“Should we try to find out if they really are skyscrapers?” I ask after I bite into the dried meat Sid had just given to me.
“I mean ‘if you know your enemy and know yourself’...” Sid starts by quoting one of the most well-known human tacticians. “But how exactly are we going to do so? We can’t exactly start digging out the skyscrapers, if they are even skyscrapers to begin with. It’s all sand and with Gamma like this.” Sid had placed Gamma so that her head was resting on his lap. “We shouldn’t be making too much of a ruckus either.”
“Good point…” I nod and look at the ruins around us. “If only we could know what’s down below…” I think about it for a couple of seconds before suddenly an idea springs to mind.
It must have been clear by the look on my face as Sid immediately plays into it. “What are you thinking about?”
“Well… I do know earth magic.” I say as I take my sword and plunge it in the volcanic sand below. “I’m not really sure if it’ll work well with this kind of material. But I might as well try.”
“Did I not just say to not make a big ruckus?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything too dramatic.” I put both of my hands on the hilt of my blade and close my eyes, sending magic into the sand below. It requires my utmost concentration but after a couple of seconds, through sensing the vibrations of my magic in the sand, I manage to form an image in my mind of what the area below us looks like. There’s lots of sand but about ten meters below us, it reaches a hard layer of a few meters thick with beneath it an enormous open cavern. I also manage to discern that the buildings we are next to, do indeed stretch down pretty darn far, way beyond the hard layer and presumably to the bottom of the cavern I’m sensing, but through the method I’m using, I can’t really pinpoint that.
Having now used my earth magic on the sand, I can tell that, while more difficult than compact earth or rock, I will be able to manipulate it to some degree.
“What’s the verdict?” Sid asks.
I open my eyes and pull my sword out of the sand, laying it on my shoulder. “There is a pretty sizable area underneath. And we were right, these do appear to be some kind of skyscrapers, albeit they got iceberged by the sand.”
“So this building actually goes down?”
I nod and walk over to sid, crouching down to make a drawing in the sand of what the area looks like according to me.
“I see.” Sid nods at my little drawing.
“I also think I can manipulate the sand in a way so we can go exploring down there if we would want to.”
Sid nods again. “That might not be a bad idea.”
“If I empty the sand out of the structure just enough so we can pass through to lower levels, it won’t be obvious from the outside that we are digging around.”
“Okay, let me carry Gamma outside of the walls when you do so, at least if something would give way, we are not caught in the middle of it.”
“Yeah, but first, let's eat a little bit more. Now that we still have the chance to do so, you never know what we will find down there.”
Sid sinks back into the sand as his posture relaxes. “Also not a bad idea.” And then takes out some more food, half of which he gives to me. “I’m happy I packed extra so we won’t run out soon.”
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“Yeah…”
We sit down for lunch for about half an hour before we decide we have rested enough for the time being. I help Sid carry Gamma away from the building where I’m going to perform my earth magic, as Sid said, in case something horrible goes wrong and a collapse happens.
I then go stand right next to the building in question and plant my sword into the sand. What I was planning to do is something I have never attempted before, but thanks to the clear image in my head of what I want to do, I’m relatively confident of my abilities.
Just like before I send my mana into the ground to get a good image of the sand and stone around me, more particularly the sand inside of the building. Then I try to mold the sand, compact it against the walls of the structure beneath as to further strengthen the walls even more, just in case it was less solid than I initially thought, with the added effect of closing up any gaps in the walls like windows so more sand can’t come streaming in. After which I move the remaining sand out of the way so we could easily make our way down.
It requires a considerable amount of effort with my somewhat diminished powers, but after about ten minutes, I feel like the job is done. I then pull my sword out of the sand, well, stone would be a more appropriate name now, as the sand in the direct vicinity of my sword had also solidified.
Sid approaches me with Gamma in his arms. “are we ready to move?”
I nod. “Yeah, I think so, let’s go see if it actually worked.” I then proceed to take the lead and walk towards the tower we had been eating a snack in earlier. From outside of the ruined walls nothing much seems to have changed, it’s only when we climb up the sand and stand right at the edge of where the building’s footprint begins, that it becomes obvious just what my powers have accomplished. The inside of the building is now mostly clear, apart from a couple patches of sand, giving us a direct view of what appears to be the building’s staircase.
“Should I take Gamma again?” I look at Sid next to me.
“No, I think it will be fine for now.” He shakes his head and waits for me to jump onto the stone floor of the building. “It’s better that you have your hands free for your weapons.”
“Fair enough.” I nod and float down to the floor below after which I head towards the staircase while Sid uses the remnants of the staircase of this floor to head down to where I’m standing. “Try to stay close.”
Sid nods. “I wasn’t planning on falling behind.”
And so we commence our expedition into this skyscraper-like structure. Making our way a couple of floors by descending the rather convenient staircase. What I do notice is that the stairs have steps that are considerably shorter than what I’m used to back on Earth or on Haurchefaud. Not to a degree where it becomes incredibly annoying, but let’s say I do need to watch my step a little. As for Sid, he is just skipping an entire step at a time. Not much of a surprise considering his size.
We move through a couple of completely empty floors, from what I can tell we still haven’t gone past the hard layer that I had felt earlier, mostly deduced from the fact that the window openings are all covered with rock solid sand thanks to my magic from earlier.
The only thing lighting our way being the bit of light coming from my sword at least until we get to about ten floors down, when the interior of the skyscraper changes a lot and when a reddish light accompanies mine in illuminating the rooms we traverse. We find tables that are strewn around the room with small cubes, presumably used as seats by people who used to work or live here. Everything is thrown around as if they were blasted to the side by a tremendous gust of wind. But that’s not what Sid and I halt at to look at, instead the both of us look out of one of the windows, mouths agape. We have crossed the borderline of rock I had sensed earlier and we are now gazing directly into the cavern. In front of us is a ruined cityscape, familiar in one way, but still very alien in another. The buildings, in various states of decay, are all built from the same kind of black stone. The entire area is lit up by red crystals that are growing on pretty much every surface. Front the cave floor to the rocky ceiling, not even the buildings are spared.
“What the hell…” I say under my breath. My words echoing throughout the dead-silent cave.
Then suddenly a dry gust of wind hits us both in the face. It doesn’t feel natural yet I also don’t really sense evil in it. In actuality it almost feels… comforting?
That’s when I notice a change in the coloring of the lighting in the cavern. Subtle at first but the change accelerates quickly afterwards. The red in the crystal is gently fading like the color of the sky at sunrise and turning into a calming blue. Eerily similar to the color that is typical for the magic I generally tend to use.
“Is it… reacting to us?” Sid looks at me.
“I… I don’t know…” I silently reply.