Follows The Summoning
“Hello? Is there anyone here? I brought some food with me!”
The Wonder was just as beautiful and eerie as the last time she’d been there. Before, it had been with a friend that she hadn’t seen in a long time. She hoped he was okay. She’d tried sending messages, but maybe they just didn’t go through.
Being in space was weird. Especially since she was at some place called The Surrounding. It made it seem more spooky, even though she hadn’t had any memories or seen any ghosts there.
She really hoped she wouldn’t see too many bugs, but there were a lot of flowers blooming everywhere, so she figured some bees wouldn’t be too horrible.
She set everything down in the shade of a large building that she’d only glanced into before. It looked like a palace of sorts, but still falling down. It probably wasn’t very safe. She had a feeling that she’d have to go in to find the Code piece.
But for a little while, she wanted to sit and sketch everything she saw, so she pulled out a notebook and a small pack of pencils and began her work.
No one disturbed her as she drew, shading the flowers in a way that highlighted the light shining off of them. She smiled as she remembered pulling her signet ring out of a plant she’d been repotting.
The little tree she had with her was still wilted and sad, but that was okay. For now. She would just ask the Code to give it a little more energy.
With the sandwich she’d packed eaten, and her sketch of the wildflowers done, she packed everything back up and pushed open the heavy wooden door.
Inside was what she was greeted with as before. A large room decorated with pretty mosaics. She felt a little bad about walking on them when they were in such disrepair, but she would have to come back and fix everything up. There were plenty of images to see. Flowers and animals decorated the border with intricately tiny pieces of stone, all pieced together in a way that made it look like it was a solid piece of stone.
In the center of the large welcome hall was the mosaic of a creature that looked like it was a tiger striped animal with horns and wings. She smiled curiously at it, and then pulled out her note book so she could do a quick sketch of the unknown animal as well. Maybe she would do more research later.
As she drew, a strange feeling came over her, calling her. Oh! Maybe it was the Code, finally! Snapping the notebook shut, she hurried off in the direction where the energy was coming from.
There was a set of spiral stairs that went up.
And up.
And up.
Connie had to pause and take a break at one point. She was glad she brought extra snacks, and took a few minutes to sketch what she saw out the window of the tower she was climbing.
Back on her feet, she continued her way up the tower until--
“Is this a lighthouse?” she gasped, thinking that was maybe a little too ironic since she’d just been thinking about a lighthouse while they were on Urania. But no, the beacon in the center of the circular room was definitely the Code.
Oh! That wasn’t so hard. But then again, she had noticed that everything seemed like it was falling apart, so she knew it was probably a good idea to hurry up and meditate.
“It’s okay, I’ll help you,” she promised the weakly pulsing orb. It looked just as sad as her little tree.
Quietly, she sat in front of the Code piece and closed her eyes. She didn’t know how long it would take, but she focused on the magic swirling in front of her, and definitely not about any bugs. She tried not thinking too much about her friends, especially Belmont and Meninx who had Wonders as well. She was glad Perdita didn’t have to worry about it.
When she opened her eyes again, things seemed to have stabilized a bit. The Code piece was glowing a little brighter at least.
“I’ll be back, I promise,” she smiled, because now that she knew how important it was to visit, she would definitely have to do so more often. Maybe she could bring her friends with her next time too.
