After leaving the tree, I headed due east, discovering a crescent of ruined structures around a small central isle. I landed on the central isle, immediately discovering the presence of ghosts upon it, in addition to the enormous gears and other rubble embedded in its surface, and a large hole in the center. The first ghost I illuminated looked to be a person thrown by an explosion, perhaps: he was still midair, arms thrust forward and away from the hole. Two other ghosts near the hole were looking slightly upwards at something no longer visible, and one was saying something: “There is nothing more we can do. The machine is an accident waiting to happen. We got too greedy.” I guessed the accident did happen; the interior of the hole only displayed two huge ruptured pipes, and all the way over on the crescent, a tower’s top had been split from its base, flying away from the central island. And if the crescent had once been part of the same island… then assuming it was the accident and not the Great Divide that caused the separation, then that was a large explosion indeed. Perhaps the machine’s body had shielded this small island.
I flew in another direction, discovering a statue of a large crane—like the one in the drawing! That must be it. The ghosts here were calmly walking in a line, the front one remarking, “I don’t remember this place being here. Are the lands drifting in the wind? We need to hurry if we want to reach someplace safe.” As far as I know, the islands are rather static in location, so either this ghost was mistaken or the lands moved a little after the Great Divide before settling in their new spots. If they were drifting in the wind, the crescent nearby would probably not still be aligned as well as it is.
East further still, I found what was, more likely, the remains of Urzha, or at least, what had not vanished in the separation of the Great Divide. There were buildings and towers and roads, and I swear at least several of these could have been houses at some time in the past, though many were missing their roofs. I dove to street level and entered a round building that had a small hole in its flat roof, a tree and a broken statue of a hooded figure directly below the hole. The tree appeared to have grown over a pedestal, so the statue probably had not been on the roof; it likely had been displaced by the tree that grew now that it had light from above. Around the tree were enormous rolled-up scrolls, and three rolled-out scrolls for me to read. Ghosts stood over the scrolls, likewise reading what I was about to witness.
To Goreyon of the Storm Islands, from his son Tazou. Father, it’s with sorrow that I must tell you of the loss of the Snow Crane Library. The Palace Guard of the City of Onn came in the night, carrying weapons and shouting the name of their king Koroku.
Oh, maybe this isn’t Urzha. So this is Onn? I guess I know what the crane statue was near. And with that, I guess I’ll find more memories of fights between those speaking of Koroku and those who have no idea what’s going on.
They destroyed and burned houses and scrolls alike and would have burned us, too, had we not been able to escape. We watched from a safe distance, keeping close the few precious scrolls we had saved.
For this letter to be laid out here in three separate scrolls, I suppose time passed and things calmed down.
We will journey to the Monastery in the Northwest to place the scrolls in its safety. I trust that it’s too far away for Koroku’s wrath, and too poor to excite his greed. The Spirit Crane will lead us until the snow line and then return home south with my letter to you. I hope he finds you well.
I wonder if I’ll meet the Spirit Crane on this journey?
Outside the building, I did indeed find much evidence of fighting, between the ghosts and fractured statues of lions, a monkey, and some sort of bird with its wings spread wide. Beside one large house, four ghosts stood outside a door, knocking. “Mayor, open the door! Are you just going to let these soldiers overrun your city? Stop cowering and come out!” What could the mayor do? I moved behind the building and found nothing: no rear part of it, and the interior was bare, no memory of the mayor to find.
In another place, further away, I found two ghosts chatting, with one sitting in the mere memory of a chair, the chair itself nowhere to be found. “I for one am glad that the God-King is here to protect us against those southern brutes.” But… this is as far south as the Land of Gods goes. Perhaps they mean somewhere well beyond the borders of this place? The buildings in this area were more intact than where I began, and one place near a bird shrine held another scroll and a crowd of ghosts. One before the scroll shouted, “The God-King demands changes!”
By Royal Decree of God-King Koroku, King of Kings and God of Gods. All must bow to Him, the only God! His and His alone are all the lands of the East, and the Land of the Gods. Bend the knee and be spared. Resist and see the last of your days. Such is the Will of the God-King Koroku now and forever, written in the tenth Year of the Heron in His Great City of Onn!
I was quite glad this man was not the god he claimed to be.
With the city now thoroughly explored, and no sign of the throne from which Koroku must have ruled with an iron fist, I headed north to a place that had islands in many levels, stacked on top of each other. A large tablet stood untouched by the ages, and I drew near to read it.
Home of thousands, we built this shrine to stand beacon and as home to the birds of these lands. Much as birds did for us in the ancient days. They have been our friends since forever. They scouted the lands and settled in places of soil which could sustain us. When we were still the tribes in the wilds, we traveled with the birds as they moved. We trusted them to mark the moment of change. They taught us to be nomads, and shaped us to what we became.
Behind the tablet was the largest bird shrine I had ever seen, easily five times the size of normal ones in every dimension. It held a bird in almost every opening I could see upon its face, eight on each of the four sides. Even with the people gone, the birds still found respite in their work. A pleasant change from the chaos in the city to the south.
To the east, a giant structure dominated a massive island, but I flew under it for the moment to another tablet, this one covered in pictures rather than letters. The pictures upon it seemed to be a map of this southeastern region of the Land of Gods. In the bottom left stood massive trees above a much shorter forest, split from the rest by a great river of which I had seen no evidence that it still existed. The bottom right held what could only be a representation of the City of Onn, two massive towers standing above a shorter city surrounded by a forest. The forest spread northwest to a more squat building that seemed to be wearing a crown of sorts, spikes protruding regularly from the centerpiece. Further north, a depiction of windswept peaks, though not pointed ones. And in the top left of the diagram was another city. Perhaps that one was Urzha.
Before it stood two ghosts, conversing about the diagram. “Gardus told me that the mountains to the north were falling apart.”
“You shouldn’t believe such rumors, Dalius.”
I might not find the mountains, or maybe I would only find stacks of islands, as there were here. Flying upwards, I found that the structure upon the giant island was indeed what I had been looking for, the Key-accepting location shining a beacon of light upwards. This was indeed the crowned structure of the diagram, which proved a faithful representation in two dimensions. The crown upon this structure was circular in nature, and outwards from it ran seven spokes, the apparent lock standing in place of an appropriate eighth. At the end of each spoke stood a short tower with large pipes around it, though some were crumbling, and along each spoke ran a chain, from the tower to the center. Some of the chains had severed, and I hoped that would not impact the function of the Key.
Three ghosts were wrestling in front of where I was sure the entrance to the structure would appear. “Let go of me! These are holy grounds. Not just another power source for the taking!” It seemed Koroku’s reach had extended even this far.
I moved to the pedestal and used the Key, and the unbroken chains I had observed were wound up, into the towers around the center. Rather than retreat, however, the center rose up, forming another, much greater tower in the middle. A section near its peak rotated until nine lights on each of the eight sides lined up, forming a square with three dots each on the top and bottom, and three lines connecting the two. Then the tower sunk a little, reaching its final place with a resounding thud. I ran to the center of it, lantern key aloft, and the lit diamond platform retreated with me on top.