[Asia]
[3rd Person POV]
She was in front of a ruin . This ruin was what was left from what it once was centuries ago .
"Follow me ." said the shaman that took her here .
The Castle of Alamut . It was a bit tricky to get an access to this place , it was in a neutral territory .
For now at least .
It was in Iran and Iran was being ruled with sharia , that in itself was a problem for shamans and other local magicals.
The local wizards in Iran were mostly called 'magi' or 'magus' as a singular.
They were in constant conflict with the shamans in the past but religions changed everything .
After people changed their religions they turned their backs to their healers , heroes and histories .
Changed their stories of the old ways to new ones , mixing them with their new religion .
And also the coming of the religion broke the ties that local magicals had with their people .
Afterall magic was unholy , possible magical happenings were mostly seen as the Devil's or jinns'
work or you made a deal with something you were not supposed to gain magical powers .
But it could also be said that shamans were able to gain access to this place thanks to coming of Islam , it force-ended their possible conflicts between each other as it isolated both of the groups . The places many fought over once had now become neutral areas as the magicals had no connections to the magicless folks .
Such as this ruin .
The ruin was placed atop a peak , providing it a commanding view of the surrounding valleys. The castle's walls blended seamlessly with the natural rock formations around , creating an imposing presence.
The outer walls of the castle were constructed from large, weathered stones, showing strength and durability. Portions of the original towers still stand , with remnants of crenellations that once offered defensive advantages.
The castle's gateways, though worn by time, still bear signs of the strategic architectural features that once protected the entrance. The remnants of drawbridges and defensive mechanisms evoke images of the castle's military past.
"Let's go in ." the guide shaman said .
With the imposing castle in front they went in .
Little seen trough Asia's less than emotionless expression .
As they went they saw that the castle complex included terraced gardens that were designed to maximize agricultural productivity on the mountain slopes. While now partially overgrown, traces of ancient irrigation systems and planting areas could still be discerned.
Inside the central courtyard, surrounded by remnants of once-grand structures, once perhaps served as the heart of the castle. The ground, though uneven, retains the echoes of gatherings, training, and daily life.
The courtyard is surrounded by the ruins of structures that likely housed barracks, storage facilities, and other essential functions. Crumbling walls and fallen stones create a labyrinthine setting that hints at the castle's complex layout.
As they went in they passed through a door at the right side of the courtyard , rather it was more of a gateway as it had lost it appearance long ago .
They went past in a collapsed hallway , passage of time and the effects of both natural forces and historical events had taken its toll on the place . Fallen stones and debris would make the navigation through the interior challenging if it weren't for the light spell the guide had cast .
After they passed the hallway they reached a chamber .
Seemingly it was empty as the most of the castle .
It was a long abandoned settlement , it wasn't suitable for residing even after it was fixed a few times . It didn't answered the needs of modern people as it was hard to use the place as more than a battle fort . Nor the local wizards wanted to place themselves in a place like this as there was more than eye meet in this castle .
"Wait a moment ." said the guide as he took out his foci - it was a staff , old fashioned one might assume .
As the shaman finished the spell there appeared a trapdoor leading to the underground .
"There is a maze underground . Once you go in the entrance will disappear . The maze itself is the challenge , complete it and we will find you when you are out ." the shaman said and added
"Drink this potion , it might be useful as it might not be . Also take this bag ." he threw her a big pouch . "It has rations , good luck." the guide said and left with a pop .
Asia waited a bit looking at the trapdoor and went in .
As she followed the ladder down she heard a click as the trapdoor was closed and then saw it had vanished .
It was dark , so she cast a spell with her wand .
-She had found a wand more practical so she had chosen a wand .-
Though there was a problem , there was no light even after the spell was cast .
She doubted if she cast the spell unsuccessfully so she tried again but it was the same .
She frowned .
"What is happening ?" she said .
She tried to cast another spell ,
Slinging her wand she said "Yashin!"
Normally you would see lightning at the tip of the wand .
A spell that was hardly useful against magic resistant skins.
She had cast the spell , for sure . Because she heard it hit something , but there was a rather problematic situation at the hand now . She was unable too see .
She cursed "Damn!"
'Am I goddamn blind right now ?' she said in her head .
She was thinking about the current predicament ,
"What to do ." she said , asking herself if it was safe to proceed further and explore the situation and the place she had found herself in .
"Sigh~"
"The only option is to continue , unfortunately ."
She steeled her will and started moving .
