As Claud flipped open a game piece, waiting for their turn to cross through the illusory checkpoint, his mind detected something enormous on its way, and he stood up in alarm. An enormous wave of power descended upon the place a moment later, reducing the blurry, transparent people in the vicinity to drifting ashes. The moving belt with seats turned into powder at the same time, and their game pieces clattered onto the floor.
Claud's hand shot out and held Lily, preventing her from falling.
"…Is that how these people died?" Lily murmured, her face pale.
"Seems that way." Claud took a long, deep breath and pulled her up. "Come on. Some people did record this instance, so it's fine for us to go through the gate now."
"Okay."
Packing up their scattered game pieces, the two of them made their way through the city gate. Now that the illusory echoes of the past had vanished, Claud could see that the place wasn't just in disrepair; a good half of the infrastructure had been ruined. The tall buildings that towered to the night sky were missing entire chunks, and looked as if they were on the verge of falling apart at any moment.
"It's not called the Celestia Ruins for nothing," Lily observed quietly. "Just what manner of disaster struck this city?"
Claud looked at the ground. The metallic floor had also taken a beating, with some places completely obliterated to reveal a burning globe below. He pointed at the burning globe, which had reminded him of what the lands below looked like when he and Lily charged skywards, and said, "Maybe the same one that destroyed this world."
"This world?"
"I believe this is the true appearance of our world," Claud replied. "When we were flying here, I looked down a few times. It seems that it's actually a ball, our world."
"A ball?" Lily repeated those words.
"I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's really a ball." Claud paused. "Aren't the Moons and the sun round too?"
"Point. Still…" Lily craned her neck. "This…scenery. The disaster that struck this place also turned the world below us into a flaming expanse? What kind of power could do that? That's insane."
"I know, but the evidence has been laid out for us. Whatever destroyed this city probably destroyed that too. That world is probably Celestia, now that I think about it."
"Celestia…" Lily took a deep breath. "It's…"
"Yeah. May the disaster that destroyed this world never occur in ours," Claud murmured.
"Maybe only the Coloured Gods could do something like this."
"Is it better if they could, or if they can't?" Claud shook his head. "Sorry. I got a bit introspective."
"Considering that this disaster killed off an entire world and tore it apart, it's not really surprising," Lily mumbled. "I thought your all-out attack was the strongest thing possible, but…"
"Yeah, I don't think I can top that," Claud replied. "And I don't want to either. I mean, look at the size of the explosion. That attack set Celestia on fire, and this thing, which was floating high up like one of those magical castles, also got screwed over. If I were to fire off such a blast, I'll be roasted on the spot."
"Would you smell nice roasted?" Lily muttered.
"What?" Claud blinked, and through some leap of logic, added, "Do I not smell nice normally?"
"You smell like flowers," Lily replied. "But sometimes, when I'm a bit hungry, I want some roasted food…"
"I'm not sure if it's a good idea to ask your partner to smell like roasted food, Lily." Claud flickered her forehead. "Come on. Enough staring at this roasted world."
"See? You're in the mood too!"
"The only thing I see is that you're hungry…"
Lily took a little nibble at his ear after those words, forcing him to laugh and nibble back. Before long, the sorrowful air that had emerged from their previous conversation had vanished, but before their mood could turn jovial, Claud put a stop to it.
Celestia was brimming with dangers, after all.
As they walked on, Lily said, "Let's head over to the centre of the ruins. I remember that the Second Shadow was found there. If we're lucky, we might be able to get some for ourselves."
"It's a really useful artefact. We should grab as many as possible," Claud added. "It's a pity we don't have a spatial artefact, though. There's only so many things we can take with us…"
"I want to take the ruins back," Lily replied.
"And turn into Public Enemy Number One? I don't think so," Claud replied. "If you want to do that, you need to leave behind an illusion first. And also disable the teleport thingies that allow access to the ruins. With any luck, people would think that the magical ruins are vanishing from this world, and they'll soon get used to it being a mirage."
Lily leaned her head against Claud's own and whispered, "You really live up to your Thief of Time moniker, huh."
"Please never mention that in my presence," Claud whispered back. "I don't know what those idiots in the bars and taverns are doing, but making me sound like some kind of godly thief is the last thing I need. How am I going to get more lifestones if everyone is watching out for a legendary thief?"
Lily pondered on that point for a moment, and then nodded. "Still, you aren't that famous outside of the Istrel Sovereignty."
"Oh, I won't be so sure about that." Claud grimaced. "Chromatic Lord. Remember?"
Lily stifled a giggle. "Right! My own personal Chromatic Lord, saving people one giant explosion at a time!"
"It's distressing. And if, by any chance, we were to head towards the Voidum Sovereignty, there's a non-zero chance that I might pick another nickname there again," Claud added. "Fortunately, only you and I would know the truth, but it's still quite distressing, to be honest."
"There, there."
Lily was about to pat his head when she froze up. "Eyes out. Another…"
"Got it."
Claud analysed the new phenomenon as it materialised. Tens of wheeled carriages, carriages that weren't all that different from the coffins outside, appeared in the grey road to their left. There was no visible means of propulsion, but Claud was more concerned with the dangers they posed. He didn't know what they were, but the records of this particular phenomenon stated that getting hit by one of those odd carriages were fatal.
"Any ideas?" Lily asked.
"Well, I thought of flying, but I remembered that flying in some places is equally fatal. We'll need to slip in and out of them…or follow the ghostly pedestrians that just showed up." Claud glanced at the blurry, transparent figures that were walking past them. "There's apparently some rules to how these weird carriages can move, like the traffic rules we have in Licencia, so we just need to obey them."
"It's something to do with these lights, I think. We can cross the road with them."
Claud nodded and observed those carriages. They resembled those coffins, other than the fact that they had wheels on the bottom, which immediately hinted at their use in transportation. The coffins from earlier had odd-looking cylinders that pointed downwards and to its back; these were probably the means in which ceremonial coffin-bearers lifted them around.
"Still, to think that vehicles and places where the dead are left in share such a remarkable semblance," Lily muttered.
"Right?" Claud shook his head. "I won't be surprised if those things happened to double as coffins as well. Look at the speed they move. If two of those carriages ran into each other…"
"Yeowch. But wouldn't those carriages be completely destroyed?" Lily looked at the grey road, where these carriages zoomed around at speeds that would put a normal horse to shame. "You'd think that a city would have limits on speed."
"Maybe they like to live dangerously," Claud concluded. "Their carriages look like their own coffins. I don't see any issue, culturally speaking."
"It's scary how you insult their entire culture in such a backhanded manner."
"That's one of my strengths, I think," Claud replied. "Anyway, we just need to move with those people, right? It's just a game of patience…who would die to this?"
"I hear the souls of the impatient deceased screaming at you," Lily replied.
"Not literally, I hope. C'mon, let's follow those guys…"
Following behind the ghostly illusions, Claud and Lily crossed the road and continued on to the city centre. More and more little phenomena popped up, sometimes overlapping with the previous ones, while others died off after the two of them reacted appropriately. Before long, a cylindrical building that dwarfed all others in both height and grandeur drew up towards them, and Lily took a deep breath. Fittingly enough, there was a splendid plaza in front of the grand entrance, and the two of them rested there for a moment or so.
"The records state that the Second Shadow artefacts are at the very top, in some grand office," said Lily.
"We'll need to be careful. Something this useful…it's probably guarded."
"Yeah," Claud replied. "Prepare to run at a moment's notice.
Nodding at each other, the two of them entered the building.