Chapter 8: Chapter 8

• 3^rd Person POV

From his left to right, there are several miscellaneous items that’s being displayed in front of him as he assesses what he has;

A strange-looking cube or a box with geometric patterns on its surface that occasionally lights up whenever he touches the button at the bottom part. It is also the cube or box that spout out the silver canteen even though the canteen has bigger size than that cube.

A silver canteen adorned with beautifully carved filigree & the topper on top that’s connected by small chains. It’s contents is filled with the azure blue water that he drew from the recently operating fountain.

A mysterious gem that have changed its shape into a compass & possibly a clock albeit only shows the position of the sun and moons, one of its hands continuously pointed at the pedestal’s direction while the others point to an entirely different direction. 

A medium-sized transparent jar containing numerous smaller spherical objects. He took it after noticing that it is hidden away at the back and covered by the weird tablets on one of the shelves as if someone intentionally made it that way so no one would ever finds it. Opening the lid, he can smell something sweet and sometimes savory but he’s unsure on what the object really is, since it resembles a small pearl. Though he is tempted to try eating one of them due to the delectable scent it emits.

A piece of pure white silken robe with a hood, when he found this piece of clothing. It is neatly folded in one of the shelves and arrange in an orderly fashion as there are numerous pieces of them around. In further inspection, the robe itself resembles ‘bath robe' that he remembered back in earth but isn’t too flowy rather it hugs his body when he wore it. It is also remarkably comfortable and airy even if he wear his pyjamas underneath. He decided to wore the robe for now since the hood attachment perfectly hide his eyes and still allow him to see through the gaps.

After looking at those items, that man looked up towards the open ceiling of the tower and his compass. The position of sun and moons have changed, in fact the sun is now gaining the upper hand and slowly going upward with the moons going downwards. Confirming that the moons & sun isn’t a decor rather a functionality of the gem to serve as a clock & compass at the same time.

(“I’m guessing that its near daybreak now”)

Since he had searched the entirety of this tower, he couldn’t find anymore of strange things. Most of the shelves are filled with those slates after all. He understood that this tower wasn’t an academy, but it is built for something else.

(“At least I have these things in my hand”)

He gathers those items together and going to try to take a risk. He opened the lid from the transparent jar and took one of the spheres on his hand. Its sweet scent permeated & wafted to his nose.

(“Here goes nothing”)

He closes his eyes and put that sphere into his mouth with a big chomp. His mind conjures various thoughts but all of it washed away as he tasted something.

It is sweet and sour, somehow… its nostalgic. That feeling lingers with the texture of that candy turns softer as he munches on it. A slight smile etched on his face as he continues to eat it. Although it feels nostalgic, he couldn’t put a hint to it nevertheless he enjoyed it.

Chomping another he tastes something different, rather than sweet this one is savory as if he’s eating a steak with gravy.

(“I found food.”)

He had even bigger smile in finding a food source. In his mind, he’s thinking that this is a type of ration condensed into small things.

Since he wanted to find a civilization to figure out what has happened to him and the current circumstances. He sets out a plan and begin to ponder the circumstances & weighing them.

(“If there is this building, then that means there are civilizations somewhere in this vast desert. I just need to find them and then I would try to find out why I am here. This compass might lead me to them.”)

Just as dawn arrived at the tower, That man fully prepared to leave the tower as he came out from the tower's entrance and move towards the mysterious archway.

Upon arriving near the archway, he turned around facing the tower and gaze at the majestic structure of the tower before internally saying ‘Thank you' as he exited through the archway.

The sunlight coming from the archway at the break of dawn was so blinding that the man needed to close his eyes for few seconds.

But that few seconds is enough for him to hear a strange voice and covered the faint glow of the compass in his hand.

“Keystone identified... Begin Teleportation”

That voice is monotone with the voice of man & woman mixed together.

(“Wha...?”)

That man confused about what the voice has said as he opens his eyes. The bright blinding sunlight is no more, instead it was replaced by a shadow of massive wall right in front of his face.

(“What’s going on here!?”)

The sheer size of that wall utterly surprised him the dark greenish colour & glossy pristine look of that metallic wall reminded him of the rectangle slates in the tower. Although, he sees that some parts of the wall have been patched with sandy coloured stones since some have crumbled.

It took him a few minutes staring at the massive wall before he turns around to see his back.

There are several patches of oases as far as his eye could see, the humid feeling on his skin and the sound of rushing water tingle his senses as he continues to gaze around in a trance.

Some greenery too have grown in the form of young trees, that widely spaced against one another. This place resembles that of a savannah according to his memories.

*KAWK* *KAWK*

Right above him, he heard the cries of birds as they fly in the sky towards somewhere else, he couldn’t guess.

(“Where the hell am i?”)

He scrunched his face as his brain twist & turn. He remembered that strange mechanical voice saying ‘Teleport' and ‘Keystone'.

(“I can assume that I got teleported to this place upon passing through that archway. But what’s a keystone it mentioned?”)

The thought lingers for few minutes, from all his possession, he is certain that one of them would be what that voice called a keystone.

