The Legend of Admir—Chapter 4: Curiosity

Sunlight poured through the cracks of the ruins and illuminated what would have otherwise been a truly horrific place. Webs and dust coated everything—not that there was much of anything left. The walls looked liable to topple over and crush whatever or whoever was beneath it at any moment. They dimmed the sounds of the wilderness outside, causing an eerie sort of not-quiet.

And let's not forget the smell. Ugh. It was even stronger inside.

Perhaps, back in its prime, it was a beautiful place, built for excellency, inhabited by only the most prestigious. Now, it was inhabited by giant spiders the size of a horse—a truly terrible thought that made Admir shudder. A horse-sized spider?? It skittered to a stop, its beady little eyes now trained on the tasty human intruder.

Luckily, within the confines of these ruins, he did not have to hide who he was. His heritage wasn't a secret that needed to be kept under wraps. He was a Twilight Kin, and for the first time in his whole life he could completely let loose without fear of retribution. What other person would be inside of these ruins?

He snapped his fingers and illusory clones of him sprang into existence.

(The finger snapping was mostly for dramatic flair—his, not mine.)

The spider hissed. Admir and his clones flinched and gave each other a "Did you just hear that?" look. Not one to want to find out what else the monstrosity could do, Admir booked it towards the exit, hoping that by plunging further into the ruins, he could get further away from the horse-sized insect with too many legs.

One of his clones screamed as the spider lunged at it, ripping through the false imagery with ease. The fear had been real, Admir's emotions spilling out unconsciously through the illusions as he imagined what would have happened if the spider had picked the correct one.

All of the illusions he'd conjured dissipated, his hold on them weakened, leaving him alone with the creature. Another snap, and an illusion of the spider itself popped into view, hissing back at the original. He hoped it was territorial and something else invading its space would be enough of a distraction.

It seemed to work, lucky for him. In the opening provided by his illusions, Admir fled into the next room.

Needless to say, he was more than bit on edge now. He'd gone from easy traveling, to an inconvenient village, to something trying to kill him TWICE in the span of an hour. He began to wonder if delving further into these ruins was still a good idea. The sun was still out, bright sunlight filling the ruins, illuminating all the nooks and crannies that would be terrifying at night. He could run while he still had the chance, still make it back to Kozen Crest, maybe convince Tiga to come with him. But he knew he'd have an ever harder time then. At least now, he could use his magic to help protect himself. He'd never come up with a good explanation for what he could do that didn't involve his heritage. None of the Oldways magic lined up with his. If anyone else was traveling with him, he'd be too nervous to let them in on his secret.

That meant, if he wanted answers, he needed to push on. Alone.

In the room after the entrance, he threw up another illusion and slipped past another spider, and then soon found himself in a rather large rectangular room. There was an exit maybe twenty feet directly across, though the room opened up to one side. A large tapestry lined the walls, covering almost the entirety of it. It was old, torn, ratted, and moldy.

Noticing the tapestry was the only reason he saw the robed person standing in front of it.

Now, you'll have to forgive poor Admir. He'd just encountered two giant spiders and a decaying woman, so you'd think he would just try to sneak past this random person, too. However, he'd never had to rely so heavily on his magic before, and Admir was very confident in his speaking ability. He couldn't convince any of the threats earlier to stand down, but this person looked...approachable. And he'd always known that his words were his greatest weapon.

He stepped closer to the tapestry and the robed figure. "...hello?"

The man in robes turned to him. He was...oh, how do I describe him? Alluring, to say the least. Admir was quite a bit smitten with him. Well-built, dark skin, about his height. A wonderful smile and... Okay, okay. You get the picture. The man was beautiful.

And that gave Admir pause. Because why the hell was this man in these ruins?

Clearly, this man was an illusion, right? The story even said so. And Admir made sure he was taking the time to "bother to inspect." And yet, despite his initial apprehension and the obvious warning sign, Admir couldn't help but let his guard-down-2.

"Oh," the man said, voice just as alluring as his face. And his smile. "I didn't expect to see anyone else here." The robes were a bit much, perhaps, but he seemed like a functioning human. Perhaps he could escort him into the depths of the ruins. Perhaps he even knew more about the secrets it held. Perhaps—

"It's been a while since anyone joined us."

