Aurora Magazine 2019

orb was or contained to cause such desecration was something that should not be found or unleashed upon the world. So, he did what any of his tribe would have and called upon nature to fight the desecration, providing what assistance he could, and to help him steer people away from the ruins. And there he stood, for eight years, guarding the discovery from all and helping to strengthen nature in the surrounding areas to keep what was inside from ever leaving. He’d gotten used to a life of solitude and seclusion from the rest of the world when a young, nosy grung managed to sneak up on him and ask a bunch of questions. He wasn’t even sure how the grung found him or the ruins when he’d gone through such lengths to keep it hidden. He stayed tight-lipped around Kuh-rung, a name the grung called himself, for a while. He liked the grung after knowing him for a little while, but he wasn’t sure what the grung was after. Over time, the mild annoyance he felt toward the grung with a thousand questions turned to a friend - ship of sorts – an odd one, but one he felt he could trust all the same. Then Kuh-rung just had to let his curiosity take control and he went and touched the orb, disappearing right before Wil - liam’s eyes. Instinctively, he followed after the grung despite the idea of what they both might uncover. They ended up in circular shaped chamber that looked like it had been created through erosion of water, pocketed in a mountainside somewhere. The chamber was made up of black obsidian with veins of greenish liquid pocketed throughout the walls, flowing down to a boiling lake below where they stood. William glanced behind them and saw a glowing white archway, of which he couldn’t see through, but knew would lead them back to the ruins. In front of them were floating stepping stones that lead up to a sarcophagus that floated fifteen feet above the emerald, magma-like lake below. On one of the floating disks leading to the sarcophagus, hung a sign with primordial scrawl across it. In fact, as Will continued looking 40