“Dustin?” A voice asked, but Dustin ignored it, instead choosing to gaze out the car window. He watched the vineyards now spreading out before him as they sped by, the city shrinking behind them slowly while the afternoon sun began its descent. Dustin hadn’t been out this far from the city in a while and despite the fact he was itching to get into work, he was also a little hesitant.
“Seriously,” the familiar voice moaned, bringing him back from his daydream. “Dustin? Earth to numbskull, you awake or not?”
“I’m awake.” Dustin replied in a huff, turning to face his friend Vince in the driver’s seat. Vince was still staring straight ahead at the road that would lead up into the mountains, his face showing a tiny amount of frustration.
“Geez man,” He complained, “I know you’re a dreamer, but seriously. You might want to pull your head out of the clouds every once in a while.”
“It’s more interesting up there though.” This gave Vince cause to crack a smile.
“Whatever.” Dustin shook his head and smiled, knowing Vince had given up this round of seemingly endless random conversations. The black Jeep they were in entered the tunnels that led towards the ruins of Equia; an ancient city that somehow remained hanging off the edge of the mountainside despite being centuries old. The ruins were a popular tourist attraction, but to Dustin it was more like a workplace.
The two were part of a volunteer group from Celeste Adams University that were exploring the ruins, trying to solve out the seemingly never-ending stream of mysteries surrounding the place. There were a few problems at first, such as the tourism board being counter-productive and arguing their work could jeopardise the sites tourism status. But, much to Dustin’s delight, there were a few reasonable people in the government, and with a professional archaeologist put in charge, the university team got started.
As they exited one tunnel, Dustin looked out of his window and took in the stunning view of the valley before him. Down below, he could see the vineyards they had passed earlier, and beyond them the outer suburbs of the city of Astraea. Though they were kilometres away, the towers in the centre of the CBD stood tall against the rest of the city, shining in the setting sun before it could set behind the mountains on the other side of the valley. And resting in the shadows between those mountains and Astraea was the aptly named Shadow Forest, spanning almost the entire western border of the city.
However, just before they were about to enter another tunnel through the mountain, Dustin caught a glimpse of their destination. As they entered the well light path through the mountain, Dustin’s smile fell. There was a small part of him wanted to argue against going up there, that wanted to be as far away as he could from those ruins. But he had already agreed to coming up to the site, and he didn’t want to annoy Vince now they were this close by asking him to turn back.
Besides, there was another part of him that desperately wanted to be in those ruins once more.
Within another ten minutes, they arrived at the edge of ancient town surrounding the picturesque castle. Ancient houses lay either half submerged in the terrain, or crumbling pieces of rubble. While Vince got out of the car Dustin just stared up at the castle, feeling a mixture of excitement and dread. Excitement that he would be returning to what he loved, and dread at how he would enter the ruins, and if it could happen again.
“Come on Sir Mope-a-lot,” Vince said opening the door. Dustin sighed, undoing the seatbelt and shuffling closer to the open door. Vince grabbed hold of him underneath the arms, linking his hands behind Dustin’s back and lifting him out of the seat... before lowering him into his wheelchair.
Dustin sighed as he angled himself away from the car and pushed off, Vince easily matching his step. Deep down, despite its necessity, Dustin truly hated his wheelchair. The pain of losing his ability to walk was still raw; no more than six months had passed since the accident happened. But at least he had his friends to cheer him up and help him through the process. Vince had been the most generous, but then again, he did so out of guilt over what he thought was his fault.
The two passed through the ruined city, travelling underneath a gatehouse that needed supports to keep from crumbling alongside the nearby buildings. The main street was cobblestone covered under layers of dirt, while smaller buildings stood in various stages of disrepair all around. Vines and other plants had snaked their way inside the few houses that remained intact, turning them into makeshift nurseries.
Yellow tape barred the entry to those buildings save those that were one hundred percent stable. The tourism board didn’t want a scenario where a tourist would get themselves injured and then sue for compensation. After about five minutes, Dustin and Vince reached the arched gates leading into the castle. Vines ran rampant across what was left of the gatehouse as the faded marble walls towered above a three foot drop, the remnants of the castle moat traversed by a new wooden bridge built a few years ago.
“Dusty! Vince!”
Dustin snapped out of his daydream, looking to find the familiar voice. Jogging to meet them was Claire, the third member of their little friend group. She had blonde streaked auburn hair that was done up in a small ponytail. She was dressed in a black t-shirt, along with a brown vest and matching cargo shorts. Her clothes, along with her pale skin, were smudged with dirt and dust from exploring the ruins, making her sapphire blue eyes sparkle even more.
“Hey Claire,” Dustin replied as he wheeled his way forward, meeting her halfway. Vince was right behind him, greeting Claire with a nod and a smile.
“You ready to get in there?”
Dustin’s features fell slightly as he looked down, uncertainty evident on his face. “I don’t know.”
“Oh come on,” Vince moaned behind him. “I didn’t drive you up here just to have you chicken out on me.”
