I watched as a group of explorers entered The Tower. I scribbled what I remember of the weird lady from the day before, along with other notable Fallen. The bakery was visible and I could see Amelia working hard. She noticed me and gave me a small wave. I waved back, trying to not blush too hard. I drew a very detailed sketch of her as well. Lyra was leaning against a wall next to me, fiddling around with some weird cube thing with many colors.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Hmm? Oh this? It's called a Bix cube… probably. The writing was off so I'm not entirely sure. I think it was a human toy, check it out!

She showed me the object and began twisting it. The color sides shifted and moved seamlessly.

"I think the goal is to get all of the same color on one side. Which is surprisingly hard to do, you wanna try?

Lyra handed me the cube and I tried it. She was right, it was much harder than it seemed to connect the colors together. The real puzzle to me however, was the design of it. It confused me greatly. How did it move like that? Shouldn't it have fallen apart from taking a square from one edge all the way to the other? So many questions flooded my mind.

"Hey, Lyra, can I-"

"You can't take it apart, Feathers!" Lyra said near instantly, snatching the device out of my talons. "Not after you broke that magic yo-yo! It glowed and everything!"

"I said I was sorry! Think though Lyra, if we figure out how it works we can make many as we want."

"Tell that to the yo-yo. Oh wait, you did. I'm not letting you break this."

I slumped my shoulders. Dang it. Taking apart human junk is usually how the next big discovery is made, even something as simple as figuring out how that thing can move like that could make strides in technological development.

"Don't mope on me, Feathers I have another one back home that's a little jacked up, if you want you can have that."

That did perk me up a bit. Lyra then jabbed her arm into my side.

"Look alive, here they come!"

Two figures approached us. One was a massive Fallen, at least two feet taller than me. His feathers were tipped a bright gold. He was wearing steel armor, it baffled me that someone could stride up to us in such a heavy thing, wasn't he hot? He also had an enormous sword on his back, I doubted anyone could swing it.

The other one was a petite little Fallen, She wore a simple black hat which slightly covered her feathers, which were a similar shade of green to my own, and a blue robe. She had a deadpan expression on, gripping her staff tight in her talons.

"Sup Lyra." The big one said.

"Hello." The other said.

"Hey Gruce, Ariel, right on time!" Lyra grabbed me. "Feathers, you remember Gruce and Ariel right?"

I nodded. I didn't really remember their names. Infact, I had deliberately forgotten their names; not even a mention in my journal other than 'the idiot and the quiet one'.

"My condolences," Ariel said. "I'm not sure why your parents would be cruel enough to name you, 'Feathers'."

"It's not my name, it's-"

"Squirt! His name is Squirt!" Gruce squaked like a chicken with its head cut off. Note to self, rename in journal to massive idiot.

"Squirt? An equally odd name, you still have my condolences."

I sighed, giving up on this train of thought. "Weren't there three of you? Where's the other one?"

Lyra looked left and right. "Yeah, where is Hilt? Is he not coming?"

"Left us." Ariel said.

"What! He left? Why?" Lyra asked.

"We were too 'hard' on him. In other words pansy-talk for 'couldn't keep up'" Gruce said.

"Damn, that sucks. Being down a member hurts us, but at least we have Feathers here to fill in!" Lyra said.

I rolled my eyes. "So where are we going? Into the Tower?"

"I thought we were gonna go kill the lake beast!" Gruce said.

"The lake beast? Isn't that just a myth?" I said.

Gruce shook his head. "It's real! I saw it with my own two eyes when I went fishing with my old man!

"Chances you were intoxicated are extremely high, however." Ariel said.

"We only had a few drinks I swear!"

"Assuming it is real, you'll never be able to with that kind of armor. You'll sink like a rock! Plus, can you even float or swim without it?” Lyra said.

"Well… No, but one good swing at it's fish face and it'll go flying!" Gruce said, doing a dramatic air uppercut with his fist. Ariel let out a small 'sploosh' sound. It's official, adventurers were crazy.

"How about the mountains? I need to collect some herbs there." Ariel said.

"That's like a days travel! I'm not going that far." Gruce said.

"Yeah, that's a bit too far, especially with Feathers here joining us. Let's just go visit the local ruins, we haven't done that in a bit."

"You always want to go to the ruins, Lyra." Gruce said.

"Don't complain, you got yourself a nice trinket the last time we went, didn't you?" Lyra said. Gruce did have something weird around his neck, the trinket I assumed it was. It was a flat card with odd symbols on it.

