The abandoned city looked golden at sundown from the other side of the valley. The passing wind whistled with a gloomy sound as it breezed through its ruined buildings, whose broken symmetries left one at wonder of how beautiful they would be if they were whole again. Two centuries of neglect have decayed it, but it looked like there were other elements that contributed to Statia's demise, ones far more violent than the tooth of time. The tattered rooftops of the houses collapsed from the boulders that struck them, and the once brilliant marble walls were scorched black from intense fires that burned the city. The palace that once towered at the city's heart seemed to have suffered the most damage, and its shape was barely discernable now, with many craters scattered in its lilac garden. It invoked a somber feeling in Bastet, like the loss of this city was a loss for whole mankind.
The river Odna that curved around the city formed a steep valley which was hard to traverse. It took them a while to find a side where it would be safe to walk down from, but even so the unsteady and wet ground had them carefully picking where they step. The river looked to be two hundred feet wide, but Bastet judged it was far too deep to try to walk across it. He did not know how to swim, so they spent a long time scouting for a place where the water was more shallow. Their efforts proved to no avail, and their only alternative was to find a log that Bastet could hold onto as Lilian pulled him across. They took some time to dry off afterwards.
As they were resting, Lilian told him of the famous marble-paved road that led to Statia, but Bastet was reluctant to take it. Some evils could not be seen for what they were until you traveled far enough to be unable to escape from their grasp. The chaos baron had them cornered, and they did not even understand how they survived his anger. They had to be more careful this time around. But Lilian disagreed with his opinion, saying that it was more dangerous to be seen sneaking around the woods than walking on the main road. Eventually they would have to reveal themselves to the settlers, and it would be difficult to convince them of their honest intentions if they did not approach them in an honest way. Bastet hesitated, but agreed under one condition – that they would walk back as far as the marble road stretched for, in order to see where the marble ends and a dirt path continued away from Statia. As she described it, the settlement was very isolated and self-sufficient, with only Wesian carts occasionally passing through to take bushels of apples away. The heavy rain from two days ago must have left the dirt path muddy, so they would be able to find footprints if there were any, which would put her story to the test. And his caution proved warranted. Once they reached the end of the path, the wet soil revealed long narrow carvings in the mud you could expect from the wheels of carts. Judging by the direction of the hoofprints, whoever it was that went in was still there. And if it was a Wesian group, Bastet remarked, it would be a terrible mistake to freely approach them.
-"Fine, you're right" – Lilian pouted – "Maybe we were just unlucky and got here at the worst time." – She looked down – "Or maybe… the books aren't that accurate anymore. I don't remember when exactly they were published. Maybe things changed."
-"Or maybe you just remember them wrong" – But Lilian shook her head to his words.
-"No, this is a story that I really liked. It's a story dad used to read to me a lot when I was really young. I could never mix it up."
Her words made a memory resurface, and Bastet's heart stung – "I... did the same for my little sister Maria. She always asked to hear this one story before bed, despite knowing every word of it by heart."
-"Sounds like she really enjoyed listening to you read it." – Lilian smiled – "How old is she now?"
-"She's not… around, anymore. She passed away this year. She was nine."
-"I'm… sorry" – Lilian lowered her head. She found it difficult to choose her next words – "You know... I don't believe the Maker would really just… let the souls of the dead be gone forever, like the church says. As an artist he surely would have come up with something more… interesting than that, at the very least. Maybe you'll meet her again in the afterlife."
-"Thank you, but..." – Bastet bitterly smiled – "He chose to make the world the way it is. And if life down here is to his liking, then I don't think he quite fancies happy endings."
Lilian quietly nodded. – "The uh… hoofprints. We should move back into the woods. Let's spend the night there and see if they leave Statia by tomorrow."
-"It was cold last night. We should try and get some cover."
-"We can make some instead. I'll show you how" – Having something to do helped clear Bastet's mind. Lilian drew a circular shape, and then instructed him to stab a stick on its edge, and tap on it with a stone in order to impale it deeper into the ground. He then placed a long but slender sapling in the hole that it created, repeating this process eight times in total around the edge of the circle. He then bent the saplings towards the middle, tying them all together with fern stems into a dome. Lilian placed fern fronds around it, and then tied them to the wooden frame in layers. It was messy work, but after a couple of hours they had a little thatched hut that they could spend the night in. It was warm inside. They talked about their families and happy memories. Lilian showed him how to make a doll using the fern stems and leaves that were left. By the time she started telling him about the golden age of great thinkers, writers and artists that flourished in Statia, Bastet was already sound asleep.
