Chapter 6:
City of the Gods
The city was massive. Even only being a small portion of the original city, it would have put Safron City to shame twice over.
Buildings lined up in blocks. Those on the outside were lower, probably housing. As they moved closer to the back wall, the roofs became taller in gradual steps. The tallest building was on the far wall of the cavern. Its spire reached up far above the rest, and it would have reached further had it not been broken off at the cavern ceiling.
Sarah gazed over the city for several minutes, simply taking in its beauty. Then she remembered that she had a job to do and walked down the steeps steps to the fringes of the city.
The buildings were made of solid rock. But they weren't bricks. Every building appeared to have been carved from a single block of rock.
The first few weren't very glamorous: simply unadorned shells. A little deeper in, they became bigger and started sporting carvings along their fronts. Most looked to be stores and markets. A few open squares held tables and benches, also hewn from solid rock.
She walked for hours admiring the city. The architect of this city had to have been a genius. Of course the people also had their Pokemon abilities to help them. But still, the scale and execution took her breath away. Here, in this place, Sarah was almost proud to call herself a Mäyto.
Much later, she stood outside the tallest building. It was surrounded by a large avenue a hundred yards wide all around, separating it from the rest of the buildings. The outer walls were also the most intricate she had yet seen. Wisps of smoke flowed around great deities. Sunlight shown down on a city and her people. Fields grew over rolling hills. In a way, the outside almost looked like it could be an art museum on its own.
But walking inside, she didn't know at all what it could be. Past the main lobby area, three hallways split. Two led to the side and one led further inward. The whole building was circular, so Sarah decided to take a side path that would hopefully lead back around.
Either wall was covered top to bottom in more carvings and paintings. She stopped to admire the first painting. A naked woman was in the embrace of a tall man. But the man didn't really look solid. He seemed to have skin that flowed and shifted, even in the painting. Below them was a collection of strange creatures. They looked like Pokemon, but stood upright and had incredibly human characteristics. A few feet down the wall, the same group was building a small collection of buildings, a few humans with them.
Sarah stepped back and looked over the wall. It was a history! The history of the Mäyto.
The village grew as more were born with the Mäyto abilities. The other races of the world saw them as impure: a wicked mix of creatures meant to remain separate. They were outcast from the rest of society, shunned from cities and villages. One overzealous patron rose up a small force to exterminate the Mäyto. It was quickly defeated by only two Mäyto fighters.
That was when they Mäyto uprising began. The two who had fought back began spreading feelings of superiority amongst the others. Soon it became a belief held by all the others. Using this, they led a conquest of the rest of the world, enslaving the other races and destroying any that tried to fight back.
The wall continued with several scenes of battle where a collection of Pokemon and Pokemorphs swarmed over great cities. Sarah couldn't help but feel a growing sense of pride with every picture.
She caught herself. Why was she being prideful of this? These people had murdered thousands for their own sake. That is no reason to be proud of you ancestry. And yet the feeling was there.
The final picture before the curving hall reconnected at the front was of the various races of the world coming together under bondage and building a city. The size was enormous, with spires rising above the city at many points. Sarah recognizes it as the real Carnath, the city that was destroyed in her vision. Just above the tallest spire in the very center of the city hovered the image of a small Pokemon that gave off a brilliant light. The Pokemon was Mew.
Sarah pulled away from the image. That same feeling of pride welled up again at the sight of Mew. All she wanted to do was continue her family's legacy. What was it about this place?
The path leading inward opened to the central chamber. The space was a perfect sphere with the door opening at the equator. The lower half of the room was split into tiers of seats going down to the bottom.
One look inside made Sarah's head spin. She didn't know why, but the space seemed to be a straight contradiction of itself. The floor fell, but at the same time, it appeared to rise up towards the ceiling. The ceiling did the same downwards. The entire wall stretched in towards the exact center and stretched outwards at the same time. The space didn't look like it could actually exist in real space.
And floating in the very center of the room was some kind of glowing orange crystal. It was far from smooth, almost looking like it had simply been ripped from the ground. It shown gently, pulsating every few seconds. Sarah's gaze fell on it and locked. The pride returned again. She felt herself soulfully drown to this crystal. It was her people's, the very essence of their being.
She slowly descended the seats, her eyes never leaving the crystal. As she got closer, the light began to pulse faster and grow brighter. She got the same paradoxal feeling as she walked. Her body moved further from the glowing crystal, but she felt as if she were getting ever closer. She kept walking until she was directly below the crystal and it was shining a constant bright orange.
The light from the crystal began to focus on her. The light grew brighter and brighter, but it didn't blind her even as she stared into its depth. The light came together into a tight beam at her forehead. It continued to close in until it was so thin it vanished.
A searing heat blasted through Sarah's brain. For a moment, she mentally screamed in agony, but it only lasted a split second. She suddenly found herself in another place, just like her vision. This time, she was in a group of people that was completely surrounded. The small group she was with was her kin. How she knew was far from her thinking. She simply knew.
The people around them all held primitive weapons at the ready.
Her family was angry. And she joined in their hatred. How dare they? They were superior. And yet they were treated as if they were as low as the Caterpie!
The Mäyto were the better race. She was better! Better than all the other trainers! Better than Luke! Better than Oak! Better than all those around her!
Sarah paused for a moment. Then, she slowly began to laugh, drawing eyes from the others in her vision. In another brilliant flash, she was back in the spherical room.
She fell to her knees, gasping for breath. The crystal above her had died and returned to its slow pulsing. With a laugh, she realized exactly what this place was. It was a trap: a mental trap to influence the next generation of Mäyto to continue the legacy of death and destruction. But it was too good. It had made her feel superior to the point where she felt superior to the other Mäyto and breaking the curse. It was almost comical.
She stood up, brushed the dust from her knees, and looked back up at the crystal. This thing was dangerous. If any other Mäyto were to enter here, they may not be so lucky as she was. It was part of her history, her heitage, but it was too much.
She'd have to destroy it.
The silence was broken by a sudden and slow clapping. "Bravo."
Sarah spun on her heel. Up at the entrance stood a tall man with a long black cape. He was completely bald and a scar ran from headtip down his nose and curved to his left jaw. One eye was replaced with a bright gemstone.
Sarah only gave him a passing glance. Around him stood four other men, each tracing rifles over her.