A feeling of dread and despair washes over me when these images are shown. A bit later one of those towering purple devils walks over the abandoned streets before the screen changes over once more.
This time the entire city has those devils just sitting idly by, sitting in groups as the sound of clashing combat goes on in the distance. Then suddenly a blue light blinds me. Completely lighting up the room I’m sitting in. It’s hard to keep looking at the screen like this. When the light stops, just as sudden as it had appeared, the devils on the screen start disintegrating. A feeling of hope filling my body although that feeling soon disappears as the television screen starts showing me a timelapse. People are trying to rebuild their city but it’s obvious to see that with this little people it’s not going to be easy. Not to mention that the look of their atmosphere still hasn’t changed much compared to the ash filled skies from earlier.
The next couple of images show sickness running rampant and the entities walking around are getting skinnier by the second. The hope from earlier has now definitely turned to sadness instead. At a certain point in time the planet’s sky disappears completely and gets replaced by the stone ceiling that is present today. What caused this isn’t very clear to me just yet.
Then, in the end of the timelapse, I see a sole person stumbling and then sitting down next to the foundation of one of the buildings, seemingly breathing their last breath. A while later the glowing crystals we are now familiar with, start growing out of the body. The same happens further in the city, with crystals popping out of buildings or growing up from behind them. The crystal slowly connects with other strands and forms a web while the lights in each of them start to synchronize. After which it shows me an image of the cave as we now it now. Many years later from the looks of it.
The television then goes black for a couple of seconds before a white question mark, a bit garbled but still unmistakingly a question mark, pops up on the screen.
“Are you asking me if I have any questions?” I ask.
The question mark changes into a check mark, glowing faintly before turning back into a question mark.
“Hmmm…” My mind immediately wanders to one particular scene. “What was that blinding light that we saw? Was that some kind of weapon your people made, to fight the demons with?”
The check mark appears again and then shows me an image of blue crystal, slightly teardrop shaped. A devil tries to approach it to grab it but instead is turned into dust.
“And where is it now?”
The image changes to a movie of devils, using a lot of husks too, building a huge stone complex on top of something.
“So they built a tomb around it?”
The check mark appears once more.
“And where is it?”
It then shows the cave we are in now and then flies out of it through the tower we came in from flying a very long distance, past the mountains we were heading towards and in the direction of a giant volcano. Somewhere in between those two landmarks is the black stone complex, sat on top of the desert sands. In the middle of which I see a portal, not dissimilar to the one we had been sucked through.
“So they built the complex on top of the weapon to keep it out of anyone’s hands… that same complex also being our way out of here…”
As I expected, the check mark appears once more.
“And do you know what caused the stone ceiling to appear? The ceiling that now makes up the roof of this cavern?”
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Again, the check mark shows up after which the video starts showing me a drawing in the sand, much like I made earlier to show Sid. From what I understood from the drawing they tried to seal themselves underground with some kind of magic to get their agriculture back on track as the rainfall from up top was toxic to crops and people alike. It was a last ditch effort to keep their planet liveable for their population but from the results we’ve seen, it hasn’t worked out. It was all probably just a little too late.
“I see. Then I think I know enough for the time being. Thank you for showing this all to me. We will get to work after we had some rest.”
The image on the television screen shifts for yet another time, showing me our current location and then zooming down below to the cave floor behind one of the buildings where a pool of water sits still in a bowl made of crystal.
“Is this a safe resting spot? Drinkable water?”
The check mark shows up twice.
“Then I have to thank you again.” I smile and look around the room as I fully suspect the crystal entity to boot me out of the illusion, but to my surprise it doesn’t. Instead the television shows the three of us, Gamma, Sid and I, while I put my sword in the earth up top when I tried to get a good view of the surrounding area using my magic. I then sense an intense feeling welling up at my core. Hope… Hope and relief with a whiff of retribution.
They must have been waiting for so long for someone to come around to show these devils what’s up. And they received an angel with earth magic, pretty much exactly what they needed…
“I’ll do my very best to reclaim your planet, or at the very least, to get rid of the devils on it.” I swear. It’s pretty different from our original goal of trying to get the hell out of here. But with the blue crystal… We might just be able to kill two devils with one stone…. Or… well… killing thousands of devils with one stone and then getting out of here afterwards.
A feeling of happiness now fills me as the edges of my vision start to get blinded out by blue light, engulfing my entire field of view before I suddenly find myself back in the ‘real world’, my hand still resting on the crystal.
I take my hand off and look behind me where I find Sid, having my shield still clasped in his hands.
“What’s wrong Amicia? Did nothing happen?”
I look at him, confused. “What do you mean, nothing?”
Sid looks back even more confused than me. “What do you mean, what do you mean? You just touched it for five seconds, then the crystal softly lit up and now you are looking back at me.”
“Wait… how long ago did you say I touched the crystal?”
“Thirty seconds now. I suppose.” He shrugs. “Thirty five now.”
“Wow. Okay.” I look back at the crystal.
“Why? Did something happen after all?”
I nod, not looking back at my friend. “I got quite a bit of exposition in that uber short time…” I put my gauntlets back on, get off my knee and face Sid once more. “I’ll explain…”
Sid nods along through my entire exposition, as he gives back my shield and collects Gamma again. “So there’s a shared consciousness living inside of this crystal then? The people who used to live in this city?”
“That’s what I think so, yes. Why exactly they turn into crystals I didn’t really ask, maybe some kind of effort to safeguard their legacy.” As I say that, the crystal lights up before dimming again. “Well, I guess there’s your answer.”
“Wow.” Sid repeats my wow from earlier in much the same mystified way. “Thank you for having us, I suppose.” Sid directs himself towards the crystal. “And thank you for the information.”
The crystal glows similarly to before, signifying acknowledgement.
“So what now?” He asks, Gamma back safely in his arms.
“The crystal told me of a safe place down below where we can get some fresh water. We probably should make a camp there so we can rest and hopefully Gamma will wake up to help us. Because from the look I got of that place we are heading tomorrow… We are going to need all the help we can get. Or at the very least not a dead weight slowing us down…” I look down at Gamma with compassion. “No offense intended.”
“She would very much agree with you if she were awake.” Sid nods. “Okay then, let’s head down to that place our crystalline friends have shown to you.” As Sid says this, the crystal starts pulsing outwards out of the building, vaguely in the direction of the pool they showed me.
“Looks like they are guiding the way as well.” I chuckle softly. “Grab onto me, I’ll fly us there.”
“Alright, I’m glad that we have made some actual progress already.”
“So am I, so am I….”