“It’s no use, we’re stuck.” Thalia groans, smacking the stone slab blocking the exit.
“Well, maybe if I read the formula again it will let us out?
Oh, what was it…” Rubio mumbles to himself, desperation and anxiety reaching their peak.
“Let’s face it, we’re trapped.
At least it’s fitting, dying in a tomb and all.” Astra laughs from where he’s sunk, back against the wall.
“Maybe there’s another exit further in?” Thalia suggests, collapsing next to Astra.
“Maybe…but I’m sure we can all admit that we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place if it wasn’t for him.” Astra points an accusing finger at Rubio.
He winces, shrinking in on himself.
“Hey!
I voted to come down as well.” Thalia defends.
“And I blame you for this all the same.” Astra huffs, crossing his arms.
“Then blame yourself as well, since you decided to join us because you were too scared to wait up top by yourself.” She glares.
“It doesn’t change the fact that if we had left earlier, as I said, or maybe didn’t read the Rune formula, as I said, then we’d be fine!” He seethes.
“Well maybe-!” Thalia’s suddenly cut off by a shout from Rubio.
“Stop arguing!” He orders.
Their eyes naturally fall to him, and all the attention has him fidgeting with his gloves.
“Look, it’s my fault; I’ll take all the blame.
I got too excited and didn’t think about the consequences.
But sitting here and arguing won’t get us out any faster; we should head further in and try to find another exit, agreed?” He asks.
“Agreed.” Astra and Thalia mumble.
And so, after a short break, they begin their trek down the stairs, failing to notice the eyes of the stone statues watching closely behind them.
Rubio was noticing a pattern.
Well, a few patterns.
The first pattern was the symmetry.
All of the torches were placed precisely, directly across from each other and perfectly spaced out on either side of the stone statues.
The walls, floor, and ceiling were decorated with precision, beautiful lines all criss-crossing together in a geometrically pleasing way.
The colors were dull oranges and browns; on their own, he wouldn’t consider them beautiful colors.
But added in with the bright golds and blues, it all came together to be an architectural marvel that Rubio couldn’t help but admire.
The other pattern was length.
Of course, the architecture was rife with it…but they had been walking for so long.
The stairs took forever to climb down, to the point where Rubio was out of breath once they reached the bottom.
But then!
Then they had to walk through an endless hallway.
To make it all worse, his two companions didn’t seem to have any issue with this.
Maybe he should’ve kept up with cardio or something; he couldn’t remember being this exhausted five years ago.
But finally…finally!
They reached the end of the hallway.
Astra and Thalia were a bit ahead of him, paused at the entranceway to the next room.
Filled with a sudden burst of spirit and determination, Rubio raced forward.
Then he promptly paused when his eyes landed on what the next room held.
It wasn’t a tomb…it wasn’t a tomb!
An underground kingdom spread out before him; it appeared to have three separate levels.
The first level, just down the stairs in front, was a marketplace; the second level held the houses, and above it all was a sprawling palace.
Everything was made of stone, just as geometric as the ruins above.
There was a bustle of noise that he could just catch from where they were standing.
That’s when he noticed that there were Beings down there.
Only, that wasn’t quite right.
Because every single one of them was made of stone.
“This is a dream; this has to be a dream.” Thalia was mumbling next to him.
“I’m tempted to agree; maybe this is all some group hallucination?” Astra suggests.
Rubio’s eyes flit to the stone statues next to them, their weapons held across their chest.
He thinks one of them is smirking.
“Let’s…uhm…I don’t think we should linger here.” He squeaks, pushing them forward and down the stairs.
“You want us to go in there!?
We have no idea what those things are; what if they kill us?” Astra theorizes.
“Well, it’s better than staying near the armed ones.” Rubio hisses in his ear.
That makes him go quiet.
They stick together when they reach the bottom, arms entangled as they cautiously glance around the marketplace.
The items on sale seem normal.
Fruits, meats, tools, writing equipment, toys, and other little trinkets.
