Abandoned

Superstes moved from place to place until she finally reached the city she had first met, Lolianth, Feuman and Cinla.

It had taken her less time to travel here by foot when she was a little kid than today, mostly due to the fact that she never ignored a fight with the monsters watching over the conquered towns and cities.

It seemed like most of the overseers were quite lowly, the monster with the reverse face was the only one that had truly possessed a good array of abilities, Roderst must have not been held in high regards by the Obsidian Queen, or perhaps it was just a formality.

As in, the monster queen either didn't believe a rebellion would occur in this country or, that a rebellion happening was no big deal.

Which wouldn't be hard to believe, Roderst's citizens seemed to not bear any will to rise up against the monsters, the overseers were nothing but figureheads and so were the envoys, only a way to remind them of who owned these lands.

As such, they were dumping all of the failures and weaklings to this job.

The only reason Superstes had gotten to face the upside down-faced monster, was because he had stationed himself here in advance after being told of her presence in the surroundings.

The easily angered donkey creature had been the actual overseer.

Since then, she hadn't encountered any other, mostly due to the fact that she kept on moving forward, also because she wouldn't go in a straight line.

Today however, she would be stepping foot into the city that housed the great adventurer guild, at least, it used to until a certain critter destroyed the foundations of the building.

The construction had been halted by the monster invasion and left close to completion, the guild still operated but without their designated buildings, things weren't as efficient as they used to be.

The second she could see the walls surrounding the city, she knew that something was off.

Getting her hair out of her face, messy from running around, she squinted her eyes and advanced.

Ready to shift her weapon into something else at any given time.

She walked up to the gate, with was slightly open.

The right portion of the massive gate was firmly locked in place but the left one was somehwat ajar.

No marks of clawing or any strong force on it, appearing as if it had simply been forgotten and left that way.

It must have been that way for a long time, since spider webs filled the opening.

'Spider monster?' her first thought was that some sort of arachne or something of that variety was in charge here but she dismissed that idea quickly.

One closer look was enough to see that the spider webs were the work of many different spiders, some could even be seen sitting on their webs, waiting for food to come and get stuck in its trap.

Some webs were old and abandoned, some were fresh and inhabited, other were even being weaved right at this instant.

Channeling her golden energy to her eyes, she confirmed her guess.

'Just regular spiders'

From the looks of it, they were neither monster, nor were they controlled by one, no traces were seen by the heroine.

Cutting through the dense webs, avoiding to get any into her hair or eyes, she stepped inside of the city and it was already time to solve another mystery.

Superstes cleared up her throat, took a good look around with her enhance vision and then slightly tilted her head upward.

"Hey!" she spoke firmly, her voice carrying far in the streets.

No response came.

The city seemed... Dead.

There was no better word coming to Superstes's mind, the streets were completely desolate and empty, silence reigning as king.

The only things she had sensed were animals and bugs living their best lives in the forsaken buildings and homes.

Plants had began taking over the surroundings but by the progression, Superstes could tell that it hadn't an awfully long time since the city was emptied of its residents.

The place was still in good shape and as she searched through houses, she would find food animals hadn't reached yet.

Nothing was fresh but it was far from all dried up and decomposed.

It seemed like the fauna and flora had simply overtook the place in record time.

'Mmh, even then, that progression isn't fast enough for it to be the work of someone or something'

Something was definitely odd here.

Despite this, Superstes headed for the guild, the building appearing nearly done with, constructed in exactly the same spot, except that instead of regular wood for the foundations, they had had wood from a special tree brought over.

One that wouldn't fall to termites or the withering of time easily.

Just as she got there, the sun began to set on the horizon, turning the gloomy ghost city even more disturbing.

Still very much focused on her surroundings in a wide area, she noticed that the new population of the city were all moving at around the same time, all retreating into hiding spots or straight ip rushing for the gates.

Superstes had began doubting that any foul play was involved, she hadn't discovered any corpses and her eyes infused with gold didn't catch any sign of violence and struggles, at least none that wasn't common to bug cities like this one.

All she had noticed was that everyone had really left the town, but she was unable to find someone or a monster that could have been responsible for this evacuation.

She should have been able to catch their lingering presence like for the people but she hadn't.

Her frown deepened as she slightly parted her lips, her teeths resting against each other, forming a scowl on her face.

By the reaction of the fauna, something happened at night here.

"Now, where the hell are you?" she said aloud, not sensing anything yet.

'The night will be pitch black' she realised as the area quickly darkened.

She stood still.