Chapter 5: Man, Reality is a Hitch!

Layton woke up painfully sore all over his body. His eyes immediately registered a severe-looking statue gazing at him with brilliant blue eyes. Though the paint was faded, the eyes were made of some blue crystal that glimmered in the light.

Light?

He looked up. He was in a room, but the ceiling was made from stone. There were no electric light sources and yet the room seemed to be lit. It was like everything in the room was emitting some sort of light, so that there were no shadows. But that… it… didn’t make any sense. Light needed a source.

He groaned. Something was digging into his back. Oh right, it was his backpack. No, wait, before that, where the heck was he?

“Hello?” His voice sounded raspy and his throat hurt. Oh, right, he’d been screaming when he fell… then something was reaching out to him and then…

He was on a bus. Then he died.

Died? Why did I think that?

He obviously hadn’t died. He was here right now. He was alive. But where was he? Why was he here? Everything just felt off. Shouldn’t he be in hospital? Why was he suddenly underground? Wasn’t he falling or floating before? Wait… was that a dream or reality? Was he still dreaming?

He looked at his hands.

His hands tightened into fists.

It seems so real.

Something visceral echoed deep within something inside of him told him that this was real.

That it wasn’t a dream.

In a daze, he reached into his pocket and drew out his phone.

I need to call someone.

“No signal?” He looked around. Encased in stone.

“Maybe I should go outside?” He murmured.

I need to get home. This isn’t right…

Grounded by the sense of purpose, Layton picked up his backpack and then stopped dead in his tracks…

Wait… where’s the door?

It looked like he was stuck in a room with no entrance or exit.

Layton roamed the whole room, but only found smooth walls that were made from stone. He couldn’t find a mechanism to exit and the statue was smooth without any indentation or hidden switch or anything to indicate that there was a way to get out.

It was hours before he started to despair.

Belatedly, he dropped his backpack and sat down. The best thing to do was to not panic, yes, there was obviously a good reason for all of this.

If this was the afterlife or a dream or some kind of elaborate kidnapping prank, then panicking wouldn’t help. He just needed to collect his thoughts. Someone would get him, right? He wouldn’t be stuck here forever, right?

He calmed his racing heart and took a deep breath. Even if there was no one that was going to get him, he still had a little time. He had a bit of food and water. The best thing would be not to expend too much effort and to wait a bit.

He reached for his backpack and calmly assessed the contents.

Lots of books.

Some chewing gum, a half-eaten sandwich. A bottle of water, half-full. Pens and papers and a notebook from his lecture.

Basically, nothing of use in this situation.

Layton lifted his wrist instinctually, his watch was missing. He felt a small stab of loneliness and let his wrist drop back to his side. When did he lose it? Did the wrist strap break?

Something flashed in his memory. He thought he could remember something but…

He shivered. What was that feeling? It felt so horrifying. And off. Everything felt alien and he felt suddenly and acutely alone.

Stop it! No use moping around.

He fingered his books. At least he wouldn’t be bored for a while. He’d most likely starve before then…

Shaking his head to clear them of morbid thoughts, Layton started repacking the books into the backpack and then realised there was one extra hidden in the brown paper bag.

“The Bizarre Book of Beastly Brethren: A Believable Bestiary by Professor Alicat Alimony,” Layton whispered to himself. He opened the cover and found a note.

Thought you might want to read the prequel before the sequel to give yourself a reminder of what had happened. Oh, and keep in mind my little gift, don’t lose it. Good luck on your adventure!

— Bradley

Layton felt tears gather in the corners of his eyes. He suddenly felt even further away from home than before. He sat at the base of the statue in the centre of the room and opened the book, immersing himself in the tale, trying desperately to forget reality for a brief moment.

After reading through the book once again, he felt nostalgia and comfort creep back into his mind. Well, things weren’t that bad and there should be a way out. He had to believe that.

Finally, among the pile, Layton fished out the mysterious book that Mr. Bradley had told him not to lose.

The Almathea.

It wasn’t anything but a notebook, right?

He opened the book, but couldn’t find anything strange or different about it—wait, where did the text in the beginning go?

