Kaelan slows in midair and comes to a hover above a massive crevice carved into the earth.
From above, the rupture looks like a wound splitting the land open. Canvas tents form a rough perimeter around it. Armed soldiers patrol in rotating patterns. Supply crates are stacked neatly along reinforced wooden walkways. Steam-powered floodlights hiss faintly, though daylight still lingers.
He descends.
The moment his boots near the ground, rifles rise.
Several soldiers aim steam rifles directly at him, tension snapping through the air like drawn wire.
Kaelan lands calmly outside the camp's gate.
Before the soldiers can bark an order, a figure steps forward, a man clad in armour trimmed with insignia, aura steady and oppressive.
A half-stage Sky Knight.
The man approaches with measured steps.
Kaelan speaks first.
"I am Kaelan, a Master Alchemist from the Sand Temple."
The half-stage Sky Knight studies him carefully.
"Isn't Mariopoll under lockdown?" he asks.
Kaelan shrugs lightly.
"I will not waste my time on some nonsense lockdown," he replies. "Or do you think I am the killer?"
The knight stares at him for a long moment.
Then he exhales faintly.
"You have come," he says, stepping aside, "so what can be done?"
He gestures toward the entrance.
"Come in."
Kaelan nods and walks forward.
The soldiers lower their weapons, though their eyes remain sharp.
As they walk, the knight speaks.
"I am Raphael. I am in charge of security for this site."
Kaelan nods once.
"What help do you require?"
Raphael continues walking.
"It will be easier to show you."
Kaelan inclines his head and says nothing further.
They move through the camp.
Kaelan's full-length robe sways lightly in the wind, fabric shifting with quiet elegance under the watchful gazes of soldiers and workers alike. Whispers pass in his wake. Some recognise the weight of the title Master Alchemist. Others simply feel the aura he does not bother to conceal.
At the mouth of the crevice, they stop.
A group of people stands waiting nearby, most of them elderly, dressed in practical but refined clothing suited for excavation and study.
One older man steps forward eagerly.
"General Raphael," he asks, "are we resuming exploration of the ruin?"
Raphael gestures toward Kaelan.
"This is Master Alchemist Kaelan. Once we deal with the danger inside, exploration can continue."
The old man's eyes brighten.
He steps forward and extends his hand.
"Thank you. I am Alrain Hamlett. These are members of my team."
Kaelan shakes his hand briefly.
"It is nothing," he says evenly. "I am also interested in the ruin."
Raphael gestures toward the crevice.
"We should proceed."
They enter.
The crack in the earth has been stabilised. Reinforced beams line the walls. Steam lamps are mounted at intervals, casting steady light downward. The ground has been carved into makeshift stairs leading deeper.
As they descend, Raphael speaks.
"You will be dumbstruck when you see what lies below."
Kaelan glances at him.
"Have you encountered anything that gives insight into the ruin's origin?"
Raphael shakes his head.
"Empty structures so far. We were stopped before advancing further by… a creature."
They continue downward.
The crevice widens gradually.
Then,
Kaelan steps onto the final stair and looks ahead.
An enormous underground chamber opens before him.
White dome-shaped buildings of varying sizes stretch across the cavern floor. Smooth, curved surfaces gleam faintly under golden light. The architecture is clean, symmetrical, almost toy-like, but far too precise to be primitive.
Kaelan tilts his head upward.
The light source is not a steam.
It feels… organic.
Above them, suspended from the cavern ceiling, hang clusters of plant buds resembling lanterns. They glow with steady yellow light, illuminating the entire space evenly.
Kaelan's lips part slightly.
"Wow."
Raphael nods.
"I was also dumbstruck when I first saw them. I didn't know plants could shine like that."
Kaelan replies thoughtfully, "There are luminescent plants, but they produce only dim light. Not like this. Not equivalent to a hundred-power steam bulb."
Raphael nods slowly.
"I know that now."
Kaelan's feet lift from the ground as he manipulates gravity subtly around himself. His body rises gently into the air.
"I will examine them," he says.
Without waiting for permission, he ascends toward one of the glowing buds.
He reaches out and touches it.
The moment his fingers brush the surface, the glowing bud retracts instantly, folding inward as surrounding petals close protectively around it.
Kaelan's eyes gleam faintly.
"They are shy," he murmurs to himself.
Below, Raphael raises his voice.
"Master Kaelan, perhaps we should deal with the creature first. You may research the plants afterwards."
Kaelan considers for a moment.
Then he nods and descends gracefully back to the cavern floor.
"Very well," he says. "Where is this creature? And what assistance do you require?"
Raphael gestures toward the deeper part of the underground settlement.
They begin walking.
Kaelan's gaze lingers on the white domes as they pass between them.
His spirit spreads outward silently, brushing across curved walls and smooth surfaces, slipping through doorways and seams without obstruction. He searches for life, for traces of energy signatures, for residual imprints of past occupants.
