The place is huge and there are 2 opposite paths. Chella suggests that they choose the front path due to sensing a calling, but she isn't sure. The group trust her intuition and start walking on the front path. The path seems endless as they keep walking and walking, not seeing the end of it.
"God! How long do have to keep walking? We should've just ride the vehicle instead."
"Quite complaining Noelle. We don't know what danger lies ahead."
"There's nothing happening so far, we're pretty saf-"
*crack*
"Did you seriously have to jinx it?"
There's a crack bellow their feet and all of them fall into a hole. Then, the 2 girls land with their butts while the poor Gilbert lands with his face. He looks at his surrounding, noticing that they're now on a smaller pathway. Ignoring the girls complains about how their butts ache, he walks ahead of them. As he traverses he notices some fossils on the walls, like a museum of timeless artifacts.
"Interesting... Even before the catastrophe centuries ago, mankind had already been the only organism on this planet. Creatures like birds and lions had long gone extinct. Yet their bones are here. Well, can you kids walk?"
"Yeah, I'm fine gramps."
"Let's get on with it."
Gilberts tries to take some fossils for himself then all 3 of them proceed onward with wherever they're going. After a while they take out some stuff from their backpacks and set camp in a corner of a large chamber. Nova takes out an iron staff attached with a light bub on the top and plugs it on the ground.
"That should provide sufficient light and it it were to run out I could charge it up again."
"That's a living battery for you. This is more helpful than what you usually did."
"Grandpa, you're no fun."
"You 2, we should discuss about what we've seen in this place so far."
"Yeah, about the hissing sound too."
""?""
"When we were on the huge pathway I heard sounds coming from far behind us."
"Is that so? It makes senses when we're a confined environment. You could hear the sounds echoing from the walls. Perhaps we're not alone after all, so it's best to stay wary."
"You don't think there's someone other than us?"
"Maybe they're lost just like us, but they could be dangerous. Whoever could survive in this kind of condition can't be simple."
"This underground must have existed for thousands of years. Yet, no discoveries were made. Which means that the place wasn't meant to be accessible."
"But that would imply that someone had set foot here before us."
"Anyway, we'll settle here for the night. Tomorrow we'll go deeper to see if there's anything."
"You're right Chella, we can worry about all that tomorrow."
Nova turns off the light as they all put their body on sleep mode inside their respective sleeping bag.
...
Somewhere, inside a white room there are 2 men. One setting on a couch and the other sitting in his opposite direction. Said man came in the room just a while ago wishing to report something urgent to his superior while the other one simply enjoyed his whine for the whole time.
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"Sorry for the intrusion of your private time, but I have something cautiously noteworthy to say."
"Why don't you have a sip? Tell me then."
"2 of our finished products were terminated."
"Which, specifically?"
"Um...I believe they're referred to us Ryoga and Boarman."
"Boarman again? Not that surprising, what about it?"
"We've found the one that took him down singlehandedly. Our scan detected immense dust particles in her body. Moreover, she overloaded her captors brains in an instant so I couldn't bring myself to get closer."
"Then who was the one that killed them?"
"It was another girl that took both of them down with mere punches. She also seemed to have immense physical capabilities. I tried to tail her but she noticed me and got away."
"Hm... I might have an idea of who she was but I'd rather see things first-hand. Have you managed to find traces of the green haired girl and her friends."
"I have, sir. But after while of following the traces, they ended in the middle of nowhere. It was like they traversed on the air."
"So, you're telling me that she's either beyond the clouds or below the rocks?" Search every corner if you have to. I must have her."
"Understood."
"You're dismissed."
The scout leaves his superior alone in his room again. The man looks at the window but he doesn't pay attention to the nearby buildings but the moon that shone upon the busy city. He would devote anything for the organization he is now a part of, yet he craves one particular individual that he wants to be his and his alone.
...
The 3 campers wakes up from their not-so-comfortable slumber and ready to carry on with the cave exploring. Chella yawns as she starts another day. They continue further, piercing through darkness with their flashlights and curiosity. However at the end of the path they only find a pile of rocks seemingly blocking them from whatever lies ahead.
They begin putting some muscle works into removing the obstacle. After what feels like haft-an-hour, a ray of light shine through a small leak between the rocks. The group see that it means there is indeed something on the other side so they keep working on for another 30 minutes. To their surprise, what the see is a vast land brimmed with crystals. Even the ceiling far above the land seems to be filled with crystals as well. You would think it is a perfect place to build a kingdom. The crystals brighten the entire land. Despite the view, one could tell from far away that the scenery on the ground isn't a kingdom in its most glorious era but a ruin. In fact, some strange sounds can be heard which scares Nova.
"These sounds...are the same as what I heard yesterday."
"There're hostile creatures here as well? Look! Some thin humanoid-shaped crystals are trying to reach us."
"Some are behind us as well. Have they followed us here? Where do we run now?"
"Just run!"
Chella and CO run into the crystal field as they have the creatures chasing behind. The 3 decide to run separate way to cut tails with the horde of crystal monsters behind them. Chella keeps running ahead while the other 2 goes left and right. She suddenly slips and rolls all the way and then falls of an edge. The creatures stop chasing here and go back to where they came from.
Chella wakes up, finding herself to be lying down flat on the ground. She look around but the monsters are nowhere around. She looks up and notices that she has felt down quite deep and can't climb up, with no other option she keeps walking on. At least her body is only scratched a bit. Suddenly she senses something with her mind - a faint consciousness standing on the border between light and darkness. Hence she approaches an entrance and walks inside.
Inside, she sees a chamber with a large crystal at the center. Looking closely, she could see a figure inside. They're the source of the consciousness she sensed earlier. Chella is glad that she finds a human way below the surface. Now she has a question which is why there's a human sleeping inside a large crystal. She tries calling them but they don't respond. Their mind must be buried so deep that they won't be able to respond to outside impacts.
Chella decides to wake them from within her mind. She sits down and focus her attention on the person inside the crystal. Once she does, her consciousness will fully enter a mind that is not her own. Chella knows it is risky bust she must try regardless or her journey will end with bitterness.
...
Once, there was a maiden standing in her backyard as she looked at the crystal-filled ceiling for hours. The maids always had to call her for dinner due to her aloofness. This worried her esteemed father because they raised her in hopes of her becoming a great leader who could bring happiness and prosperity to those who would follow her steps.
On a day, she would be at the backyard looking at the ceiling as usual. Unexpectedly, her father arrived and stood beside her. She didn't seem to mind him and he didn't want to interrupt her peace, but with a glimmer of sadness and anxiety that he noticed on his daughter's face everyday urged him to utter some words and see if she was fine.
"Your mother noticed that you were worried about something. Are you alright, my little gem?"
"Father, I'm not a child anymore. Please refer to me by my real name - Evaline."