A Ruin

Hours passed in relative silence as the two teenagers scouted the forest.

Despite the sounds of rushing water near them, they wanted to keep the noise down to avoid attracting predators.

Along the way, they passed a few herbivores that Lila identified as deer, and even a few larger variants she called elk, but they quickly ran away once they spotted the humans.

The wildlife made Roger increasingly nervous as they traveled, realizing that the river was bound to attract all kinds of animals.

'All it takes is just one of them to be aggressive and then we have to fight on uneven ground in a random part of the forest.'

To clear his mind of the troubled thoughts, he tried to drink in the beauty of Avar, which wasn't very difficult.

It was nothing like Earth.

Back home, everything was shades of gray. 

Metal was the building material of choice for everything, having long been proven studier and more sustainable than natural sources. The few places that still used wood were being quickly phased out, with only major cities still paying the exorbitant fees associated.

'I bet Lila sees a lot of wooden buildings.'

She had previously mentioned being from Hepolis, one of the major Earth cities, so Roger felt confident she had seen an entirely different side of the planet than he had.

'It must have been nice.'

Another big difference he noticed was the smell, with Avar's air being far more pleasant to breathe in than Earth's.

It was clean, earthy, and fragrant, unlike the burnt smog of home.

Roger didn't know if there was a place left where the factory fumes hadn't reached.

'Well, there's a reason to be happy you were sent to Avar rather than Vulcan. Better smelling air.'

Since he was young he had hoped to one day work on the forge planet, but with every passing hour, he felt more connected to Avar. Sure, he wasn't building massive machines of war, a fabled Colossus, but he was working on advancing his magical powers, which was only a little less cool.

'There could always be a chance to go to Vulcan in the future. I just need to get powerful enough so that the government can't stop me if I want to visit.'

Roger shook his head at the thoughts, knowing that dream was a little too fantastical to come true.

Even if he did grow incredibly strong, making it to Earth, crossing the void of space, and freely visiting the most heavily defended planet in the solar system just wasn't feasible.

'Jeez, what's with me today? Can I not have some positive viewpoints?'

It was an odd thing to recognize his own pessimism, but he didn't like it. He had vowed to let himself hope in this new world, and so he would do just that.

A chuckle drew his attention, causing him to turn towards Lila, who was covering her mouth with her hand.

Noticing his gaze, she leaned towards him and whispered.

"You have really funny expressions when you're deep in thought."

Roger instantly started to turn red, embarrassed by his face betraying his inner monologue.

Bending over to respond to her, he struggled to keep his tone flat, humiliation leaking into his words.

"Sorry, I was just thinking of how different Avar is from Earth."

She turned to him with surprise clear on her face, obviously not expecting the answer.

Lila opened her mouth to respond but closed it, taking a moment to reflect on her words. Her shoulders slouched ever so slightly once she finally spoke.

"I suppose I should be doing the same too. It's weird, I thought I would find myself missing home a lot more than I am. I rarely think about the city, or my room, or my family. Part of me feels disconnected from them."

She sounded sad, but Roger didn't know how to comfort her.

He didn't have a city, or a room, or a family. The closest he had was a prison, a cell, and fellow inmates, which were more likely to try and intimidate him into doing their assigned labor rather than treat him like kin.

The empathetic ones were always the first to get beaten down, broken into lesser versions of themselves.

Not knowing how to respond, but still wanting to try and help, he tried to empathise with her.

"I'm sure it will be fine. It's probably just due to how busy you are, or maybe Avar is just magic like that, trying to separate you from Earth."

Lila gave him a weird look.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Roger, but I don't think it's helping."

She sighed.

"I don't think you have experienced the stuff I have, so you don't know what it's like. You mentioned not having any family left, so you can't feel so separated from them. Honestly, having them be alive is somehow worse right now."

Roger almost tripped as he considered her words.

'Well that's one way to view it. I guess it is somewhat of a blessing that they aren't alive anymore, but after what they did, I wish I could put them in the ground myself.'

His fists clenched as he thought of his parents. Those wounds went deeper than he wanted to accept.

Instead of speaking, he turned his attention to their surroundings, adamantly wanting to end the conversation there.

Lila seemed to notice and respect his decision.

More time passed, and the sun continued its descent, leading to the forest growing darker.

Roger was approaching the point of having them turn around when he noticed something odd in the shadows to their left, hidden by some trees. A strangely geometric shape was behind the leaves, starkly contrasting the rest of the sparsely lit foliage, which seemed especially dense in this area.

Possibilities ran through his head, each more dangerous than the last.

'Is it a large creature? A trap of some sort? Or is it some mutated plant?'

He raised his right hand, causing Lila to pause, and drew one of his swords with his left. She summoned her artifact, taking a half step to be behind him.

It was one of their tactics they had devised, allowing Roger to be in front to intercept any ranged attacks thrown at them prior to making contact, at which point Lila would replace him to engage in melee.

Roger slowly approached the location, always leaving himself room to escape should anything leap out.

'Time to see if our training has paid off…'

Once he was within a few feet of distance, he reached his sword out and tapped it against the hidden object. His eyes went wide as he felt his weapon bounce off with a clang. 

His eyebrows were knit together as he reached out with his free hand and felt the surface, realizing it felt like…

"Stone."

Roger spoke the word aloud, hearing leaves crunch as Lila recoiled in surprise.

"Stone?"

She repeated, walking around him to see the object. 

Feeling safer knowing that it was not an enemy, Roger lowered his guard and walked around the dense plant life coating the structure.

Turning the corner, Roger came to the realization that it seemed to be a square building set into the forest floor.

'What is this thing?'

Just as he was about to turn to Lila and ask, she spoke with a hint of confusion.

"I think… it's some kind of building."

Roger's wariness was transformed into curiosity, that quickly morphed into greed.

'A building? That could mean treasure!'

His eyes lit up as he quickly moved around the corner of the structure, eagerly anticipating to find some kind of entrance.

He stopped in delight as he located what he was looking for.

A tall doorway stood on another stone wall, vines and plants growing all across it. Strange carvings were inlaid into the surface, but they were aged and worn, cracks splitting their once-intricate meaning. 

As he peered inside, Roger saw shadows filled the interior, but he could just barely make out an opening set into the floor, pieces of a rotting trapdoor scattered around it. 

"Hey Lila, you will want to see this!"

He had just barely spoken the words when she rounded the corner, sword raised high. Her eyes locked onto the opening and what lay beyond, her arms turning weak as her weapon was lowered.

Lila's mouth dropped slightly open as she struggled to accept the sight in front of her.

"Dear gods, we actually found a ruin!"