But all it does is make Rubio wonder how people made of stone could use them.
Were they a completely new species, unheard of before?
Or perhaps an old species simply lost to time and evolution, hiding out here this entire time.
They looked awfully similar to Goliaths; maybe they’re a distant evolutionary ancestor?
Eyes followed them as they walked, trying to keep to the shadows and blind spots.
But nobody approached them.
It seemed that the residents of this strange kingdom were avoiding them equally as much.
“Should we try talking to someone?” Thalia whispers.
“And ask them what?
Sorry for trespassing, but we got trapped and are looking for an exit.
Can you help us?” Astra hisses back.
“Yes!?
We’re literally not at fault here.” She explains.
“And what happens if they decide we’re dangerous and kill us?” He questions.
“Well, it’s not like they can’t see us right now!
Sorry if you haven’t noticed, but we’re a bit conspicuous if you can believe it.” She says, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
Rubio breaks off from them before the argument can continue, approaching a group of three stone women chattering by a stall.
“Excuse me?
We’re not from around here…obviously, but, uhm, I was wondering if you could point us to a way out?” He asks politely.
The three women share a glance, then turn away to whisper amongst themselves.
They turn back with a giggle, pointing straight up to the palace.
“Oh, thanks, I guess.
Any more information than that?” He prods.
But the three women continue to giggle, and he figures it’s a lost cause.
Heading back to Thalia and Astra, he finds them staring at him, Astra with a glare and Thalia with a proud smirk.
“That was idiotic.” Astra scolds.
“But nothing happened~!” Thalia hums.
“He could’ve gotten us killed!” Astra exclaims.
“But then…” Thalia pauses for dramatic effect.
“Nothing happened!” She sings, waving her hands back and forth in a snazzy motion.
“They pointed toward the palace; I guess that means we should head up there?” Rubio interrupts them before the argument gets any worse.
“Let’s look on the bright side; maybe this time we’ll get lucky!
We’ll head up to the palace, maybe talk to whoever is in charge, and they’ll let us leave, easy!” Thalia claps.
“Right, lucky,” Astra mutters.
“At the very least, they don’t seem hostile, so we can probably just walk out in the open,” Rubio states.
That turns out to be a mistake.
Nobody attacked them, or anything, but their eyes clung to them like sticky honey.
Watching their every move.
And anywhere they went, the whispers increased in volume, to the point where Rubio could almost make out a few words.
An ‘Outsiders’, here, a ‘Strangers’ there.
Needless to say, they increased the pace from walking to a fast walk, and eventually settled on a light jog as they ascended the staircase into the housing level.
There were fewer people around, as the market seemed the place to be for chatter and the like.
This gave Rubio time to admire more architecture.
He wished he could record this in some shape or form; a discovery like this would be enough to get him into the Scholars Hall of Fame.
Oh, he could imagine it now.
He snaps out of his fantasies when they pause at the base of the stairs leading to the palace.
“You know…even I’m starting to get second thoughts about this,” Thalia admits, scratching the back of her head nervously.
“We’ll be fine.
I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.” Rubio tries to comfort her.
“There’s no possible way you seriously think there’s nothing to worry about.” Astra deadpans.
“Just let me have this?” Rubio begs.
The walk up the stairs is tense; Thalia is fidgeting with her scarf, Astra’s talons are tapping on the stone every step, creating a rhythmic noise as they ascend.
Rubio himself is fumbling with the coin in his pocket.
When they arrived at the top, the sprawling palace doors creaked open.
Two stone guards stood on either side, holding them open.
The view inside the throne room was gorgeous; deep blues and golds made up the colors of the rugs and tapestries.
And the design drew your eyes straight to the hulking throne, as well as the stone figure sitting upon it with a cat-like smirk.
“Welcome, Outsiders.
To the Kingdom of Aion.” She greets, arms spread wide and welcoming.
And Rubio takes a second to blink in surprise, for she was the same figure on the statue outside.
“I am the Queen of Queens…Ankhsiris.”