Amunet made it up not long later, skating to a stop and looking out with wide eyes.
If one were to paint an Armageddon, it would look exactly like this. The forest for nearly as far as the eye could see was just... gone. All that was left was an endless black that went down further than light could reach.
The city was completely surrounded in the sinkhole. Half of Grey thought it must have been floating in empty space, because he couldn’t see a lick of earth that could have kept it up the way it was. Either that, or the pillar of earth supporting it was a lot narrower than the diameter of the city itself.
Out from the abyssal depths, hands rose from time to time, large, greyed hands that looked like they belonged on the bodies of giants the size of mountains.
However, they didn’t look like they were reaching for anything in particular, and unlike the ones Amunet had summoned, they didn’t even seem to be all that aggressive either.
It was almost like they didn’t know they were there.
’It’s the barrier.’ Grey realized. The hands down below thought that there was nothing here, and that was the only reason they weren’t being attacked. The quake just now was probably a coincidental hit against the city, but those would only continue the more time passed.
Grey could already see that the glyphs protecting the city had taken a hit. If the arms were focused on attacking the city, the dome would last maybe an hour or two at most.
As things were now, even if they only accidentally hit the city from time to time, Grey highly doubted that it would take much longer than a week or so before the city’s barrier fell.
At that point, there would be nothing protecting the city at all and whoever was here would just... die.
"What the fucking hell..."
Grey didn’t even know how to fight something like this. If he sent out an attack, would it even harm them? Were these the same arms as the ones Amunet had summoned? Or were they different?
He really couldn’t tell at all.
Grey also recalled that during one of the loops in the closed loop, he had ridden down into the abyss with the Dark Kin Cycle. It had felt endless even then, so endless he ended up accidentally killing himself by running into an Instance barrier.
"Dammit." Grey cursed.
He wasn’t cursing about the sight anymore, it was the realization that these two were fucking idiots. They probably thought they could just escape after having their fun then leave the citizens of this city to deal with the mess themselves.
They’d go report back, then return with some backup. They probably thought the Goddess and the Guardians were infallible.
Maybe they were right—not about the infallible part, but at least their mentors could probably deal with this part. But the problem was that they probably didn’t realize that the moment they stepped out of this barrier, they’d probably be dragged into the same Instance that Grey had been dragged into.
Once that happened, the Genesis System would put up a barrier, and if they were moving as fast as Grey had been back then, they’d die.
What was more likely to happen, though, was that they’d realize they were screwed the moment they got the notification then piss their pants.
Unlike Grey, they understood the rules of this world. They would know they couldn’t run.
"We’re so fucked." Grey said.
The Young Forsaken looked over with a sly grin. "I expected you to be more heroic, Paladin."
Grey rubbed his brows. "You two are idiots. The moment you step out of this dome you’ll be dragged into an Instance. You won’t be able to use whatever method you’re hoping to use to escape."
The Young Forsaken blinked, and then frowned. It was the first time that something other than a very punchable smile was on his face.
"How do you know that?"
"Why don’t you go ahead and try it? I’m not stopping you. You’re planning on escaping anyway, aren’t you? Go ahead."
"Not just anything can trigger an Instance. For one to randomly appear here would take the Genesis System’s input, and that would mean that—." The Young Forsaken suddenly paled.
Grey hadn’t thought it was possible for him to get any paler, but there it was.
Honestly, Grey wanted him to continue his words. What would that mean, exactly?
"Are you certain?" The Young Enphro asked Grey, his jaw clenched.
"Not 100%."
Somehow, that answer made the Young Enphro even more worried. If Grey had said he was 100% certain, he would come off like a bloviating idiot.
The Young Enphro took out something.
"Don’t." The Young Forsaken said. "If you send out a stream of communication from inside of here, it will drag the entire city out and the barrier will become meaningless."
"Dammit, Lloron. This was your idea. You said it was foolproof."
"How the hell was I supposed to know that a real Old One would appear? They’re usually more cautious. They send forward a vanguard of the weaker few first. It’s literally broad daylight."
"Well it’s not broad daylight down there, now is it, Lloron?"
"What are you trying to say, Kaito? Am I not stuck here with you? What is the point of this chatter?"
"What’s the point? What’s the point?" Kaito started to laugh out of rage.
"Alright you pair of princesses, this isn’t the time for a lovers’ quarrel." Grey cut in before their nonsense got any worse.
Amunet stifled a laugh and Grey got two glares in return for his efforts.
"I don’t know why you’re laughing," Grey said, "you’re the one who stopped me from tearing these two assholes a new one earlier. They were fine with sacrificing everybody else, but the moment their asses are on the line they’re whining like a bunch of babies."
Amunet rolled her eyes, but didn’t refute.
"And you two. Are you going to nut up? Or are you going to keep crying like a pair of bitches?"
BOOM.
A palm slapped against the city dome and cracks began to spread along it like spiderwebs.
Grey’s lip twitched as he slowly looked over.
Well shit.