"Still, ruins are boring! I vote we fight the lake beast."

"Doesn't exist." Lyra chimed.

"I'm fine with anything really." Ariel said.

"Do ruins have mana crystals around?" I asked. Lyra nodded. "I'm fine with that then."

"It's settled! Ruins it is!" Lyra said. Gruce scoffed but didn't press the issue.

"Are we really gonna drag this squirt around? He barely looks prepared." Gruce said. I looked at myself. I thought my outfit was fine, the leather armor I used while sparring with Lyra. I also brought a short sword, some tools and of course my journal.

"He's fine. I'm sure Feathers can pull his weight, Right?" Lyra turned to me. I nodded. "See! We're golden then."

"If you get hurt my arsenal of magic doesn't include restoration. Be careful." Ariel said to me.

"Alright! Let's go folks! If we keep a good pace we should make it there in a couple of hours!" Lyra said, marching towards the gates of the city. Hours? Damn it Lyra! I followed her suit and the other two did as well.

The old ground made loud crunching noises as we trekked through the ruins. There were fallen, old buildings all over. The aged structures, despite who knows how many years have passed since their fall, have weathered the test of time quite well. There was damage however: broken windows, rotting bricks and foliage from nature finding a way to consume the area even through the concrete.

I had to hand it to human architects. They knew how to make something last. Except for streets apparently; I tried not to trip on the various holes in the ground from the eroded concrete as we walked.

"Better keep up, squirt or we're gonna leave you behind." Gruce said with a chuckle.

"I'm doing just fine!" I said.

"I doubt you'll be saying the same when you're crying in a hole in the ground!" This time instead of a chuckle, Gruce gave a hearty laugh. I looked at Lyra. She didn't seem to care he was basically mocking me. Whatever, I found myself hoping we'd find some crystals sooner than later.

"Oh look!" Lyra said, rushing towards one of the many buildings. There was something sticking out of the rubble. Lyra practically threw some of the rocks aside to get the object. What she pulled out was what looked like a statue. Not one of a Fallen however but a human.

"This is so cool!" Lyra said as her wings started to fan wildly.

"Looks like junk to me." Gruce said.

"Junk? Junk? This is a human artifact! It could be worth hundreds, if not thousands of gold!"

Gruce's eyes lit up at that. "Really? Well-"

"It's not really worth that much," Ariel said, interrupting Gruce. "The material is flimsy and researchers have found numerous like them."

Lyra's wings lowered along with her shoulders, she quickly perked back up though. "Well it's worth a lot to me! How'd you know that though? You dabble in the art of archeology?"

"No, I just am aware of these sorts of things."

"Yeah, not everyone is as human obsessed as you, Harpy." I said. Lyra gave me a dirty look.

"Don't call me that!" Lyra snapped.

"Harpy? Ha! That's a good one. Where'd you come up with that?" Gruce said.

"Just forget it, it's a dumb nickname." Lyra said. I felt kinda hurt by that, especially since she still calls me 'Feathers'

"Now I'm sure there's a story behind this." Gruce said.

"I'm also curious." Ariel said.

Lyra looked a bit flustered at the attention, before suddenly going still.

"Guys do you hear that?" Asked Lyra.

"Hear what? Are you just trying to slip out of telling a good story?" Gruce said.

"Wait I hear it too." I said. It was a pitter-patter of something approaching us. Lyra pulled out her sword and faced the noises. Gruce and Ariel seemed to have caught on to it as well and also pulled out their weapons from their backs.

Seeing how everyone else was getting armed, I too, pulled out my sword. My heart started to beat faster. Around the corner of one of the ruined buildings. A group of seven... rats appeared. I use the term rats lightly. While they looked like rats in a normal sense, they were several times bigger. The size of a dog; not only that but their coats seemed rotten. Big red patches of missing fur and flesh stuck out from their forms.

"Get ready!" Gruce said as he charged at them. Lyra and Ariel followed suit. I moved forward a step myself but then stood in place, unable to move. Can I really kill something? It’s so gruesome… My sword I had raise lowered with my resolve. The others didn't notice however, too busy in their own actions. My eyes followed Gruce, two of the rats decided to make him his targets.

He was a brute. The towering sword he carried swung through the air like it was a simple stick rather than a steel broadsword twice my own length. It hit the monstrous rat, it's body not being cut cleanly but more blungended. The way he used his sword resembled a mace rather than an actual sword.

