For a whole day, Minerva led her people ever further down the frozen tundra slopes of the northern mountains. It seemed as if evening fell as they advanced into the murky depths of the frozen forest.

The wind picked up all around as they pushed ever deeper into the darkness. The massive crystal trees stretched into the sky absorbing all light with their crystal leaves. The world grew pitch black and Minerva conjured up an orb of bright light to illuminate the way.

Their branches were blown about in the wind causing the crystals to trash about one another. Their clanging echoed in the air like sweet wind chimes throughout the forest. Little life grew in this empty darkness among the trees making the sound a welcome break from perpetual silence.

Silent and vigilant they talked on and on for hours. Until the pain filled squeals of a dying gorgon echoed throughout the air. The Minerva extinguished her orb and her companions rushed to cover as they looked ahead.

"Do you see anything?" Godfrey asked.

Minerva raced up ahead with her friends in support. Eventually, she closed in on the source of the screaming. A campfire burned in the distance revealing a group of gorgons.

It was a trio of gorgons beating up a dozen others. They cracked jokes and laughed with joy as they trampled upon their considerably weaker kin. Minerva was too far away to understand what they said but felt the outrage within the hearts of the weaklings.

They had been provoked into combat. It seemed like they were being brutally punished for their failure in capturing Minerva. She found them a very callous race. Full of suspicion and grudges, they valued strength and skill above all.

The weaklings piled upon the trio only to be thrust aside. They looked alike but it was obvious which species was individually the greatest. With bare fists, they bludgeoned their way through their enemy.

Minerva closed in and finally picked up what was being said.

"Yes, yes! Just try and resist the power of a Matriarch. It'll make your deaths all the sweeter you pathetic worms!" Boasted one of the three Matriarch Gorgons as she gloated over her own power.

"We found it! The prize is ours! The Forest will survive the coming storm!" Squealed one weakling.

The Matriarch grabbed her by the throat and lifted her above the ground. The weak Forest Gorgon scratched and clawed away at the Matriarch's arm.

"Stop squirming worm!" She growled.

The Matriarch slammed the Forest Gorgon onto the ground, breaking its back. The resounding crackle of crumbling bone and the dull thud of the body hitting hard upon the earth silenced all around.

Enraged by the murder of their sister the Forest Gorgon's comrades roared in anger as they charged forth. The Matriarch turned to them and unleashed her magic turning four of them all to stone. It wasn't long before death was dealt upon another four.

The last three Dived underground with the Matriarchs diving in pursuit. Minerva saw this and closed in. As she got closer light from the corpses flowed into her yet again. She strained with her head throbbing with pain as it processed a whole host of information.

Alice approached her with her rifle drawn.

"What the hell was that?" She asked.

Minerva looked at the gorgon corpses and reflected on what she had learned.

"The gorgons as a species are not a unified people. They're split along tribal and racial bounds. Often very callous, vengeful and selfish they rarely band together. They are generally at constant war with each other. Yet strangely the matriarchs maintain a loose theocracy over the lesser tribes." Minerva explained.

"Hard to believe that they're different species." Alice remarked.

"The ones we encountered in the mountains were forest gorgons. While the ones that you encountered at Fortress Loknar Alice were matriarchs much stronger yet vastly fewer in number."

"Best get going. Lest we are detected." Said Godfrey.

Alice looked at him and nodded in agreement. The group moved on, further into the forest they went. Under the guidance of Minerva, they traversed the seemingly endless slopes further into the darkness with Minerva illuminating the way once again.

Time passed as they journeyed ever onwards. Eventually, they happened upon a most peculiar sight. Among the trees stood a jungle of ruined buildings. There laid out throughout the land were the burned out remains of a once proud and mighty city.

Minerva gasped as she beheld the true extent of it all. Mighty ruins that stretched on for miles ahead. Each colossal structure was a ruined, dead husk that shaped the land. They were an eerie reminder of mankind's former glory. The so-called golden age of mankind as it was called.

They walked down the ruined streets. They passed the rusted husks of street lamps, vehicles and endless piles of rubble. They all awed at the sight of buildings hundreds of times their size. They came to admire the works they once were.

"This is what our ancestors built. Some of these building dwarf even the great towers of New Ravenna... Such a shame we could never see work on such scale." Remarked Alice.

"Strange... They didn't fortify their cities?" Godfrey asked.

"Tales of my childhood spoke of cities that stretched across continents. They were ever expanding and rendering such constructs like walls nigh infeasible." Answered Illuminura.

"Humanity was united back then. A war hadn't been fought in centuries. Technology had advanced to a point that everything one could want was supplied in abundance. It seemed as if humanity had finally found peace in its time... And then the omega asteroid struck." Alice explained further.

"From Luna, from Venus, from Mars, the survivors watched in dismay as omega radiation consumed the Earth. In despair, they began to fight. Fighting first over scraps, then ideology, then for lost causes... Such is the history of man." Illuminura concluded.

"Yet in man's absence, the earth managed to flourish once again." Remarked Minerva.

"If you call this wilderness flourishing." Argued Illuminura.

As time went on the wounded Godfrey felt the pain of his battered body amplify with every step. He came to long for an end to this nightmare, lest the corrosive effects of omega radiation eat away at him completely.

