Perhaps you should have learned from what happened to the north that is now in truly eternal winter. But if you insist, then it shall be bordered by an endless desert in the south.
-Blue Heart
The first few days went with little trouble; IF joined the Guild agents while scouring the adjacent tunnels, slowly mapping the surrounding area with help of the scientists left in the main cavern. They encountered few monsters as most retreated from their advance, mainly Pixelvaders.
Nonetheless, basically everyone got a few bruises from ambushes, even IF had one slam into her calf in a moment of distraction. The bruise was managable, though it stung for hours; she ignored it while on patrol, bringing back little bits of culture that she found from time to time. Everyone did.
There were indeed Tarian ruins nearby, just a few dozen metres from their main camp; attempts to relocate the latter were shot down however, as a cursory check revealed that even the heavy and sturdy architecture could not counteract more than a millennium of decay. Most buildings they found were brittle at best, some already broken down; curiously, some even appeared to be broken off by the cave's ceiling.
Parts of those same buildings were continuously found in the surrounding tunnels, though IF once came by what looked like a doll; it had been wrapped in plastic and was probably brand new, but now barely recognisable. The find was quickly added to the plethora of bits and pieces they gathered on patrols and sweeps.
On the fourth day however, IF once again saw the Metal Dogoo after it had made a fool of several other teams several times. It saw her as well, but this time she was faster and rushed after it; other teams were nearby and the area explored, so she reasoned she would not get lost.
Her first gout of flame fell short of the monster; somehow, the metal variation managed to slide on their gelatinous mass instead of having to hop, allowing for much faster movement speeds. IF quickly caught up and encased it in ice, though; her target slid a little further, then came to a stop before she broke it with a hard kick.
"Okay, that's done." IF sighed and turned on her radio. "IF here, I just found that Metal Dogoo. It's gone, but I can't tell if it was the only one." She figured she should rather be careful about this; the others confirmed the message, but no one reported the sighting of another such creature.
A minute later, at the edge of their explored area, IF found a pair of Delinquent Cats; felines walking on two legs, as big as a child and with daggers in their paws. These types were common for caves, though they could be encountered in the open as well; IF recalled that they were seen more often in Lastation.
Slitted eyes beheld her as she charged them, then the creatures turned to flee into a yet unexplored tunnel. IF followed for as long as she found no second path splitting off, but there was none for a long while. It was almost eerie, as the first two Cats startled a handful of others she had to catch and eviscerate, all of them fleeing instead of fighting like most monsters did.
As she neared the last of the bunch however, IF saw the tunnel opening in front of herself; instead of becoming smaller like some places she saw monsters escape through before, this one seemed to open into another cavern. More importantly however, there was faint light shining from the inside.
IF frowned and pulled her pistol, then placed a bullet in her target's head. It died without seeing what hit her, the noise of her gun going off almost deafening as it echoed all around her; she thanked her ear protection and put the weapon back into its holster on her leg, then stepped forward to check the cavern.
What stood before her was grand, not just a few buildings but an entire city. IF's eyes widened at the fact this cavern reached far into the distance, illuminated by indirect sunlight falling in from the partly open ceiling. It was barely enough to see properly, a dim light cast on the corpse of what was once a Tarian city.
Most buildings were just two or three stories high, making it so that IF's vantage point lay above them; she saw some plateaus one could use to leap to ground level and the air was mostly fresh. Monsters roamed the streets alone or in pairs, but there was nothing large she could see.
When she took another step inside however, a rumbling noise made the young woman's head dart around; it only took a moment for her to realise it came from behind and as she turned, the tunnel behind her began to collapse.
Perhaps IF would have managed to dart through the falling rubble in time, but she did not dare try due to the risk of it. A cloud of dust quickly covered the tunnel and actually reached her, but IF blew it away with a gust of wind. She took a deep breath to calm herself, waiting for the remainder of the cloud to settle.
It became clear that she was in trouble once she beheld the rubble blockading her way back.
"Great."
IF continued to mutter under her breath as she slowly approached the barrier, carefully pulling a single stone the size of her hand out of the mess. Several more stones immediately rolled down to fill the gap, with more following from up top. Clearing this away was obviously not an option.
After looking around to make sure she was alone, the young woman turned around and sat down with her back against a larger boulder. She tapped her communicator and then put it to her ear. "IF speaking, can anyone hear me?"
She feared that the signal would end up being warped by the distance and solid walls in-between her and everyone else, but this was thankfully not the case. Someone quickly answered her: "We hear you here at camp. Is something the matter?"
"Kind of?" IF began to feel a little embarassed by this point, even though she knew this one was not on her. "I got cut off by a cave-in; I'm fine," she immediately cut off any concerned questions, "and I could maybe dig myself out, but that might collapse the ceiling. Oh, and I found the city proper."