With that one down, Gruce turned to the other rat on his left and stabbed clean into it's skull. I shivered, so gross! Meanwhile, Lyra was fairing her on her own quite well. She swerved between three of the rats like it was nothing. Her nimbleness proved too much as she skillfully hacked and slashed the rats with her short sword. She was the opposite of Gruce indeed.

The few remaining rats, seemingly realizing they've bitten off more than they could chew, attempted to flee the scene. Ariel lifted her staff in the air.

The air felt very warm, coalescing at the tip of the gem in her staff. Ariel muttered a few words which made her weapon glow a deep red.

"Flames!" Ariel shouted. Several fireballs caught the two remaining rats. They howled, squirming in pain before falling limp.

It's over... The group started to put their weapons away. I began to follow suit, when I heard more steps coming from my side. There was another rat and it was charging right at me. I ready my sword, which gave the rat pause, but... I couldn't bring myself to swing it. Seeing my hesitation, the rat jumped at me.

Lyra came from my side, her blade stabbing the rat right down it's back midleap. I let out a sigh of relief and sheathed my weapon.

Lyra removed her blade and put it away. She had a somewhat worried look on her face before it grew more stern. "Come on, Feathers! I didn't invite you to stay on the sidelines."

"You did nothing Squirt. Why'd we invite him again, Lyra?" Gruce said. I ignored him.

"You know I'm not into all this bloodshed!" I said

Lyra took one of the corpses and flipped it over, exposing its belly. She took a small knife off the side of her hip and thrusted it into the rat's abdomen. A splatter of blood landed on Lyra's face but she didn't seem to mind as she carved out it's innards. It didn't take long for her to finish and pull out a blue crystal.

"Better get used to it if you want one of these." Lyra said

"Isn't that a mana shard?" I asked. Lyra nodded.

"Yeah? Didn't you know you find them in creatures?"

"No, I thought they just sort of grew around."

"Very rarely can you find one just 'growing' plus, they're usually weaker than usual." Lyra said while pocketing the crystal.

"Seriously? Why's that?"

"Because! Erm…" Lyra trailed off, scratching her head. My mistake in asking Lyra for further details in something that isn't human related.

"Because the crystals can only obtain so much mana from the ambient Mana in air," Ariel said, approaching us. "Even if a shard does form under such conditions it'll be quite small and weak. Meanwhile, a living creature, especially one that thrives in mana enriched areas such as here, naturally have these shards in them. Of course, if you want a full on crystal you’ll have to either go into an area where the mana is extremely rich or kill something quite strong."

"Yeah that's one of the reasons people employ us adventures! To get shards!" Gruce said.

I was faintly aware that was the main reason city and states hired adventures, I just figured they were glorified miners/bounty hunters though.

Lyra went to another rat body and began carving it, Gruce and Ariel did the same. Not wanting to seem like a slacker, (and also wanting a shard of my own,) I went to one as well and pulled out a knife. I tried to copy what I saw Lyra do and cut between it's stomach. It was really disgusting, the smell was horrid, like months worth of piled on garbage. Didn't these things know how to bathe? I sucked it up and held my breath while carving its body, eventually I was able to pull out a shard.

"Sheesh, you made a mess there, Feathers."

"I wasn't really sure where I was aiming for, it's my first time doing this you know." I said. She wasn't wrong though, it wasn't as clean as everyone else's attempts.

"Here's a pro tip from your best friend then, the place mana shards grow the most often is the next to, or even sometimes, inside the liver. Don't ask me why though!" Lyra said.

"Noted." I said pocketing my shard away.

We continued to explore the ruins. Lyra rattled off some human facts and bits of history. I zoned out for most of it as I heard a lot of these ramblings of hers a million times already. I took out my journal and drew various pieces of intrigue, the broken monuments of humans long forgotten, the weird metal carriages (cars as Lyra called them) and the half crumpled buildings. Just how high did they build their structures? They really scrapped the sky. It could even give The Tower a run for it's money.

"Feathers!" Lyra said. Oh, she's not rambling anymore. "You're gonna fall!"

What? I looked down, my feet inches from a large gaping hole. I jumped back, landing on my bottom. In my musings I had completely forgotten to watch where I was walking.

Lyra let out a sigh of relief. "That could have been bad, the ground can be unstable around these-" As if tempting fate a loud rumbling sound was made. The ground shook all around us and the area I was on began to crumble. I tried to get up but moved too slowly. Suddenly, I had no footing and found myself falling below.

Everything hurt.

That was my first thought when I regained awareness after my fall. I think if I didn't have wings to slow me down that would have been even worse of a tumble.