Layton flipped back and forth but couldn’t find the passage that Bradley initially wrote about him.

“What…?”

Layton couldn’t help but groan in bewilderment.

Was it magic ink or something? Was it a little trick the shopkeeper decided to play on him?

He flipped back and then flipped forward and then stopped when he suddenly caught sight of words.

Ah, there it is—hang on…

Pages upon pages of text now filled the book. Out of interest, Layton started reading it.

The Almathea is a comprehensive reality tool for an aspiring Dweller. Please note that in no uncertain circumstances must this tool be given to a mortal, unless circumstances most dire permit it.

The Almathea is not a notebook. It is an advanced tool forged in part by the supreme beings of the Atrium of Articulate Creation and is made of superior materials. Most notably superior paper, superior leather, superior ink, superior consciousness, superior gold flakes, superior personality, superior…

Layton flipped forward a couple of pages.

… and superior time. This volume is most notable as the Author has had a direct hand in its creation, making it the eighty three billion-billion-billion-[numbers redacted for brevity]-billion-seven hundred and twenty eight million five hundred and forty two thousand five hundred and sixty third creation that the Author has either directly or indirectly made.

Layton wondered what the point of redacting for brevity if the rest of the numbers was going to fill up the rest of the page. He resisted the temptation to roll his eyes.

The text in the beginning was cited down temporarily on orders of the previous owner of the Almathea. Temporary text typically lasts a few days, although this was set to expire after viewing.

What? Definitely magic ink. He blinked at the page. As he flipped forward new text he wasn’t aware of seemed to suddenly pop into existence.

The Almathea does not use magic ink. It uses superior ink.

Layton got the feeling that the Almathea was trying to talk to him… and that it was slightly annoyed.

The Almathea is not a trick or a toy. The Almathea is a comprehensive reality tool for an aspiring Dweller. Mastering this tool will open up a breadth of employment opportunities at the Centre for Reality Control.

Layton closed the Almathea and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. He couldn’t understand what this book was talking about. And it seemed to spout random facts and nonsense about its makeup, what it did, why certain things happened, almost as if…

Almost as if it was answering his questions earlier.

Layton stared at the book in consternation and thought silently.

Can you hear me?

The Almathea habitually records things around it and thus can maintain information about the state of its owner and its owner’s needs. The Almathea uses this information and determines the best way to convey help.

Layton closed the book and his eyes ecstatically.

Help?

He licked his lips in excitement. Then focused on the Almathea.

How do I get out of here?

He opened the book. Nothing showed.

Just wait a while.

Still nothing.

Layton slammed the book shut and sighed. It was stupid to think that a ‘sentient book’ would help him.

I must be going nuts.

Mina kept staring at the glittering metallic object in her hands. It was quite mysterious. It was already attractive with how intricately-made the linkages were, coupled with the gold and silver appearance and the stunning display with a shimmering blue sheen as the backdrop, Mina knew that this had to be something important.

Mina was enraptured by the periodic ticking sounds coming from within, but the sounds was faint, minute. Almost at the edge of her hearing. Every little tick it moved. But she couldn’t sense anything from it. Not magical residue or power. It was a wonder. How did it work?

“What do you have there?” Kayla asked curiously.

“It came from the… erm… elf?”

“You think it was an elf?”

“He.”

“What?”

“I got close enough, he looked male. Anyway what else could he be?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t dress like an elf?”

“Why’d you phrase it like a question? Heaps of races look similar to him.”

“So you know what he is?”

“Erm…”

“Whatever he was, he tried to fly.”

“And he failed.” Kayla’s wings fluttered in a shimmering pattern as she edged closer to her friend. “Can I see?”

“Mmm.” Mina passed the mysterious object over.

Kayla’s eyes widened. “I can’t read the language on the thing but it’s…”

“Beautiful,” Mina finished for her. “But…”

“Oh, Mina, could we? We could keep it, couldn’t we? Please?”

Mina was already shaking her head. “It belongs to the poor elf! I mean it even has an engraving on the back.”