Silence answered her for long moments, then what was obviously Gabriel began to chuckle right into his own communicator. The scientists muttered something unintelligble.
"Okay," a woman continued a little later. "So you were cut off from us after finding a full Tarian city? Did you check for any tunnels branching off from your position?" IF confirmed that and that she did not move far from her own entry point yet, which gave the woman a moment to think. "I see. Can you describe which way you went, so that we can take a look at that cave-in?"
"Sure, give me a moment to think." IF took another careful look at her surroundings and closed her eyes afterward; it helped her recall which directions she took.
One description later, she had to sweep a duo of Pixelvaders aside that thought it could sneak up on her; both died in the crackling flames, but IF knew she could not play it safe like this for long. Her efficiency was too low and too many monsters might be around.
"Okay, we will take a look at it from the other side. Please don't do anything rash until we can confirm it won't bring down the ceiling." She rolled her eyes because this was what she had been planning to do anyway, but agreed.
Then Gabriel spoke up with an audible grin: "Why is it that these things keep happening to you?" He was obviously making a play at the fact they had a CPU Candidate in their old team, as well as other such matters. IF only sighed.
"That's normally because a higher power engineered it." She left it at that and looked around. "I will see if I can find another way out. Call me if something happens."
Then she turned her communicator off and stood. Her coat was somewhat dusty from the ground, but she could wipe most of it away quite easily. IF took one last look around and got moving; she had water and rations for a few days with her, so that was fine. Her careful preparations had most likely become a lifesaver.
IF hopped down from her vantage point once she entered the humongous cavern, engaging her Awakening in short burts to ensure she did not hurt herself from the metres-deep drops. The power of her soul had become quite handy over the past year, allowing for superhuman feats at barely any strain for as long as she did it right.
Half a minute after her descent began, it had already ended. IF casually bisected another Pixelvader and got going. She could guess that her friends were worried, though the young woman did not imagine the general anxiety back at camp; everyone was nearly falling over each other as they discussed what to do, both because of the preserved city she stumbled over and due to the fact a Maker was lost.
While Gabriel and André ran herd on them, IF's tranquil walk began. She attempted to follow the old city wall's length, but soon had to enter the city proper.
What few monsters she saw were weak and easily killed if they attacked; her steps echoed somewhat while she wandered into the area. Empty buildings stared at her with empty windows, the glass itself having failed to withstand the test of time. She could see cracked fronts everywhere, whole stones being more rare than broken ones. Plants were growing in places, though most would probably be where more light fell.
It took her half an hour before she realised that her radio had lost its signal. The silence was thankfully broken by quiet noises here and there, taking at least a bit of this city's eeriness away; it still weighed on IF to walk amidst those ruins once her initial curiousity was sated.
Wherever she went held the same sight; old buildings sitting in the twilight and occupied by no one. Where sunlight fell into the cavern however, the stone it hit shone a faint blue; IF took note of that and pondered how it might work. It was a futile endeavor, but at least a distraction from the vastness.
She had never realised just how big a city was. Without any people around, its true size became apparent.
Imagining the scenes she knew from home was not even difficult; there was a street corner where a gaggle of students would say their goodbyes and go home, in another spot was a convenience store that people would come in and out of.
Faint rays of light fell onto the empty streets from where the mountain opened up top, as if the sun were only breaking through a few openings in thick clouds; despite it all, the sight was breathtaking without much of a skyline to take away from it. IF actually stopped to watch it for a few long moments.
She was the first human to set foot into this place in more than a thousand years. It had existed long before the goddesses she knew were even born.
Barely any monsters crossed her path, the absence of noise making her wonder how many there were; perhaps the fact this place lay abandoned made them leave for elsewhere sooner or later, she reasoned. This was naturally nonsensical, yet IF never even considered the alternative.
As she wandered, the young woman began to feel the barest bit of pressure on herself; familiar yet indescribable. She felt as if something was there in this empty realm, but reasoned the feeling away; nothing but monsters and animals.
Or rather, no animals. She had not seen anything, no bats taking flight as she passed, no insects or arachnids scurrying around, not even bugs of any kind. They encountered a cave bear a few days earlier, but the creature quickly fled when confronted with IF's Awakening.
This, here, was empty. Plants grew in various places, though inhibited by the scarce amount of light; once IF stood almost beneath one of the openings in the ceiling and considered whether to jump out, she also found the surrounding streets eroded into a basin. Stale water sat in it, having had no way to escape the only slowly breaking concrete in many years. IF knew better than to drink from it, though she took note of the few plants having grown nearby. Some grass and weeds, but also a handful of flowers.
Civilisation crumbled around her, and nature was willing to wait endlessly to reclaim what was once taken from it.
