Who I was

"I would have never guessed there were ruins this close to Stonewood."

I hopped from a ledge onto the lichen covered stones of the ruins. I would have never noticed them had I been passing by. They just looked like random overgrown rocks. Any markings to denote they were ruins were hidden beneath nature. Not even Lucinda had known about them before Hanabi brought them up.

"It's because there's a magical barrier around them. It's a type of light magic that deters the eye from looking too closely."

"Is that why you were acting weird when we approached?" I asked Yahime. She'd been trembling a minute ago.

"…something else…"

"I'm eager to find out what that 'something else' is," Hanabi said. "I've been studying ruins like these for centuries, searching for what happened to the people who lived here before."

"Did you find anything?"

She nodded.

"They were a nomadic people who followed game around the valley and onto the frozen plains. The only permanent structures they ever built were small shrines and temples like this."

"But temples to who? And why? Wouldn't it make more sense to have a shrine you could carry with you?"

"Those are the right questions to ask," Hanabi said with an excited smile. She was having the time of her life. "Why indeed? And in regards to who, well why don't you tell me?"

I hated guessing games. I never won and it always felt like I was being toyed with. Regardless, I humored her. It was nice to finally see her in good spirits again. And sober.

Searching and wiping lichen and moss away, I found a few clues. Carvings of thin people towering over others. A woman surrounded by a crowd. I just didn't know what to make of them.

"I don't know. Maybe it's to honor a leader or something?"

"Close. Don't those tall figures remind you of anyone?"

I looked at Yahime as she wandered around. Maybe. I'd never seen a normal Dusk, so I couldn't be sure. Yahime was an oddity and the one in the mountain had been fused to Hanabi and starving.

"Then if they're Dusks, is the woman…?"

"That's right. She's Vide, Goddess of Souls and mother to all Dusk. Even this civilization recognized her. What fascinates me is that, in all the sites I've explored, they've never depicted her as a goddess. She's always one of the people, revered, but still one of them."

Had Vide been mortal? Or was it like the stories from Earth where the deity decides to live among humans out of boredom or curiosity.

"Before you ask, we're here because those people and the Essence Stones you're collecting are connected. So was the Dusk that fused with me. Through Yahime, you are connected to Vide. I am too after my mishap, just to a lesser extent."

"If that's the case maybe she could take the time to pay us a visit and answer a few questions."

It was a bad joke, but Hanabi laughed anyway. She was mesmerizing when she smiled genuinely, like a blinding light soothing everyone it touched. How close that light had come to being extinguished. Between her possession and the death of her daughter, it was a miracle she could still smile at all.

With her lecture complete, Hanabi guided us to a small stone sticking up from the center of the ruins. It looked completely unremarkable and didn't do anything when Hanabi pressed on it.

"It's stuck. Stand back, Kyomi. I'll blow it—"

To our surprise, Yahime moved between us and reached down. She touched the stone with the tip of her clawed finger and a moment later the ground rumbled as the stone ground revealed a pitch black passage underground.

What is this? I can't see anything down there. Is [PERFECT SIGHT] not working?

"Curious… Can either of you see down there?"

"no…"

I shook my head. If Yahime and Hanabi were as blind as me it had to be something magical.

"Let's try this."

Hanabi summoned a blue flame into her hand and let it float down. It vanished when it crossed the threshold of the ground.

"Why don't you try, too," I told Yahime. She'd been able to open the door so it reasoned [VIDE'S FLAME] might work.

She summoned a flame and mimicked Hanabi. It fell slower than the fox fire, but illuminated the stairs leading underground. Hanabi's flame was visible as well. It made my stomach churn. If we were separated from Yahime, we'd be stumbling blind. If there was a maze or traps, we'd probably die.

"Seems like daughters first."

Hanabi nudged Yahime forward to lead. The Dusk didn't resist and summoned another white flame that she carried in her hand like a candle. We followed and found ourselves in a long, straight corridor. Unlike the outside, the interior stone was smooth and polished. There were no traps and every few meters we passed torches mounted on the walls that stayed lit with Yahime's flame.

The tunnel reminded me of the tunnel in the mountain. It never seemed to end and snaked around to a dizzying degree. I couldn't even begin to guess where it headed.

"Reminds you of the mountain?"

I nodded.

"How'd you know?"

"Because they're connected. Not in a literal sense, or at least I doubt it since we're walking in the opposite direction, but in the architecture. The same people made both tunnels after all."

"Fascinating." It really wasn't. With every step we took my interest waned until I barely had the motivation to take another step. I was tired and wanted to just lay down and sleep.

"Resist." Hanabi pinched my shoulder from behind. "There's some strange power making you tired. I feel it too."

Is that the trap? Lure people underground and put them to sleep until they starve? Damn. That's actually pretty creative.

I got lost in my groggy thoughts and bumped into Yahime's back when she came to a sudden stop.

"What's wrong?" I asked. I let out a loud yawn and stretched my arms.

"carry."

Before I could stop her, Yahime scooped me into her arms like she had in the Essence Stone cavern. My ears burned in embarrassment and I could hear Hanabi snickering from behind.

"Put me down!" I tried to protest. But exhaustion was winning out. I really wasn't cut out for adventuring.

"share… energy…"

I tried to understand what she meant when I finally felt a tingle in my belly button. It tickled and itched at the same time, begging me to explore its depths before I fell asleep. So why did I suddenly feel so awake? I looked up at Yahime's pulsing white eyes. She really was sharing her energy with me.

"T-Thanks," I muttered.

She didn't answer and I heard Hanabi snicker again. How would she feel if Bixey, her Hana, had suddenly started carrying her? I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at the thought of the petite fox girl carrying her overly endowed, twice as tall mother.

Then, at last, a change in the monotony.

What had seemed like a never ending tunnel opened into a vast chamber that reminded me of the emperor's audience chamber in Aurelie's memories. It was less ornate, with only a dozen onyx statues and several stone columns to decorate it. The simplicity of it all was mesmerizing. As was the stone altar sitting beneath the out of place faded statue at the end of the room.

"Let's light the torches on the wall," Hanabi said. At some point she'd pilfered one of the torches in the tunnel. "Make sure to stay close to Yahime."

"You don't have to tell me twice. Something about this room makes me uneasy."

"I feel it too. It's too out of place. Almost as if it's not real."

"Do you think it's an illu—"

I blinked. I'd just been in Yahime's arms. So why was I suddenly standing? And where were Hanabi and Yahime? I stood alone in a sea of orange and pink clouds that stretched beyond sight. It reminded me of the famous paintings of heaven though less ostentatious and missing the winged babies.

"Hello?"

There was no answer from the cloudy expanse.

My hands. They were hands I hadn't seen in what felt like a lifetime. My long, patchy hair was gone, replaced with the shoulder length hair style I'd kept to make getting ready in the morning easier.

I was in my original body.