A Strange City in a Strange World

(Day Before)

Lyra, Mia Scoresby and their daemons Pantalaimon and Aster stalked through the dense forests of the strange world they had entered when they passed through Lord Asriel's created window. It was dark. There were leaves and bushes everywhere. It was nothing like they had ever seen before. And they had yet to find civilisation.

As they walked towards a clearing surrounded by rocks, Lyra noticed that Mia had slowed down slightly. She stopped. She turned around and looked towards a towering beacon of light that shone in the great distance. Asriel's window.

Lyra could tell what her expression meant. "Mia." she approached her friend, who turned around to meet her face, "If you really want to go back to your father, I don't mind. I never wanted to drag you into this anyway,"

"But what about you Lyra?" Mia asked. "You don't even know what this world is like or where your..." she paused, knowing better to change words. "Asriel is going,"

"I can't turn back. I have to find out about dust...otherwise Roger..." she held back a sob and a teary expression. "...died for nothing,"

"Then I'm with you all the way," Mia clasped her shoulder.

"But Mia..."

"I've already come too far to turn back now. My father's too far away for me to reach and so my only course of action is stick with you. And besides...the Magisterium will have air ships everywhere. If I set foot out, they'd capture or kill me. My father would in much greater danger if he learnt of that. My path is with you now. I just hope that he knows that we're alright,"

Lyra took her hand. "I promise you Mia. Once we find answers about dust, I will stop at nothing to get you back to your father. I promise,"

Mia smiled. She was pulled into a tight hug which she returned affectionately. Linking hands, they continued walking through the strange forests of this new world. Pan and Aster trotted behind them in the forms of an arctic fox and a pine Martin. They came closer and closer to a clearing.

The daemons trotted on ahead.

"Guys look!" Aster called.

The girls rushed up to the arctic fox daemon perching on a rock overlooking a great view. In the distance lied a city almost separated from the mainland. It lied on a bed of calm but dark water that seemed to stretch far out into the unknown.

"Civilization," Mia breathed.

"It's the city in the sky," Lyra said.

"What?" Mia asked.

"Asriel...at Jordan College, he showed photos he took. One of them was a picture of this city in the Aurora," Lyra remembered that image like it was not too long ago.

"That must be what he was looking for Lyra," Pan said.

"Then that's where we'll go," Lyra said. "We'll rest here for the night. And we'll head there tomorrow,"

Not too long after she announced their plan, the sky rumbled, and rain suddenly poured down. Quickly they found a small cave and took shelter inside. Lyra and Mia rewrapped themselves in their coats. Mia pulled out a flint and steel from her shoulder bag and got a fire going on some twigs that they managed to find.

As the rain pounded the forest outside their shelter, the girls huddled together with their daemons to keep warm.

"What do you suppose we'll find in this city?" Mia asked.

"I don't know," Lyra asked.

"Are you going to ask the Alethiometer?"

"No. I'd rather wait to find out,"

Mia was tempted to ask again but she could tell Lyra wasn't in the mood to talk about it. She noticed she was still crying a little.

She wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I miss him too Lyra. We can't go back. It's okay to be scared. But no matter what happens, we've got to keep on going,"

Lyra didn't say anything but accept (Y/N)'s acts of comfort. They quietly slept that night until sunlight reached through the cave opening and touched their cold faces. Immediately they set off to reach the city.

"What is this place?" Mia wondered out loud. She looked to Lyra. She shrugged. They stared at the giant staircase in front of the bed of sandy and empty row boats. Above were buildings that seemed to topple over one another as they towered over the other. They climbed up the levels of dirty steps before reaching a steel gate. They tossed our coats over before they climbed over one at a time. Their daemons slipped through.

They walked through a maze of streets, finding no signs of life. They stopped an a toppled over box of fruit. Lyra picked a pomegranate up.

"Someone left in a hurry," Pan said.

They continued on. They saw clothes hanging above the streets, open windows, open doors...but still...nobody.

"I don't like this," Aster said. "Where is everyone?"

Mia was beginning to feel the hairs on my skin tingle. "It feels like a ghost town Lyra," she said. "I don't think anybody's here,"

"Don't give up hope Mia," she said.

As they descended further and further into the city, it felt like they were going levels up. They walked up a wide narrow pathway, leading up to a tall tower with carved statues of winged figures surrounding out. They looked up a saw a twisted pointed top of blue at the very top with small, winged figures surrounding it like the bottom.

They looked around and saw shops with fallen chairs and tables.

"Something's happened here guys," Lyra said, finally giving in to my concerns.

"Asriel?" Pan suggested.

"I wouldn't put it past him," she said bitterly.

Whilst Lyra seemed to star up and around the area, Mia looked carefully at the carved beings surrounding the base of the tower. They had magnificent wings. They looked...familiar.

"Shall we ask the Alethiometer where everyone is?" Pan asked.

"No!" Lyra burst out. "We are not asking that thing anything!"

"Lyra. Pan is right. You should ask it. We're never going to find answers just looking around like this," she inquired. "We can trust it,"

"It didn't tell us what Asriel planned to do with Roger," Lyra answered back bitterly. "We need to make our way now,"

Before any of them could convince her to reconsider, she stormed off. Mia couldn't blame her. She blamed herself so much for Roger's death. And the Alethiometer never told her the truth about her father's plans.

They began to look around further...when a sudden rumble made us stop.

"What was that?" Aster asked.

The rumble came again...from inside Mia.

"It's my stomach," she said.

"You must be hungry," Lyra said.

"I'm not that hungry," she lied. "We should keep looking around,"

But her stomach just rumbled again, blowing her cover.

"Your stomach says otherwise. Why don't you and Aster go and find somewhere for us to stay and eat? I'll keep looking around with Pan,'

"I dunno Lyra," There was no way that Mia was going to leave her. Like her father did. "This doesn't seem like a good idea. We have no idea where we are or what's happened to this place,"

"It'll be fine Mia. I doubt we'll find trouble here if there aren't a lot of people around. If I need help, I'll call for you okay,"

"Okay," she accepted against my better nature. "Just be careful,"

"You know I will,"

They patted each others' shoulders before they turned and split off in opposite directions. Aster flew onto Mia's shoulder in the form of a snowy owl.

Up above, Viktor watched the two girls split up with their animals companions who talked. What was quite strange was they had the ability to change form. They definitely came from the same place the guy with the snake came from...but his animal companion never changed form at all. Maybe it was because he was an adult. They had to be children...around his age. And the girl named Mia talked about the girl named Lyra having an Alethiometer which she could ask a question on. What kind of place does a device like that come from?

Viktor struggled to find out who to follow. It seemed that while Lyra was going to look around the nearly empty Cittagazze...Mia was going to find food and a place for them to eat. He decided to follow Lyra. Whoever she was...her name had somewhat triggered a thought running invisibly through his mind. He didn't know where he had heard it before. But for some reason...it sounded like it was important. He wanted to find to find who she was.

She could be up to mischief. He would not let any strangers walking around the city to do as they pleased. Taking careful steps on top the roofs, he remained invisible to the girl with the pine Martin animal companion.

Another chapter done. How does Mia Scoresby find the winged figures around the tower familiar? And how exactly does Viktor know that name Lyra? We'll have to wait till a later chapter to find out. Hope you're all enjoying it. Please send reviews and let me know what you all think. I really would love to see your opinions.