Glassed Fields. There, green grass and black fields gave way to a scenery as different as night from day.
Whatever that place was centuries ago, now the only things that remained were drips of glass on the ground and strange dark obelisks protruding from it, and the howling of the wind. Even the ground itself was pure obsidian. The entire place was filled with eerie glints and shadows.
The trail they followed until now was cut short—there was no soft ground to leave tracks on, and no branches to break.
This was the first time Zemin saw a place like this. A terror only the Cataclysm could bring, and from which humanity had no defense. Maybe the dark obelisks actually were humans or trees before they turned to glass and were melted by ancient firestorms.
"Close your mouth before an imp flies in, kiddo," Danis mocked. "Better watch out for enemies. We are out in the open here."
Zemin shut his jaw with a click, opened his mouth to say something, and closed it again.
"These places can be dangerous even on their own, without demons involved," Citri said, stopping walking and turning towards the wagon. Her voice sounded from the dynamic of her exo-suit. "Sometimes, there can be dimensional pockets—spaces you can't see until you walk in!"
"Everybody, be on alert," Jagger said, opening his map. "I bet the demons came to the Glass Fields on purpose—to throw any pursuers off their tracks. If they are at least somewhat smart, they have changed directions after that… But we can't search the entire edge of the Glass Fields."
He paused with an expression of deep thought.
Zemin stood up and leaned over to look at the map. The Glass Fields were an uneven black scar amid the overall greenery of the region. There were several other villages surrounding it on all sides, except for the one nearest to the demon-infested territories. Although "nearest" was a broad term—there was 160 kilometers until the official border line.
'Ideas, Void System?'
'Request granted. Heavens, the more I talk to you, the more I sound like you.'
Before Zemin could fully process this statement, his brain flashed white, cutting off his thought.
When he blinked, he saw Void System's marks on the map: one showed a route that crossed the Glass Fields through the narrowest place, while the other went through a wider path, but directly towards the demon territories—and probably the hidden demon base.
Danis leaned over Jagger's shoulder to look at the map, too.
"If I were anyone, even a demon, I'd try to get out of here as soon as I could," he said. "This place gives me the creeps."
"But you are not a demon, Danis." Jagger tsked. "Their minds are truly sick. I can't even try to understand them. Making a new base between the border and the Glass Fields feels like a good choice for demons, but where could it be exactly?… A demon could've run straight to the base, or make circles through this place just to torture its prisoners by making them walk over sharp glass. If you have suggestions now, I'm listening."
"You are the leader. So lead," Narcisa threw with a bite in her voice.
"Sorry, but I don't want to even think about thinking like demons!" Citri chirped. "The only thing they do beautifully is die!"
Zemin hesitated. He felt like there was something everybody here was missing—even the Void System.
"Sergeant Jagger, can you point at the places that were attacked before?" he asked.
"You think this will help, Zemin? Sure. Here, see pencil markings?"
They were faint, but visible—Jagger must've not wanted to damage the map permanently. All of them were spread around chaotically, many pretty far from the demon territories—but they all had a thing in common.
"Could a demon base be in the Glass Fields themselves?" Zemin asked.
'Void System, run analysis on that, too,' he added inwardly.
'A medium probability? Void System, next time you don't know, just say so. Maybe I should turn on the simple mode again.'
'Command accepted. Warning—simple mode lowers this Void System's overall performance by 0.9%.'
Zemin huffed through his nose and turned his attention to the outer world. There, Danis and Jagger finished thinking Zemin's question over.
"They'd need to dig a deep hole to stay hidden from an aerial search. Many holes, actually—to move underground, too. So answering your question, kid—no, and the very idea is stupid. Just look around."
"Don't cut Zemin off entirely, Danis. It's possible that the demons found a big enough dimensional pocket to hide in, but for us to find it would require combing through the entire Glass Fields with our bare fingers!" Jagger rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Heavens, and here I hoped for an actually simple mission once in a while."
"They are never simple," Narcisa said. "And when you think they are, it's when my work begins… and ends. No healing the dead, after all."
A moment of solemn silence fell on the group, but Zemin's brain kept whirling. Thinking.
"Sergeant Jagger, I have an idea."