We emerged into a massive cavern. The light came from enormous, glowing crystals sprouting from the ceiling hundreds of meters above, illuminating the entire space. Below them lay a vast, abandoned city, completely overgrown with vegetation.

“How deep are we?” I ask, staring at the sight.

“Near about four hundred meters down…” Bailey reads from his device.

Maybe it’s just an isekai thing, I think. “Who lives this far underground?”

“Not that I’ve ever heard of…” Bailey racks his memory.

“Do you feel hot or anything?” I ask. Usually, it’d be sweltering this deep down.

Bailey wipes his sweaty palms. “I’m sweating like a hog, but it ain’t the heat. Should we take a gander? That fresh air’s gotta be coming from somewhere.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, and we headed down into the city.

Everything looks frozen in time. The plants haven’t damaged the structures at all; it’s like someone’s been meticulously pruning them.

It’s almost…too perfect.

Bailey looked intensely interested in the vegetation. “Do you recognize these plants?” I asked.

He plucked a bit, examined it closely, and then took a cautious nibble. “They look familiar, alright, but…not quite the same as any I’ve seen before.” He chewed thoughtfully. “Tastes familiar, too.”

“These are edible?” I picked a few and tasted them. I promptly spat them out. They were horrendous.

“Well, they’re not exactly a five-star meal on their own,” Bailey says with a grin. “Though with the right seasonings…” He trails off, eyes gleaming as he imagines the possibilities.

He explains that the plants resemble surface crops—the stuff Mesoselenians grow for food. However, they all look and taste slightly different.

At least Bailey won’t starve anytime soon. He’ll probably just spend the next few hours trying to figure out how to make a gourmet meal out of this weird, subterranean salad.

We entered a few homes. They were empty, but it looked like the occupants had left in a hurry. Broken pots and pans littered the floors.

“Whoa!” Bailey tripped on something, somehow managing to keep his balance. The object that tripped him turned out to be the city’s first resident—or at least, part of one. A couple of long bones lay bare on the ground.

“Whose bones are these?” I ask.

“These look like Mesoselenian bones, but…they’re not quite the same.” Bailey points to the bone’s width, considerably thicker than any Mesoselenian he’s seen.

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“Okay, I have a theory.” I declare. “This is a city belonging to ancient Mesoselenians—a large group that lived here underground, isolated from the rest of the world. They abandoned it for some reason, and this is what’s left.” Bailey’s still examining the bones and plants, completely absorbed.

“Aye, fascinating indeed…This is something else entirely. Never seen or heard of anything like it,” he mutters, his gaze sweeping over the scene.

The ground suddenly lurches—another quake? Before I can grab Bailey, hundreds of small heads erupt from the earth. Heads that resemble cicadas, only these are colossal. Time to bolt!

I snatch Bailey by the torso again and leap onto a nearby building. More and more heads emerge—thousands, millions… They begin munching on the vegetation, devouring the plants in a wave of clicking mandibles.

“These are…Kavriades!” Bailey exclaims, utterly fascinated. “But…so many of ‘em? And look at the size of ‘em! They’re plant-eaters, though, so no need to fret.”

Trypophobia much!

After devouring almost all the vegetation they’d gathered on the ground for what appeared to be some strange ritual—a mating ritual, it turned out—it became clear they were the ones responsible for “pruning” this place.

“We should keep moving,” I said to Bailey, but he was already halfway down the building.

“What are you doing?!” I hissed, scrambling to reach him.

“Give me a hand!” he whispered back.

Did he have some weird fetish?

“Kavriades only mate once every ten years, you know. Their eggs are rarer than gold…and delicious! They call ‘em green caviar. I had just a wee taste once…never forgot it,” Bailey explained, seeing my bewildered and slightly disgusted expression.

“Say no more, let’s get some…” I muttered, following him down.

Admittingly, I’m a sucker for good food, I couldn’t resist the allure of a delicacy so rare and supposedly delicious.

“Why are we sneaking around? Shouldn’t we let them finish and come back later?” I whispered, tiptoeing closer.

“Once the egg’s is laid, we have very little time before it gets fertilized. Once fertilized, they are no good anymore,” Bailey said, pulling a massive jar out of his bag.

Where did he even get that?!

We crept closer. Just as I was about to grab one, Bailey stopped me. "We can't touch 'em! If we spook 'em, they'll spray somethin' awful. That'll warn the whole lot of 'em. Then we're in real trouble!"

Bailey got down on all fours, crawling slowly across the ground—or as slowly as his rather round frame allowed. He positioned the jar near a Kavriades’ backside, and out it came. Bailey swiftly pulled the jar away before the creature finished, collecting only a small portion. He moved on to the next one, and the next. In no time, he’d quietly filled the entire jar with the green, caviar-like eggs.

He then produced a smaller jar, refilled it with practiced ease, and quietly returned. He handed me the jar, pointed towards a nearby building, and whispered, “Best be movin’ along.”

We reached the rooftop without incident. “Phew,” Bailey breathed, visibly relieved. I grinned and popped open the jar for a sniff. It smelled faintly of the sea. Bailey then produced a rather ornate-looking spoon – where did he keep pulling these things from? – and scooped up a small portion for each of us.

We placed the spoonfuls on our tongues, and a wave of salty, savory, and subtly sweet flavors washed over us. As I gently bit down on the tiny, glistening pearls, they burst with a sweet tang of wine and a delicate hint of seafood.

It was… incredible.

Lost in the delightful taste of this “green caviar,” we were oblivious to the sudden shift in atmosphere. An eerie silence descended. I glanced down and saw that the tens of millions of Kavriades had all turned their gaze directly towards us. Every single one of them.