Urban Jungle

The eerie silence of the ghost city was even more imposing within the Barrier than it had been without. Outside, the city had been torn down and damaged, as mild as some of it may have been. It gave the impression of an abandoned city, a post-apocalyptic museum of humanity. It was eerie, but here... here the city was just empty. It stood in perfect candor, its architecture unperturbed, its extravagant designs as untouched as John was sure it had been the day before the city fell. Outside, it felt as if the world had ended. In here, it felt as if everyone had simply vanished.

And in here, John had no illusions that he was alone.

Every storefront became a potential threat, every moment spent hovering above the ground was another he had to be alert for any possible attacks. Now that even the ground wasn't safe, being alert to incoming assaults felt overwhelming – and despite Vallya's constant assurances that her illusions were powerful enough to disrupt most scrying abilities, John could not relax. From miles away, from the other side of a Barrier, this woman had struck him without even being able to lay eyes on him. Not only had she done that, but she'd struck with such power that John had been severely injured. Even with Vallya's boost to his stats, John had lost a sizeable chunk of his health. How much stronger would this Adantia be when she wasn't striking him from across a distance measured in miles?

"I don't know how we're supposed to find this woman. I'm not even sure if we can," John noted as they slowly hovered through the city. "If she's so adept at hiding her energy, and if she can burrow cables through the ground, what's stopping her from just burying herself underground and waiting for us to leave?"

"A fair point," Vallya replied casually, not sounding the least bit bothered. "But she doesn't know we're inside the Barrier, at least not with any certainty. Besides... she almost certainly knows she didn't kill us. Most likely she'll believe we have either infiltrated her defenses or escaped. Either way, she'll understand she has no immediate methods to find us now that we've hidden away from her."

"And how does that help us now?"

"Well, if we've already left, she has no reason to hide – it's too late, she's played her hand and revealed herself to us. Even if we weren't looking for her, we'll surely tell others of what we saw here. If we're outside of the Barrier, she has no reason to sequester herself even if she can't determine our exact location, since we wouldn't be able to find her."

"And what if she realizes that we're already inside of her Barrier?"

"Think about it, Master. If you thought someone had infiltrated our home during the year that we spent in isolation, even if you weren't absolutely sure about it, would you have us all bury ourselves underground and pray that they went away?"

"No," John replied in thought. His body tensed at the very thought of someone intruding on their new world; there was no way he would've been able to sit around. "I couldn't bring myself to do nothing. Even if I could, even if we never encountered them, I'd never know if I was right or wrong."

"Excellent. Of course, we don't know much about this Adantia's personality... Will she try to lure us into a trap? Will she be out hunting for us herself? Will she be naive and believe that she was fortunate enough to scare us away, that she might be able to deal with whoever comes after us investigating our story? A Star Guardian has to be prepared for every outcome, Master!"

"Well, you know your own abilities far better than I do... I'll worry about finding Adantia. You worry about how to keep us alive long enough to convince her to help us instead of skewering us."

"I think I can manage that much. If she hasn't seen through my concealment spells, I can at least buy you enough time to talk with her."

"Good. As for the challenge of finding her..."

Finding Adantia could well have been an even more difficult matter than infiltrating her Barrier. Actually locating someone in a city this size was troubling enough. Doing it in thirty minutes while – despite Vallya's logic – still not fully convinced that Adantia would be out in the open at all seemed virtually impossible. Perhaps if John was moving at his normal speed it would be possible, but the need for subtlety was working against him.

Floating around was easy enough with Vallya's mind aiding him, but it still made him hesitate slightly when trying to be sure not to bump into anything. Further, since he was pretty sure Adantia could sense vibrations and disturbances on the surface, he couldn't open any doors or windows. If a building was sealed, John could only glance in through the windows or the occasional open doorway. He was optimistic, though, that there might be a simpler way.

"Vallya, have you noticed anything about these underground tendrils?" John asked, his eyes falling to the streaks of mana that he could still see passing below the ground. "They seem to be burrowing almost at random, as if from all directions... but there's more to it, isn't there?"

"Oh? Like what, Master?

Vallya's tone had shifted, and though the change was subtle, John had noticed it more and more since their journey to the west coast had begun. It was a teasing, tempting, almost taunting tone, one that always put John on edge.

"You already noticed, didn't you?" John replied, doing his best to mentally convey the equivalent of a scowl. "I don't appreciate you holding back information like that, Vallya."

"I would have told you in time to find her, Master," Vallya said, her voice feigning an almost offended innocence. "But it's important that you learn to spot things like this on your own."

"I can't even access your sight for another month after this. Stop worrying about improving me, and start worrying about accomplishing our mission," John growled.

"I'm not talking about your sight," Vallya responded, the disdain and disappointment evident in her voice, I'm referring to your situational awareness and pattern recognition, Master. No matter what you are focused on, no matter what you are doing, never stop 'worrying' about improving. Growth is the only thing that matters in life. Hesitate, and you will stagnate; falter, and you will die."