I had no idea where I was now. The underground section of these ruins were, unsurprisingly, extremely dark; the only light being the hole I fell from.

"FEAAATHEEERRRSSS! ARE YOU OKAY?"

I looked up, how far did I fall? I can faintly make out Lyra from above me.

"I'm fine! Hurting all over, but otherwise alive!" I shouted back.

"Good! We'll try to see if there's an entryway to you, so you look for an exit as well!"

"Got it!"

Lyra's silhouette disappeared and it was just me again.

Looking around me, to say the area was odd was an understatement. The light didn't illuminate very far but what I could see was strange. The walls of this place were made out of pure metal and some other material. I made my way to a wall and used it as a guide to continue into the dark.

I really wish I had something that lit up in a time like this.

My footsteps echoed as I trailed forward. So far it was just a straight hallway as far as I could tell. No twists or turns. Until I hit my beak into a wall. Ouch!

I felt around the wall, trying to use it to take me another way when I pressed something. Suddenly, the wall disappeared with a whooshing sound. Was that actually a door? Human technology something else, I see why Lyra was so obsessed with it now.

Peering in there was a faint blue light coming from an odd object. I couldn't see anything else of interest in the wide dark room. I entered and approached the object. It was a large black object, entirely flat like glass and yet light came from it.

The light was like the one of that 'magic yo-yo' as Lyra called it. Completely flameless, I wondered how they invented such a thing.

Looking down there was a board of small runes assembled together quite tightly. I traced a talon along one when it depressed. The faint blue light became a bright white, and then the room itself lit up.

"Hello, doctor," a voice came from seemingly all around me. It sounded quite monotone. "It has been two hundred nine nine nine nine nine…" The strange voice kept going. I had no idea what was going on anymore.

"Hello?" I spoke, looking around me, "Is there someone else here?"

The weird window thing flashed and several runes appeared on it.

"…I can't read this."

"Voice enabled controls activated. Greetings doctor. Would you like to update your saved project? It has been two hundred and nine nine nine…" The voice went on again and the window changed as well. I'm guessing whatever the runes said was now being repeated back to me.

"Stop that! And I'm not a doctor."

A moment passed and the window with the runes changed into an image of… me? What? I flinched and the copy of me flinched too. The window is now a mirror?

The copy of me froze with my dumb expression.

"Photo taken, new user confirmed. Enter name to finish registration."

"Huh?"

"Confirmed. Welcome 'Huh'. Data has been saved to project, uploading to main database at central..." The window changed to an envelope with a bird carrying it. Kinda cute. "Complete, user registration to project confirmed."

"That's great and all but can you tell me how to get out of here?" Even with the room now bright I still saw no way out.

A whooshing sound was made and another door appeared, Nice!

"Thank you… err what was your name?" I asked.

"Names of users on list: 'Huh, 'Doctor' 'Quilt' 'Neal'…" it droned on again with a bunch of names.

"Quit playing around!"

A loud beep came out "Playing Quilt's audiolog 'Around'"

A new voice boomed around me, it sounded young and male. "Around here, in this facility we're truly doing something great. We're making such strides in studying this long forgotten material."

I called out again but no reply, the voice kept on going. Since the last voice said it was an 'audiolog' I assumed it was a voice-based journal. An interesting idea, I kinda wish I had one myself. I decided to just exit the room from the new pathway that was opened. The voice, even as I continued down the hallway, surrounded me still.

"The doctor worries about how this will affect the Mantling project, but I see no issue, Think of what we could do if we could harness this power? Nuclear fusion? Ha! Child's play!"

I came across another door. It had a smallpad with various runes on it. I pressed one and it beeped, the metal doors opened up to show... a small enclosed room? What? I entered it.

"Still, even if we could access it there is a problem with it's lethalness. Prolonged exposure to the material found in the spire has shown carcinogenic effects, mass hemolysis, and other detrimental effects. In layman's terms this material is quite deadly."

The door closed behind me. I panicked. There was another set of buttons with runes on them. I pressed one hoping it would reopen the door, instead, the room... shifted? I felt it moving. How was this possible?

"Not only that, but it seems to be leaking into the air itself. This... is a major problem. While some animals have shown a natural resistance to the gas, others, like us, have shown absolutely no resistants. If enough of this were to permitate the atmosphere... I fear for the future of humanity."

There was a loud click and the voice spoke no more. The room came to a pause and the doors opened again. The hallway I was in before was gone, it was worn down with signs of rust. I seemed to be closer to the surface. It wasn't long until I found myself outdoors again.

