The wasteland stretched endlessly around them, a sea of cracked earth and wind-carved stone shimmering beneath the relentless afternoon sun.

Heat rose from the ground in wavering distortions, blurring the horizon and making distant objects appear to float. Every breath carried dry dust into their lungs. Sweat clung to their skin despite the occasional gust of hot wind that swept across the barren landscape.

The ruined statue loomed larger with every step.

At first it had appeared as nothing more than a broken silhouette against the horizon, but now details were beginning to emerge through the heat haze.

Then Yuto noticed something else.

Near the base of the rocky formation behind the statue, a narrow shadow cut through the stone.

A cave entrance.

His eyes narrowed.

Beside him, Tami noticed it too.

"Well," he muttered, "that doesn’t look suspicious at all."

The three of them slowed as they approached.

The statue now towered above them.

Up close, its scale was genuinely intimidating.

Yuto found himself tilting his head back to fully take it in.

The entire monument had been carved from brilliant white marble, though centuries of exposure had weathered its surface into softer shades of ivory and pale gray. Even damaged as it was, the craftsmanship remained breathtaking.

Every detail had been sculpted with extraordinary precision.

The folds of the woman’s robes flowed naturally over her body, appearing almost soft despite being stone. Delicate strands of hair had been individually carved, cascading down her shoulders in elegant waves. The contours of her face possessed a realism that made her seem less like a sculpture and more like someone frozen in time.

Yet what drew Yuto’s attention most was the blindfold.

A strip of marble covered her eyes.

Not damaged.

Intentional.

Whoever had made this statue had wanted her blind.

And her expression...

Yuto frowned.

There was sadness there.

Not the exaggerated sorrow artists sometimes carved into monuments.

Something subtler.

Heavier.

The corners of her mouth were faintly downturned. Her brows carried the slightest hint of strain.

She looked like someone mourning something she could never recover.

The lower half of the statue had been utterly destroyed.

Both legs were gone.

Massive fractures ran through the remaining structure where the damage had occurred. Broken chunks of marble lay scattered around the base in enormous fragments, some nearly the size of wagons.

The upper body remained standing only because part of the original support structure still held beneath the rubble.

It looked wrong.

Unbalanced.

Like a survivor refusing to fall.

Yuto stared upward.

What did it mean?

Who was she?

A goddess?

A queen?

Some forgotten figure from Astral history?

And what had happened here?

His eyes drifted toward the shattered remains beneath the statue.

Had Shinto done this?

The thought lingered.

No.

The destruction looked old.

Very old.

Still...

Something powerful had caused it.

Maybe centuries of erosion had eventually weakened the structure.

Maybe some monstrous creature had wandered through long ago and smashed it apart.

Or maybe whatever had destroyed the temple inside had destroyed the statue as well.

There was no way to know.

At least not yet.

"Woah."

Tami’s voice echoed softly through the empty wasteland.

He slowly walked around part of the monument, staring openly.

"Who would even make something like this?"

Yuto found himself wondering exactly the same thing.

The sheer amount of labor involved was difficult to imagine.

The marble alone must have been incredibly expensive.

Then there was transportation.

Construction.

The sculptor.

The workers.

The planning.

Someone had poured immense resources into creating this monument.

Someone had commissioned it.

Someone had believed it mattered.

Enough to place it all the way out here.

Why?

Before either of them could continue speculating, Maya simply walked past the statue.

Not slowing.

Not admiring it.

Not even giving it a second glance.

She headed directly toward the cave entrance.

Stopping beside the narrow opening, she turned around.

The expression on her face suggested she couldn’t understand why they were still standing there.

"We’re here for the gemstone," she reminded them. "Not a statue."

Tami sighed dramatically.

"One day you’ll learn to appreciate beautiful things."

Maya blinked.

"I appreciate gemstones."

Tami groaned.

Yuto couldn’t help smiling.

The two boys followed after her.

As they approached the entrance, Tami leaned slightly toward him.

"Doesn’t she appreciate art?"

Yuto shrugged.

"Maybe."

The truth was he had absolutely no idea.

Maya remained one of the most difficult people he’d ever met to read.

One moment she seemed completely indifferent.

The next she’d nearly panic over someone getting hurt.

Trying to understand her felt like trying to solve a puzzle with half the pieces missing.

His attention shifted toward the cave.

Immediately, his mood dropped.

The entrance looked narrow.

Very narrow.

A jagged crack in the rock barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through comfortably.

Darkness filled the opening completely.

Nothing beyond it was visible.

Yuto felt his stomach tighten slightly.

He hated caves.

Not because they were dark.

Not exactly.

It was the feeling.

The confinement.

The knowledge that hundreds of tons of stone surrounded you from every direction.

The uncomfortable realization that if something went wrong, there was often nowhere to run.

Unfortunately, admitting that aloud would result in endless teasing from Tami.

So he kept his mouth shut.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward.

Besides, he reminded himself, dark caves weren’t required for death in the Astral Realm.

The open ground seemed equally enthusiastic about killing people.

That thought somehow made him feel slightly better.

Only slightly.

He squeezed through the entrance.

The moment he emerged on the other side, he stopped dead.

"Woah..."

The word escaped him before he could stop it.

Behind him, Tami entered and froze as well.

Even Maya paused.

The space beyond the narrow opening was enormous.

This wasn’t a cave.

Not really.

It was a temple.

Or at least it had once been.

Now it resembled the aftermath of a disaster so catastrophic that it was difficult to imagine.

Yuto slowly turned.

The scale alone was staggering.

The chamber stretched far into darkness, far larger than the exterior should have allowed.

Ancient architecture rose from the gloom in broken fragments.

Everywhere he looked, there was destruction.

Not ordinary decay.

Not simple age.

Violence.

Something terrible had happened here.

The ceiling had partially collapsed, leaving enormous piles of rubble scattered throughout the chamber. Massive stone blocks lay shattered across the floor where they had fallen from above.

Columns that once supported the structure were broken in half.

Some lay stretched across the ground like fallen giants.

Others remained standing only partially, jagged fractures splitting their surfaces.

Ancient altars sat buried beneath debris.

Dust coated everything in thick layers.

Cracked statues emerged from the rubble at strange angles, their stone eyes staring sightlessly into eternity.

Fallen arches leaned precariously against walls.

Splintered wooden doors hung from rusted hinges.

Broken offering bowls littered the floor.

Some had shattered completely.

Others remained intact beneath layers of dust.

Overturned braziers rested where they had fallen centuries ago.

Long since extinguished.

Long since forgotten.

Torn banners hung from the walls.

What had once been vibrant cloth was now little more than faded strips swaying gently in unseen currents of air.

Scattered bones lay among the debris.

Human.

Animal.

Perhaps both.

Too weathered to identify.

The sight sent a chill down Yuto’s spine despite the heat outside.

Rows of overturned pews stretched across parts of the chamber.

Nearby, fractured mosaics covered sections of the floor, depicting images so damaged that their meaning had been lost.

Ancient lanterns dangled from chains high overhead.

Dark.

Cold.

Silent.

Half-buried shrines rested beneath mountains of dust and rubble, their carvings worn almost smooth by time.

And above everything else, enormous stalactites hung from the cavern ceiling.

Hundreds of them.

Thousands.

Stone teeth descending from darkness.

Watching.

Waiting.

For several long seconds, nobody spoke.

The sheer scale of the destruction was overwhelming.