TBATE: Let The Truth Be Known {Completed}

Chapter 5: Wither and Bloom

"Alright, Cecilia. I'm going to go up there," I say, trying to start up a bit of conversation.

"It's about time. We can't just sit here forever. We'll starve. Speaking of which, I'm hungry," she replies.

I pull a pouch of dried meat from my dimension rune. "Here, take this. I don't need it in all honesty. My uncle gave me more than I can use," I say.

"This will do. I'll just take a seat here in the flowers. You go be the hero," she says, whether she's teasing me or mocking me, I'm not sure.

I walk to the edge of the first stair and take a step. 

'Well looks like you were worried for nothing, princess.' Regis chimes in. 

Perhaps.

I take the second step and make my way to the pedestal. On it seems to be a keystone. 

I sigh.

It's a puzzle. 

'Indeed it is, princess. Let's hope it isn't time sensitive because you've had that last one for quite a while.' Regis responds to my inner frustration.

I take the keystone into my hand, but that may have been the wrong decision. 

"What the hell is happening?!" Cecilia yelps from behind me. 

I turn around to see the entirety of the fields of flowers to be wilting in a circle starting here at the pedestal. 

Fuck.

'I stand corrected,' Regis says.

Unfortunately, yes. Yes, you do.

"Well, I don't think I can mess anything up more than I already have," I say, trying to look on the bright side.

"They were so pretty though. Fix them! They're going to start rotting and stinking soon!" Cecilia shouts at me. 

"Well if I could fix them I would have already done it. Though, the Relictombs don't do things for no reason, so this probably plays a part in us getting the hell out of here," I explain. 

Cecilia keeps whatever she was about to say to herself and walks over to the steps of the platform to eat there instead of among the dead flowers. 

Time to take a dive into this thing. 

"Hey, Cecilia, I'm probably going to be comatose for the next few hours. If you try and kill me, the injuries Regis gives you won't be my fault. You've been warned," I tell her. "In case it takes longer than I think, here's more food," I say as I pull a second pouch from my dimension rune.

"It could take you that long?" she asks. 

"I've been known to stare at these things for upwards of 12 to 16 hours. So yes, it could take that long," I say, taking the keystone into my hands and pouring aether into it. 

Once inside, I find myself hyper-aware of my aging. A 20-foot-tall hourglass that seems to represent the constant passing of my lifespan sits in front of me. 

It has a lot of sand. Is that because of the asuran body?

I attempt to use some of my previous tricks. I knock on the glass, it makes the noise I'd expect. I start counting grains of sand, but soon realize that there are probably millions. I even tried to break the glass, but my body wasn't aether-enhanced in my mindscape so it just felt like I broke my hand. Confused, I reluctantly exit from the keystone and return to reality. 

The sky is dark, now an obsidian shade of purple. 

"It took you long enough. Your dog isn't very great company. He's way too vulgar," Cecilia says.