Carefully walking through the abandoned streets by the homes near the Church, Lumian finds the place eerily silent and discomforting. ruins and cracks strewn around yet oddly finding no skeletal remains. How odd, it's almost as if no one existed here to begin with. Furrowing his brows he took glances into darkened and shadowed alleyways half expecting some odd creature to show up. Pft as if.
Using his inner monologue to distract himself, he comes across a broken, rundown building with a worn sign where the words Estel Shoe Store could just barely be seen with the naked eye due to how smudged the inkwork was. Finally, no longer needing to walk barefoot. The feeling of slight pain from walking barefoot would be alleviated from this endeavour making it worth it.
Slowly opening the door and peering in to make sure there were no problems, Lumian carefully pushed the door aside to see disorganised shelving units with various shoe works strewn across the place making it appear it was going through a robbery. Huh, I thought there were going to be missing stock. Lumian thought in curiosity.
Roaming around, Lumian took note of the differing styles on display before his eyes caught a fancy to a well-designed pair of leather sandals tucked away in the corner. The sandals were a dark brown matching the robe with flowery patterns imbedded into the straps of them. Picking them up Lumian found that they are rather light thus sat down on a nearby bench to see if they would fit. Undoing the strap belt, he slipped his toes into place and buckled the strap at the back of his heel of his right foot before doing the same for his left. Carefully testing to make sure the sandals were not uncomfortable he walked around to see if there was anything else he could loot to ensure his safety.
Squeak
Squeak squeak
Hearing a sudden noise, Lumian quickly spun around setting up a defensive stance before turning his gaze to the alleyway to his left catching the tail end of a long pink rat’s tail. Phew it’s only some small animals nothing to be afraid of. Breathing out and lowering his guard, Lumian continued walking down a slightly narrow path before finding what looked to be some kind of smithy blacksmith store sitting by the edge of a corner.
Out of all the buildings in Lumian's surroundings this one looks to be in much greater ruins where even the sign is no longer readable. Just pushing the door slightly, it comes off of its hinges causing Lumian to step back out of the way just in case it fell in his direction.
BANG.
The door smashes inwardly creating a loud echoing onto the ground causing layers of dust to fly upwards into Lumian's way. "A- Achoo… Fuck." Dust getting into Lumian's eyes and nose leads him to sneeze whilst tearing up to remove the dust from his eyes. Walking into the building he rummages around looking for equipment and supplies for his journey coming across a leatherwork bag to store the supplies in. Looking into the cupboards he finds stored charcoal and wood that can be used to light a fire, bandages and preserves of food stock that looks like it can last another few years.
Unfortunately, he couldn't find any usable weapons lying around as if it has been ransacked and confiscated. Could it be the other temples mentioned in the notes left behind? Lumian ruminated to himself, suddenly his sandal got caught on something leading him to trip falling flat onto the floor.
"Oof, ow ow ow." Taking a brief intake of air Lumian slowly rises and looks back to see what he tripped over. Underneath a small rug there seemed to be a latch sticking out of the ground attached to a rusted metal chain. Lumian picked up the chain and tugged hard, yet it seemed too stiff thus causing him to really put his back into it. Note to self, my muscles are currently much weaker than they used to be, I guess I need to train more often now to ensure my strength and stamina picks back up.
Clink
After a major tug of war with the wooden floor and himself, Lumian finally managed to lift the floorboard out the way. Peering inside, Lumian notices that there is a small, curved hunting knife of a simple design with a blade about four inches in length and sitting just beside it was a much larger knife nearing the size of a small, short sword with an intricately patterned design on the handle. Lifting the two knives out of the hole, Lumian notices a hastily penned piece of parchment hidden underneath them.
taking a look, it read as follows.
This here lies my, Björn's completed masterpiece work of the century, something I consider a family heirloom. Successor, if you come across this you must find my family that went into hiding from those bastards. We'll be lying low hidden amongst the irredeemable monsters of Sancta Terra Northeast of here. Use this crest to find us and we vow to make a personalized weapon for your usage for we are honourable and reputable blacksmiths and never go back on our word.
blessed be above as below, Aeterna Mortem.
"Ha, I must thank you and your descendants for the help if I ever meet them then." Lumian says out loud to fill in this blank void of silence. Strapping the sheaths of the knives to the belt, Lumian gets up off the ground, dusting down his robe and leaves to look for any canteens that are usable for water sources.
Walking out of the building he notices that the sun was setting causing large shadows to sprawl across the streets whilst the air becomes much more bone-chilling. Lumian decides it’s not worth it to explore into the forest, so finds a building that would keep most of the elements out and sets up a nearby campfire using dry wood ensuring the charcoal is preserved for necessary use.
As the fire increased the warmth felt by the skin, Lumian could no longer put off his thoughts from earlier in the morning. So, this is really happening, I'm really in another world that I don't even know the name of and yet, why am I separated from my family? Camilla, Mom, Sis where are you? I hope you’re safe, you must be safe I'll find you soon. Tears like crystal roll down his cheeks causing him to whimper in silence as he curls up near the fire in the dilapidated building where sleep takes him for the night.
Nothing but the crackling of fire and sounds of nature could be heard in this otherwise tranquil moment of the night as moonlight and starlight shine through the roof.