Like the others, I held my breath as the hatch ground slowly open. Dust that could only be centuries old rained down on us. I shook it off and stepped out slowly, drinking in every detail of the dimly lit hall as a wide-eyed infant. The others followed slowly behind, moving with the same reverence.

  A final prayer from behind, wishes for a safe return whispered in a hopeful voice, and the thick slab of obsidian stone rumbled shut behind us. The other four looked with fear and hesitation at the closed hatch, but I smiled.

  A strange heat rose from my stomach to my chest, so intense and unfamiliar that I nearly panicked, suspecting the stale air to have carried something foul into my lungs. But then I recognized it; a faint memory from my early childhood. It was an emotion, a rare one which served as a warm ember to kindle a weary soul.

  Hope.

  Instead of pushing it away as the distraction that it likely was, I let it sit there as I moved ahead of the others down the dark hallway. Though my heart had long abandoned such things as direction and purpose, a leader was still expected to walk as such when others followed behind. At least on this mission, I thought, that warmth might serve a purpose.

  The echoes of our footsteps rang heavy as we moved down the hall, stepping over scattered pieces of rubble until we reached a pile of shattered stone. A small opening at the top, just large enough for a grown man to crawl through, through which a faint yellow light shone.

  “It is just as Hisomeru said,” Akihiru whispered reverently.

  Since he was the youngest in the group, I nodded, even though he’d merely stated the obvious. It was only to be expected that the intricate drawings and detailed descriptions of our First Scout would have been nothing less than accurate. That had been the main purpose behind his years-long single-minded training.

  I moved to climb up the pile and through the gap, waiting on the other side as I took in the grand hall and the half-shattered dome above. Before then, I’d only seen images or heard stories. My own grandmother had spoken of the dome of the Cupola as if it were as majestic as the pillar itself. Yet now only one side of the once-grand glass construct remained, painted a gloomy yellow by the distant pillar’s faint ochre light.

  The rest of it lay spread across the grand hall below, some shards of glass as large as a man, while others were nigh invisible, crunching softly under our boots as we moved slowly onward. There was no need for haste.

  When we climbed up yet another, far larger mound of debris to stand on the edge of the Cupola and look out at the withered bones of Tanjoushi, yet another feeling bloomed. It was as if a waterskin had been emptied on my dried out heart and one by one, seeds were sprouting from soil that I had long thought to be barren. This time it was awe, again a feeling I’d only ever experienced as an innocent child listening to the old stories.

  Though the remains of the city we gazed upon were nothing like the stories, or at least not those that told of its grandeur. Everywhere we looked were signs of violence and decay. Cracked roofs, collapsed buildings, churned up streets. But most striking was the presence of nature: wild growths of vines and myriad plants that covered each crumbling wall and sinking rooftop. In many cases, those deep roots were likely the only thing holding the ruins together.

  I turned to the team.

  “We will commence our search from here. You know your duty. Always remain in teams of two as you cover your allotted sections. Be meticulous and alert the group at any sign of life, no matter how faint.”

  I teamed up with young Akihiru, watching with interest how his innocent eyes shifted between fear and wonder as they scanned each alley. Had mine ever looked like that? I found myself strangely drawn to the ignorant young man, wanting to protect him. If his youthful shoulders could so lightly carry the crushing weight of our existence, perhaps he would be more fit to lead than I. But not yet on this mission - this burden was mine to bear.

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  Progress on the first day was far slower than expected. The absence of a roof right above our heads was like an open wound, each of us pausing every few steps to look up with concern. We gaped at every remaining carving of the ruined buildings, rifled through each rotting scroll. False alarms happened every few hours; every fallen pebble and fluttering leaf had people scrambling in a near-panic. Whenever an intact scroll was found, we would gather as a group and study every line, no matter how dull. Even a ledger told another story of the past, and stories were all we’d ever had.

  I did not refuse these indulgences nor did I press the others to move faster. It was not our speed that mattered, but our thoroughness.

  Yet as the days went on, those fresh sprouts of awe and hope in my chest slowly wilted as I began to understand the impossibility of our task. Each ruined building contained not only blocked passages, but endless nooks and crannies where small things might hide.

  “There must be some spell, some working of Ki that could aid us,” Akihiru proposed as we sat in a circle. His passion was plain in the strength of his voice, the way his hands were balled into fists.

  Looking at the others was like looking in a mirror: pale hands that rested calmly on worn robes and sunken, hollow eyes that were turned to the ground. With the excitement of the first days slowly dissipating, we were settling back into our natural state.

  “There is none that we know of, as you well know,” I said softly. Anything of that nature would have been included in the stories.

  “Yes Saigo, but out there? Who knows what one might find. We have time. Hope is not yet lost.”

  Hope is not yet lost. I nearly laughed out loud at that, but someone else spoke before I could.

  “That is not our mission.”

  “Then the mission should change,” Akihiru insisted. I found the edges of my lips lifting up into the beginnings of a smile. The second one in less than a week. Perhaps more decisions should be left to the young indeed.

  “We do require water to continue our mission,” I said before anyone else would point out that it was not Akihiru’s role to make decisions. “Given what we know now, of the vast amount of time that will be needed to complete our mission, securing a water source has become of the highest importance.”

  I already knew there would be no objections. Sunken eyes pointed back at the ground, except for Akihiru’s. He beamed at me with eyes full of excitement and hope. Eyes that looked toward the future.

  We traveled as a single group during our quest for water, this time journeying further away from the Cupola, weapons gripped tightly as we walked through the vine-covered streets of this once great city. I was in front, but after many years of living closely together I could tell the others apart from the sound of their walking and even their breaths which were loud in the dead silence.

  Something as small as a sharp intake of breath was enough for me to turn and look, spear at the ready. Nioi had her nose in the air and turned to the right to follow a scent. We followed her as she sniffed the air, leaves brushing against my skin as we pushed through bushes and into a lush garden. Again, we paused briefly to gape and run our fingertips along the leaves of grass and flowerpetals.

  There was a growing sound which I couldn’t place, until we followed it and realized it was the rush of a creek. I gasped as I saw the water flowing in abundance, gathering before a pile of rocks into a large pool before trickling through and continuing on.

  I did not admonish Akihiru when he jumped in. After some hesitation, the rest of us followed. The water’s touch was cold enough to have us gasping, but still it was a welcome embrace. The pool was shallow enough that there was no risk of drowning. For a short while, our laughter sounded over the pool, previously hollow eyes lighting up with joy.

  It was a magical moment, but it was not meant to last.

  After we had taken the time to let our clothes dry, Nioi picked up another scent. The trail took us through the bushes again and over a fence, into what once must have been a clan compound.

  In stark contrast to the wild greenery, there was a circle of dried earth that sloped down in the middle. Right in the center of that circle, there was what looked like a dried-out corpse.

  Most of the body was covered in once-rich robes that had only partly rotten. What remained was clearly long dead: cracked skin draped over limbs as thin as twigs, overly long fingernails and white hair that covered hollow cheeks.

  “It must be burned,” I said. “Half of us will find tinder and dried wood, the other half will remain here.” This time, even Akihiru did not object. So I set out with two others to find a dead tree. We had seen a few on the way in.

  It is easy now, looking back, to point out my mistakes. I have thought of them often enough. The ages brought hope that they would have starved, but they also brought complacency. I should have destroyed the head before setting out for firewood. Or, failing that, I should have stayed with the three others and sent only one out to gather wood.

  But I did neither of those things, and so we returned to a scene of horror.