An unexpected encounter

She hurried out of the house while holding my hand. I suppose she was very happy to see me again, or she has been alone too long. But she does not have any friends to do anything with?

I'll ask her later, for now I'll let her enjoy the day.

We started near her house. We walked through a park, between the skyscrapers, grabbed something to eat at a restaurant and headed to the city centre. It was a huge park surrounded by skyscrapers.

We took a walk through the park and sat down on a bench to rest. At that time we saw a huge army marching through the main street of the city near the park.

I guess the war is still going on. All right, let me explain. Although their civilization is so advanced, they have not made peace with every city, but are constantly at war. But since all the cities are underground, they do not use heavy weapons like tanks, missiles, and so on. They fight only with their army.

"Oh, is this the first time you see the army at war here?"

"Yes, we are not used to war all the time. We prefer peace."

"Do not think we like war, but that's the ideology that has been passed down through generations."

"I see..."

We fell silent and watched them move farther away from us. They began to cross the bridge to get to the other town. We could clearly see their path as the road was clear of vehicles.

"Hey Shinji, do you want to get close to the bridge?"

"Huh? Is not that dangerous?"

"Nah, we have a force field around the city, so nothing will hit us."

"Eh okay, let us go. Either way, we have nothing else to do here."

So we followed the path the army had taken, and after about ten minutes we reached the bridge. We did not cross it, but stayed at the left corner and watched as the army moved closer and closer to the city.

After a while we heard the first shots. Because of the distance, we could hardly hear them, but we could still understand that it had begun.

About fifteen minutes after the fighting started, we saw a yellow light in the sky that seemed to be getting closer and closer to us.

"SHINJI, GET TO COVER." Araya shouted and pushed my head under the railing in front of us.

I could make out the sound this object was making. It was a missile. But why would they fire a missile here? Is not that forbidden?

But wait a minute, is not there a force field around the city? Why are we hiding?

I could not finish my thoughts and then I heard the missile flying above us. I lifted my head and saw it hit the skyscraper behind us.

The sound was deafening and the shock wave almost knocked us off the bridge. Blood began to flow from my ears, but it healed immediately.

Debris fell from the building, but I managed to dodge it with the help of my future vision, I have to find a better name for this ability.

Then the whole skyscraper began to fall apart. I could hear the screams and shouts of the people there.

"Shinji, let us go to the bridge, we will be safe from the skyscraper there."

We ran as fast as we could to avoid the building.

But when we thought we were safe on the bridge, another missile fell on the army that was on the other side of the bridge. The part that the missile had hit plunged into the abyss. The whole bridge shook as if there had been an earthquake.

We remained calm and tried to resist the shock wave. But then the whole bridge began to fall apart. Piece by piece. We were already halfway across, so we started running back to the city. But the bridge was collapsing faster than we could run, so it was only a matter of time before we would fall down.

We tried to escape the collapse, but in the end it was inevitable. The bridge disappeared under our feet and we fell into the abyss.

Araya instinctively tried to hold on to something, but there was nothing we could do to stop the fall. So I decided to hug Araya so that I would be the one to take all the damage from the fall.

The debris from the bridge was all around us and I had to dodge it or push it away so Araya would not get hurt.

We were falling for almost a minute, so I decided to take a look below me to be prepared. After a while, I managed to catch a glimpse of the ground. I held onto a concrete part of the bridge to slow our fall even more.

We approached the ground and just before we touched it, I flung Araya into the air and I with the concrete piece smashed to the ground.

I coughed up blood and I think I shattered every bone in my body, but I was at least able to move a little and caught Araya as she fell on top of me.

I looked up and saw two steel bars coming at us. I pushed Araya off me and the iron bars pierced me and stuck in the ground.

As soon as my bones began to heal and I could move again, I tried to pull the bars out of my body. But they were stuck in the ground, so it was impossible for me to move them, even with my strength.

So I had to stand up slowly to get them out of me. With a little bit of effort, I managed to free myself from this situation.

"Araya, are you all right? Can you hear me?" I shouted as loud as I could.

But I got no response. I saw her lying on my right side and walked up to her. She was fine, just a few scratches, nothing major. Thank God. I guess she passed out from the shock. I let her rest a bit while I inspect the place where we are right now.

Where I am now is just the debris of the bridge on my left. I can also see some remains of the skyscraper. I looked up, but I could not see the area above us. Maybe it's all this dust, or maybe it's just too far away. But one thing is for sure, we did not fall all the way to the Core Gateway Engine, because we are still alive. The heat down there would be enough to melt us instantly. Not that the heat down here is any better.

"Mmm? Shinji? Where are you?"

Oh, she finally woke up. I walked up to her.

"Araya, how are you? Are you okay?"

"Ah yes, I am fine. But what about you? You took all the damage in the fall, after all."

"Do not worry, I am already fully healed."

"Oh, that's good."

I help her stand up and move away from the wreckage.

"Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Um, I think there were some mines down here before the Core Gateway Engine was invented. But I do not know if we are in those mines."

"Then let us investigate the place."

"That's what we should do. And Shinji, your clothes are a little... destroyed."

"Eh?"

I did not even think to look at my clothes. I guess they are torn.

And so they were. The t-shirt was torn and my belly was showing, but at least it covered the important parts. The skirt was partially torn, but nothing major, the stockings had a few scratches, but at least the jacket was somehow in one piece and without damage.

"Do not worry about that, everything is fine. Let us move on."

"Okay."

We split up and went in search of something useful that could help us get out of here.

"Shinji, come here!" I heard Araya yell.

"What's wrong? Did you find something?" said I as I approached her.

"Look at this." she said, pointing to the floor."

"Huh? Footprints? Is there anyone else here besides us?"

"I think so. They should be fresh, because even if someone had been here before us, there would have been nothing left."

"Yeah, right. Let us follow them and see where they lead us."

She nodded and we started to follow them. After a while, we arrived at a cave. More like a mine, it seems to me. And an abandoned one at that.

"I suspect we are indeed in the area where these old mines are located."

"How are you so sure?"

"See that purple thing inside the rock that glows? That's the material we used to mine here. It's called varnium, and we used it as fossil fuel. But it's highly unstable, so be careful."

"All right, let us go inside."

Inside it was pitch black, but this thing, the varnium, at least emitted enough light that we could see where we were going.

We followed the footprints and finally reached a large area. Behind a rock, I heard someone's heartbeat. Yes, my senses had been heightened too, it seems.

"Stay behind me.", I said to Araya and she hid behind me.

I approached the rock slowly and carefully. But when I saw the person standing there, I must confess that I did not expect what I found.