She kept moving as she felt the cold water just about her soles . She inhaled the humidity around as she felt the slightly cool air seep through her clothes . She wore a dark robe as something else was just a wasted effort as it needed some connections to get .
As she was navigating around in total darkness she heard sounds , feral ones like lions'.
*Roar!*
As she heard the sounds drew closer ,
She draw her wand in panic as she wasn't prepared for such a thing .
She yelled "YALKIN!" as she motioned her wand drawing an 'S' like shape that starts from its bottom.
As the spell finished a fireball grew from the tip of the wand .
The fireball's hit was heard as the lions' sounds dimmed . But there was a problem with the sounds vanishing as it was the most unnatural .
An animal would scream , protest in anger or escape when hit by a flying fireball not vanish .
She didn't drop her guard as she made question to no one "A magical animal ?"
A good shot yet a wrong one as the sounds weren't from lions but were products of magic. Illusions.
A while later she dropped her guard as she waited for a long time , long for a predator to attack .
Then she came to the conclusion she should , "Maybe illusions ?" she mumbled but still not ruling the magical animal option out.
Then she continued her way and as she encountered similar experiences she understood the lions were merely illusions and many other experiences like a waterfall sound but vanished when you followed it .
While she didn't lose her cold grace over this kind development she was mostly annoyed .
The cool air didn't help it either with the irritating wet ground .
She was brushing her whole hair back with both hands from time to time when she was annoyed .
After a while spent swimming in the river called 'time' with the number of strokes unknown she happened to have a new development in her adventure , though not a good one ...
As if being blind wasn't enough she became deaf on top of it .
She protested in her mind :
'What next , will I lose all my senses and find the exit with sheer intuition ? '
As she was proceeding through the maze by touching the old walls made of shabby stones she was yet to become aware of the unnatural level of detail she felt just by touching a wall.
A level of detail a normal human would be overwhelmed with ,
She was feeling it yet she hadn't got the awareness she should have about this sensation .
Her depraved senses were messing with her , it was a subject of wonder how the mind of someone who lost both the sight and sound worked .
The dark veil under her eyelids were no more after some unknown time spent with it face to face as she delved this accursed underground maze with touching it like a woman touching the face of her man , gently .
While she had lost the sight she got something to replace it . While it wasn't as colorful it was so very like the sight . As she was touching she was imagining the rest that for some reason was rarely different than its actual self .
She smelt and it painted the map in her mind with colors .
Sometimes it smelt sickly yellow , sometimes it smelt fresh green and sometimes shining red and many others . Although she wasn't smelling the light she was feeling at as a gentle pressure against her bare skin .
But the sad thing was that she lost these senses along the way too , while not yet discerning those from the ordinary senses .
She swore vulgarly "Fuck ,fuck ,damn , fuck ..."
But there was no one to hear , nor one to feel the pressure her sound and movements made on her skin .
She was like a mind afloat . Truly scary , and while scared she was , she was determined and stubborn .
She knew there was no way back and that would be much harder than moving forward and finding the exit , if there was even one .
The one true scary thing is that she wasn't feeling nor his hands neither the feet .
While she had hands and food how was she going to take the food out and feed herself , she wasn't even feeling the place of her mouth nor her hand nor the food bag .
A mind afloat in darkness truly .
After the episode of despair came the madness.
If she still had a mind she should use it as a sense or maybe forge it to one , she thought .
And proceeded.
First she sensed her mind , grasped the sense and forced it to work unnaturally and finally felt the neurons firing neurotransmitters and the other neurons grabbing them .
Millions of them , billions of them ... yet she wasn't overwhelmed as processing this knowledge was easy for some reason .
She then repeated the process and slowly started going out .
Feeling the bones of skull and the muscles over it and then the skin and the hair over her skin .
Later she went out feeling the ripples and the flow in the air , the flying water particles in it that hit her skin as she moved .
She opened her mouth then and made an attempt to make a sound and she watched or rather felt the waves in the air as it pushed the atoms away like they were matryoshkas shaped like see-through balls .
And the light she felt finally , coming from a side .
Flowing like a massive river and flooding the place from a little window-like area .
"Finally" she smiled and moved forward .
She climbed the window and got out , her brain being flooded with information as her senses were slowly coming back .
She took a deep breath feeling different aromas in her nostrils .
She saw everything sharper and saw the most far away like a hawk .
Sensed the wind lick her skin like a playful dog .
And heard a *pop* sound from away .
It was time to return .