บท 16: The Room

"Tell me, that thing isn't out there anymore, is it?" I questioned, staring deep into Aria's eyes.

Aria narrowed her eyes.

"Why should I? You seem to keep your secrets close to your chest."

"Because then we go our separate ways. I doubt the kind princess of Nyrith House would survive very long in the wastes, especially with a knight missing her leg."

"And you think you can make the journey all on your own?"

I paused. If someone had asked me this question yesterday, I might have given a maybe, but after that thing last night-

"No," I replied honestly.

Silence settled in the room as both of us simply stared at each other.

"Fine." Aria was the first one to break the silence, looking somberly at an unconscious Tess.

She then sat down on the stone floor. I did so as well. Both of us needed each other to survive our current circumstances thankfully Aria was intelligent enough to understand that. Besides, it wasn't like we had any enmity she knew of. I was Zane Ashwood, a cautious stranger she had met only hours ago.

"That thing isn't out there because we aren't in 'that' fort anymore." Aria began.

"It's going to be close to millennia since humans dug their way out to the surface, despite that we aren't any closer to finding out the mysteries of the Expanse, the people that used to live here, or why we had to settle underground in the first place."

"We do, however, have some clues. You know that House Nyrith sponsors a large number of researchers in 'The Expanse Research Consortium, right? And don't lie like you don't know what I am talking about like you did when we first met. I know you know about my real identity; you have already called me princess several times."

I slightly coughed. "Yeah I do." Expanse Research Consortium was one of the largest academic research institute in the alliance, it's goal to aid with humanity's efforts of expansion into the expanse by researching about it's history, terrain, ways of survival among other things.

Aria continued. "Some of the researchers at the institute believe that the entire Gleaming Waste used to be a part of The Obryth's Dominion. A kingdom founded under the grace of someone called Obryth the Third."

"One of the things we know about Obryth is that he constructed these forts in every major city in his kingdom, connecting each of them with this one room. Some researchers at the institution theorize he used this room as a way to ease the trade and commerce around his kingdom, while others claim that the room was used during war efforts. Either way, there are as many theories as there are mouths. The point is, this very room rotates along every single remaining Fort, Fortress, and Citadel in the Gleaming Wastes."

"You are saying that every single one of those forts shares this very same room?"

"Yes, when you closed that door, the room rotated once more, away from that nightmarish beast. The enchantments have worn down with time, but they are still periodically and randomly across all the remaining Forts."

Hearing her, my breath stopped for a moment as a terrible question began gnawing in my head.

"Duskwraiths, you let them lose from inside this room, didn't you?"

"We had no idea there would be so many. But this further strengthen my point. Look around you, those things must have lived here for centuries, yet do you see a single sign of it, the room takes it all in, reverting back to it's original state."

Hearing her, I took a deep breath; this was a lot to take in.

"You do know where we are, correct?" I asked her the most important question.

Aria paused. "How do you expect me to know that, I don't remember the exact details of how the room circulates."

"So you are saying you don't have any idea which fort we are at right now."

"No," Aria spoke flatly.

"Damn it." I cursed. No wonder she had agreed to journey together so quickly; she already knew our situation was much more terrible than we had originally thought.

"We just have to go north." Aria continued. "We go far enough, and the communicator would start working. That way, we can communicate with my family."

"Except we don't know how far north we would need to go." I slowly rubbed my eyes. Modern human technology didn't work in most parts of Expanse, Gleaming Wastes being one of them. Part of the reason why we were stuck in such a situation.

Also, there was the matter of why she had come to the wastes in the first place or what she was looking for in the room, but I didn't want to poke my nose in the matter of Nyrith Household.

"We need to make a count of all our supplies, every single thing we have, food, water, clothes, and anything. I spoke.

"Also, we need to make a decision about-" I whispered, subtly pointing at Tess.

"We aren't abandoning Tess." Aria immediately snapped back. She is at the second stage of Essence Gathering, with her vitality she should be fine enough to move in a couple of days.

"She has lost a leg."

"Then she can fly; you saw her. It would be beyond foolish to abandon someone at the second stage of Essence Gathering, especially in our situation."

Seeing her so vehemently oppose the idea, I quieted down.

Aria was one of the most cold and calculating character in the entire book. But she had another quality that made her very popular with the readers.

This Tess must be really close to Aria, I wondered.

Although apathetic towards most others' sufferings, Aria was known to walk through hell if it concerned one of her loved ones' well-being.

She was just that kind of person.