Ruins of Shadows

The camping trip had been a spontaneous decision. Five friends spending time together before they enter their final year in high school. Time to bond and make special memories before the stress of adult life crushed them. Keira wasn’t the one who suggested it, but she was enthusiastic all the same.

The campsite was isolated, deep within the massive property that belonged to the relative of a friend. No one else should be on the property. Just them and the peaceful wilderness.

Setting up camp was easy, Keira had been camping before, multiple times with her family. She was considered the most experienced, so helped others with their own tents. A small tent each. Circling a campfire that had not yet been lit.

It was still early in the day, with several hours of sunlight left, so they unanimously voted to explore the area. Linka, who’s relative owned the property, was the most eager. She had spent countless hours in her childhood traversing the woods that bordered her uncle’s home, but had been forbidden to venture further.

She was like a kid in a candy store.

“I’ve always heard rumours about possible ruins hidden in the woods,” Linka explained excitedly.

“What kind of ruins?” Rikko asked as she flicked her dyed pink hair over her shoulder. “Are we talking about, like, ancient ruins with stones and sigils, or just like the foundation of an old cabin or something?”

It didn’t surprise Keira that Rikko was interested. Despite her bright pink, she was interested in the dark and macabre. If the ruins were indeed those ancient stone variety, she was going to be very interested. Obnoxiously so, probably.

Despite the bright sunlight, Keira still grabbed a flashlight from her backpack and slid it into her back pocket. It was a heavy-duty one, borrowed from her father. He always said that one of the most important tools on a camping trip was a good, reliable flashlight.

Linka took the lead, picking a random direction. The bushland wasn’t all that dense, but it still wouldn’t be difficult for them to get lost. The soil was sandy, which was usual for the area, the trees tall with dry leaves. Typical arid Australian bushland. Still beautiful, regardless.

After a few minutes of trekking, a speck of blue within the greenery. It immediately got their attention and Linka led the way over to it.

It was a tent. It was ragged and battered, clearly been in the wilderness for a while. But it wasn’t exactly old. Maybe a couple of weeks. The tent was half caved in, the thin plastic material ripped in strips. Around the blue plastic was remnants a campsite and personal belongings.

“Oh, someone else had been camping here,” Rikko commented.

“Brilliant observation,” Lissa mocked sarcastically.

Keira rolled her eyes. Lissa was honestly such an edgy bitch sometimes. She honestly wondered why they were even friends with her.

“What’s that?” Linka suddenly asked.

Keira turned to look at Linka, finding her leant forward and looking into the bush. She approached her in hopes of seeing what she was looking at. She saw nothing at first, but after a moment she saw jagged stones that did not match the surroundings. Set into the bushland, covered in shrubbery. And there appeared to be a hole in the ground. Branches above it had been broken. A sign that someone else had recently found the anomaly.

She didn’t have a chance to say anything before Linka turned around to face her excitedly. “It’s the ruins!”

“We can’t be sure,” Keira tried to be cautious, but Linka wasn’t listening.

“They’re real! I knew they were!”

Keira sighed and turned to look over her shoulder, finding her other friends digging through the leftover remains of the tent, picking through the bags and backpacks. “Hey, I wouldn’t touch any of that.”

Rikko gave a careless shrug. “Why not? It’s obvious that they’re not coming back.”

“What if they’re missing?” Keira once again tried to reason. “You’re messing with possible evidence or something.”

Lissa snorted loudly with pure contempt. “Typical albino, thinking you’re better than everyone else.”

Keira was immediately offended and felt her hackles raise. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? What does my albinism have anything to do with being rational?”

Just because she had white hair and red eyes, did not make her superhuman or subhuman, like Lissa seemed to imply.

“Alright, enough,” Linka interjected once more. “No arguing. We’ve found something, regardless. Let’s check it out.”

Rikko stood up and idly brushed the dirt and gravel from her knees. “Did your uncle say anything about someone camping on his property?”

“No, he doesn’t let anyone camp here.”

“Wait,” Keira said slowly, “Does he know we’re here?”

Linka gave a dismissive shrug, indirectly answering with a resounding ‘no.’ Keira was less than happy. In fact, she felt nervous that they were in the middle of the wilderness, on a property of a man that didn’t know they were there. What if something happened? Anything could happen out camping.

Especially when there were mysterious stone ruins involved.

“I’m not entering that,” Keira said sternly as she waved a hand vaguely in the opening’s direction. “Who knows how unsafe it is.”

Unsurprisingly, Lissa was the one who immediately decided to mock her. Again. “Stop being so pretentious.”

“I’m honestly not surprised you know what pretentious means,” Keira retorted sharply, “It’s your MO, after all.”

“Ok, enough, you two,” Linka interrupted before their conversation got heated. Like it usually did. “We’re just going to have a quick look around. We’re not going to do anything too dangerous.”

Keira didn’t fully believe that. She knew her friends well enough. She had gotten them out of trouble more times than she could count. It was difficult being the only rationally one in the group.

Besides, Linka had heard rumours all her life, of course she was going to explore the ruins thoroughly.

Keira sighed with defeat and exasperation, grateful that she had brought a powerful flashlight with her. They were heading into the ruins, and she did not have a good feeling about it.