Haze

Walking around Berthon nearly felt like going about a ghost town. Not that I knew what that was like, but I’ve heard stories, scary ones about abandoned villages. Lost souls left behind that linger for unfortunates that stumble in. And yet the capital wasn’t empty of life.

In fact, there was more life in it than I had ever seen. As to be expected of the capital, it was even busier than Rastron. Some of the streets were fairly packed with people. But each one had the same vacant distant stare in their faces. Not a one seemed to be focused, even though they had some function remaining.

I followed a woman for more than ten blocks just to see what happened. With so many people like this I was a little concerned if it might happen to me or if they were even trying to do anything. But she walked into a tiny shop. A butcher where she purchased a lump of beef. There were no words exchanged between either. Yet somehow they both knew what to do.

This just got stranger the longer I watched. I followed a few others to just confirm what I was seeing. It was the same. Everyone worked like they were on a schedule, but never took notice of anyone.

After an hour of confusion on my part, I sat down at one of the plazas. The capital was huge and I was lost. Even with the map that Gerth provided me of the capital. I don’t think I appreciated how dense it was from the map.

However, the confusing city layout was the least of the concerns on my mind right now. “What’s going on here? None of this makes any sense. It’s like everyone’s sleepwalking. They’re still highly functional, but also completely out of it.” Crossing my arms, I tried to string along the facts.

The city remained open despite what happened here. So that would mean that whatever happened was swift enough to stop anyone from trying to cordon the city to stop the spread. Anyone that entered would become like them. Which begged the question what caused this and am I affected?

I wasn’t familiar with diseases, but this seemed nothing like a disease I’ve heard of even in rumors. If it was something contagious I’m already infected and I shouldn’t leave to pass it on. But I don’t know how long it takes to show symptoms to know if that was the case. I also didn’t want to risk staying longer if exposure wasn’t immediate. It just seemed strange to be a disease. It didn’t fit.

Everyone still functioned. I even saw people eating. Their daily lives seem uninterrupted by this phenomenon. That felt like a small blessing right now. They certainly weren’t living a normal fulfilling life this way. I’d like to fix it if I could, but I didn’t have enough data.

If I wanted to rule out disease as the possibility then it’d have to be something that could spread to everyone equally and consistently. The only thought that I had staring over at the fountain was the water supply. I had heard about armies poisoning wells to hurt their enemies. But if this was an attack, they wouldn’t just leave everyone alive. The capital was undefended and easy for attack, even if it was further away from the Yste border.

That answer also didn’t fit. It felt like the best answer I had right now. But the reason for it happening I couldn’t find. All I settled on was that I shouldn’t eat or drink anything from the capital. If it was poisoned, I’d have to leave to a nearby village for supplies. I had hoped to fully load up after I made a visit to the temple for the text. “The temple…”

It was probably like everywhere else. But maybe they left clues behind if it wasn’t immediate? I had a minor hope. The way the city was felt like no one had the opportunity to leave any notes. But I had to go to the temple either way.

It would work out for me either way. I didn’t relish the thought of stealing from them, but I’d still be able to get the book Gerth mentioned without an argument. Though I’m not sure if there would have been one. Certainly won’t be one now. But first let’s see what the temple’s state is. Staring at the map and landmarks, I finally found my sense of direction.

“Damn. So much for hope.” The Rastron temple looked tiny by comparison. It felt like all of Linoth village would fit inside the building. I guess for a city the size of Berthon this scale made sense. But the reality was more important. Everyone here was the same. They had empty expressions just going about their duties. And somehow it looked like they were having conversations. Silent ones, but still going through all of the motions. Strange.

Getting through the plaza took a shockingly long time. It had vast gardens that weaved around like a maze. Thankfully, I had the massive temple, or cathedral I guess, as a point to follow. It took Ministra knows how long to finally just reach the steps and that had several dozen. This was far more work to reach than seemed normal.

Inside, I entered without trouble as expected. It was fairly crowded. Dozens of members walked up and down the vast halls. The enormous ceilings and long side halls made me feel even more lost than the gardens. But Gerth mentioned that there was an archive.

I had to waste hours searching systematically through each door and passage I found. Thankfully nothing was locked until now. I had reached the end of one of the halls. It had a gate over the door along with some lazily standing by the door.

Eying him up, I couldn’t see anything visible on his person that looked like a key. He might have it in hiding, but I didn’t know how responsive or violent they could get if disturbed. I wasn’t about to tempt that just now. “The Head Priest should have keys.” I remembered her room further back.

Tracing my step back, I worked through my rough memory of events until I reached the Head Priest’s office. I had already been inside once, but I didn’t stay. Only confirmed it wasn’t the archive. She was in her chair at the moment, but completely staring at the door and through me.

Swallowing and stepping slowly around, I intruded on her space. The key wasn’t out in the open, so I could only guess it was in the desk somewhere. As I kept apart from her, but still uncomfortably close, I felt my heart beating faster. I swear it felt like she was staring at me every time I looked away. And yet nothing from her, creepy.

After slowly and cautiously opening the first drawer, I went through the rest with a little less concern. She really seemed completely clueless to my activity. But I found the key finally. With a guilty bow, I departed for the archives.

Going down the stairs and entering the massive library that stretched on larger than the Rastron temple, I realized I wish there had been someone to help me find what I was looking for. I sighed realizing I was in for another search and far worse.

The only saving grace was that they had an organization to things. Unfortunately, Gerth didn’t provide me with a name to the text. He vaguely recalled it. So I only had two things he remembered to work from ‘Ganiza’ and ‘Ministra’. And Ministra was such a common word to find in a library under Her cathedral I just had one word.

Or rather region, Ganiza or the Kingdom of Ganiza supposedly existed during the founding of the order and stretched over much of the lands of Ject and Yste. War and decline wiped the civilization away leaving the new kingdoms and ruins to make what remained.

After falling asleep in the library and feeding off some of my shrinking rations, I finally discovered the text. “Early Ganiza Kingdom and the Word of Ministra.” Flipping through it, I confirmed that it had old historical documentation about the origins of the kingdom along with what looked like mentions of the Pillar.

I packed it away and looked back towards my exit. My goal was solved, but this city remained unchanged. Thus far I was still healthy, so that gave some hope. But I needed some answers about what happened. If this wasn’t a disease and something poisoned them, I just needed to get someone away and ask them what happened.

As I walked back up, I pondered my options. Returning to the Head Priest’s office I returned the key and stared at the woman. An aging elderly woman that looked younger than Gerth, but still very senior within the order. She probably knew the most about what was happening and would listen to me. Unlike the King.

I shook my head at the thought. Am I really going to kidnap the Head Priest?