“Besides, you haven’t been up here in months. Come on, it’ll be fun.” Claire added, finishing with a sing-song. Dustin had been friends with her since they were little, and she was basically the sister he never had. How could I say no to her, he thought to himself as he sighed before putting on a smile.
“Alright, let’s go.”
~~~
After Claire and Vince helped lift Dustin up past the front step, they found themselves in the remnants of a large entrance hall. Despite its worn down visage, it still looked gorgeous from an architectural point of view. Large pillars held the domed roof above them, and all volunteers kept a careful distance from them, not wanting to cause the cave in of a national landmark. A large staircase rose in the middle of the room, ending at a door on the far wall as well as splitting into two further flights of stairs, one of which curled up around the wall of the hall while the other had long since broken and fallen to the floor.
There were also a set of double doors to the left and right; the right one stood open with a few people from the university passing through. The three passed through the doors, entering a hall with high, glassless window frames before passing another set of doors.
Once through the doors, Dustin felt his jaw slowly drop in awe. It was amazing how well preserved the place was, considering they were the first people in hundreds if not thousands of years to set foot – figuratively speaking – inside. The room they walked into was big and rectangular, a hall of some kind. On the walls were window frames, one of them cracked and broken while the walls around another had caved, turning the window into a gaping hole in the wall. The colour of the place had long since faded; now a dull grey save for a few pieces of colour, remnants of the stained glass windows.
Other members of the university team were spread out, some photographing the architectural detail of the room while others took samples away in plastic bags. Even Vince had his camera out, not wanting to miss the photo opportunity. Dustin, meanwhile, rolled over to the far side of the room near a high arched door, pointed at the top. He rested a hand against it, feeling the layers of dust between him and the faded wood used for the door.
“You okay?” He turned back to see Claire, uncertainty on her face as she looked at him. Dustin knew what she meant, but he let the subject slide, not wanting to ruin the moment.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He replied as he turning around, taking in the room as he did. Inside his head, Dustin’s imagination was spinning. “Just imagine what this place was like back in the day.”
“Yeah,” Claire replied. “And this is only one room.”
“Well, ladies first,” Dustin jerking a thumb back at the door, a smirk forming on his face.
“You’re lucky I’d feel bad hurting you, you know that?”
“One of the perks of this thing,” He said with a smile, hitting the left wheel with an open palm. Something flickered behind Claire’s eyes, but it disappeared before Dustin could gauge it. She grabbed the door handle and tried pushing but it didn’t budge. She tried pulling, but again it didn’t move. Not wanting to give up, she even placed one foot on the other door as she pulled, but it barely gave an inch before she gave up.
“Geez,” Claire huffed, placing hands on her knees. “That door must weigh tonnes.”
“That or something’s jamming it. Dustin offered my opinion, earning a sour look from Claire.
“No shit Sherlock.”
“Problems, Princess?” They both turned back to see Vince standing behind them, smirking.
“Call me that again and you’ll be in more pieces than that window over there.”
“Vince, give us a hand with this,” Dustin spoke up, hoping to cool things down. It wasn’t uncommon for Vince to unknowingly step too far and end up with bruises courtesy of Claire.
“Step aside ladies,” He smirked, despite earning a light punch in the arm from Claire. Vince rubbed his arm a little before grabbing the handle with both hands and pulling as hard as he could. Like Claire, he had no initial success. He stopped just to catch his breath before trying again, this time pulling the handle off with him as he fell to the floor. While he broke the handle, he had at least pulled the door open a crack. Claire laughed loudly while Dustin tried suppressing a smile.
“Ha ha.” Vince laughed sarcastically as he waved Claire over and they tried pulling the door open. A few other students walked over and helped out pulling, Dustin moving himself out of the way so they could get closer. After a few more attempts, and Vince falling on his rear end one more time, they finally pulled the door free.
Dustin craned his neck to look through the gap, but any hopes of discovering what lay beyond the door immediately crash-landed. Besides a small gap at the top of the doorway, the passage was completely blocked by fallen rubble. The others rounded the door, and the anticipation fell from their faces.
“That’s it?” Claire asked.
“I fell on my arse for this?” Vince joined in being disappointed.
A little disappointed as well, Dustin rolled away, towards the far corner of the hall to the left of the door they had entered from, looking for anything interesting. There was the pile of rubble there, the weeds sprouting from cracks in the floor there and... something else. Dustin wheeled himself closer to the pile, reaching over the side of his chair to examine what he found.
“Hey, Vince.” he called, snapping him and Claire from their discussion as the other students went back to what they were doing. “Give me a hand.” The two of them hurried over, helping Dustin fling away rocks until they found out what Dustin saw was.
There was a large, dirt covered shield, almost square in shape. It was dented in a few places, most likely from the rubble that buried it, and beneath that was a square of faded fabric, fraying at the ends. But the bottom right of the shield, the part Dustin had noticed, was partly free from dirt and dust. On the shield was an emblem, showing in four squares two suns and two crescent moons.
Dustin smiled as satisfaction and excitement grew inside him for the first time in months. “Finally.”