You would think Admir would catch on to these red flags sooner, but...Nope. For all his charm, he was not immune to others.

"Us?"

"Yeah. My friends and I. We're helping out the creatures here. Name's Finn."

Admir swallowed hard and threw on a smile. "I'm Admir." Despite the alluring man before him, Admir couldn't keep his eyes off the tapestry. Something about it was calling to him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Admir... Ah. Beautiful, isn't it?" Finn gestured with his head towards the tapestry.

Just like his messenger bag—the one that told his story—the tapestry had a story woven through its fabric. There wasn't one way to accomplish it, but there were some general techniques used that were recognizable to most everyone. From what he could tell, amid the rips and tears, the tapestry told the story of the Kozen Elementals of Fire and the ruins. A lot of it lined up exactly with what Tiga had told him. But there was something else. Some of it was obscured, the fullness of it lost to time. However, he was sure he could make out "natural medicine" as a missing component to the story.

Natural medicine? What the hell did that mean?

"It's famously known as the story of the Kozen Elements of Fire. A short tale, really." Finn went through the story just as Admir had heard it—something that Admir took note of. Finn seemed to be holding back something, and he had made no mention of the "natural medicine."

"Come," Finn said. "I'll introduce you to the others."

"And what exactly do you think happened when Kaito found himself surrounded, outnumbered, and overpowered? They hauled him off to the dungeons, where he sat for DAYS.

"They barely fed him, he almost never saw the sun, and the guards were not kind. He'd gotten so close to getting answers and yet...he found himself a prisoner, deterred from his quest, finally.

"BUT the next time you think that all hope is lost, I want you to remember this story. Because sometimes things happen precisely the way they are supposed to!

"Because a few days later, one of the guards stationed to watch over him had the sudden urge to inquire about the poor prisoner's story. Simple curiosity, really.

"Little did either of them know that this simple curiosity would end in Kaito's freedom and lead him directly to the answers."

- excerpt from "Kaito's Hunt for Justice"

"Everyone, this is Admir. I found him in the other room admiring the tapestry. Admir, this is Florian, Kai and Kaisa, Seamus, and Willow."

Suddenly there were six people in front of him and his insecurities found their way back to the surface. His magic was useful for running away, but he doubted he could confuse and distract all of them at once. There were way too many of them.

One of the women asked if Finn had found anything else, and he handed her a golden ring. Before Admir could get a good look at it, a loud commotion drew all of their attention. Someone had just stormed into the ruins.

"WHERE...THE HELL...IS HE!?"

Admir's eyes widened. He knew that voice. It was the woman he ran from, the decaying bandit. Had she followed him here? He looked at each of Finn's friends, trying to gauge how they would feel about him using magic here. If he helped protect them, then maybe they wouldn't shun him. Or, a worse thought: what if they were cultist, and they...embraced him?

Finn sighed with relief. "It's about time."

Admir's eyes snapped to him, brow raised. "Wait, you were expecting her?"

"We are observing her," Finn said, as if it were the most normal, obvious answer.

"Poor thing."

"She's infected."

"And she's almost complete."

"We need to see if she'll have any information for us."

"A noble sacrifice."

They...were fucking crazy. What cult did they belong to?

The outlaw stumbled into the room, mouth drooling, skin green and purple. She looked worse than she had outside.

"Now," Finn stated simply.

On cue, the outlaw let loose an agonizing scream as she hunched over. Her drool pooled out of her mouth onto the dirty stone in a sickening flood, twinged with bit of unnatural green and black.

"Wh-what's wrong with her?" Admir backed up even further, eyeing the exits.

"She is tainted," Finn said.

"And she'll become close to the creatures."

"And we will be able to communicate through her."

Admir didn't need to hear anything else. They were fucking out of their mind.

"I'm...so......hungry" The outlaw dug her hands into the ground. The stone warped beneath her touch, crumbling in her hands.

Admir took one final look at the others, horrified and confused.

Yeah, fuck that.