The Broken Hill [Open]

Kagashen Kyuketsuki strode through the desert under a crescent moon. Before him was a great mound of rock, jutting from between the dunes. The great rocky mound took the shape of hill, but with a giant crack running down the middle. The crack was only a couple meters wide at its apex, and it closed well before meeting the sandy ground. The hill lay at the end of old chain of mountains, almost as though it was the head of a ship, sinking into a sea of sand. Near the hill was a great rock spire, and a large mound of rocks and sand lay on the other side of the hill, marking the resting place of a matching spire. Between the spire and the mound, under the crack in the hill, was a opening of a cave.

Kagashen descended the dune and walked towards the mouth of the cave. The opening had been carved into a square doorway, and holes around the walls suggested that there were once doors in the cut rock. Kagashen had heard many stories of the Broken Hill from his clan, but he had never visited the place himself. His elder sister had told him that if he ever wanted to return to his clan, he only had to find the clue in the Broken Hill which told of their location. It had been almost two years sense he talked to his sister, and although he did not want to return to his clan, he would like to know where to find them.

Kagashen walked through the opening and into the cave. Kagashen's enhanced sight could make out the shape of the cavern. Further in the depths of the cave he could make out moonlight pooling on the floor, perhaps from the crack in the top of the hill. Whoever had made the cave in an age long since passed, had carved the natural shape from the walls, making them smooth and flat. The floor was also smoothed down, although large amounts of sand had made its way in through the opening.

Kagashen walked over to his left, to view what looked like a mural on the wall. When he came closer he saw that whatever mural had been on the wall had long since eroded away by wind-blown sand. As Kagashen walked further down the main chamber of the cave, he noticed that many of the other murals were also worn away. Out of the 12 lining each wall, Kagashen could only make out the last 3. He noticed that the murals on the left side of the cave were identical to those on the right side. The floor was still covered in sand, but there was also small piles of wood and makings of a fire pit.

Kagashen approached the first of the 3 discernible murals. It depicted a woman burning under the sun. She was surrounded by what looked like wounded soldiers, stabbing at her with spears and swords. at the edge of the mural was the depiction of a mountain with a crack going down the middle. Although the mural was badly damaged, Kagashen thought the woman looked familiar.

The second mural showed the woman covered in chains and tied to a chair. She was being carried by the soldiers into a cave, while the sun began to set behind the mountains. In the background he could make out what looked like half a dozen other groups of people each moving another person in chains, but it was to impossible to be sure, much less make out details.

The third mural depicted the chained woman on a throne. She now only had chains around her ankles and wrists. On both sides of the throne were two shafts of light, with a sun symbol above them. The woman no longer looked in pain, in fact she looked rather expressionless. As Kagashen looked closer at the mural, he could recognize the woman's face. He felt a pang of longing while thinking of the stone woman, and moved deeper into the cave.

The cave branched off into three different directions. Kagashen was told that the hall to the left led deep underground, to a small spring. Supposedly they had left a great amount of gold and corpses down there. The hall to the right led to an ancient alter. It another time, it was probably used to honor the victims of Lady Kyuketsuki. Now it was used by the Kyuketsuki Clan to honor their own fallen members. Kagashen assumed that any clue would either be at the alter, or in the throne room.

So, Kagashen went forward into the center hallway, which he was told led to the throne room. The walls became narrow, and stairs ascended about a floor up to the main room. When Kagashen walked up the stairs, he beheld a chamber in the shape of a semi-circle. The walls were carved into very ornate patterns, and reflected the moonlight pooling on the floor. The moonlight was coming from crack at the very top of the hill, which formed a circle around the middle of the room. The crack had many small bars along its length, which cut the moonbeams into bars of their own. The effect mad it appear as the though there was a circular cage, with bars made of light, that surrounded the center of the room. And in the very center of the room was a dais with a great stone chair upon it.

Kagashen knew that this was where the original family had discovered the stone woman, petrified on her throne. He imagined that during the day, the throne would be a tortuous prison to any Kyuketsuki, being surrounded by beams of light, like a cage, and with the bright reflecting off the walls unto the raised chair. Kagashen shuddered at the thought of spending countless centuries immobilize on the stone chair.

He walked through the moonlight, and further inspected the throne. Unlike the rest of the room, the chair was very simply crafted. There was no ornate design, it was simply a block of stone chiseled into the shape of a chair. It looked rather uncomfortable. He inspected the area around the throne, but saw only piles of skulls half buried in sand.

Kagashen walked out of the throne room, back the way he had came. He made a left down the stairs and went into the room of the Alter. There was a short tunnel which led down to a small chamber. The walls were left in their natural state, and the floor was only smooth around the center of the room. In the very center there was a large shrine surrounded by bones and chests of what Kagashen presumed to be treasure. Kagashen approached the shrine and began lighting the candles around it with some matches left at the shrine. After he lit the candles he pocketed the matchbox, because he felt it might come in handy later. Kagashen bowed to the shrine, and then knelt before it and began to pray. He prayed that the fallen members of his clan find peace, and that the other Kyuketsuki would participate in more noble deeds. He prayed for his continued safety and guidance on the path of honor.

After he was done, Kagashen got up and began looking around the room for clues. He was not yet worried about the time, as the night was still young, and he had encountered a desert fox right before entering the cave. However, he was worried that any clue that had been left for him had since disappeared or even worse, that there was no clue. Kagashen walked back out to the main chamber, and into the throne room again. After he entered, he walked towards the center of the room and stopped right before reaching the moonbeams. For a long moment he looked at the stone chair and tried to imagine what it was like for the original Kyuketsuki family when they first laid eyes on Petrified Lady...

After a short while Kagashen left the main chamber. The moonbeams surrounding the throne reminded him of the bars of a prison cell. Kagashen imagined that during the day, the sun beams would be more effective to a Kyuketsuki than any cage. With a last solemn look over his shoulder, Kagashen exited the main chamber, and kept going down the hall into the desert night. Once he was back in the desert, with the moon over head, Kagashen began the walk back to the village. He thought that perhaps his Clansmen hadn't yet left a clue to their whereabouts in the cave yet. He hoped that no one had taken it. Or in the worse case scenario, that they hadn't left any clue at all. He dismissed the thought though. He was sure Elder Sister would never abandon him, even though he had done the same to her... 

He walked through the desert, heading home before the morning came.

[Exit]

Approved

7 stats
15 JP