A New World

Now that Eris is gone, the room I woke up in is empty of any sign of life, with the sole exception of my breathing.

It’s too loud, I realize. I’m nearly panting, a tight pressure coiled up in my chest making it hard to slow down. I stand still for a moment, still staring at the spot where the girl had previously stood, still trying to come to terms with what she said.

Another world. With Gods and magic. Maybe I was just dying, and this was a hallucination my oxygen-starved brain had cooked up.

Suddenly, I feel my lungs fill with a deep breath as I gasp, and shakily let it back out. I force my lungs to repeat the process for a couple of cycles, my hands clutching at the lapels of my jacket.

Is any of this real? I don’t know. It’s impossible to know right now. All I have are Eris’ words.

I need more information.

I scan the room around me, finding that, though I am alone, it isn’t actually empty.

There’s a bookcase against one of the walls whose shelves have split down the middle, releasing a bunch of waterlogged scrolls to fall in a heap at its feet. A hole in the roof reveals where the water might’ve come from, though the hypothetical rain clearly hasn’t been affecting the bookcase alone. The desk, the chair in front of it, the purple banner on the wall, metal instruments I can’t decipher the use of- all of them are affected by water damage and rust, to the point of being well and truly ruined and unusable.

This almost looks like some kind of laboratory, or research room. I can’t see a bed anywhere as I slowly spin on my heel, so I doubt this is a bedroom. Or was, more accurately.

Whatever it used to be, it is now nothing more than a ruin.

As I walk around, the wet carpet squishes beneath my feet, sticking to my shoes with every one of my steps. There’s no light except for what is allowed through the unintentional sunroof, though thankfully, the sun is high in the sky, letting me see around me.

Speaking of, it isn’t the only way out of the room, thankfully. There’s a door waiting behind me, and a window opposite it, its wooden shudders closed. I find myself staring at it. If I push it open, what will I see?

I worry my lip for a moment, frozen in place, before slowly beginning to walk toward the window. The wood grain is falling apart under my fingertips as I delicately press my hand against it, but I pause before I actually push, trepidation tugging at my stomach.

I’m- scared. But I don’t know what the scariest thing behind this window could be. Something completely alien? Something familiar? Maybe I’m on a new stupid game show where they don’t make you sign a waiver and instead kidnap you after you barely survive a car accident and heal you of all your injuries too.

I grit my teeth, and force my shaking fingers to push against the wooden shutter.

The change of light blinds me for a moment, but only just. And when I reopen my eyes…

“Shit…” I curse softly as I look down upon the city I was summoned to.

Because summoning is sounding more and more plausible by the second.

The room I’m in is on top of a tower. A tall one, enough that I feel vertigo as I look down at the city. Too high for my tastes, but at least it means that I can very clearly see the foreign city beneath me.

Cobblestone-paved roads snake between purple-tiled roofs, nearly shining underneath the sun. I follow one with my eyes as it leaves the foot of the tower I currently occupy, until it reaches its destination of the tall wall surrounding the city. Or more accurately, some sort of door built into the wall.

I think so, at least. The city is large, and the door is not only low to the ground but also far away, making it an indistinct dot of color that only technically breaks up the grey of the encircling wall.

But despite all of that, the thing that strikes me the most is the fact that…

The city is dead.

I can see no movement. Hear no sound. More than one building is completely collapsed, and many times more than those are partially so, leaving behind only their skeletons.

The only sign of life I can see right now is the green trees poking up above the wall from outside it and a flock of birds flying by, completely ignoring me as they skillfully dance on the winds, before vanishing as they circle the tower.

I gulp.

Immediately, problem after problem assault my mind.

Am I alone here? Do I have ready access to water? Food? Cover?

I remember Eris’ last words to me.

‘Escape the city.’

Am I- in danger here?

Carefully, I close the window again, though I leave it open just a touch, pressing my hands against the wall on either side of it to peer through the tiniest gap.

I spy and spy, but I can’t see anything moving about down there, except for the occasional passing bird.

I take a deep breath, and shakily let it out.

Ok. First things first.

I need to find a steady source of water and food. And if I can’t, I have to find somewhere I can.

I close the shutter completely, before making my way to the door, which only opens once I put all my weight against it, the rusty hinges screeching loudly as I do, making me grimace at the sound.

I start going down the stone stairs, checking each floor of the narrow tower as I go, but to no avail.

It’s evident to me that this place is completely abandoned. Whoever lived here previously grabbed whatever they could carry, and left everything else to rot, as evidenced by the empty bookshelves I come across.

Though, I do find some communal bedrooms, where beds that might’ve been neatly done at some point are lined up, as well as several more research rooms. All of them ruined by the elements due to the gashes and holes regularly dotting the stone walls making up the tower, though I’m actually thankful for them right now.

Without them, I’d be completely blind as I climbed down the stairs.

For a moment, I worry about what I’ll do once night falls, but I have more immediate concerns.

Every so often, I stumble upon some rotting food, still resting on its plate, or a glass of stagnant water that I’m not desperate enough to trust yet, even though climbing down flight after flight of stairs is starting to make me parched.

More worryingly, this evidence seems to point to the city- or at least the tower- having been fled in a hurry.

I worry my lip as my straining legs carry me down the stairs. I can’t help but wonder if whatever made everyone flee is still a danger to me now.

At least, I can’t find anything dangerous in the tower itself, except for the sweetly rotting food. Not only that, but the fact that I am climbing down these stairs instead of going up means I only have to take a break halfway through.

I can’t imagine needing to climb up these. How did the people who lived here, well, live here? Seems like hell, and I think I’m more used to stairs than most.

Maybe it wasn’t a problem if you had magic…

I flex one of my hands into a fist inquisitively.

Mana.

Eris said I had it. But I don’t feel any different than before.

I hold out my hand and open it, pointing my palm at the stone wall opposite me, and try to will, something to happen. I flex my muscles, grit my teeth, brace my arm with my other hand, narrow my eyes at the target, and generally force, but all I accomplish is hurting my jaw and giving myself a small headache.

Magic probably isn’t so simple to use. Maybe if I could read some of the scrolls littered around the place I could learn something useful, but it seems as if every one that was left behind had fallen to the elements.

I force myself not to dwell on the fact that magic might be an actual thing and stand up again.

I need to reach the bottom of this tower if I want to escape this place.

And soon, I do exactly that, and I groan as I rest my back against the wall next to the door I’m hoping leads outside, taking a moment to catch my breath.

Goddamnit this was rough- Or should it be Erisdamnit?

The thought makes me forget my fatigue for a moment as I chuckle at the idea of swearing on a child’s name, though is Eris truly a child? Maybe she only looks like one…

Hm. Well, I wouldn’t figure that out by sitting here. Or standing, for that matter.

I brace myself against the door leading outside, and force it open, my biceps straining as I force the rusty hinges to obey my will.

And soon, my eyes wince in the sunlight, the ruined city standing before me.