Backdated to early January; follows Moment of Rest
Lyon lay flat on his back, staring up at the charred ceiling of the factory as he twisted his newfound ring on his finger. It felt strange, heavy, but he just needed time to let it settle there.
He’d been at his Wonder for three and a half hours before he found the ring, and he wasn’t sure if it was luck or destiny.
Maybe he’d just asked nicely enough that whatever magic lingered here thought it’d toss him a bone.
Of which, he’d already found several, but he was trying not to put much thought into that right now.
His arrival placed him in the center of an abandoned complex. Barren fields stretched in one direction. Withered weeds and brittle, dead stalks covered some of them. Bricks and small slabs of rock covered some parts, but mostly, it was just empty.
The air was heavier over it, cold.
He knew burial grounds when he saw them.
The nearest building was what he guessed to be a factory, which appeared partly destroyed and had was crumbling in on itself in several places. Which was a shame, considering that it was probably once a very beautiful, albeit imposing, structure. The gothic-baroque appearance made Lyon suspect someone had poured a great deal of money into this building to make it look nice.
It looked terrifying, which seemed like a theme here.
The backside of his Wonder was surrounded by a dark forest, with trees knitted together so tightly that it was impossible to see anything but shadow beyond a few feet. Lyon had not needed to approach to feel the ominous aura of the forest. There was no movement from within, and yet he felt like he was being watched.
The factory had not been particularly welcoming, but it was more so than the forest, so he’d traveled there first.
Inside, he wasn't really sure what he was looking at. Every area seemed to have dual purpose, or maybe had been in the process of being renovated. Poorly.
He'd found what might have been living quarters, or might have been storage. Tunnels, sealed up, but not impenetrable. They were to spooky, and he humored the thought of horrible monsters crawling underneath, so he left them closed for now. Then, he found what might have been a processing or production area, but had also definitely some sort of crematory.
It was there that he found the ring that now sat on his finger.
In a pile of dust. Dirt. Ash--ashes, maybe.
Lyon wasn't sure.
He'd dug around for a while, asking his Wonder very loudly for helping finding a ring, and then--there it was.
His hands were dirty. The ring was dirty, but he'd been able to buff that out. The dark metal had a strange luster. He couldn't tell what it was made of, but considering that he was on a different planet--or moon, whatever--it wasn't so surprising. There were probably tons of space rocks out there with no Earthly comparison.
What the material was made out of wasn't as interesting as where he'd found it, or why it was there.
Lyon had looked, of course. But there just weren't many answers to be had.
He must have traced the emblem on his newfound signet ring a hundred times, but the shape still hadn't burned into his mind.
Nor did the ring feel right on his finger.
Wandering his namesake had yielded more questions than answers, so by the time the shadows of the dark forest stretched across the factory, he'd already exhausted himself--and, for what?
He found his ring.
Now what?
The thought echoed a hundred times, repeated in every step he took traversing the decrepit ruins.
He walked until his leg was sore. Until he had to stop and sit down.
Until he was here, reminiscing.
The cold floor felt good. Cool, but pleasant in the summer heat.
Lyon had sat there for a moment before lowering himself so he could lay sprawled on the floor. It wasn't clean, but he'd taken plenty of dirt naps before. And, once he powered down, he wouldn't even have to worry about the filth.
Of course, a bath was still in the picture. Obviously.
He did his best thinking there, and right now, he had a lot on his mind.
Still, he twisted the finger absently. The shadows looked like gnarled hands and knobby fingers--witchy, monstrous. Stretching for him.
This place was empty. He hadn't seen another living person here since he arrived.
He wondered where the screams were coming from.