"Lyra! Anyone?" I called out.

"Feathers!" Lyra said, turning a corner. I was actually quite relieved to see her. I started to make my way towards her when something else appeared from the other side of the lot near me.

It was a massive rat. Even bigger than the last ones. This was the size of a carriage! Not only that but it had several heads, three to be exact, each looking at me with their single eyes. I pulled out my sword. It slowly approached me, each step I could feel shake the ground.

"Gruce! Ariel! We got trouble!" Lyra said, brandishing her own sword. She charged forward towards the rat and me, not an ounce of hesitation apparent in her body.

The creature approached me, it’s left head trying to bite me. It’s mouth grazed of my wings as I moved to the side. A piece of my primary feathers was torn off. It hurt but not too much. It chewed and swallowed them. Disgusting! Scary!

“S-stay back!” I said swinging my sword at it. I lightly cut the face of the middle head, which only angered it. It headbutted me, knocking me down and flinging my sword away. It bounced and slid under a car. Damn it!

“Hey ugly! Over here!” Lyra said, kiting behind it and swiping it’s side with her blade. The beast howled in pain. It turned and swung it’s massive tail under Lyra’s feet but she jumped over the attack with ease. With flourish I didn’t even know she had, she struck true into its tail. Lodging her blade into it.

Another roar of pain it let out. It spun again with Lyra holding on. Lyra gripped on tight, visibly struggling to outlast the rat when suddenly her blade snapped in half! It must have been that mold she used. I knew it was no good! Lyra and the remnants of her sword were flung away. She tumbled before hitting a wall. Lyra stopped moving, blood visible.

“Lyra!” I called out. She couldn’t be…? The thought I didn’t want to think of never finished, as the three headed demon turned it’s sights back on me. Remembering it’s original prey, it snarled and ran at me with at a frightening speed. I turned and ran myself.

I was defenseless and if I was going to survive this I needed to fix that. I turned to where my sword was knocked from me. It wasn’t too far but with the sound of a massive rat rushing towards me it felt like forever. I made it to the car and hopped over it. The rat smashed into the car, breaking the windows and sides of it. I fumbled under it, pushing past the shards of glass and grabbing my weapon.

Now armed, I looked up only to see it staring at me. Without a thought, I stabbed forward towards it’s eye. The beast didn’t have a chance to react with the tip of my sword blinding it’s right head. I tried to pull back but the rat leaped and pushed me. It pinned me to the ground with it’s foot and roared into my face. Bloody slobber covered me. Ugh!

“You’re not gonna eat my friend!” Lyra appeared and slammed herself into the rat. It barely budged and with me still pinned turned to bite at her, it almost succeeded if not for the several fireballs that pelted it.

I looked to see a magic circle around Ariel. A red glow and aura around her as flames and more flames emitted from not only her staff but all around her. The creature howled as it’s pelt was burnt repeatedly.

Then, it stopped. A large sword sticking from it’s chest, dangerously close to me. The sword moved towards it’s middle head, cutting it off and also soaking me in blood. Yuck! The body of it slump and fell to my side. Looking down at me now was Gruce.

“And that’s how you save the day!” Gruce said with a smirk.

Lyra got up, holding her arm. “Yeah, but you could have come sooner! We were in deep for a second there.”

“Eh, what matters is that I saved the day!” Gruce said, striking a pose, pointing his sword skywards. Ariel approached and clapped. “We did it.”

I got up. “Yeah you saved our bacon. Thanks.” I said.

“No problem, Squirt! Anything for someone so weak!” Gruce cackled. Nevermind. Giant rat come back to life and eat me, save me from this idiot.

“Now now, Gruce, be nice. Feathers actually did a lot. After it got me he actually was pretty cool.” Lyra said.

“You saw that?”

“Yeah! You guys should have seen how he leaped over the car and then stabbed it! Not bad, Feathers!” Lyra said, slapping me on the back. I almost stumbled, did she turn into the Master or something?

“Psh, wasn’t as cool as me though I bet.” Gruce mumbled. I turned and something caught my eye. In it’s chopped body I saw something big and blue sticking out of it. I walked over and took my knife out, with a bit of carving I dug out a sizable piece of a mana shard. Not quite a full blown crystal but at least ⅛ of one. I spun and examined it. A snowflake like pattern reflected the light shown through it in such a pretty way.

“Nice find.” Ariel said.

“Yeah, it almost makes up for your smell.” Gruce said. I ignored him and placed the shard in my bag. The shard almost made up for being covered in rotted rat blood.

Almost.