Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
The meteoric goblet of Area Zero brimmed perpetually with milky clouds. They shrouded the depths within, and kept any eyes that somehow ascended beyond the mountainous rim from penetrating.
Sinking through the layers and layers of clouds, one could descend with no sense of direction save for the changing of flitting winds, cold and petty and cutting one to the bone.
Area Zero itself was verdant. Beneath the intangible clouds, the land would sear the eye on green and glitter, and the vast expanse of the crater would make itself known, freakishly pastoral for a place so dangerous.
Deeper still, the landscape twisted in columns and arches and caves. The green gave way to rock and stone, no less colorful for the crystals jutting like teeth at all angles, catching and throwing the paradoxical light down into the yawning caverns. Their hollow depths beckoned with mystery and intrigue.
Hollow strikes echoed from the depths. Rhythmic, building in volume, the sounds rang and scraped and clung to the crystallized walls.
Tucked at the base recesses of the caverns was a face of crystal so broad and high it was like an opalescent lake frozen vertical. At the bottom of it was a jagged, gaping wound.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A group of researchers milled around the gash of crystal. The lamps placed at the corners of the worksite bore rays of color in every direction where their light was caught and thrown back from the crystal walls. Not many were needed. A single match alone could light the whole cavern into a dancing glow.
Every so often, the crumbling of crystal chunks would scramble a new assortment of refracted rainbows.
The clanging of sledgehammers gave way to exhausted orders.
Time for a break.
"This is undignified," one researcher gasped, and collapsed to the ground. "I have a PhD, for Arceus' sakes."
"Don't complain. The demand for tera crystals keeps us funded so we can pursue our research, and we're just about the only ones with real clearance to be down here." A coworker thumped her on the shoulder. "Come on, we only need another cart full to ensure we don't have to do this for another few months."
"One more cart, he says," the first woman grumbled. "Like it's easy. This stuff's hard as a... ugh."
He patted her consolingly again. The rest of them shared the same sentiment; it was refreshing to hear somebody complain what they were all thinking, even if they had long grown resigned to their fates. If there was one thing researchers always lacked, it was sufficient funding.
The clang of mining tools resumed.
With one lucky strike, a crack lanced up the crystal face like lightning. Chips fell from above in a glimmering rain. The clustered researchers scattered back in alarm.
One moment, all was still. In the next, a great slab of crystal sloughed off and crashed to the ground with a thundering boom. Dust and shining fragments fled the crash—the researchers were quick to duck away and shield their noses and mouths.
When the dust had settled, they gingerly rose and called out. Everybody accounted for. Nobody harmed. More importantly, resting on the ground, split into three enormous hunks of jagged opalescence, was the source of their next payload.
"Finally! How's that for a cartful, eh?"
"Wait, we still need to break it up for transport. Somebody get the chisels, we are not messing this up."
"—Hold on. I'm not seeing things, am I...?"
"What are you talking about? Relax, this is worth celebrating!"
A shaky arm pointed upwards. Everybody's gazes followed it to the newly exposed layer of crystal, and everybody fell stone silent.
Mirrored several times over from a cluster of internal facets, broken into pieces like the compound eye of an insect, was the unmistakeable angle of a human limb.
The rest was too clouded by dust to confirm.
There was a mad scramble of activity. Somebody called for water, others for scaffolds. One frantic spewing of water from someone's companion Floatzel did the trick, and as the dust rinsed down, and another thin layer of crystal fractured and flaked away, what was left behind was a smooth, clean face of mirror clarity.
It wasn't just a piece of a person in there, but a whole, complete figure.
The person lodged in the crystal was curled into the fetal position, and their face was hidden beneath a wild mane of hair, but through blessed luck and sheer fame of the field, every single person was stricken with simultaneous recognition.
Someone's cracked voice breached the silence. "Isn't that..."
Murmurs broke out. It couldn't be, it was impossible, yet unmistakably...
"W-We should..." The researcher gulped. Everybody traded glances, and they all shared the same singular thought.
"Somebody needs to call her son."