms that we’ll pass.”

Nodding Yallia handed me back my belt and my knives. Putting them back on I made sure my pack had potions in it and I even applied some of my new poison to my weapon offering some to Yallia which she declined.

The two of us each held onto one of the glowing crystals, Yallia having talked me out of using a night eye potion at this time, “I plan on having you do some practice in the Mana Concentration room for a few hours so no point in taking them now if we don’t have to.” She explained. Then we went down the stairs.

Quickly checking each room Yallia was able to identify the various tools that they found inside and she was able to identify exactly what type of workshop each room was. When we arrived at the room with the elevator shaft Yallia looked down the shaft curiously.

“We may have to rappel down this, unless you can learn enough wind magic to get a levitation spell to bring us down.”

“There’s actually stairs leading down on the floor below us. I think some Lamia lived down there for use as a cheap source of labor.”

“Oh?”

“Something Shassala told me didn’t make a lot of sense to me until I saw down here. She said that the Lamia and Humans lived here together, but the rooftop is covered in stairs which Lamia wouldn’t have made. I think the Humans made the buildings up there for their own use before they moved down here. Then they allowed the Lamia to live there in order to keep them close. There are even bunk rooms here specially made for the Lamia, and those are near the stairs. Some people stayed down here to work and the rest lived up top, keeping a source of cheap labor nearby.”

“I was thinking something similar.”

That floor clear we went down one more into the main hall. Rather than check each of these rooms we went straight to the Mana Concentration room. Opening the door Yallia looked like a kid in a candy shop as we walked in.

“This is incredible, I never expected to actually get to use one of these rooms.”

“So, what’s the big deal with these rooms exactly? I get how using more Mana is useful, but would the assistance with control really be useful? I mean if you could do something in the room you can’t really do it outside of the room so would it really be useful?”

As we walked in the room Yallia held a crystal up to the wall and examined the patterns that were carved there before kneeling down and following the patterns on the ground.

“These rooms are extremely useful for learning high level magic. You can get an understanding for spells in here that you could never gain outside of the room, and while yes, you do have to relearn to cast the spell outside of the room it is much easier if you’ve done it correctly once.”

“Sort of like training wheels?”

“I have no idea what that is, but sure why not.”

Following the trenches carved into the ground Yallia held the light to them and followed them over the floor to the far wall where the trench led against the wall. As Yallia walked away from me I noticed her tail was swishing back and forth in what I took to be excitement. Finding what she had been looking for Yallia put the light down and began feeling against the wall with her hands when part of the wall slid away revealing a small spigot.

I was about to let her know that the water in the other rooms that I had tried didn’t work when she turned the spigot and something started exiting the valve to flow through the channels in the room.

“I tried the taps in other rooms and they didn’t work.”

“This isn’t water, it’s an alchemical solution stored in tanks in the wall. The rooms themselves are easy enough to make, what can’t be reproduced is this liquid. The tanks themselves however refill over time, through a process we don’t understand. The problem is that only one person can make use of the rooms ability to purify mana for them at a time.” Yallia said as she closed the spiggot and replaced the wall panel.

“Dibs.”

“What?” She said incredulously.

“Dibs, I called dibs. That means that it’s mine.”

Instead of responding Yallia just rolled her eyes. “Stand in the center of the room and put a drop of your blood into the pool, we’ll need to remove the light stones and anything else that uses magic otherwise the room won’t be as effective so we'll have to work in the dark.”

“Here I have this.” I said turning on my flashlight and handing it to her. “No magic.”

Yallia looked as mesmerized by it as I had felt the first time I had seen that Air Jack and the blue box that appeared.

Letting her examine it I took the glowing stones out of the room and left them in front of the door. Finding the middle of the room I saw a small pool with four channels leaving it and connecting to the rest of the channels. Using an antiseptic wipe to clean my hand and my folding knife before making a small cut on the back of my hand I dropped a small amount of blood into the small pool. The liquid in the channels immediately took on a red coloring and I could actually feel the Mana in the room start to change. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what the change was however. It was almost like an air conditioner turning on during a heat wave.

Making myself comfortable in the center of the room I allowed Yallia to walk me through exercises designed to improve my Mana Manipulation. Neither of us knew what we would find below us, but I would do everything I could to have some magic ready to face it.