Juncture 4.6

~24 hours remaining~

The first thing we did come morning was to find out where important documents were held. Jake and I were pointed in the right direction by the innkeeper, whose name I later found out was Julius. He was incredibly helpful, and even gave us small linen sacks of food – the preempt of a sack lunch.

The building that we were pointed toward was a small one. The exterior was mostly stone with some marble columns, and there were numerous graffiti carvings all over the building. The interior was much less impressive than the shabby outside. Worm-eaten wooden shelves lined the walls and filled the floor of the building, leaving small, thin traversable passages throughout.

Jake and I decided to split up in order to cover more of the building in less time. I was told what symbols to look for (it helped that they weren’t in English) and we went our ways.

~18 hours remaining~

I had finished my lunch several hours ago, and my stomach was vying for my attention via gurgling and growling. Even cold, Julius’ food was delicious.

I hadn’t found the scroll, and judging by the lack of communication between us, neither had Jake. I had gone through – by my best judgement – around one-twentieth of the building. At this rate we weren’t going to find any of the scrolls in time.

~16 hours remaining~

I talked to Jake. He hadn’t found it either, but he was covering much more ground than I had been able to. He was almost through his side of the building.

~10 hours remaining~

The scroll wasn’t in the library. We left as soon as we figured it out and ran back to the inn to find the next place to look.

~9 hours remaining~

A large temple on the top of a hill, entirely made of marble. Torches hooked upon brass sconces lined the tall, ornate walls, dying the hall with a deep, orange glow. The priest, or whatever she was, the woman wearing golden rings and white silk, showed us to a back room. I have no idea what Jake said to get us in but it worked wonders.

There were two huge oaken chests in the room, and we began looking, perhaps with less care than we had the library. We were running out of time.

~3 hours remaining~

Nothing in the chests. We had left the church and found the next building that may have contained the scrolls we were looking for. A house, purportedly of some famous collector of artifacts and religious objects. He wasn’t there, so we snuck in. I kept looking out of the nearest window. The sky was a dark crimson, and my heart was busting through my chest.

We still hadn’t found the scroll, and we didn’t have much time left. I couldn’t take it.

“Give me the translator. I’m going to tell Julius to leave.”

Jake didn’t look up from the box he was rummaging through. He only lifted one arm to his ear, unhooked the translator, and tossed it to me. I caught it and sprinted out of the room.

The atmosphere outside was heating up, and the air had a sluggish, thick quality that felt like a soup.

I ran down toward the inn. I couldn’t just let them stay here and die. I’d seen pictures of the statues that were all of the remnants of the citizens of Pompeii. I had accepted bed and food from these people. I had seen the pure, innocent curiosity of his child the night before.

I couldn’t let them die, not without trying to save them. The sandy, dusty path exploded into dust clouds as my feet impacted it, harder than usual due to the speed of my running. The armor I was wearing wore heavier as sweat began to drip down my forehead.

I made it to the inn, stumbling in through the door. Julius was behind the bar, watching me, looking very interested. As I thought of what I was going to say, the translator on my ear let out a little zap, and words started flowing out of my mouth. I couldn’t recognize them, but I knew what they meant.

“Julius, you need to get your family out of here. There’s going to be an explosion. You can’t stay.”

He said something back, and the same weird, electric sensation emerged from the translator, and I understood what he had said, without knowing the words.

“Buddy, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Yeah, it’s a bit sunny outside, but nothing bad is going to happen. This happens all the time here.”

“No, there’s a volcano! Mount Vesuvius! Right there, the mountain next to the city? It’s going to erupt.” I shouted.

He looked at me with one eyebrow cocked. “Here, sit down and calm yourself. I’ll get you some wine. You look flushed.”

I sat, but didn’t drink what he poured for me. “No, I’m being serious. I can’t let you stay here. You will die. I’ve seen it. You’ll die instantly, and get turned to stone. The ashes are going to cover the whole city. It’ll be a tragedy.” I took a breath, “please leave.”

He let out a low chuckle. “Buddy, I’m not leaving based on the ramblings of a strange drifter. I can’t just leave my city. It’s where I live, you know?”

I was crestfallen. He didn’t believe me. He was going to die, along with everyone else in this godforsaken city.

Suddenly, a spark. A way I could potentially save them. It would suck, and I wasn’t even sure if it would work. I was dehydrated, hungry, and more than a little tired. But I was going to try it.

~2 minutes remaining~
I looked up at the darkening sky. As the distant sounds of explosions tore through the landscape, the sky had gone dark. Now people were getting worried. It was too late, though. It was going to happen and there was nothing more I could do here. I hoped Jake made it back to the office in case this didn’t work.

I closed my eyes.

~now~
The ashes rained down, and I laid on the ground. For one second I felt hot pinpricks on my skin, and then I felt nothing at all. After that, even that stopped. Everything stopped.