Beneath

Translated by Steven Ross

I was in the archives when the first tremor hit, Jilen looked to me and asked what was going on, it was then that the second one hit, throwing us off balance.

Outside we could hear the great bell toll.

Jilen had spotted it first from the window, a large crack had snaked its way up the wall of the cavern and from it issued a dark cloud, seeping across the lake, darkening as it went.

I told Jilen to quickly travel to my home, his younger legs could carry him faster than mine. He set off to warn Laia and the others and take them to Ahyr’ahn, I told him I would join them as soon as I could.

The screams and cries of panic hit me as soon as I had left the building, chaos rising from every street I passed as fellow D’ni fled to their family Ages or those in the Common Libraries. I cast my my eye out across the cavern as that ominous cloud edged slowly forward.

The third tremor hit, the worse of the three, it threw me to the floor hitting my head against the tiles. The building around me groaned before it was drowned out by the cacophony of sound from buildings above collapsing.

The street ahead of me was now blocked, I had to double back and find another route, all the while worried that my family would be panicking about where I was.

It took me three times as long as it usually does to return home due to the damage to the city. The cloud had drifted across the lake and was roaming the streets, reaching out to touch those it met, ending their lives in the process.

I hadn’t realized at first, it was only a trace amount, it drifted slowly across the entrance to the district which houses my residence, but I had already walked through it…

I reached the house, my family had made it safely to Ahry’ahn along with Jilen. My plan was to follow them through, take the Lehns Book with me, protect the Mahri from whatever this is that is killing D’ni. But I cannot, I cannot risk stepping into Ahry’ahn and dooming my family to this end, as I stand here looking out across the dead lake, I know I have taken it into my body, my stomach has started to cramp, my head throbs..

I stand here watching my home fall into ruin, my friends falling to the same illness that grips me, how many survived? My only solace is that my family is safe in Ahry’ahn, untouched by this plague, by this destruction..

The pain worsens, my end is near, I leave this to those who may return, to my wife when she returns, in the hope that it offers some understanding to those final moments.

Laia, I love you.. I’m sor..

* That’s all there is, guessing he died as he was writing the last sentence – Steve