Godfrey tried to keep pace with the others but found that he was drifting into a haze. The world spun around his numbing head. Thought became hard to grasp. He tried to speak but no words ever left his lips.

He fell behind as his weakened body failed him. He slowed to a halt as the others walked on ahead. He looked around and found light in the dark. He turned to it and he followed it. Turning away from his comrades he staggered ever onward chasing the light's wondrous lure.

Alice looked around and jolted into action when she found Godfrey missing.

"Where's the Martian?" She asked.

"He's right behind me-" Answered Minerva as she turned around.

She grew silent as she found Godfrey missing. Alice ran to backtrack the way they came and looked around and found Godfrey in his haze following some sight.

"Godfrey!" She called out to him.

He didn't notice as he descended to the depths of a structure. She gave chase and Minerva and Illuminura chased after her. Minerva flew into the structure with great speed while Illuminura picked Alice up as she ran past her. Soon they were charging down flights of stairs.

In the total darkness, the group slowed to a halt and Minerva conjured up a new orb of light. It's light revealed walls lined with stores and endless rows tables and chairs. Everywhere the place was littered with the skeletons of long-dead humans.

"A shopping arcade?" Asked Alice.

Illuminura put Alice down as they explored the place. They ventured ever deeper in and suddenly Alice's suit started beeping. On reflex, they all froze. Information was displayed on Alice's visor. With a thought, she scrolled all the way down and read the conclusion.

"It seems like is place is clean of radiation." Alice said.

Her helm hissed and clicked as she disconnected the rebreather and took it offline. She took her helm off and shook her head, whipping her long black hair about. She sighed with relief finally being able to free her head from that technological prison.

Alice looked around enjoying the restoration of sight with her naked eyes and found Minerva staring. Alice turned to face her as Minerva struggled to fight the smile on her face and walked away. Alice smirked in that moment's reassurance that the old Minerva hadn't died yet. She happily joined Minerva's side as the girl pushed on.

From the other end, Illuminura followed and watched on with benign curiosity. While Minerva advanced onwards with Alice at her side Illuminura's attention drew to the ancient ruins. She was in awe. Some of these structures were on par with celestial constructs.

Fascinated she wondered how could mere humans accomplish such feats. With no omega radiation to assist them, she figured it could've taken ancient humans decades, perhaps even centuries to complete these projects.

A hint of admiration lit up in her heart for these people. In her five centuries of life, few things matched the magnitude of the endless arcade. Mass produced products still lined the shelves. Skeletons lay in ashen heaps where once stood pleased citizens.

Alice looked around at her ancestor's legacy. One could only be filled with sorrow when face with the reality of what happened. Untold billions died as thousands of years of civilisation were brought to an end in irradiated fire.

"Godfrey!" Alice called out.

"I see no reason to continue this futility? You warned him of this did you not Alice? Let's leave this place and be set on our path once again." Illuminura suggested

"He isn't dead yet!" Growled Alice.

"These places haven't been disturbed in millennia. Possibly with good reason too. It is best we proceed through here." Minerva argued.

As time went on they didn't relent. Endless halls of mysterious design for unknown purposes lined their paths like a network of tunnels and caves. They awed at architectural marvels and were amazed at every spectacular find they came across until suddenly they heard movement ahead.

Some scurrying, insectoid creature, half the size of a man sped about the rubble-filled streets.

"There!" Illuminura barked

"Could it be him?" Alice asked

"Without my senses, I cannot tell."

Alice gave chase with Illuminura watching her while Minerva hesitated. She looked to the ceiling, which rose hundreds of meters high above the ruins floor. This place it seems may not be the haven it ought to be.

Minerva levitated into the air. Something was amiss. She suddenly sensed a great psychic presence yet signs of other life eluded her. She looked around but whatever it was it knew its craft in stealth and illusion.

Minerva looked down and watched her friends climb all over the rubble in search of this figure. She saw the creature far below. It was a strange six-legged thing. It wiggled into a crevice in the wall and disappeared.

Then a light other than hers shone in the distance. Illuminura saw it too, besotted by its radiance she stared into it. As if charmed in some unnatural manner she slowly began to follow it. Seeing the danger in the celestial's behaviour Minerva swooped down to stop her.

"Illuminura! Illuminura! Stop!" She cried.

She flailed about but as if in some drunken stupor Illuminura stumbled past her in pursuit of the light. All the while Minerva's senses sharpened as a psychic song rung in her ear. She turned to the light and became infatuated by it.

Such sweet music of soft charming voices brought peace to her soul. She wished to follow it, she desired it but knew the danger. Nevertheless, she fell into a haze thought it all paths of thought blurred and the desire flooded her mind.

Then the outcry of a thousand voices filled her mind with such horror and disgust that she broke free of the song's grasp. She felt the rage burning within her soul. She focused down the light and dashed straight for it.

With all her might she grabbed its bearer by the neck. Pulverising the bones within and ripping the head clean off. Its knowledge flowed into her and there she learned the true danger. Sirens lurk in the dark drawing out the weak and vulnerable.

Those searching for salvation or healing beware for the lure of a siren's call is most tempting. It was what lured Godfrey here and now Minerva knew fully the hell she had walked her friends into.