(“Which one? It is either the strange cube or the compass/clock”)

Before he can pick one though he heard a loud cry from afar.

*GRA!!!!!!* *THUD*

It resembles a cry of an elephant but hoarser and after that sound. A loud impact accompanied by a burst of sand can be seen at the edge of his vision.

(“I don’t know what that is but it’s too dangerous of me to stay here. There must be a way to go to the other side of this wall”)

He pulled down his hood, preventing anyone to see his face & most importantly his eyes from view.

Carrying the transparent jar in his hand and pocketing the canteen & the rest of the items in his pyjamas, he began to walk in a hurried pace around the wall. Hoping to find an entrance.

While doing that though, he observes the structure of the wall. It is indeed a mismatch between two distinct architecture.

One is precisely cut and symmetrical made from that dark greenish metallic material while the other is just rough sandstone that’s moderately polished upon closer look.

(“Who made these walls?”)

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He got curious as he stroke the wall gently. The smooth surface of the dark greenish material contradict the grainy sandstone whenever there’s a patch on that wall.

Until he arrived at a different point than others.

Rather than dark green or sandy stone. This one is just grey like a normal stone, but it is huge and carved in such a way that it resembles a gate.

A very large gate at that.

Chains of all sorts are attached in some places of the stone gate as that man looked upward and thought.

(“This is definitely the entrance”)

Before he can step further though, he heard a loud voice coming from above.

“!!!!”

Its foreign to him but he can be sure that its definitely feminine in the tone, but there’s a sense of urgency or at least some kind warning coming from it.

(“What’s this person saying?”)

That man questioned himself as he wonder what kind of language being spoken. Since he isn’t exposed to different languages or learned them as such, he couldn’t figure out what language is the person or at least what he believed to be a person is saying.

Stuck in that predicament, he notices too late that the figure on topside of the gate jumped down from that height.

(“Wait! Its dangerous!! Wah!!!“)

He panicked seeing the fall of that humanoid figure from that height as he braces for the impact.

*BAM!!!!*

Immediately after, a booming impact hit the ground accompanied by a burst of sand. He lowered his hood and closes his eyes as he flinches back a bit more. The grains of sand hit his chin and clothing before falling off.

The foreign voice continues to be heard within the sand cloud even though his vision is blurred due to it.

(“She’s alright?”)

That man thought and felt slightly relieved upon knowing that the stranger are fine even though she fell from that tremendous height.

“!? ? ?”

She continues to talk even with the sand clouds obscuring the view although those words are incomprehensible to him the more, she talks with that language. After a quick second though...

*RIIIIING( *RIIINNGGGGGG*

A quiet ringing sound emerges from the back of his head and becomes louder & louder as time went by, completely different that the voice coming from the sands and a slight tingling feeling can be felt on his lips.

That sound slowly went higher & louder completely overpowering the voice coming from that person. In addition, the tingling feeling on his tongue spreads from the tip of his tongue to the back.

It is remarkably similar to a tinnitus, but just as it comes. The ringing & the tingling feeling also faded away as quickly.

Then something strange happened. After he heard another sets of words coming from the source.

“Oi? Are you alright little lass? Where are you from? Are you one of Cecilia’s little helper?”

That man began to understand what’s she’s saying.

(“What the.... ? What was that?”)

He still closes his eyes as he still thinking about that, realizing that he’s in a conversation. He hurriedly open his eyes and see through his hood what kind of person in front of him.

An incredibly tall female figure, approximately around 1.8 metres in height if not more towering over him. She has fearsome built, ripped with muscles and exuding strength just by a glance.

Her expression is a look of concerned with furrowed eyebrows as she thought to herself.

(“Why there’s a girl here? At the back entrance nonetheless....”)

She thought remembering that she saw a small figure wandering around the vast desert when she stood atop the watchtower.

Obviously, the pure white garb she’s wearing would be easy to spot in the daylight. Making the watcher assumed that she’s making herself noticeable to gain their attention.

(“It’s either she’s in need of help or?”)

Before she can think further though, that man replies as quickly as he can as if he blurted out the only thing that came in his mind. Breaking her train of thought.

“Uhm... Uh... I got lost “

While the watcher is thinking like that, the man in front of her internally face palmed himself upon uttering those words. Until he realizes something that’s definitely did not match up.

(“Nice excuse, stupid. Wait....did I… just speak her language?”)

Realizing he is speaking the other party’s language, that man is perplexed about what’s happening to him.

(“That tone of voice? That’s a he and definitely not young. Hmmm… Eastania do look younger than what their age supposed to be, and the males can have androgynous features based on what Cecilia told us.”)

The watcher’s thought as she noticed the facial features of the young looking man in front of her. It matches the Eastanians that have moved here in which she suspects that maybe he is a stray passenger from Eastania. She then asked a question to him.

“What’s your name lad?”

Hearing that question, that man eyes widened for few seconds as his mind tries to rack the back of his memory.

An eerie feeling begin to crept to his heart as he figured something incredibly odd.

He cannot remember his own name.

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