Vallya's words rang in John's mind for a moment, echoed in the silence that fell in his thoughts as her intensity overwhelmed him. John's mind cleared only when his own annoyance and focus reasserted themselves, and as he diverted their path to begin floating further along the street toward a distant corner of the city.

"We'll talk about your priorities later," John growled, dangerous tones playing in his own thoughts. "For now... help me follow these strands back to their source. I need more eyes on these things."

As you wish, Master.

Silence reigned once more as John and Vallya flew together through the city streets, their combined gazes focused on the depths below the paved streets. What John had said was true – the many tendrils of steel and mana below them were snaked all through the city and often seemed as if they were laced in no particular order. Most were moving, some were simply sitting still, but all of them had to originate from somewhere, didn't they?

"It's not as simple as finding the ends of all of these cables, though," John mused as he flew along the streets as fast as Vallya's powers would carry them. His logic was that there was no reason to assume someone would have to be within range of specifically the end of the cable. Given that, he doubted Adantia would take the risk of keeping more than one or two cables with their ends near her location, even if it did increase her range. If she did, all anyone would have to do would be to follow any given cable to both ends, and they'd be guaranteed to find her.

But they still have to be within range of her, however wide that may be," Vallya agreed. "Given the control Adantia seems to have over these cables, and the speed with which she can manipulate them, they're probably not far from where she is. Telekinetic control of objects is remarkably difficult with distance; the fact she has accomplished the feats she has already speaks volumes of her strength. Doing so without being within a reasonable distance of some part of these cables... well, if she could do that, it's hard to believe that this city could've ever been slaughtered with someone like that around."

"And how far would you guess is a 'reasonable' distance to control cables like this?' John asked.

"That is a very complex question..." Vallya noted. John couldn't hear, but rather felt how intensely Vallya's mind was working as she pored over the uncountable variables inherent in such a work of magic. "Given that she's had such a long time to learn this control, and might well have specifically enchanted some of these cables to make them more workable... I'd say every cable that's actively moving should be within at least a half mile. Less if she's not as impressive as Himiko has made her out to be."

"A half mile radius is quite a distance to search..." John noted, mildly dejected.

"Compared to a city and Barrier of this magnitude, a half-mile radius is almost nothing, and from this height?" Vallya's thoughts were punctuated by a chuckle that resonated within John's mind. "We have less than thirty minutes... but I would wager we can find her inside of fifteen. That is, of course... if you're willing to let me take the reins a little, Master."

"Lead the way, Vallya."

Letting someone else control their shared body was something that still felt strange to John, though he was sure it was no more unusual than what his creations felt while John was in control himself. As Vallya exerted her influence over their pathing and mana, John was able to relax slightly and focus more on the ground below as their search began.

The effort was faster, but definitely more complicated. As they travelled the city streets at high speeds, John noted that there were actually several places that seemed as if they'd been laid out specifically to trick them. Places where the ends of cables all converged, or spots where all the cables seemed to pass by, as if to be within range of someone's magic. Each of those spots had to be searched, and after the third time they found nothing in the area, John's frustration was growing difficult to suppress.

"We won't have enough time to find her at this rate," John noted, checking his menu. "We've barely covered half the Barrier, and there are only fifteen minutes left. If we don’t hurry, we'll find her just in time to drop to the ground and be impaled."

"Well, then perhaps we should give her the opportunity?" Vallya said, a playful tone in her voice. "If we give her a target, say one of my illusions..."

"Not ideal," John noted. "If she hides away instead of lashing out, we'll never find her."

"Oh... oh my. I don't think she's being as subtle as we feared, Master."

"What are you talking about? I-"

John glanced around and even his thoughts came to a halt as he saw movement at the edge of his vision. They had flown over one of the larger roadways and streets of the city, and from their height, they could see down both ends of the roadway for miles. At the far end, where even John's magically-enhanced eyesight started to have trouble differentiating between smaller objects, there was a massive clutch of underground steel cords all woven together like a massive rope. It must have been nearly four feet in diameter, composed of hundreds of metal cables all traveling through the dirt in unison. The cable was encircled over a very small area of ground, slowly rotating around an empty center.

And just a few feet above that center, John could see a woman walking along the street – slowly, casually, as if she weren't at all concerned about the potential of intruders. She was so far away it was difficult to make out any details other than the fact that she was a reasonably tall woman, with straight black hair and a green-and-yellow outfit that stood out from the rest of the muted grays and occasional arcane blues of the city.

"Looks like the smart money was on naive... that or she's so confident that she doesn't actually care if we're here or not. She's not even being subtle about it. Do you think it's a trap? Is she trying to expose herself?"

"She would have made a bigger display if she wanted to draw us in. It could still be a trap, but this is more like..."

Vallya's thoughts trailed off, and for a moment it was as if John was alone in his head again.

"Vallya, we're losing time here. We have to make a move before my ability wears off; we'll need your illusions to stand a chance."

"Perhaps. Go ahead, Master. Let's see how this Adantia reacts to someone within her home."

John grimaced, thinking back to Vallya's question earlier about much the same thing.