Kayla turned over the trinket and inspected the underside, but from her wrinkled expression, Mina knew she couldn’t read the script the same as her. “You’re right.”

“Should we tell the Elders?” Mina ventured.

Kayla shrugged. “Probably, but it’s not dangerous… but I’ve never seen an elf fall from that high.”

Mina’s delicate brows drew together as she worried about the fate of the poor elf. “I’ve never seen an elf that high at all.”

Kayla hummed in agreement. “Maybe it’s one of those magical meter-things that the elves developed?”

“A pathfinder?” Mina stared at the metal object and carefully took it out of Kayla’s claws. “It doesn’t look like it.”

Kayla blinked in surprise. “You’ve seen a pathfinder?”

“Yes. I once went to the town Market. They had one to sell. It’s incredibly rare and much, much bigger than this. But the markings look suspiciously similar… I think.”

“Well then it must be a pathfinder.”

Mina shook her head immediately. “You don’t understand, the pathfinder there was so big that it could only fit in a carriage.”

Kayla threw up her claws in frustration “Then what use is it?”

“Merchants and sailors would most likely find it useful.”

“What’s a sailor?”

“A person who travels across the sea.”

“You can travel on water?!”

Mina chuckled. “Yes, and some creatures move through water as easily as we move through air.”

Kayla’s eyes widened. “Amazing, Mina you always know so much! So how does it help them?”

“If you’re stuck on the sea, it’s hard to know where you’re going because you can’t easily see any markers or land features.” Mina paused trying to think of something that would help her friend understand easier. “Just like when you’re flying too high and there’s a lot of cloud cover.”

Kayla’s face cleared up as she nodded. “So? What’re you saying?”

“So a pathfinder helps you move in the right direction by pointing in one direction, north.”

Kayla glanced at the device in Mina’s claw. “But it’s not pointing in any one direction.”

“Yeah… it’s moving around in a regular pattern. Around and around, almost as if it’s telling time.”

“Without magic? How is that possible, unless…”

Kayla and Mina’s eyes met as the gravity of the situation sunk in.

Mina almost wanted to drop it but then held it tightly. “We have to tell the Elders.”

Selene groaned, her hands slithering around to grasp out at the void surrounding her. Then her eyes flickered open. Then squeezed closed painfully. Blinded by the sudden unexpected intrusion of light, Selene grunted and cracked open her eyes, an arm shading them as she tried to take stock of where… where was she?

She heard a rustle and something came loose from her cloak as she sat up.

Rustling paper filled her hearing and echoed dully. Her head was throbbing. Something wet dripped on the ground.

Paper… thesis… underground…?

Her bleary eyes snapped open as she stumbled to her feet, scooping up her precious journal and scattered paper in the process. She patted herself down and touched her head. Her hand was slick with blood.

What happened?

Then it struck her, she remembered!

Hager!

She tried to look around for the stern-seeming dwarf but apart from cold stone walls, there wasn’t a living… or not-living thing around. Shivering, but not due to the coldness, she crept down the corridor. Her wings were fluttering anxiously, making slight rustling noises reminiscent of dry leaves across rough rocks.

Selene fervently hoped Hager was alright.

Her hand fell to her side. The blood looked bad but she felt the cut and it wasn’t too deep, it was more of a scrape.

She was lucky to be alive, actually.

In the tumble, her papers had fallen loose from her backpack. There were some rips and tears but thankfully not much had been destroyed. Her records were safe. Heaving a sigh, Selene finally took a moment to take stock of her surroundings.

These walls, they also have those relief carvings. What is that language?

The language didn’t seem to be anything she could recognise, it was completely different to all the languages she studied. Although she couldn’t claim fluency in all ancient languages of the different races, she could at least identify them.

Not wanting to drift too far, she doubled back, but found a dead end instead. Would Hager be able to find her?

Compulsively, she reached into her cloak and pulled out her notebook and stylus, glad that it hadn’t been damaged in her fall. She glanced back and found out a small groove where the wall met another. The trap must have dumped her in this place and sealed itself back up.

Whilst studying the wall she felt that something was wrong.

