Welcome to the Abyss

Chapter 4 - Tomb

The sky, a canvas of dark blue, spread endlessly through the sky. Hours past and there was only calmness. Above the mountains, a shy sun slowly peaked through the summit. The sky gradually started to brighten, and the birds chirped to sound the start of a new day. The endless rolling clouds made forever spanning mountains.

Amelia woke up in a daze, staring at the tattered ceiling. She closed her eyes again and recalled the conversation from the night before.

"How did you know my mother?"

"She chose this world as well."

"What do you mean that she chose this world?"

"Whenever someone dies, a gatekeeper is there to ask them a simple question." said Kane in a serious tone," When you and your mother died, I happened to be the gatekeeper."

"The gatekeeper?"

"I make sure everyone is able to pass into the afterlife, and I always challenge them to a question."

"What question? I do not remember anything happening between when I died and when I came back to this world."

"After the question is asked, the person will have no memories of the event. It is to make sure that the person does not regret making that decision."

"What is the question then?" asked Amelia tentatively

"Whenever someone capable of changing the future dies, I ask them, 'Would you like to change the world you live in, in return for never being able to reunite with your family?'. Since I became the gatekeeper, only you and your mother have said yes to my question." said Kane, "That is why you did not meet the man who stabbed you. He chose to reunite with his family in the afterlife."

"How am I capable to change the future?" questioned Amelia, "I am nothing but a discarded princess."

"You come from an ancient lineage of priests that have the power to influence the dead."

"Priests?"

"Your lineage has the power to evoke a forbidden power....a power that has the potential to alter the laws and logic of the world."

"I-I don't think I have that power," said Amelia weakly

"No, you don't have the power right now. To draw on it, you must find the fragments that your mother left behind." explained Kane, "The fragments will whisper to you, follow the whispering and they will find you.

"The evil in this kingdom is caused by people's regret in their past life. It builds up like stress and takes over the mind, causing them to do inhuman things." elucidated Kane, "The only thing that can rewrite that regret is the artifact, that you will have to search for."

That was the last thing Kane said to her last night. When he finished, he left the shack, giving Amelia time to comprehend the burden, which she had accepted.

Back to the present now, Amelia, laying flat on the ground, stared thoughtfully at the ceiling. Where in the kingdom would her mother hide the fragments? Amelia had never met her mother. The only things she knew about her were from stories; told by her father; when she was young.

She sat there in the shack, pondering. Coming to no good conclusion, Amelia settled on checking her mother's grave.

Amelia walked down the path of the cemetery to her mother's elaborate grave. It was covered by a stone tomb and embellished with once dazzling gold. Now the tomb is overrun with weeds, and vine; the gold had also lost its shine.

The wind started to pick up, and Amelia thought she could hear someone murmuring in her mother's grave. She walked into the paved entranceway, and the whispering got stronger.

The tomb was empty, except for a headstone bearing her mother's name. The headstone was intricate and was formed out of hundreds of small odd-shaped stones. The inwards of the tomb were decorated with murals depicting angels and demons. The painting was atrocious. The angles in the sky were slaughtering humans with their shining lances, while the demons feasted on the cruelly butchered corpses. And in the distance, a large crescent moon could be seen. The moon stood out oddly. It shone brightly like it was made of silver, and seemed unaged, compared to everything around it.

As Amelia approached the crescent moon, the whisper stopped, as if waiting to see how Amelia would react.

Amelia reached her hand upwards and attempted to stroke the metal moon. The moment her fingers made contact with the moon, waves of invisible energy surged from the metal, and the tomb started to shake. Ancient dust from long ago rained down on Amelia from the ceiling.

Cracks ran through the painted mural on the ceiling. The wall that held the metal moon started to crumble, as the large crescent moon began to submit to gravity.

The ceiling gave away, and the moon fell hard onto the floor. Or so Amelia thought. The piece of metal was millimeters from the floor, and stayed there, levitating. It radiated so warmly, touching it seemed like an act of violation.

This time when Amelia bent down to touch it, the moon surged into her. One moment it was there, the next it was gone. In its place was a warm halo of light. The particles of photons streamed into her; its warmth spread throughout her body.

By now, the stone had started to fall from above. Debris flew around Amelia. Shocked with confusion, Amelia quickly gathered herself and ran towards the entrance. Large pieces of the ceiling dropped from above and shattered on contact with the ground.

Before her eyes, the tomb disappeared into a mountain of rubble. Clouds of dust rose from the debris; so thick, it seemed too choked out the sun.

Amelia lingered there for a few seconds and continued on her way back to the shack. It felt as if a portion of her mother's memory entered her when the moon crescent disappeared into her. Amelia could feel her mother's happiness before she betrothed the king. Her mother's freedom, as she spent her free time running across the endless plains of her homeland. Her mother's innocence as she chatted away at that old, and distant, tavern.

A noisy old tavern. Could that be where the next fragment is? Amelia pondered, while she made her way into the shack. Kane sat there against the wall and turned to Amelia with an amused face as she walked in.

"So did you find it?" asked Kane

"I found a crescent moon in my mother's tomb, but it disappeared into me, right in front of my eyes," said Amelia embarrassingly

"Then it is still there." said Kane calmly, lying back against the weak, wooden walls, "you just have to create an image of the moon, then bring the energy it had turned into back onto your palm."

Amelia closed her eyes; her face scrunched up in concentration. The radiantly beautiful metal crescent moon replicated in her mind. Amelia could feel the warmth spreading through her body, down her arms, into her palms. And then it was gone.

When Amelia opened her eyes again, the crescent moon hovered directly in front of her. Its presence cut through the time and logic of the world. The air around it rippled like smooth silk.

Amelia looked at Kane,

"I think I know where the next piece is." said Amelia tentatively, " Do you know where the tavern that my mother owned is located?"

"No, your mother never told me that. But, I would imagine that it would be in the outskirts of the city." answered Kane, shaking his head, "It would be in the path of someplace your father visited."

"Somewhere my father visited...." echoed Amelia

"I think you can find that kind of information in your father's studies, or the records kept at the palace."

Amelia's courage disapparated at the speed of light. She did not want to go back. She did not want to see the darkness her father holds. She did not want to recall the nightmares she saw.

But this was necessary for change. Clenching her fist, Amelia steeled herself for the challenge to come.

Night had already fallen. A carpet of darkness engulfed the quiet kingdom of Thane. It capped the corruption and cruelty that has taken hold of Thane. And most of all, it covered the evilness of people, luring them into temporary stasis. A temporary paradise.