He finds nothing.
The interiors are empty.
No furniture. No relics. No carvings. No remains.
Only hollow chambers shaped with careful precision.
He studies the material of the structures.
It is not a stone.
Not wood.
Not brick.
Not cement.
Not any alloy or composite he recognises.
The surface feels uniform, layered in faint horizontal ridges, as though formed by incremental deposits stacked upon one another. The repeating striations catch his eye, and something in his memory stirs.
He remembers watching old videos, once, long ago, of houses built by 3D printing technology. Layer by layer, material is extruded and shaped by machine.
The resemblance is striking.
The domes here bear a similar texture.
If it is a coincidence, then it is meaningless.
But if it is not,
Then the civilisation that built this place may not have been merely transcendental.
It may have been technological.
Kaelan does not speak his thoughts aloud.
He continues walking beside Raphael as they move deeper into the underground city. The domes gradually become sparser. The glowing plant bulbs above remain the only living presence in the sterile environment.
No insects.
No animals.
No moss creeping along the walls.
The space is unnaturally clean.
Crossing beyond the last cluster of white domes, an open stretch of bare ground spreads before them. The glowing bulbs thin overhead. The silence grows heavier.
At the far end, embedded within the rocky cavern wall, a gaping black hole yawns open.
Raphael slows.
He looks toward Kaelan.
"If I step forward," he says, "a human-like creature will emerge from that hole and attack."
Kaelan raises an eyebrow.
"And you do not need assistance in fighting it?"
Raphael shakes his head.
"I can handle the fight. The problem is something else."
He gestures toward the dark opening.
"When the creature sustains serious injury, it retreats into the hole. It heals. Then it comes out again. We have fought it multiple times. We cannot stop it from returning inside."
He looks directly at Kaelan.
"I need your help to trap it when it attempts to retreat."
Kaelan nods slowly.
"I understand."
A Master Alchemist's spirit power can materialise. It can form arrays in midair. It can create temporary seals or spatial barriers independent of physical support.
That is why they need him.
Raphael exhales once.
"Be ready. I am going in."
Kaelan gives a small nod and gestures for him to proceed.
Raphael steps forward.
Three steps.
Four.
Five.
From the gaping hole, something moves.
A humanoid figure emerges.
Its skin gleams like polished metal. Smooth and reflective. Its proportions are near human, but slightly elongated. Nearly seven feet tall. Its joints rotate with precise, angular motion.
Its steps feel mechanical, not organic.
Kaelan narrows his eyes.
The creature resembles an Andromon from Digimon, metallic, constructed, purposeful.
His realisation sharpens instantly.
The underground settlement is sterile. The only living organisms are the luminous plant bulbs above. No ecosystem supports this chamber. No fauna inhabits it.
He had initially assumed the hole in the cavern wall led to another natural underground biome.
Now he thinks otherwise.
If this being is truly mechanical,
Then, beyond that hole may lie a robot factory.
The battle begins without warning.
The metallic humanoid raises one arm.
Blue energy gathers in its palm.
It fires.
A sphere of condensed blue light shoots toward Raphael with explosive velocity.
Raphael vanishes from his original position, reappearing several meters to the side in a burst of motion. The energy sphere slams into the ground where he stood, detonating with a concussive shockwave that cracks the cavern floor.
More spheres follow.
The robot's arm pivots smoothly, launching projectile after projectile.
Raphael weaves through them, half-stage Sky Knight speed blurring his figure. He closes the distance rapidly, aura flaring as he prepares to engage at close range.
One stray energy sphere arcs off its trajectory and hurtles toward Kaelan.
It lands a few meters ahead of him.
Kaelan lifts one hand casually.
With a subtle wave, invisible lines of spirit power weave together in an instant. A translucent barrier forms midair just as the energy sphere detonates.
The explosion hits the barrier and disperses into harmless fragments of blue light and dust.
Kaelan lowers his hand.
He watches quietly.
Raphael reaches the robot and strikes.
Metal rings against steel as Raphael's blade carves sparks across the creature's torso. The robot pivots with unnerving smoothness, countering with a mechanical punch that shatters rock where Raphael had stood a moment earlier.
The cavern trembles with each impact.
Kaelan's gaze sharpens further.
The creature does not bleed.
It does not roar.
It does not react emotionally.
Its movements are calculated.
Systematic.
Precise.
This is not a beast.
This is a construct.
Raphael's blade cuts across one of the robot's arms, leaving a visible fracture line in the metallic plating.
Blue light flickers beneath the crack.
Kaelan observes carefully.
When the robot is injured, its internal energy fluctuates but does not destabilise entirely.
So it truly is repairing itself beyond that hole.
His mind begins forming containment arrays already.
Raphael drives the robot backward step by step.
The metallic humanoid suddenly fires another blue sphere at point-blank range.
Raphael blocks partially, but the explosion throws him back several meters.