The Secret of the Ruins

“What is it?”

Raven of Borivessa’s eyes were unfocused, a slight frown on her face. She turned her head back the way they’d come and inhaled sharply. Her friend Will looked in the direction she was focused on with puzzlement.

She took a step, shrugged off his arm. “There’s something there.” Her voice was low. She felt ripples in the air as Will tried to reach out with his power.

But she felt what he did. A void of sorts. He glanced down at Raven, and she met his eyes before they joined hands and moved forward.

As they went deeper in the forest everything grew still and dark. They didn’t speak. Raven let Will lead the way while she tried to reach out with her power. She felt…nothing. Something pulled, but it was as if a big hole existed in front of them. How could she feel it when she hadn’t been able to touch her own power in days? She had no idea, but it drew her forward.

Raven didn’t know how long they walked before her friend pulled her to a stop at a clearing. She peered through the last of the trees but there was only darkness and shadows. She glanced at Will and made to step forward, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her to a stop.

He turned her to face him and peered at her in the darkness.

“I’m not sure what’s going on here. Do you sense anything?”

She searched his face before she turned back to the inky blackness. “I sense nothing.”

Raven looked at the wall of black and green and then shot a look back at him before pulling her hand away and stepping cautiously into the brush. The going was rough, the foliage grown to a height several feet above them and close together, thick as a curtain.

Finally, Raven broke through it all and stumbled into a cluttered clearing. The branches and bushes were still heavy, though there were spaces to see through. She paused and helped Will into the open space.

It was like suddenly going blind. The background “noise” she usually felt from her magic, even when she couldn’t touch it, was abruptly silenced and it was deafening. It was different than shielding. It simply wasn’t there.

“Is our magic gone?” Will asked.

“I don’t know. It’s…so strange.” Though her magic had been elusive all day, she’d still been able to feel it just on the outskirts of her mind. Now there was nothing.

Will’s hand touched her back, steadied her. He didn’t push, just gave her a moment to absorb the new feeling – or lack thereof.

She breathed deeply, brought the wet air and smell of trees and grass more fully into her lungs and realized that although the magic was silent she could now think more clearly. Eventually, she got her bearings enough for them to walk forward. She realized she could make out the shapes of buildings, which had appeared in the dimness as if from nowhere.

Will led her in through what was probably the front entrance of the nearest building, his eyes wide as he craned his neck to look at the ruins.

It had once been a walled-in city, Raven thought. A small one, with only about twenty or so structures. But now there were mostly piles of stones, some still partially stacked in a pattern indicating where a house or inn or stable had stood. Very few of the buildings were intact, and all had been damaged in some way. The remains of an outer wall could be seen in certain places.

There was one building in the middle that looked to have once been a large house, perhaps a mansion. Only three stories tall, it was charred but seemed more intact than the others.

Fallen, half-crumbled walls made of white rough-hewn stones covered the space between her and the big mansion. They were so bright they glowed softly in the light filtering through the trees. The wall that surrounded them seemed fairly intact at the bottom, though the tops had been eroded and damaged by time.

There were markings scattered on the walls at random. Little suns, moons, lightning bolts, flowers and trees and a swirling symbol she couldn’t read. She ran her fingers over one, traced the lines silently.

“This had to be from generations ago,” Will said from beside her. “Even before the empire. It feels very old.”

Raven nodded and turned away from the wall, found a big stone perfect for sitting. She settled with her legs crossed. Will found a spot near her and did the same. They both closed their eyes and breathed deeply and simply listened to the sounds of the night.

Raven cleared her head and reveled in the near-quiet. But then, as her mind wandered aimlessly, she felt something. An undercurrent. She peeked at her companion, but he seemed oblivious to it.

She closed her eyes again and reached for the obscure feeling. It wasn’t the normal magic…it seemed older somehow. Ageless. It seemed to pause, as if it looked at her in return. She felt as if it beckoned to her. Magic couldn’t think, could it? With her mind, she imagined herself grasping at the current, letting it pull her along.

With a suddenness that took her breath away, magic surged through her body. Only this was cleaner, purer than the magic she had known her whole life.

Again, she peered at Will, but his eyes were still closed, his breaths even. She settled in and gave herself to the strange new power, let her soul bathe in it as it whirled around her.

It seemed as if the magic was sentient. It seemed to play around her, letting her consciousness twist and dance with it.

They stayed that way for hours while Raven played with the ancient magic. Will meditated unknowingly beside her. When they were done, no words were needed between them in order to indicate they were ready to go back to the palace.

Raven said nothing to Will about the strange magic she had felt in the place. She needed to decide what exactly it was before she said anything. She inhaled deeply when they emerged, and the new magic faded away. With a slight shake of her head, she followed Will back to the palace.