TDR: Life as a Traveller

The Cost of Curiosity Part 2, Chapter 3

Part 2 — Ruins of Old

Darkness. That was all I could see. A black abyss in every direction. The ground beneath me was cold, the air around me stagnant and musty. The only thing I didn't hear was my brother's cries.
I realised quickly that Kun wasn't with me; he hated the moonless nights more than anyone, this was darker than even that, he wouldn't have stayed quiet.

I moved forward, probing the darkness slowly. Almost immediately my snout hit something cold and hard. I went to feel what I had struck. It seemed to be rectangular in shape and extended up a good bit. I thought maybe it was a beam or pillar, but then when I got on my hindlegs, I reached what felt like a slated plate at the top.

I imagined for a second that it looked something like an announcer's pedestal, where they have their notes placed down for a speech, but after feeling to top further, it didn't quite match that. I felt something bump up from the surface, square in shape. It felt distinctly like plastic...
Is it a button? I wondered.

I pressed down, hoping it was exactly what I hoped it to be.
*Click*, it echoed in the room, followed by silence.
I turned my back In disappointment, but then I heard a faint hum. The room burst to life. A voice reverberated through the room. It spoke the same repeated phrase in a language I had never heard, along with a dim glow from recessed lighting in the ceiling and floor. The lights were diffused along strips, almost like the emergency lighting in a plane. The pedestal-like console hummed and pulsed with a rhythmic energy, like the heart of a beast, pumping energy into the dim lights.
I turned to see behind me also was nothing to scoff at. Even with the inadequate light, it was truly jaw-dropping, not so much from the spectacle, but from the possibilities it affirmed. I was in what looked like a waiting room, in front of me were rows of metallic seats, and off in the distance something that looked like a kiosk.
I was unsure before when I saw that door in the forest, I had assumed humans had made it, but there was no real proof until now.
Right before my eyes, my assumptions were more than confirmed.
The seats at the kiosk were clearly designed with normal people in mind, further evidence to suggest humans or, more generally, human-like people existed in this world, if the structure and panel from earlier weren't enough evidence already.

Nevertheless, in a way, it felt like a hollow achievement discovering it. I wasn't human anymore after all. Furthermore, this place was dilapidated, completely and utterly worn down. Things like paper had mostly turned to duts, the floors had become covered in moss and several sections of the roof had collapsed over what was probably decades. Whoever built it was long gone and had long abandoned it.

'Luna?' I called out in my mind, 'Are you there?'

'Yes.' she responded.

'You spoke like you had something to say, do you know where we are, do you know where my brother went?'

I had been wondering about something since she spoke up. She knew what that spell did, just from looking, that's hardly something I suspect many could ever do, and with her origins as mysterious as they were, that had me wondering... was she in a similar situation to me? Did she also get reborn, but unlike me, she was originally from this world? Perhaps I was being too optimistic, but seeing this place and her knowledge, I didn't see it as too much of a stretch to consider that she would know this place as well, and maybe even where my brother ended up.

'To your last question, I don't. However, I know they are within this place.'

'And the first?'

'You misunderstood my intention, child, I had nothing to say in particular, the transportation circle was about to activate—there was no time for you to continue our conversation.'