She also found that the girls gathered in clubs. What really caught her attention was the archery club, and thus, she had another weapon. It didn't really play to her strengths, but she doubted she would find a sword fighting club or anything like that. Robot city seemed to be pretty devoid of weapons too, she had managed to get her hands on a utility knife though, so that was good.

Knife, backpack, flashlights, grappling hook, snacks and raincoat. She made sure to transform first, then put on the coat. Yeah, she was ready.

"Let's fucking do this."

Somewhere, deep in the darkness, consumed by the ever-present blackness does the Other lie.

It's still raining. She gets the impression that it will never stop, but behold!

She turns on her new flashlight. "And then she said: Let there be light!" She can see! She might've teleported flashlights to and from her rock house to demo the flashlights to find the strongest one before she bought it. It was well worth it, the dark stone was well visible for almost ten meters in front of her.

One might question why she had no trouble stealing from a vending machine, clothes from a student and housing from the dorms; yet she balked at the idea of stealing from a store.

Well apparently her moral compass was a roulette wheel.

All she had to guide her was her internal compass, pointing her back to... well not Earth. As far as she could tell it was genuinely women only... Lesbos.

Her female intuition pointed her to Lesbos, she could use that as a compass for now.

She marched onwards.

The erosion renders the environment oddly sleek, stone polished by centuries of rainfall. Rubble crunches underfoot as faded wander blindly in darkness. The girl shines like a beacon from within the blackness.

The first thing she finds out is that wherever she is, its somewhere high. The polished stones by the edges of a sheer drop imply that at some point there were railings. Even with her flashlight she can't get a sense for how far down it goes. Climbing up or down is definitely not an option, given the obvious signs of erosion. Any kind of handhold on the mountainside is probably completely smooth by now. She's starting to think that it really does always rain here.

The first step is to get her bearings. The fires are important and her dreams have implied that there are more to be found. The first step is to get her bearings. Where is she? She starts by tracing the edge, giving it a wide berth.

She wishes she had a glow stick or something to drop, it would be nice to see how far of a fall it would be. As far as she knows this is a second or third floor and the next one is below her just out of sight.

She reaches a bridge. It's very wide, like a two lane highway, but no railings. It's wide enough that she wouldn't get pushed off the edge by an assailant. But now that the idea is in her head she can't help but take a small step back.

"What was that?" She swivels around. She can't see anything. Did she hear something, or was it just her imagination? The sound of the downpour makes it hard to really be certain, plenty of noises could be hiding just under it.

Certainty extends ten meters in front of her and no further. Her steps are cautious.

She reaches a wall, whatever this building was it was seemingly built into a mountain. This wall has decayed, and behind it is more natural looking stone. Sediment has collected in the space between the stone wall and the mountain, that's probably what led to it collapsing.

She turns left, and follows it. A few minutes of walking see her under an actual ceiling. "Oh thank goodness." She pulls off her hood. "Where does this lead?" Less exposed to the elements, the brickwork is much more defined. The air is humid, and if the light of day ever graced these halls it probably would be pretty mossy in here.

Scones that would've held torches long ago are now rusted to basically nothing. It would be odd if she found a single piece of metal that had survived all this time intact. The sound of rain becomes more distant as she goes in deeper.

She comes to a set of doors, well, doorways. The actual doors have since degraded to nothing. "I'm not going to find any writing, am I? Reality isn't conducive to ancient tomes filled with forbidden knowledge."

The doorways lead to rooms filled with rubble and dust. She considers sifting through it but she doesn't really expect anything to have survived and she didn't pack a shovel. The hallway leads to a winding staircase leading down and to another doorway. A narrow hallway with doorways leading to small rooms makes her think of a prison. Actually, these probably are prison cells.

She glances inside of them, but doesn't really expect to find anything. Hopes not to find anything.

She hisses as she hears ragged breathing. "Oh c'mon."

She slowly inches towards the source of the sound. She is a powerful magical girl! She has nothing to fear!

Huddled in a corner of one of the cells, facing away from her, is an empty man. by his side is a sword rusted down to the hilt, he is clad in rusted armor. A few wispy hairs cling to his scalp. He makes no move to attack, and doesn't react to the light, he only shudders slightly as he draws in ragged breath.

"Uh." What am I doing? "Hello?"

Nothing, there is no reaction. Nobody she finds is likely to speak a language she understands either. "Estas bien?" Futile.

She's afraid of coming closer, the last person she found in this world ended up...

Well, he's not hostile yet, maybe she should just live and let live? Somehow this felt worse than if he had just got up and attacked her.

"Alright, I'm leaving now." She's extra careful to check each of the remaining cells, and in the second to last one, next to the end of the corridor she finds a pile of ash with a sword sticking out of it at and angle. "Oh! I know what to do!"

She holds her hand above it and focuses, she feels a sense of the breath leaving her as her tiny purple spark leaves her and rekindles the fire.

She sighs. "I'm gonna be here for a while, huh?" She looks into the soft whisper of the purple flames. She warms her hands by them. "Well, there's no rush." She walks in and sits down, it's almost cozy in the cell, with the fire, she leans back. "It feels like everything has been happening so quickly."

She should definitely check back on that girl that she saved. The way that they were behaving back there wasn't normal. The entire experience felt like a lucid dream, a college class of girls ignoring the very obvious signs of a giant monster as some sort of specters rebuilt. Transforming into a magical girl to stop the monster. Where had it come from anyway? There had only been a single trail leading away from the college. She hadn't really thought about it then, but it had to have come from inside.

She is on her side at this point, her eyes close. "And why the hell did they call me a magical girl anyway." She mutters.

She had spent a lot of time playing games with friends. At some point it became obvious that they genuinely liked her and wanted to be around them. It was an odd feeling, and one she never felt that she would ever internalize. They would be better without me is such an oddly pervasive feeling, like their lives would be improved by your removal, and yet occasionally they seek you out and your worldview collapses.

She is stronger now, and with time she'll grow stronger still. A little bit at a time as she pulls in more and more of the worlds into herself.

"Mm." She stretches. "How long was I out?" She sighs.

"So, if I can go home, do I?"

It's a harder question to answer than she realizes. She has never felt so free, and going back feels like it comes with so many obligations and problems that it feels overwhelming. She hadn't thought about it much because... well, she was trying to find her way back home from Lesbos and only recently found out that it was impossible. The fact that the decision had been taken away from her was kind of a relief honestly.

But her next plan involved going to Lesbos and mapping it out. It wasn't inconceivable that she would find portals to new worlds, or an old one. If she found a portal to Earth... She can't go back to her old life. But maybe a friend or two...? Or maybe... maybe she just moves on?

She sighs again. She can just go places, all kinds of places, she wants to explore dammit.

Maybe the fact that she is trying so hard to talk herself out of going back says something here.

"I should finish exploring." She gets up, and makes her way through the door and down some stairs, through another door she finds a walkway overlooking a five storey drop. Each floor has a number of cells recessed into the walls. The most notable features are the eerie green lights she sees floating along the walkways.

And of course, the railings have rusted to nothing. "Goddammit."

She peers down. It's a long drop. "Sheesh" She leans back, then opens and closes her fist, she reverted back to her normal form. Did that happen in her sleep? She twirls then strikes a pose, changing attire in a flash of sparkling light.

"Better, now, what are those..." She squints at the distant light at the other side of the room. She can't make it out other than to determine that it is green. "Ok... let's go." She walks over cautiously, checking the cells.