What was off?

Hold on. How could she see anything? She whipped around searching with her eyes for the source of light. But there were none. That was what was wrong. There were no shadows.

Sourceless light.

It was something she had read about in the books. It was an advanced type of illuminating magic that passively illuminated a fixed area. But… what in the Mother Goddess’ mind was powering it?

Selene took a deep breath and suppressed her shaking wings. Pulsing thumps from her heart kept her eyes wide as she crept back down the passage. She prayed hard to the Mother Goddess and wished for the umpteenth time that she learned how to wield some weapons. Or even one weapon… Or magic. Or anything combat-related. Now she wished she had paid more attention in the introductory seminar on surviving outside the academy.

Eventually the passageway widened into some sort of atrium. The light grew stronger and was concentrated around a doorway that was surrounded by those strange letters in an ancient language she couldn’t understand.

Selene crept slightly forward with her ears pricked and occasionally twitching. She strained her hearing to its absolute maximum, worried that she might happen upon more dreadful moaning. Other than her short, quiet but panicked breath and her footsteps, she couldn’t hear a thing. Relaxing a little, she wondered if she should stay or move forward.

If she stayed where she was nothing bad would happen, but eventually she would run out of rations. She needed to get back to where Hager was or outside these ruins, but moving forward also had its dangers. If she triggered a trap she wouldn’t survive and it was much more likely to trigger one with her limited expertise and her barely introductory lesson on traps with Hager. In fact, it was amazing to her that she made it so far without triggering anything on the way!

Fretting for a while, Selene finally made a decision. Her hands traced her book and she sighed and then gritted her teeth.

She was not going to die here alone, waiting for help.

She would continue forward.

With eagle-like eyes, she examined the walls with rigour, trying to resist the urge to study them closer. In any case, she had made enough of a contribution to her thesis. It was all about using legends and stories gleaned from fragments her father had left behind on humans to piece together a trail to these ruins. Now that she had evidence that human worshippers had existed in the Mythical Age, she could get more funding and more importantly she could be inducted into the Academy as an interim Researcher.

Her hand tightened into a clenched fist.

She had to become a Researcher.

The doorway stood, grand and imposing, in the atrium. The high-vaulted ceiling was filled with depictions of fantastical creatures, all which featured those mysterious humans which didn’t appear too different to normal folk apart from their imposing stature and their rounded ears.

Even elves, giant as they are, were only high enough to reach their necks on average. Humans were truly awe-inspiring as they were shown in the murals above. Despite the obvious age of the ruins around her, the murals hadn’t faded, showing vibrant colours and sharp, clear images that resisted the corrosion of time’s passage.

Selene was fascinated, but limited herself to only a quick sketch before pushing on. It would be a shame to leave without recording her journey so she wrote a quick entry into her diary as she carefully made her way through the doorway and deeper into the bowels of the ruins.

Ruins was not an apt name for what she was currently seeing though. Everything seemed like it was untouched, almost as if time had forgotten this place. Selene was in awe. Even though she didn’t know much about magic, from what she did know, time was an immensely powerful concept that eluded all modern magi.

There were tales and legends of all-powerful magi that could affect time itself, but that had to have been blown out of proportion. With the advancement of magical technology, most agree that time was inviolable. But still, preserving this artwork through the use of magic required a deep understanding of decay and degradation and of nature, it was impossible to achieve with superficial knowledge.

The ancient magus that enchanted the walls to preserve them must have been incredibly talented.

Bathing in equal feelings of respect and admiration, Selene kept going, coming across more and more extravagant depictions as she went deeper and deeper into the ruins.

By now she realised that with the lights perpetually on, something massive had to be powering these ruins, and it may not have been coincidence that Hager and herself had encountered the undead. The ruins had to have some security measures and somehow she had stumbled her way into the main part of… whatever this place was. From the looks of the decorations, it seemed like it was a place of worship, like the clues had suggested, perhaps even a temple!

What sort of temple would be underground though?

And why go to all this trouble to guard it, even though countless years have passed? Even the guards were not allowed to be laid to rest, ceaselessly wandering the halls to prevent intruders from making it far.

