Turning away from the desert and its clear, blue skies, Hara faced the open plains. The grasses swayed before him, untamed, taller than any man. Jumping into the skies, he flew lazily towards the distant mountain, trying to catalog as much as he could about the grasses below. They seemed to be some sort of wheatgrass, Hara surmised, reminding him of his father's old greenhouses. He found a small clearing in the plains and landed briefly to collect a soil sample, packing it securely into a compartment on his hip, along with a sample of the surrounding flora. The first raindrops started to fall on his face then, and he stopped to breathe in the earthly, humid air. Donning his helmet (which he thought was prudent), he continued his journey.
The mountain in the distance became incrementally larger despite his faster pace, a testament to its enormity. He was checking the fuel gauge when something on the horizon caught his attention. Hara stopped dead in the air. Glittering. Glittering that was familiar, at the base of the mountain, that could only mean one thing. Buildings. It was then that realized that he had seen cityscapes on his descent, but hadn't fully appreciated their significance. Actual cities! He sped up towards the mountain then, caught up in the excitement of his thoughts, not heeding the sudden ferocity of the storm that raged around him. Hara wondered what artifacts of his temporally far-flung forefathers he would find. A city would be huge for the Archives, he thought, grinning to himself as he pictured the look on the Author's face at the various items he could bring back to him. He approached the city from what looked like the main entrance way. He landed gently before an ornate gate, and was admiring what architecture he could see through the torrent when the lightning struck him.
He cried out as he felt the surge of power flow through the suit, bringing him to his knees, his arms outstretched. The Vector was locked momentarily, adjusting to the sudden input. Hara knew that, theoretically, the suit could handle a large influx of energy. He just didn't know how long it would take. He felt the suit relax and he hunched over breathing hard. The force of the strike knocked the wind out of him. He remembered back to his jump into Krypia, when pummeling through the wreckage of a downed ship had made him felt like the bones in his body had shattered. This was somehow worse. Rising to one knee, he shook his head and made to stand, when a second strike hit the arch in front of him, causing him to duck.
He swore to himself and tried to hail Aela, but the suit wasn't cooperating. The sudden peal of thunder nearly drowned out the sound of his own thoughts. Throwing caution to the wind, he sprinted through the arch into the ruined city beyond, a task made more difficult by the howling winds of the encompassing gale. He barely had time to register surprise at the winds overcoming the relative stability of the Vector when, with a flash, a bang, and a tremendous groan of surrendering steel, the facade of the building beside him came crashing down. He flew laterally, crashing through a window of the building across the street, tumbling through the wreckage of what seemed to be a lobby of sorts, to escape the impending collapse. With a thunderous, earth-shaking fall, the building outside crumbled.
Hara held his breath waiting for the lightening to strike again. Outside, the storm raged on in a deafening downpour, limiting his vision to the lobby around him. After what seemed like an eternity, Hara decided that the worst had passed. He cautiously removed his helmet, and took a deep breath. He sat himself in a far corner, a vantage from which he could survey the whole lobby and sat in a state of constant vigilance. The Vector seemed to be a little rough around the edges, but still fully functioning. The diagnostics of his person came back fine, although he still felt sore from the blast of lightening. He settled in, watching for any sign of movement, a hand on his blade. For hours, Hara waited and watched, thinking of Aela, of the goddess of the desert, and of the seemingly sentient lightening. All the while, the rain fell steadily, and before he realized, Hara fell into a fitful sleep, jolting awake at the sound of distant thunder, only to drift off, lulled by the patter of the rain around him.
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