Seregal Chakane, an Intelligent Jack who Explores Dark Places, currently disguised as "Father Seren"
Seregal holds up the map carefully so while Antor and Echo can see it, no one else can. He keeps his voice low-pitched so it won't carry.
"About a few months ago I was on my rounds between the aldeia when I stopped at the Hospice of Turning Swallow. It's a little out of the way; it's where members of the Order treat the sick, those with rare diseases, often caused by the numenera.
"There was a dying man who wanted to his last words recorded for posterity. Since they were busy, Sister Makhoram asked if I could do it.
"So for a few days I sat by a dying man's beside, and wrote down his last story. His name was Zorak of Redstone. He was a numenera hunter, and his conscience was wracked by something that had happened over twenty years ago.
"He and his expedition had gone to Augur-Kala, at the behest of an Augur, Jastor Kannop, who wanted to explore some ruins. Now the thing was that the Augurs didn't go near these ruins, for reasons known only to them. That was why Jastor was hiring humans to do his dirty work for him. Jastor told Zorak that there was a steel garden at the centre of the city, and that Jastor wanted Zorak to take a green orb from a machine at the centre of the garden. In return, Zorak and his expedition could take whatever they wanted from the city. All they had to do was give the green orb to Jastor.
"So Zorak lead his expedition to the city. He learned that the Augurs called it Iszat Girrem, the Waiting City, or the City Adrift on the Time Tides. It's out of phase; if you go at the wrong time, you'll just see dust and glass and ruins, and if you go at the right time, you'll see a shining city, fresh as the day it was made.
"Zorak's nano, his wife, was the real brains of the mission. He never told me her name. The nano figured out from Jastor's notes how how the expedition could phase into the city when it appeared. There was a clock or something at the city's entrance that she was able to use. So, when the city appeared, the expedition went in. Zorak said that it was the most wonderful thing he'd ever seen – water flowing backwards, beautiful gardens, succulent fruits and delights for everyone. Zorak said that there were Aurgurs in the streets; but they weren't hostile. They were curious, they didn't think their city was ruined at all. Zorak talked about the wondrous machines, the numenera, things he'd never seen before or since.
"But with his mind on the job, Zorak led his team to the garden and pulled out the green orb. Then everything started to go strange. Zorak said that he saw buildings age to dust, and saplings grow into great trees from a single heartbeat. He kept his expedition together and they ran for the entrance to the city. The nano told Zorak to wait for her while she fiddled with the clock and got everyone to safety. Zorak waited, but then he saw one of his other other expedition members panic and run forward before the nano gave the signal. She turned instantly into dust. Zorak lost his nerve and ran, carrying the orb. He saw the nano screaming at him, beating her hands against something like a glass shell in front of her. Zorak ran and lost consciousness. When he woke up, he found that half of his body was aged, like it was an old man, while the other half was smooth and young, like a youth. He tried to go back for his expedition members, but the city was in ruins. He scavenged a handful of cyphers from the ruins, great wonders he said, never had anything like them before or after. Then he took the green orb, smashed it, and never returned to Augur-Kala again. He never met Jastor again.
"But the mission haunted him for the rest of his life. He kept talking about the nano again, and how he should have waited for her. Maybe everything would be all right. He wanted to go back there, but was too sick. The old half his body was dying and while the young half was eternally youthful. He swallowed some poison that would give him a long death, but then I wrote down the history of his expedition. Then he gave the map, and asked me if I could find out what happened to his wife. Said it was her map, with her notes. Then he died. He closed his eyes and that was it."
Seregal is quiet for a few moments, wiping at his eyes.
It's a beautiful story.
Most of it it even true.
He holds up the map. "So, this is the map made by Zorak's wife. She's got notes on it. If I can figure it out, we can get into the Waiting City. At the very least, it might be a good place to find cyphers, or at least." Seregal shrugs. "That's if we can believe the words of a dying man."