The atrium widened to a hall.

Throughout the tense journey, Selene hadn’t encountered any traps or even signs that there were any traps. She wondered briefly if she had been lucky, or if she had stumbled upon the inner part of the temple.

All signs seemed to point to the latter. The walls were covered in perfectly preserved decorations filled with that same geometric shaping that was prevalent through the whole temple. Columns supported arches that spanned alcoves containing fresco-adorned walls of humans in various poses.

Underneath each alcove was a pedestal with a glittering gold treasure of some kind. In some there were necklaces, or amulets, braces, weapons like a dagger, sword or even spears and, in some cases, jewels.

It was clear that this temple was one of many that worshipped this mysterious being, and each precious item was an offering to the humans.

Although nervous due to her situation, Selene couldn’t help but study each artefact, making meticulous recordings in her book as she gazed on artworks that had been left covered for untold years.

She didn’t touch any of them. Even though there wasn’t any evidence she could see of a trap, that didn’t mean there wasn’t one.

But the evidence of treasure meant that she was quite deep into the ruins. It was getting increasingly unlikely that she would be able to find her way out or meet up with Hager. Seeing as the trap lead her deep into the temple made it much more unlikely that it was a trap at all.

Perhaps it was a secret passageway?

Selene shook her head. She could think about that later.

“Come on,” she murmured, “there has to be something in here that will lead me out.”

Selene wished she had brought some magic tools like Hager. A scroll that could trace her steps would be very useful here. She didn’t bring any. Not because she didn’t want to… she just couldn’t afford them.

Maybe she really should put a bit more importance on money and preparation before diving head-first into an unexplored Progenitor ruins.

It suddenly struck her how reckless she had been.

Please Goddess if I ever get out of this alive, I’ll never step out of my office again!

Swallowing down the bubbling trepidation in her throat, Selene made her way down the eerie passageway. At the very least, it was lit by that sourceless light, making it easy to navigate. Just in case, she had a torch and a flint ready, tucked into a satchel at her belt. If the light died, then she would have some form of surety.

Fighting was another matter altogether.

She had a dagger that had been stowed deeply in her backpack. Now that she had a moment to spare, she remembered it and pulled it out, clutching it in a death-grip. Academics like her didn’t have the money for a more impressive weapon, and she had even less money to afford lessons, but now she had wished she had taken the time to learn something more advanced and the use of other weapons.

Maybe she could have learned the spear? It was mounted on one of these walls, there for the taking!

Excepting the possibility of traps, of course. She didn’t dare entertain the thought of touching any of the supposed treasures on the walls.

She noted, however, that each ‘treasure’ was strangely clean, as if dust and time were immaterial concerns for these wondrous objects.

A small sound interrupted her wandering thoughts.

A slight whistling sound was echoing up ahead.

The sound of moving air was encouraging to say the least. Selene was motivated to push forward, but was baffled by what laid before her.

Ahead was a full wall mosaic. It depicted, in great detail, a battle of some sort. The same ancient language she encountered earlier was featured using bold red tiles, whilst the rest of the mosaic used prominent blues and greens.

“I should have studied more languages,” Selene muttered under her breath as she examined the wall.

Where was that breeze coming from?

There wasn’t any grating or vent or stone opening that could be letting air through so how come there was moving air?

She examined the images depicted.

Wait.

“These unicorns don’t have horns…! Horses?!” Selene peered at the mosaic with fascination. “And these canine-like creatures, they look a little small and they only have one head? Are they dogs?”

Selene could feel the beating of her heart quicken with excitement.

“This is great, not only does this fit into my current findings, but there are hints of an extensive mythology with a belief system that firmly integrates a complex and wide story.” Unable to resist, she jotted down her thoughts. A tickling sensation crept down her neck. The wind… it was coming from the wall!

She reached out to where the wind seemed to come from. It was leaking through the centre point of the whole piece. The human in the middle, sitting cross-legged, surrounded by a vivid blue halo, a gentle smile adorned on its closed eyes.

