Melody of the Builders 3

“Alright Varen, I can see you breathing so you might as well get up now.” 

Standing over a different, and smaller, pile of rubble than the one she woke in Chain looked down at a man who made her look fairly short. It was not hard for the long limbed maid to look short as while she was not she was also definitely not tall. This was doubly true compared to the man, garbed in white pants with leather boots and a fur lined leather jacket worn over a white button up shirt, who lay in the pile of rubble. If he stood he would have been nearly two meters in height though even then his long black hair that was braided from his shoulders down would have neared Chain’s height at the soldier. The man’s height was even further emphasized by his lean build though he was not particularly thin like Chain.

“Somehow I’m not surprised that you’re not showing any concern for my well being.”

“Of course not. You’re alive and I have no idea how long we have until someone shows up from Highroot or Bright Rift to start investigating why the Builders are singing so it’d be best if we got a move on.”

A sigh escaped from Varen as Chain emphasized she had no intention of showing him any concern. Sitting up Varen opened his silver blue eyes and looked upon Chain as she looked down on him with her hands on her hips. He noticed that her scabbard hung empty at her side and the absence of the maid’s weapon made him desire to reach for his own. Tightening his right hand into a fist he realized that he held the weapon he sought but him and Chain were both surprised when he went to pull the weapon free of where it was buried in the rubble.

“Well, that couldn’t be good.”

“Couldn’t be good? Are you serious?”

Varen could not hold back his disbelief as Chain understated the absence of the blade that went with the claymore hilt that he held in his right hand. It was not even that the blade was broken near the hilt but rather that even the tang of the blade was missing from within the weapon’s grip.

“Well, there’s no reason to worry about it too much. I mean this was always a possible outcome since the spell I casted on it was incomplete and experimental at that.”

“Seriously?”

Varen sighed heavily as he rose to his own feet at last and looked at the hilt was still bothering to hold on to with a questioning look. Not bothering to seek out an answer to his unspoken question he turned his full attention onto Chain as he presented her with a different question.

“And what about your sword? Did it disappear with that Hero in that light.”

“Dunno. I found you first so I thought I’d wake you up first and if worse comes to worse I’ve always got spells I can cast.”

“Your carelessness is really starting to rub me the wrong way.”

“Really?”

The nonchalant attitude that Chain questioned Varen’s comment with as she placed her hands behind her head pulled another sigh from the swordsman. Looking down at her as she looked up at him Varen noticed that her eyes had taken on a vibrant green color and sighed again.

“Yeah, really. For example, you’re using your Relic right now regardless of the dangers you yourself mentioned and you’re totally disregarding my ability to defend myself.”

“Hey, you took a direct blow to the face from a Hero and I don’t even see any signs of damage so I’m pretty sure you’ll be alright no matter what we encounter. As for using my Relic, well, I’m not as durable as you seem to be and so it’s the best way to tend to my own wounds while being on the move. And speaking of carelessness…”

As Varen took on a look of concern at the mention of Chain’s wounds the maid dropped her hands from behind her head and shook a finger at the swordsman while placing her left hand on her hip.

“…I haven’t seen you put any effort into examining our surroundings.”

“That’s…”

Varen really had no argument and gave up with a sigh as his shoulders slumped in defeat. Quickly getting over himself Varen straitened up while Chain returned her hands to behind her head and surveyed the ruin strewn cavern he found himself in.

“So what is this place?”

“From what I can tell at first glance it’s a ruin from the Age of Ash that we just happened to fall in after that light your sword gave off destroyed the road and everything around for some distance based off the size of the hole above us.”

“Asides from trying to pin the blame on me what do you mean by at first glance.”

“Well that really depends on how much you know about the Automina Empire and the Age of Ash.”

“Pretty much common knowledge I’d guess. Automina was the greatest empire in the history of the world with their greatest accomplishment being the conquest of the Builders whose powers they used to dwell in the heavens as the rest of the world was consumed by the Ash.”

“The stuff from legends then. Well I won’t fault you since as you said that is pretty much common knowledge and not everyone has studied under Sorcerer Balgun like I have. But that’s just the thing, the Age of Ash wasn’t the end of days that legend makes it out to be. Despite the Ash seemingly killing everything it did not turn into a monster civilizations still managed to survive and possibly even flourish if the ruins we’ve landed in are anything to go by. The most important part though is that the civilizations of the Age of Ash were comprised of the people left behind by Automina. But where Automina used technology which we base all of our modern technology off of the civilizations of the Age of Ash used magic so common theory has always been that when the Ash rolled over the world that they turned to the power of the Seven Great Spirit Wells to forge their civilizations and survive until the Fall of Automina banished the Ash from the surface of the planet.”

“I’m guessing there was a discovery made that hasn’t been made public which implies something else.”

“Not really. Unless you’re crediting me with a major discover about the Age of Ash.”

“What?”

Varen’s surprise drew a smile on Chain’s face. Lowering her arms and placing her left hand on her hip Chain motioned as she explained.

“If you look around you might notice that the ancient markings on the ruins are glowing softly. But it’s not just light that they’re giving off. There’s something else in effect that I observed while investigating before I found you. I won’t waste time on the details, but if you remember, when I woke you up I mentioned that the Builders are singing.”

“Yeah. You did mention it but I didn’t really think about since I’m missing the most important part of my sword.”

“Well this is even more important believe it or not. Well, maybe not to an idiot like you but in the grand scheme of the world and the relationship modern civilization has with the Builders and the Rattama it is.”

“Can you just get to the point instead of throwing insults my way?”

“But it’s fun watching your reactions.”

“Seriously.”

Chain smiled broadly as Varen’s exasperation was painted blatantly on his face. Though she could have easily lingered on Varen’s distress for her own entertainment Chain did not leave her explanation unfinished.

“Well, getting to the point like you want, when I investigated the nature of that glow I noticed a very slight quieting of the singing of the Builders as the light got equivalently strongly.”

“Wait, I thought only Automina possessed the means to control the Builders, and the Rattama by extension and anyone using the Tuners of their design.”

“So does that mean you’ll credit me with this discovery then?”

Chain’s response did naught but dumbstruck Varen which caused the maid to laugh in turn. Stifling her laugh Chain tried to be more serious as she moved to point out the immediate danger their situation actually presented.

“My desire for a bit of legitimate fame asides, if these affects are still going when the inevitable investigation parties from Highroot and Bright Rift get here a battle may break out which will in turn set off the war that’s probably already brewing.”

“So then we need to get out of here in a hurry.”

“Yep.”

Chain’s agreement with Varen was given sudden and unexpected urgency as the sound of shifting and tumbling stones echoed out of the chamber around them.

“And it’s looking like we better hurry too.”

Copyright © 2018 Joshua D Tarwater