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"And we shall be as a city on a hill..."

And so they were, though the hill that the Lyrans had chosen was next to a mountain chain. It was a great city, a veritable metropolis of steel, chrome, and mana-driven machinery all around. Shopping was a dream, and transportation not a problem. This city was fast paced, never-sleeping. It was also the first to take damage in the war for the Lyrans, and did so with frightening regularity, leaving a shell of a city behind. Dashna was not as fortunate as the temple cities of the Geosns and Runists.

The eastern side of the city is where the mana well (more like a cave, horizontal, rather than vertical), refinery, and pumps lie dormant, disused and in a pitiable state of disrepair. No one would want to use enough mana to justify the repairs and maintainance that would be needed to get it running again- the population of the city had dropped that much. Strung about the city is the skeleton of a massive, elaborate transportation not unlike a very complex and developed single-car versions of our monorails, except moving vertically as well. The stations sit idly, their veins of mana dry and cars disabled.

Also on the eastern side, south of the mana wells, is the mountain pass, the only practical way for one from the Runist Plateau, be it a trader or an army, to get to the city. To the northwest lie forest. A ways north sits the ocean, and to the west and south are the grasslands.

Strewn about the city are large, abandoned skyscrapers- hardly anyone goes up to the top of these, as it is impractical; the only way up is stairs, now, and there is nothing worth value in these skyscrapers that hasn't already been looted, with the exception of precious few, and those are rarely left unguarded.

Scattered at the foot of these architectural giants are smaller homes, many of which have been abandoned, whether it was due to the resident family dying out or moving away. People make these their home, forming miniature villages within the large city.

Lately groups have taken to trying to unite the city under one government, many with plans to do the same with the rest of the nations, seeking a reformation of the United Republics, of sorts. Some are friendly than others in their attempts, trying persuassion rather than coersion. Unfortunately, this is not the majority of others. Most of the people aren't part of these groups, each for their own reasons, and are just trying to keep on with life, not siding with any group, and only cooperating with a few if they must.

Justin was inside the cave from which the mana had been pumped generations ago, without any sort of light on him. It didn't matter, though- the sunlight was still tangible from the entrance. Over the periods of disuse and limited use, the mana had gone from nearly dry to flowing to just barely out of sight from the mouth of the cave.

Justin towed with him a bucket. It wasn't the quality many would decide to keep mana in- in fact, it would be dangerous to do so if it weren't for the runes around the bucket, which cooperated with the half-refined nature of the bucket, making up for its small irregularities in the bucket. Storing mana was just within his capabilities as a runist, though he made it so that the bucket showed no outward signs of the runes around them.

He knelt by the edge of the mana, wearing his normal artificer garb, the sort of practical mechanics clothing. With one gloved hand, he reached back and brought the mana cylinder closer to him.

He picked the bucket off, without any sloshing sound coming from the bucket- the runes prevented any movement, and it was full, pretty much.

"Heave, ho..." he grunted, swinging the bucket in rhythm with his step in an attempt to keep walking even with the now-heavy bucket encumbering him. Thankfully enough, his home was close to the mana cave/mine... thing. He'd taken the place because it was, in the most literal sense- there was no one to buy it from, so he just moved in and patched it up.

Grey clouds were beginning to gather in the skys over Dashna, the distant rumble of thunder to far off to bring much lightning echoing through the abandoned buildings as Donna turned her head around slightly to listen. Melissa paused as she resumed her work as well.

"I'm going back to the house. I want you to keep working here until you've uncovered a large enough portion to figure out what we're dealing with. The sooner we can figure out more about the rail lines the sooner they can be rebuilt."

Turning on her heel, Melissa watched as Donna's willowly figure began to leave, the bright slashes of clashing colour making her easy to see until she rounded the corner, her boots clicking against the cleared off steps as a slight drizzle began to fall. Sighing, Melissa pushed herself to her feet and lifted the hard brush she'd been using at the same time, placing one gloved hand on her hip, the younger blonde looked over her task.

"There's got to be some kind of engine room around here or something..."

Donna was long gone, and the woman working was more keen on taking a break before any rain could start falling. Sitting up and then standing with a sigh, she gave her gloves each a tug to get them off and walked along the edge of th once functioning rail line. This station seemed to be at a junction where the cars could start moving up instead of just parallel to the ground. It was also elevated, a ladder made of welded scrap had sufficed to bring both women up roughly ten feet onto the platform.

Swinging her legs over the edge and minding the broken cables and piping- probably once used to move the Mana along-, Melissa leaned back on her hands and kicked her feet childishly. It felt like Dashna was deserted sometimes, like now with almost no one around. Slowly though, she started to pick up on the sound of footsteps, was someone else looking at the railway? Few people who lived in the city seemed to get lost unless they left for long enough...

Eve sat in the house and breathed a sigh of acomplishment. There was still litter on the ground but other than that she had made good progress on restoring the house to its once radiant luster. She got up and grabbed the broom. The roof was now restored and she had put in the new windows. But there was still dirt, glass and wood littering the floor. She swept for an hour or so and then walked over to the stairs.The stairs had been the first thing she fixed. They glistened in the light and were made of pure silver. She walked up the stairs slowly with a smile on her face for this days work. Her room was in the attic of the house and she couldn't help but feel sleepy. She walked over to her bed and layed down on its soft cushions. Sleep engulfed her quickly.

Justin trudged on, blissfully unaware of anyone around him. He was only concerned with getting his bucket back home. Almost there. It was only a football field's length away now.

Eventually, Justin simply stopped, and set the bucket down with a clanging thud. "That never seems to get easier for me to carry," he grumbled, sitting down next to the bucket. "Sure, I can bring it farther without having to stop each time, but it still feels just as hard."

He muttered, and wiped his brow before glancing towards the girl jogging towards him.