“So… majestic.” Selene couldn’t help but feel that the human on the wall were graceful creatures, so physically similar, yet much more supernatural than the mortal and magic-bound creatures of her world.

Selene reached out to touch the mosaic. To her surprise, her hand went through the wall! Lips parted in surprise with the absence of sensation, Selene quickly retracted her hand as if it had been burned. She quickly looked at her hand, and thought she felt some tingling, but there was nothing wrong.

What sort of magic was this? Not for the first time, she regretted not learning more about magic. Maybe there would have been something in the textbooks to tell her about magic constructs that could do this.

The only thing she knew was that this was pretty advanced illusion magic, something far and beyond what most mages could do.

Taking a deep breath, she plunged her hand back in and felt around. There was a lever hidden in the crevice. Frowning, she didn’t immediately pull down on it, but withdrew and pondered.

Why would there be a lever here?

Why would it be hidden within the mosaic in an illusion?

She thought back to all the folklore learned about humans from her father.

Though she didn’t understand the writing, maybe there was some clue in the picture.

“Dog,” she murmured, “rumoured to be man’s best friend. A remarkably loyal animal. Horse… quite often depicted similarly, but with parallels to our unicorns, strong and enduring. There are twelve creatures here… rat, snake, oxen, rabbit, tiger, monkey, chicken, pig, cat and a dragon…”

Selene was able to feel a lever behind each of the animals.

Is it asking what was the important mythical creature? Wouldn’t that be human? But… that felt too obvious. Was it asking which was the more important animal for the human? That also didn’t feel right. What was missing? The human was sitting, legs crossed, hands spread…

Wait… the last one, a dragon? That’s not a mythical creature! It could be a lizard, which was definitely one, but she didn’t think it would be with the wings. Did that creature have wings? Surely not?

Selene reached out to the dragon, her hand passing clean through it and pulled down on the lever. There was a sudden shuddering groan.

An ominous premonition grew insidiously in the pit of her stomach.

Oh no, did she choose wrong?

With a rumbling shatter the whole wall came apart, revealing a brightly lit chamber, as if illuminated by the light of the Goddess herself. And seated in the middle was a strangely large being, in the same cross-legged pose, reading a book. The being looked up in surprise, blinking at her.

“Hello, my name is Layton,” it said after a pregnant pause. “I’m a bit lost, can you show me the way out?”

Selene blinked. How could she understand him? She recognised the fact that it, erm, he was speaking in a different language, but for some reason she could understand exactly what Layton was saying. Was it some sort of magic she was unaware of?

“I-I’m S-Selene, a scholar. I’m just as lost as you, h-how did you get down here?”

“I…” Layton seemed at a loss. “I don’t know, I just sort of ended up here.”

Selene stared at him incredulously. “But… how?”

He shrugged. “How did you get here?”

“I fell…” She was surprised to find him nodding sympathetically.

“Yes, me too! I’m glad I wasn’t the only one!”

Selene relaxed, so it was another explorer that was ensnared by the traps. Maybe he was part of the earlier explorers? Judging by the books, it looked like Layton was a scholar too!

“Are you completing your thesis too?”

“My thesis?” Layton blinked. “Well, not yet…”

“Oh, unlucky,” Selene replied with a pitying look, “you tried to get ahead but ended up here.”

“No, I was just trying to get home…”

“Home?” A sudden thought occurred to Selene. There had been some cases of the undead luring travellers to their lair. “Oh, well you’re doubly unlucky then.”

“Yeah.” He picked up his backpack from the ground and stood up. “I’m just glad I met another soul, I thought I would be trapped in that chamber forever.”

Selene smile faltered a little as she registered the newcomer’s height.

He’s tall!

Masking her embarrassed gawking she whipped around and pointed back the way she came.

“Well, I’m new here so it’s best we stick together—ack!” She felt groping fingers clutched her ears. “What did you do that for?!”

“Sorry!” Layton pulled back his hands hastily. “They just looked so real! And that costume looks so authentic.”

“What are you talking about?! Of course they’re…”

Then it hit her.

His ears.

They were round.