'...and Kingdoms old.'

After resting, John led Erica through the dense jungle. The winding path led through hanging willows, over knotted tangles of roots and past immense trees that stretched far above the canopy. They passed over a still river, surface covered with white lilies, using a fallen log. As time passed, the foliage grew thinner again; their guide meandered up a steady incline, towards light-dappled leaves and the promise of freedom from the **** jungle.

Their journey ended when the rainbow trail led through a dense cluster of ferns and suddenly into the light. Beyond the treeline was a rocky slope that led downwards in a bowl. A crater, John realized, a mile-wide hole in the jungle. They were standing on its rim, overlooking the vast pit that stretched out in every direction. He looked up, bewildered at what could possibly have created such an impact? There was no hole in the cavern ceiling, no sign of a meteor... but the impact site wasn't empty either.

In the bowl of the crater, the city from his vision began: a vast network of stone buildings and towering stepped temples. It was huge, far bigger than John's ethereal recollection had implied. Hundreds of smaller houses formed a ring around a second, higher layer. There, the temples began, maybe a dozen or so that loomed over their surroundings. Facing inwards, the structures seemed almost to bow to the pinnacle at the heart of the temple-city.

That central structure was absolutely massive, rising well above everything else in the city. It resembled the other temples but was far more ornate. Tall obelisks pierced the sky on each of its eight corners, and the very center appeared to be open to the 'sky' above. Along the walls and steps was a carving of a great serpent, a leviathan that encircled and bound the entire structure. John couldn't see where its mouth ended.

"Well... that's..." Erica trailed off, speechless at the sight before them.

John finished her sentence for her, "Our way out, I think."

She gave him a look of disbelief but didn't press the subject, and they began to pick their way down the sides of the crater towards the city. As they crossed the threshold and approached the outermost houses, two popups appeared.

Kingdom Discovered!
Helia Briyo Aurelion
Status: Broken
Inhabitants: 1

Achievement Unlocked! - "Rewriting the Map"
Visit a Kingdom.
+1 Intellect

A city this big, but only one person lives in it?

He dismissed the windows, and they entered the city streets. Everything was quiet, a deathly silence that was broken only by the sound of their footsteps. The buildings had clearly been abandoned for years, wooden doors rotting in their stone frames, pottery broken and scattered from vacant windows. It was an eerie sight; it put them both on edge.

"Dude, what is this place? It looks ancient," Erica asked.

They walked past more rows of houses, towards the imposing bulk of one of the temples far ahead. John knew that was where they needed to go... but his enthusiasm for finding the city was dampened by its soulless state.

What happened here?

"I don't know," he remembered the name on the popup and tried to pronounce it. A chill wind blew over the dry stones, and he wished he hadn't. Just speaking it aloud felt wrong... as though the words were as broken as the land they described. John shivered and swallowed, as though he could take them back.

Erica seemed to be feeling the same trepidation as he was and didn't press the question further. Instead, she conjured her battleaxe, scoping out the narrow alleyways they passed. The streets were a perfect place for another ambush, but far from feeling stalked... John felt starkly alone. There was no threat, save the existential pressure of the end of existence in the form of an empty city and dust.

John led them through the city's quiet streets towards the center. His vision-memories pulled him in the direction of the largest temple...

They passed the ruins of a marketplace, which held only the rotting remains of the ancient stalls around a worn statue. John paused to look up at the figure. Age and decay had eroded most of the features, one arm crumbling to rubble at the statue's feet, but what remained was curious. It depicted a humanoid, but one with scales and a crocodilian head, a lizardman. The remaining arm was outstretched, with the palm open in a gesture of either offering or demand... there wasn't enough left of the facial features to determine which.

This must be what the inhabitants looked like.

Erica stopped alongside, "Lizards, huh. Wasn't my first guess."

He turned to face her, the question blatantly obvious on his face.

"Jungle elves," Erica said.

Huh.

Their remaining walk to the temple went unmolested, but standing in its long shadow only worsened their collective anxiety. It loomed overhead, a stark memorial of unyielding stone that dwarfed the surrounding homes and structures. The temple, and the central ring it was built atop, were raised atop a higher platform, which they ascended the steps to in silence. Each one made John feel as though he was somehow descending further into this dead place...

At the top, there was an open courtyard. It was easily hundreds of feet wide, and the sheer vastness of it made John feel tiny.

I wonder what this place would've been like, before... whatever happened.

He pointed at the center-most structure, and they both started towards it across the neatly carved stones of the courtyard. They passed over one of the great serpent's coils, every footstep echoing across the open space, announcing their presence to whatever lingered here in the heart of the fallen Kingdom. There was no reply... but this time, John felt a different discomfort. Eyes, watching them. He remembered the number of inhabitants. 1.

"Erica..."

"I know," she replied in a low whisper.

They both looked around, but there was nothing visible, save carved stone and empty air. Nothing to justify the prickling sensation they both felt, yet it was there... something in the city knew they were here.

"Let's just get this over with and get out of here." Erica reached over, grabbing his hand and yanking him towards the eight-sided temple that waited ahead. John had no objections, hurrying with her across the courtyard.

There were at least a hundred steps on each side of the city's pinnacle, but even though they were worn down by the hours of walking, John and Erica climbed the temple as quickly as their bodies would allow. As John paused for a breather on another tile that was part of the great carved serpent, he looked back and out at the city behind them. He was higher than the lip of the crater now and could see it all. The whole vacant Kingdom, spreading out on every side. Whoever had once lived here enjoyed being in power. The way their home or place of worship towered over their people made that clear.

He took a moment to stand there and look out at their surroundings. It was just so... empty, so desolate. Despite the signs of a civilization all around them, the city had been abandoned for years, maybe centuries. It was strange that the jungle hadn't reclaimed the crater...

Erica nudged him, "Hey. What's wrong, dude?"

"I'm not sure," John turned away from the view, stepping with her onto the dais atop the structure.

Immediately, John's stomach flipped. In the very center, surrounded by a ring of stone pillars, was an altar that was identical to the one in his history textbook. Except the one in the picture wasn't covered in aged, dark bloodstains. Nor were the pillars and floor surrounding it lined with stone skulls that looked distressingly human. Their empty eyesockets stared into John, and he gasped for breath with strangled lungs. Pure, raw **** permeated his senses. Nausea overcame him.

John staggered to one side and vomited onto the lower step of the temple.