And so the story goes on…
Day 49: It was a sobering sight and Anna soon turned away, following the path back out of town.
It was a sobering sight and Anna soon turned away, following the path back out of town. Anna made it through the city gates with no issue and even passed through the barrier around the city without causing a ripple in the magic. She left the layered spells in place as she continued away from the city. Now that she was free of the Lost City she felt the need to put some distance between her and it.
There was, she had to admit, nothing terribly frightening about it. There was something interesting about seeing a well-known event from her history books. The buildings looked like the older buildings in the oldest parts of the other cities she visited. There was no new construction, and it was clear that time passed the city by. It was a moment trapped in time. She could see the fallen buildings in the crumbled and dry aquifer and could see the truth of history.
But it was a place that was so completely devoid of life that even her own breath felt strange in the air. Her need to breathe almost an insult to the silence that pervaded the place. The sands near the city were dry and absent of life. She knew that the plant growth grew more sparce as she neared the city, but leaving, she could see there was a ring where nothing grew, and no insects thrived. Anna hurried through this section, relieved when she could see small tufts of grass and a few scattered trees.
Anna had not realized how starved for sound her ears became until something inside her relaxed at the sound of the wind through the tree leaves. She heard the leaves rustle and the grass whisper as the wind caused its blades to rub against each other. It was a sound made by something other than her and made her feel part of the world again.
‘Even though I am still spelled to shield me from the senses both mundane and magical.’ The sound of the wind teasing the vegetation was a sign that all was not dead around her. That there was life in the world.
She stopped for the night under the same tree where she rested. She fit herself between the boulder and the tree and settled in. Anna thought about looking in on Marcus but decided to wait until she was further away.
‘At least until I shed the excess spell layers from the city,’ she decided. Due to her restless night the night before, Anna slept deeply and well. She woke with the feeling that she had been dreaming, but the dreams disappeared as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
Anna continued and by the time the day ended, she found herself once more camped in the mountains the city fading into the distance. From here the city looked hazy, half dream like itself. ‘Even with the spells on.’
Anna found she was hesitant to drop the spells as she was certain the city would disappear again, and she didn’t like the feeling that she would be unable to see it. ‘Best to keep the spells on until the city is naturally out if sight,’ she decided.
Anna again slept deeply and upon waking had the feeling that she dreamed, but could not remember the dreams.
Ten til Midnight 