More than anything, IF did not feel well in treading here. She felt like she was disturbing a gravesite, and would have been much happier if she never stumbled on this place. A few buildings were one thing, but this whole city made her uneasy; as much as the rest of her expedition would shun the thought, walking these streets felt wrong.
Some time later, perhaps an hour going by the shifting sunlight, she found a skull lying on the street. A single one, half turned to dust already and staring at her from a single eyehole.
IF shuddered and averted her gaze, quickly wandering on with the sense of wrongness only reinforced; she could not tell what made it happen, but people died down here. Potentially everyone who lived in this city.
The scenery did not change much and so her careful observation of long since faded signs and broken facades turned into pondering in time; she wondered just what kind of catastrophe would do such a thing. Monsters, the first cause she thought of, were already impossible, seeing that the city was too well-preserved. If a horde had rampaged through it, the buildings would be broken and streets torn open.
Then however, IF recalled Compa's lecture; Tarian buildings were much more durable than most, they would not break as easily.
Looking around once more, she truly took note of all the cracks in the facades. This time, IF became aware of the fact they were everywhere, in every building, even running through the ground. Something violent did happen to this city, yet the devastation was more or less evenly spread. It was the same intensity in the cracks wherever she looked.
Except that she was almost sure they had been less frequent at the outskirts.
In this moment, IF's curiousity truly woke and she considered her position; a few quick leaps brought her on top of a dangerously crumbly house. A quick orientation told her that the path she took led closer to the city center. And from where she stood, she could see what may have been Tari's Basilicom in the distance, surrounded by an area of empty ground; a round building hundreds of metres wide, but whose singular tower broke off after a few metres.
She considered the distant walls, but reluctantly decided against going back; even if there was an opening somewhere, she wanted to find out what happened. Her senses told her something, yet she could not make anything of it. It was too quiet, too unusual, too empty.
So instead of returning to search for a way out, IF continued on her way toward the city's center. She wanted to see whether there were any hints as to what ended Tari.
It took her another two hours despite the fact she could clear most rubble from the few buildings that broke down easily. Just like with any other gamindustrian city, traversing this one on foot took a long time due to its vastness. IF knew she still made good time, but she was a Maker in top condition and what she called a quick gait would be called running by most.
Then however, she stood in front of the old Basilicom. It's gates were gone and the feeling she noticed before was now palpable; a heavy weight in her gut and the instinctive desire to flee, but also something else.
Despite just standing in front of the building, IF knew something was wrong. She considered to turn around and leave for a long moment, to give in to her instincts.
Then she quelled them; had she ever listened, she would never stand where she stood now. Moreover, IF had yet to encounter anything to truly warrant such fear in her life and never would, as few beings were to command it. To a normal human, the pressure would have been much more severe.
She took a deep breath and readied her flashlight before walking forward, one step at a time until she stood before the vast entrance; empty and dark as it was, she felt as if she stepped into a behemoth's toothless maw. Yet when she went inside, nothing happened.
All that the focussed beam of light revealed was dust and rusted machinery, as well as broken furniture. The ground produced cracking noises with every step IF made, splinters of what once might have been close to plasteel crumbling under her boots and turning to dust. Most colours the place might have once held were long gone, faded away with time.
Her exploration was slow and more or less methodical as she went through the side rooms first instead of walking further inside; aside from being intimidated by whatever may lie at the center, IF needed time to come to terms with her most jarring realisation.
When Planeptune were to fall in the distant future, this may be what Planeptower might end up looking like to the nations that came after. Empty, broken, crumbling, and dead.
IF slowly made her way through the various rooms and began to get used to the oppressive feeling; once she had confirmed there was likely nothing near the entrance, she turned toward the building's center. Only a normal corridor led there, despite the fact this building could have been built like a vast dome; it appeared as if the space had been used more efficiently, much in difference to Planeptower's main lobby.
It only took a minute of traversing the darkness, the cracking floor and IF's more or less calm breathing being her only source of noise. Then she reached the entrance to a larger chamber, though vines had grown completely over it.
The plants were thick and hard to push aside even for her, thus the young woman raised one katar and flashed her Awakening for a single swing. Then another, and then a third as the obstruction revealed itself to have multiple layers of vines.
Once the last parts of the curtain fell however, light shone at IF; she had to blink a few times as her eyes got used to the brightness while the feeling in her gut intensified yet again. She stopped in place, arm falling to her side as she beheld what lay within.
A meadow grew out of broken plasteel, various flowerbeds having mixed together to form a sea of colours throughout the entire room.
None touched the center, though. For in that center sat a figure, female and slender; she was clothed in a light dress of black with blue embroidery.
IF wanted to call out, but words failed her. She could see the woman's partly uncovered back, and a pair of silvery stubs where her shoulder blades would be. Her senses tingled, telling her once more that she was in the presence of one that was not human.
Before she could really process what this meant however, the figure perked up and turned around.