And so the story continues…
Day 28: Then came the final disaster.
Then came the final disaster. The aquifer that the city relied on when the streams and rivers dried up, ran low. While it meant water was rationed tightly, the aquifer ran under a large part of the city. With the water gone, there was just a thin shell of land holding up the buildings. An earth quake hit and the southern half of the city was swallowed whole, disappearing into the depths and destroying the last remaining water supply.
Those that remained in Graveton were taken out of the city. Most died from the plaque before making it out of quarantine. To keep the plaque from spreading to the other cities, they were kept in quarantine until no trace of the illness remained on them. To keep anyone from trying to return, or from the disease finding ways to migrate, the city was encased in a magical dome and then pumped full of a wave of killing magic. Anything left in the city from human down to the smallest microbe was killed by the wave.
The dome was left in place to keep people from trying to return, either to rebuild or to scavenge. Anna had the magic that would let her pass through the dome undetected and planned to do so. As the archives was located in the north eastern part of the city, she had hopes that it was still standing.
Anna felt the ground beneath her feet change. She looked down to see that her path finally intersected the road. She smiled and adjusted her course to follow it. In the time since Graveton became The Lost City, the road leading to it was broken up. Whether some of the breakage was done on purpose or if nature just seized an opportunity, she couldn’t tell. The road and it’s path were still visible, but it was in pieces and she had to tread carefully.
Anna walked until the sun was high overhead and her stomach was rumbling. She stopped and cast a shield around herself. It would make her invisible to any people or animals that might be in these parts. While it was claimed that no one lived out this way, Anna was not about to give up her cautious behavior. She preferred not to be spotted by anyone.
‘I might want to keep the shield up,’ she decided. After a mornings worth of walking she was well outside the city protections as well as their observation. If anyone lived out this way she was now in their territory. She would like to move through that territory without being noticed.
She ate her small ration quickly and then took out the components for her scrying spell. Knowing that heating water would be more of an effort, she pre steeped the herbs to bring out their oils and had them ready. The sight wouldn’t be as clear as it would be if she steeped them and immediately used them, but it meant she didn’t need to build a fire.
‘I can sacrifice a little clarity for that,’ she decided. Anna arranged the components.
Ten til Midnight 