Their separation and reuniting seemed to have cooled the fire between Avialian and Sharon. Now with Avialian leading the way, things seemed to be going smoothly again. Although, unlike her story, as they went closer and closer to Avialian’s home, the statues did not get any better. The only ones standing all looked monstrous. They got no closer to looking human as they pushed deeper into the crystalline island. It was almost as if all of the statues she had seen had been destroyed, and replaced with these ones, or that someone had gone to all of them with a chisel. Like a furious sculptor sabotaging her lifetime of work in a fit of rage.

“So like…” Carolyn’s voice cut through the silence, but no one else said anything. She rolled her eyes and decided to pick up the burden of conversation herself. “Anyways, so like I’m so super excited to see what this place looks like! We’re in some like totally creepy secret place now but seeing the city streets and people just going about their days is going to be like so refreshing!”

“You really think they’ll still be there?”

“Like duh! I mean, Avialian was there wasn’t she? And she was like totally just taking a nap for all that time. Like imagine what everyone else was doing while she was locked out?”

“That is a good point…There are many advances…they could have made…since her time…”

Avialian sighed and looked wistfully into the distance. “I fear that will not be the case.”

“Like why is that?”

“They had already grown stagnant because of the many policies that had been set in place by Triddian. I am afraid they will have simply done what they have always done. Day in and day in, a monotonous repetition fed only by their greed and slow boredom as they seek to fill a void they have forgotten ever existed.”

“I like so don’t think so.”

“Oh? And why is that Carrie, do you perhaps know my people better than I?”

Carolyn giggled. “I mean like, probably.”

Avialian looked incensed and Sharon tried to hide her smirk as she sniggered quietly.

“Like don’t get your panties in a bunch. You’re like just too close to see things clearly.”

“I think you might be underestimating my introspection and awareness. I could see quite clearly what was happening with others around me.”

“Like yeah, I don’t doubt that. You just can’t like see in their hearts. It’s like a skill and junk.” She winked at Avialian. “Like I can read people like a book, and the people you described seemed like totally on the edge of an uprising.”

Avialian was practically cackling. “An uprising? I seriously doubt that. Not from the shells of those people who spent all their times in and around the pit decade after decade.”

“O M G. You are like so close to the answer it’s cute! I mean you totally overheard how frustrated two of them were with things. Bored and junk. Like all they needed was a push and they’d totally change things up. Like maybe a pretty girl going missing?”

Avialian had gotten slightly flustered. “I think you are overestimating their ability to change. That sort of thing had long been carved out of them. They are merely a kind of cattle now.”

“Well, didn’t you…change from apathy…”

Sharon’s words cut Avialian down a bit, but she looked too stubborn to fully give in. “I suppose it is theoretically possible, but I was an extreme outlier in this situation.”

“Well like, I think you should give them more credit. People can like totally surprise you. In the right situation, even like the most apathetic person can rise to the occasion.”

“You know I’m standing right here, right?”

“O M G, Mikey you think I meant you?”

“Well, if the shoe fits.”

“Aw, that’s like so cute!” She rushed over and gave Michael a hug, which got stares from both Avialian and Sharon.

Before Carolyn could let go, Avialian had joined in on the hug. She looked away as she said, “This is what you do to comfort one another, correct? A physical embrace to reassure each other that things will be alright.”

Looking a little left out, Sharon also joined in. With all three of them hugging Michael in-between them, and almost competing to see who could squeeze closest to him. This made Michael quite embarrassed as he struggled to say much of anything.

Carolyn was the first to let go, followed by Sharon, but Avialian held on a bit longer. She had to bend down to truly hug Michael, and it didn’t look all that comfortable for her, but she seemed insistent.

“I was left out of the reassurance when we reunited earlier. I think that it is only right that I make up for that now.”

“I think you are forgetting…about when the two…of you were rolling…around on the ground…inside your shirt.”

Avialian’s face turned a darker shade of green, and Michael started to look so red he might pop. With awkward movements she disentangled herself from Michael and patted him on the head. “I think you might have a point. No reason to dredge up the past now though, as we must look to the future.” She quickly moved back into her place of leading them deeper in, while Sharon and Carolyn snickered.

Michael felt odd. He hadn’t thought about it, but it had been a while since he had this much physical contact with anyone. It felt nice. It reassured him he wasn’t isolated, like he was actually a part of the group.

“So like, I think we’re going to like get there, and society will be like super advanced. With like a focus on physical goods and fashion changing every few days.”

“What, like a…giant mall…”

“O M G! You’re like so bad Sharon. No, not like a mall, more like Paris fashion week, but like all the time. People competing to make the totally hottest trends and styles. Pushing their energy into style and looks to combat their boredom and junk.”

“Well if we are…putting forth our…theories on the…development of the Ancients…since Avialian’s time…I would agree…that they’d advance…since then, but…instead of something useless…like clothing, their focus…will be on ideals…Splintering into different…groups based around core…concepts they agree…on with demagogues…arguing for their case…in an open political…forum that will have…replaced their pits…choosing to clash…their philosophies instead of…their bodies…”

“I can not even fathom something like that. It is so paradoxical with everyone I know about them.”

“People can change…not everyone stays…stagnant forever if they’re…given a chance to improve…”

Avialian sighed, “Alright fine then. I think you will both be proven wrong. There will be no great development. No one will shift into fights between ideologies or fashion choices. I even believe my outfit will still be quite common, and that they will still complain of a sense of ennui while doing nothing to alleviate it. It was stagnant then, and it will still be today. There will have been no revolution, no grand enlightenment.” She sounded certain, but she certainly didn’t look happy about it.

“Like I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Oh! Wait, Michael what about you?”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yeah, what do you think they’ll be like?”

“Uh, this is all kind of cerebral for me. I’m not good at this sort of thing, so I will not say anything.”

“That’s a pretty…boring answer…”

“Yeah, well I don’t really have much to add? I don’t even know where to start. I never lived there, I don’t study ancient civilizations, or investigate stuff around the world. It’s like asking an Elephant what it’s like in Antarctica.”

“Like I mean…”

“Let me stop you there Carrie,” Michael sighed. “I’m sure you’ve met some sort of talking elephant who you asked that exact question, but the craziest thing that happened to me was getting two bags of chips to fall at a vending machine.”

“Like okay fine. Mr. Boring doesn’t want to play.”

They three girls teased Michael on and off as they continued on their way; until finally, they reached the end of their travels. The final wall, and past it they would see what the truth was with their own eyes. Sharon moved past Avialian and opened the way forward with her chanting, since Avialian was still separated from the crystal.

“This cannot be. Something must, it must be wrong. It is just a trick. Some kind of obscene illusion.” Avialian’s legs grew weak as she looked out. Carolyn and Michael hurried to her sides to try and support her, but it was more symbolic than actually helpful with her inhuman anatomy.

They’d come in along the side of a long hallway with no statues, just broken pieces of crystal scattered on the ground. Sharon stepped forward, knelt down, and picked a piece up in her hand. She turned it over as light reflected through it at various angles. She frowned as it reflected in her eyes. “This is not…from a statue…”