Journal Entry, Dated 25/02
Jasmine
Metadata
Reference Number: BICI/SSP/CRJ1004/017
Title: Journal Entry, Dated 25/02
Author: Jasmine
Date: Written approximately 25/02, Year 5607 A. o. W.
Extent: One journal entry, four pages long
25/02
I’m still not used to writing in the morning. The pages of my journal look different when they’re lit by the sun. I didn’t realize the paper was this white.
We made good progress on the wall yesterday. At this rate, Nico thinks we’ll be done by the end of the month. We’re nearly done with the southern wall, and Nico expects the northern wall to go much faster. We’ve completely abandoned any attempt at making them look nice. As long as they keep people out of the village, we’ve accomplished our goal.
The chasm widened again yesterday. Nico and I were lugging a rotten log over to the southern wall when he stopped, scrunching his nose up in an expression I didn’t recognize. A moment later, he set the log down and looked off into the distance. I tried to follow his gaze, looking for any aberrations, but I didn’t see any.
“It’s going to widen,” he said.
I remembered the last time this happened. “The chasm?”
He picked the log back up. “Come on. This way.” He guided us east, further away from the wall. Just when I was about to ask what was happening, I heard something behind me. The earth next to the chasm crumbled away, falling down into nothing.
I remembered the aberrations. The way they screamed as they fell.
The nothing grew. Quickly.
“Should we drop the tree and run?” I asked, pulling further away from the chasm. We were a good distance away, but watching the cliffside grow was unsettling. I didn’t trust it not to widen even further, and I wasn’t willing to take any chances.
“No. It’s about to stop,” Nico said. His little grin returned, as easy as ever. After a few moments, the crumbling stopped. The chasm wasn’t too much wider than before, at least in this area. It was only a little longer than one of my arms.
I didn’t understand how he was so nonchalant about it. I still don’t. “Can you always tell when it’s about to happen?” I asked.
“Most of the time,” Nico said with a shrug. “There’s a kind of… hmm. How should I explain it… there’s a kind of change in the air right before it’s about to happen. You might not be able to notice it, but I’ve been here long enough that I can.”
“Is it magic?”
“Kind of. A really strong Ember might be able to notice it too, even if they hadn’t spent much time here.”
“And you’re not worried about falling in?”
“I’m not worried about something so predictable.”
I could never feel the same. If I lived here by myself, I would leave the moment I had my things packed. I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep without worrying that I’d wake up falling forever. I’d dream of it every night.
The only reason why I don’t leave now… well, I’ll chance the chasm over the aberrations, given my poor fighting skills. Besides, Nico would tell me if we were in genuine danger.
The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. Nico has thinned out the aberration’s numbers, so we get more work done during the day. We usually end with his quiver half-full of bolts.
I even killed an aberration by myself today. I’m still not much of a fighter, but I can heft the staff over my head and bash one’s head in until it stops moving. It feels visceral, but at least they don’t bleed.
When aberrations die, they don’t leave bodies behind. They turn to ash and blow away in the wind. Sometimes I wonder where the ashes go. When I asked Nico, he said he didn’t know.
There was one other strange thing. On the way back, Nico asked me to collect some wild herbs in the village while he started dinner. I asked about the aberrations, but he wasn’t concerned.
“If any come after you, just scream and beat it with your staff until I come!” he said cheerfully.
“Yeah. Okay,” I said, and left him to head back to the cottage. I was still a little concerned, but at least I was near the cottage. I could run back inside if I needed to.
The meadow was quiet. I didn’t hear or see any aberrations. I looked around for the herbs, and found a large patch close to the edge of the chasm.
I still didn’t trust the chasm not to grow on me, but since Nico wasn’t worried, I was determined not to be either. I had never seen it widen twice in the same day.
I crouched down to pick the herbs, pale green with soft leaves and a slightly smoky smell. I didn’t know their name, and I didn’t ask during dinner. Maybe I should tomorrow.
Still slightly nervous, I glanced over at the chasm. It was completely still. I wondered how far down it really went, and I crept a little closer. When I looked down, I saw a faint layer of fog. Faint, and hard to make out against the black void, but I know fog well. I’ve spent my life staring at that thick blanket of gray that His Eternal Warmth created to shield us from the edge of Nothingness.
But unlike what blankets the ocean, I could see through parts of this fog. And lining the wall was…
What looked like a layer of ice.
I wondered how something like that could possibly exist here. This forest is much hotter than Seabreeze Shoal, and ice only forms in Seabreeze Shoal after a cold night’s worth of rain. You can scrape it off the shallow pools gathered in the village in the morning.
Spica would sometimes gather ice and put it in a bowl of sliced melon. She said it tasted better when it was chilled.
I thought about bringing up what I saw to Nico. I almost did during dinner. Then Nico asked me to help sweep the cottage, and the moment passed.
It’s for the best. No one outside of Seabreeze Shoal even knows what ice is. Why waste my breath explaining something that doesn’t matter to someone I barely know?