Ruins of the Sky Temple — somewhere above the world, too high for comfort, too quiet for peace.
Auren'thal: [Standing near a broken arch, brushing dust off his sleeve.] So. This is where we ended up. Again.
Seren: You say that like the ruins chose us. Pretty sure you're the one dragging us to these places.
Auren'thal: I don't drag you anywhere. You follow. That's what you do.
Seren: Follow? No. I witness. There's a difference. And sometimes I bring snacks. So technically, I contribute.
Auren'thal: [Dry.] You're a walking commentary with trail mix.
Seren: And you're a walking crisis with nice boots. Look at us—what a team.
Auren'thal: [Looks up at the shattered ceiling above.] This used to be called the Sky Temple. People believed the stars listened from here. They said the air itself held memory.
Seren: Now it just holds wind and bird crap.
Auren'thal: [Sighs.] You make it very hard to be reverent.
Seren: I'm just saying—if this place was sacred, it didn't age well.
Auren'thal: You're not wrong. But there's something about being somewhere that once mattered. Even if it's broken. Especially if it's broken.
Seren: You think standing in a dead temple will bring it back to life?
Auren'thal: No. But I think maybe, if I stand here long enough, I'll remember why it mattered in the first place.
Seren: [Steps closer, scanning the ground.] You don't strike me as the nostalgic type.
Auren'thal: I'm not. But I remember things no one else does. And that's a kind of weight you carry whether you like it or not.
Seren: Is that what you call this whole pilgrimage thing? A burden?
Auren'thal: What would you call it?
Seren: Honestly? I'd call it you chasing something you can't name, and dragging me along because you're too proud to admit you're scared of being alone.
Auren'thal: [Long pause.] ...You're sharper than usual today.
Seren: Maybe it's the altitude. Thinner air helps me think.
Auren'thal: [Half-smiles.] Or maybe you've finally gotten used to me.
Seren: Let's not go that far. [She crouches beside a carved stone near the edge. There's a sigil half-faded on its face, something ancient and almost familiar.]
Seren: This mark. I've seen it before.
Auren'thal: You have. On the Obsidian Wall in the drowned quarter. And on the doors in the desert vault. It's been showing up more.
Seren: Any idea what it means?
Auren'thal: Not yet. But it doesn't belong to any age we know. And it's always tied to places that used to be powerful—and then weren't.
Seren: So it's cursed?
Auren'thal: Possibly. Or maybe it's a warning no one remembers how to read. [They both look toward the jagged horizon beyond the temple's remains. The sky is dim, not from clouds, but from something else—like the light itself is holding back.]
Seren: You feel that?
Auren'thal: Yeah. Like pressure. Like something's about to snap but hasn't decided when.
Seren: I felt it at the last site too. And the one before that. Same weird tension, like we're walking into someone's dream that doesn't want us there.
Auren'thal: It's following us.
Seren: Or we're following it. [A quiet rumble—faint, but not thunder. Something deeper, older.]
Auren'thal: That sound again.
Seren: You keep pretending it surprises you.
Auren'thal: Because it shouldn't be there. Not here. Not in a place that's supposed to be dead.
Seren: You said it yourself—memory lingers. Maybe it's not as dead as it looks.
Auren'thal: Or something's waking it up.
Seren: Maybe it's all connected. The symbols. The sounds. The way you keep bringing me to places with no roads and bad vibes.
Auren'thal: You think I'm doing this on purpose?
Seren: No. I think something else is. And we're just... playing our parts. [Silence stretches again, heavier now.]
Auren'thal: Tell me what you really think, Seren. Why do you stay?
Seren: [Pauses.] Because every time we go somewhere, it feels like we're getting closer to something that doesn't have a name yet. And maybe... just maybe... I want to be there when it finally speaks.
Auren'thal: [Quiet.] You're not what I expected.
Seren: Neither are you.
[Far below, a distant wind howls—sharp and unnatural. Something shifts in the air.]
Auren'thal: We should go.
Seren: We never stay long. Always one conversation per ruin. Then we're off to the next half-buried secret.
Auren'thal: It's not a pattern. It's a path.
Seren: Whatever it is... it's starting to feel like a countdown.