Chapter 19: Sacred Grounds (2)
Arthur studied the inscriptions a while longer, tracing weathered carvings with his fingertips, but gained no further insight into his situation. The ancient pictographs remained enigmatic—offering tantalizing clues without context sufficient to guide him.
'Time to venture outside,' he decided, straightening and turning toward the nearest archway. 'I need to get my bearings, see what I'm dealing with.'
As he approached the doorway, sunlight streamed through the opening with unexpected intensity. Arthur raised a hand to shield his eyes, squinting against the sudden brightness as he stepped through the threshold and into the open air.
He paused on the top step, allowing his vision to adjust to the daylight. The stone building he had emerged from sat atop a plateau-like elevation, with broad staircases cascading down on all four sides to meet the ground below. The architecture reminded him of ancient Mesoamerican temples from Earth's history books—a stepped pyramid structure designed to elevate its holy spaces above the surrounding landscape.
But it wasn't the building itself that captured Arthur's attention once his eyes adjusted.
At the Academy, Arthur remembered learning a couple things about this realm. It was called Aragon and at the center of the realm there is a tower breaching the clouds surrounded by the ruins of an old city currently being used as a stronghold, this was where the core was.
He also remembered being told that almost every Chosen sent into a new Realm for the first time will spawn somewhere relatively close to the core. The reason remains unknown, but evidence suggests a natural attraction between a Chosen's Core and the Realm's core—like magnets drawn to each other across dimensional boundaries.
Arthur slowly turned in a complete circle, scanning the horizon from his elevated position. In every direction, as far as he could see, stretched an endless expanse of rolling plains. No tower pierced the clouds. No ruins broke the monotony of the landscape. Nothing but open landscape extended to the horizon in all directions.
'Almost everyone, huh? Guess I didn't make the cut,' Arthur thought grimly as the full implications of his situation sank in.