***
That night, he had a dream. A little girl was walking through a city in white. Her mother and father were holding her hands when suddenly, the sky stretched open, revealing a purple eye that gazed straight at her. With a horrified expression she heard the words – "I know you are here" – and the next moment was complete, absolute darkness. He saw nothing else. But he knew the little girl would cry forever all alone, and nothing would ever be able to console her. He woke up drenched in sweat with his lips shivering. He did not know how he knew, but the city from his dream was Statia, he was sure of it. He woke Lilian up and asked her if she had a similar dream, but she said she dreamed of eating warm bread and went back to sleep. Bastet took a long time to calm down. It was an irrational desire, an otherworldly calling. He did not know her, and this city was dangerous. But if that little girl was still there all alone, he had to be there for her. He had to save her. He spent the rest of the night wide awake. The orb embedded in Silverlight's guard would have shined if there were monsters or blight nearby, but the insides of the hut were not being illuminated by it. Nothing external was messing with his mind, he reassured himself. He woke Lilian up again, and they discussed his dream further.
With the coming of dawn, they heard a gallop in the distance. Their hut overlooked the road, but was well hidden within the trees and could not be spotted unless one knew where they should be looking. Six carts passed them by, but it was not bushels of apples they were carrying; they were hauling bulky monsters shaped half like a man, and half like a bull. – "T-The story definitely didn't mention any minotaurs!" – Lilian fidgeted – "Maybe it's too dangerous to go after all?"
-"It is dangerous, but we need supplies. Without a way to carry water with us, we won't make it far." – Bastet rubbed his eyes. He was not sure if he would be this insistent if it weren't for that dream.
-"Let's wait a bit at least" – Lilian twisted her lips – "Otherwise they'll know we've seen their cargo." – Bastet agreed, and they spent the next hour looking for any food nearby. They found some spinach that they ate raw.
After gathering their courage, they got back on the marble road. They did not have to walk for long before it led them to an arched gate that a young boy was guarding. And once he saw them, he hurriedly ran deeper into the city, probably to alert the others, Bastet said. The further they walked; the brighter Silverlight shined. The city looked to be in much worse shape now that they could see it from up close. But despite the ruin, it was still so familiar to him, it looked just like in that dream. The quiet was unnerving, and he was straining his ears to hear anything other than the tunes of the wind. His mind conjured up images of people that were watching them from the empty houses with ill intentions. And the pleasant smell of lilac only contrasted his ominous thoughts, and made him more alert.
They could soon see that a dozen or so people waited in the distance. As they approached closer, Lilian noticed that they were cripples. One of them was missing a leg, another was missing an arm, and only one man had all of his limbs in place, and he stood in the middle of the group. Was this a plan to distract them of some sort? If all the cripples were gathered here, were the men capable of fighting waiting in ambush? Bastet gulped, and decided against saying these thoughts out loud. Once they got closer, he realized just how eerily pretty they were. The shapes of their noses were comely, the angles of their jaws were just right, and their wavy hair was like a typhoon. The symmetry of their facial features, the proportions… It was just like… – "a work of art" – Lilian shared the same thought.
-"Good day" – Lilian called out – "We are looking to trade. We don't have any coin, but we are willing to work instead."
-"What do you need?" – The man with all of his limbs replied.
-"We need leather flasks, a tin pot and a barrel of cured meat packed with salt. If you don't have that, apples will do." – She leaned forward – "We also need new clothes, better boots, and we could use some knives, and rope. Oh, and if you have any potions, that would be nice too. "
-"That's quite a list" – The man laughed but his expression was serious. The people behind him looked tense. – "Where exactly did you start your journey, to be able to make it to Statia while lacking all of this?"
-"Don't worry, we are Wesians" – Bastet interjected, seeing what the man was hinting at – "We come from Stormbridge. There was a battle there, and we got separated. We passed through the forest and found a city here."
-"Order us then." – A woman standing next to the man said coldly – "There's no need for you to work for supplies. Just make us give them to you like you always do. That is, if you really are who you claim to be."
-"We don't really possess any authority to do something like that" – Lilian rubbed the nape of her neck – "We're from the infantry."
-"Then how could we trust you? If you stay for a week the carts will be back, and they'll take you to Emporikes. I'm sure it's much easier to find work there."
-"You're all cripples." – Bastet straightened his back – "If we were your enemies, we could just take what we need by force. But instead of doing so, we offered to work, since the curse wouldn't possibly allow us to harm the harvesters of the apple farm. Isn't that proof enough that we aren't your enemies?"
The man's expression soured – "If you know about the apple tree, then you should understand why we can't let you work here. But if supplies are all you want, you can just take them and be on your way."
-"Without any compensation?" – Lilian tilted her head.
-"Just leave as soon as you can. That will be our compensation." – The man furrowed his brow – "Our settlement is over here, follow me."
Bastet looked at Lilian, and she nodded. He kept his hand on the hilt of his sword as they walked after the group. Lilian asked them why they were all cripples, but the man said that the Wesians take anyone who is capable of fighting with them, and to draw her own conclusion from it. Silverlight shined ever so brighter, but the group they were following was fine so Bastet paid it no attention. And just like in that dream, without any warning, the world was swallowed by complete darkness.