Submission (#6980) Approved

Kalea, or Kal as she was known to her friends and family, nimbly hopped over a tree root. She and her father, Soren, were exploring the deep woods of Kyendi. 

“Wait up!” Soren called out, laughing slightly as he followed Kal. They were following a small stream through the misty hills, having already scrambled up the side of several small waterfalls on their journey. In the distance, peeking through the trees, Kal could make out the softly rounded hills of the distant mountains, and staring back the way they had come from, far away the towering form of the local elder tree was still slightly visible. The great tree took the form of a large weeping willow, super peaceful and relaxing to visit. Kalea greatly enjoyed napping in the shade of the great tree, but naps were not on the agenda for today, nope!

Kalea has heard from Lani and his parents, her older sister Kaia and her partners Kau’i and Koa, that they had stumbled across some very interesting ruins on one of their ventures out into the surrounding forests. Kal was no stranger to the ruins of Kyendi, her and her brother Lidi had been exploring them for months now on their latest excursion out from their homeland of Palu’au. Thankfully, Kyendi was close by, and the journey hadn’t been very long, at least not to get to the city of Eiloen. They were now slowly making their way towards Sulapei, currently staying in a small village nestled about halfway between the two.

But anyways, Kal and Lidi had taken great pleasure in exploring as many of the overgrown ruins as possible on their journey, the twins' love of exploration always indulged by their parents, Soren and Evenne, although Evenne was far less likely to accompany them than their father. But something was different about these ruins Lani had found, and Kal was so curious to check them out herself. Lidi had taken the chance to work with Evenne in the kitchens for the day, one of the local villagers offering to teach him and Evenne a new recipe for a local pastry, but Kal had never been much one for the kitchen, and she had dragged Soren out with her to find these ruins Laniakea had told her about. 

The mist grew thicker even as the sun rose higher overhead, “Seriously, kid, wait up!” Soren called out to her, and Kalea stumbled to a stop. Not because her father had asked her to, no, but because they’d finally found it. Emerging from the damp, clinging mists was the most unusual sight Kalea had ever seen, and she walked straight into a bend on the stream in her distraction. Kal squeaked as water rushed over her head, the growing current from the waterfall that bisected the ruins threatening to pull her deeper. 

Thankfully, a pair of larger paws pluck her from the water before she even has a chance to get really scared. Soren settles her on the rocky bank of the stream, and she blinks up at him even as water drips from her fur and tail, the wetness weighing down her featherlight bangs. Soren nudges her softly in concern, his damp braids trailing in the mud as he bends down to check on her, tail swishing behind him in agitation. Kalea sneezes, but hastens to reassure him. 

“I’m fine Papa!” 

She scrambles to her feet and shakes out the water from her fur, leaning to see around her father in fascination. 

The ruins are falling apart, dense foliage covering most of it, but the ruins appear to be in… pieces? Not pieces exactly, but like they’ve just barely managed to appear, parts of them just missing, walls perched and balanced precariously. The ruins jut from the cliff face in front of them, split evenly on either side of the large waterfall that tumbles down the center of the ruins with a loud roar. The split is disconcertingly even, the edges of the walls totally smooth, like someone had cut a slice out of the ruins like a piece of cake.  And it's not just where the stream cuts through the ruins that's missing a piece, but the whole thing, as far as Kalea can make out within the deep mist. Slices of buildings are just… missing entirely, like a half finished puzzle, or some giant’s building blocks that had been left half hazardously lying around the forest floor. 

“Oh, woooow…” Kal breaths out, scampering over to inspect the nearest wall. There’s a slice missing just big enough for her to pop through, so she sticks her head in, only for Soren to pull on her tail gently to stop her.

“Be careful, I don’t know how stable this is.” Kal glances at her father who is looking around nervously. She pouts but steps back.

“This is so cool though!” She pipes up, peering into the cool mist to see as much as she can. Soren gingerly makes his way forward to inspect the ruins. “Well, you’re not wrong. I wonder how this happened?” 

Kalea stops to inspect the foreign symbols etched into the walls. She’s never seen anything quite like them. They seem similar to some of the things she’d found in other ruins, but not quite? They didn’t resemble the eyre script at all. She can't help but wonder about what kind of people had created these ruins. How had they ended up here in the middle of the forest? She’s aware of the tendency for Kyendi to be a little unstable, so who knows exactly where, or when these ruins are originally from, but she wonders.

Kalea bounces in place. “Can we explore Papa? Please please pleeeeeaaaase?”

Soren frowns softly for a moment, eyeing her, before he breaks into a grin. “Okay fine, but stay close, and be careful.”

Kalea breaks into a squeal of excitement, and immediately goes back to trying to shove herself back through the gap in the wall, only for Soren to squawk loudly behind her.

“Wait, wait, wait!”

Kalea can only laugh as her father has to find a way around.

This is going to be so much fun, she can’t help but think.