Abandoned Ruins

The fallen stones lie where you left them. Nothing shines in the dirt beneath the wall.

A passage runs between walls of dark stone, high enough to shade your shoulders. You turn sideways to get through. Beyond it lies a courtyard, its paving buckled around a bare patch of earth. Nothing grows there.

You cross beside a fallen wall. On the face of one block, hollows form a line that continues onto the next. You run a thumb through one. The inside is smooth, while the stone around it scratches your skin.

Something bright lies in the dirt beneath your hand. You loosen it with a fingertip: an alloy fragment, heavier than it looks. Other pieces catch the light among the fallen stones. A blue sheen moves across them as you shift.

You crouch to gather a few, working another piece free from a crack. Sand clings to its surface grooves. You wipe it against your sleeve and pack it with the others, then edge back through the passage into the sun.

You stop at the mouth of the passage. Beyond the walls, the courtyard is quiet.