Gründ wiggled and tickled and rolled until he at last got out of his wings. His helmet had flown away at some point without him realizing it, but it didn’t really matter. He had been, for one glorious, exhilarating moment, a flying Töskr. This memory would never leave him. But now, his natural curiosity was nagging at his heels: where was he, and what were these ruins?

Now that he saw them up close, it was obvious that these houses had been abandoned a very long time ago. A closer inspection of his surroundings revealed circles engraved in the ground.

“Never seen this before… Were these made by the Ancients? What would they have done with these circles?” He tried to imagine a ritual involving them, and failed. He had to explore a bit more. For research. Yes. Exactly. Not at all because he was lost, or curious, or hungry…

While Gründ explores his surroundings for research and stomach purposes, you are very probably wondering who and what the Ancients are. This question will now be answered. The Ancients, dear reader, were the previous inhabitants of Druss. Not much is known about them but that they were smaller than Töskrs, builders of the houses and of the machines that our little fluff balls use, and very very intelligent.

The Ancients had discovered how to create and use the small orbs that power the machines and give light, and they had left behind them runes in ruins describing rituals. And then, they disappeared. Nobody knows where or how or when, but one thing is certain: there were suddenly gone from Druss never to be seen again.

Now that you know as much about the Ancients as is possible to tell, let’s get back to our story, shall we? Gründ was, as you recall, investigating, and had found something… interesting. Ruins. And in them, runes.

The Ancients had the horrible but very practical habit of writing on the walls of their houses, and here is what Gründ read: “Four wings like feathers to soar through the skies, to carry us away from Druss. Leave this soil and walk the Core. See the other continents and understand the world.”

It took him some time to decipher the ancient writings, but in the end he understood. “Walk Kurr… The Ancients wanted to… Oh dear, I need to tell Bared! He won’t believe it, this is too big. I’ll see if there’s anything else before going back. And maybe food, while I’m at it…” Gründ was known in the entire colony for his eating ability. He was always hungry.

This particular building gave no more informations, and the young adventurer decided to go explore another one. Conveniently, this one also had engravings, even a drawing. Here is the runes that Gründ could read, the others being too damaged by time: “This one would soar the skies. Four wings like feathers. Two orbs, one of us in control"

Next to these very peculiar sentences, the drawing of a machine the likes of which Gründ had never seen. Feathery, yes, but not only. He sat down to think on it, munching on a few berries he had found nearby.