When Hara awoke he felt refreshed, momentarily forgetting the events that had led him to a desolate city at the base of a volcano, far from his comrades. The memory returned as soon as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and he sprang to his feet, surveying his surroundings. His first observation was the striking serenity outside. Sunlight streamed through the windows into the room around him, illuminating the dusty air. He was in what seemed like a lobby of an old corporate building. Faded lettering and images painted onto the interior walls gave him the impression that this was an old mining company. He grabbed his helmet, and with one hand on his blade, stepped cautiously through the wreckage of the window he had obliterated on his way in.
In the steel forest that was the city around him, the downed building had created a meadow. The sun caused the twisted steel rubble strewn throughout the street to glisten and shine. Hara held a hand to his brow to shield his eyes as he looked around him. The wreckage was rampant throughout the rather broad thoroughfare, with the bulk of the former facade blocking the gate through which he had entered the city. The building across the street gaped at him, its innards exposed to the elements for the first time since its construction centuries ago. Hara could spy furniture befit an office building in what remained on the higher floors. Donning his helmet, he rose steadily, parallel to the office building, visually documenting the evidence within. Under different circumstances, he would have marveled at the history at display, and fully appreciated the singular experience that this morning had provided. This morning...
"Damn." He turned quickly and rose up to the roof of the building he had spent the night in. Landing, he looked out at the rest of the city. The volcano loomed, a vigilant guardian, towering like a titan over the city. From what he could see from changes in architecture, the city was divided into three rings. He was standing atop the tallest building in the newest portion of the city, he supposed, among other skyscrapers and rather large buildings. Further into the city was a second zone, a relatively modest region with a blend of architectural patterns. At the very base of the mountain, he could discern structures made of a pure black material, shimmering in the morning light. Turning, he looked towards the desert in the distance. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but Hara was starting to feel quite worried.
He was supposed to be back to base by sundown. Missing a direct order from D.D. was not something Hara had made a habit of, and furthermore, was not something that the former would allow without substantial consequences. Checking the log, he found an even stranger anomaly - he hadn't been hailed at all, not once, throughout the night. Complete silence was an oddity for certain. Something was wrong. He tried immediately to hail Aela, and, failing that, to reach out to Arturi or Sofia on board The Sabre, but nothing connected. The silence around him suddenly weighed heavy, disconcerting and worrisome. Hara ran another diagnostic on this suit, hoping to find an issue with the communication system that he could easily workaround, but nothing seemed amiss on that front. What he did find was disheartening - the backup solar generator for the jet pack had taken the brunt of the lightening strike that had brought him to his knees, leaving him with only a few hours of fuel, not nearly enough to return to camp. He had figured on having the solar generator to take him through the desert, but at this rate, he'd have to struggle across the dunes on his feet.
Taking stock of his surroundings once more, he turned towards the peak. What had the lioness told him? That her brother, Thestus, was waiting for him at the volcano. Perhaps he would be able to help him out of his mess and bring him back across the plains to the edge of his domain. Hara sighed. This was insane, he thought, that he would consider wasting what fuel he had left to summit a mountain in the opposite direction of his goal. And yet, he did feel a strange pull towards the peak. Something seemed to call to him, the fiber of his being and he knew then that he had to continue onwards. Besides, he thought, he would be on the highest vantage point in the region. What better place to survey the land and see how he would proceed? And maybe he could overcome whatever communication barrier existed if he got to the top of that volcano. Thinking that he should move quickly to get in contact with his friends sooner, Hara decided to bet on the volcano.
Hara jumped from the rooftop and glided, conserving his fuel, deeper into the city. Landing lightly on the main thoroughfare, he retracted his wings and looked around. This part of the city was approaching the second region that he had seen earlier. A mixed residential and business sector by the look of it. Old vehicles lined the streets, and things seemed neat and orderly, as if somebody had taken great care to arrange his surroundings. Faded adverts and banners streamed from overhanging fixtures, jutting off the side of old multi-story apartment buildings and corporate offices. Hara could make out an old symbol on a few of the facades and banners, the volcano surrounded by several, seemingly tribal, markings. As he proceeded along the street, the mixed sector gave way to some neighborhoods, of olden, modest houses. For a brief moment he considered entering one of the households, but, remembering the somewhat time-sensitive nature of his current predicament, Hara moved on.
After some time, Hara reached yet another gate, mirroring the one he had seen the day before. This gate, and all the structures beyond it, however, were made of a dark, glassy substance. Obsidian, he realized, as he reached out to tap his glove against it. Proceeding cautiously through the gate, he continued to venture further up the now heavily sloping landscape. This part of the city was quite old, he decided, older than anything he had ever seen. The architecture was unrecognizable, the material was exquisite. And somehow, it had all remained preserved, despite its fragile state. Treading carefully, he meandered through the ancient city until he reached an ornate gateway, guarded by two obsidian wyverns, next to a rather large castle. Here, Hara paused to check the time. Two hours had passed since he had woken and he felt the pressure of time upon him once more. Forgoing his curiosity to look around the castle grounds, he passed underneath the arch, and headed further up the volcano.
The climb was an arduous one, and he often took the easier route by flying for a few minutes at a time when he needed a break. The ancients had left a rudimentary path to follow along the mountain, but it had fallen in to disrepair, which Hara had found quite odd. The city below him had been, somewhat, pristine and well-preserved. He thought back to what the lioness had told him. If these beings were indeed gods, they had become glorified care-takers in the absence of the ancients, the ones that had fled Agrea, to establish the Corangean Empire among the stars. Since then, everything was seemingly untouched by time. Thus, he reasoned, this path must have fallen to disarray long beforehand. This realization did nothing, however satisfying it was from an amateur historian's perspective, to assuage the great pain with which he traversed the mountainside now, climbing over obstacles and slipping and falling, occasionally, down the flank, only to waste more fuel making up the lost ground.
It was in this exhausted state that Hara came to the end of the path, to a rather flat region near the summit that seemed to form a ring below the crater. He sat to rest for a moment, overlooking the region around him. He could see the desert in its entirety, including the mountains to its far northeastern borders. To the north, he could see the jagged crags of yet another mountain range. The sun was high in the clear, blue sky and illuminated the whole of the domain below. It was certainly a beautiful sight, one that he was sure to document in the record through his visor. Feeling a second wind, he stood and turned to face the crater.
It was then that he noticed him. A lone, solitary figure at the edge of the crater, looking down at him. Hara flew then, without hesitation, rising to his level, landing a few yards away. The man spoke to him in a deep, contemptuous tone.
"So...you have come at last."
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