Word Count: 1606

She had avoided it for long enough. Cardinal decided tonight was the night she was going to her homeworld. She didn't know what to expect but she took a few snacks and some of the stuff that she usually had when she was working as a park ranger. Rope, compass, hatchet, fire start kit and things like that in case she needed something. Though she wasn't sure if she had enough or too much.

Vizi had told her that the homeworlds were at least similar to earth in that they could breathe on them so that was one less worry she had to deal with. Cardinal also had a pair of boots since she wanted to make sure if she ran into an issue of rough terrain she had the option of better footwear.

When she spawned on her homeworld she looked around and slowly blinked, the air was crisp like an autumn day. The leaves were just getting touches of color on them, there was a small babbling brook that lead towards a larger creek she could see down the way. While there wasn't much in the area which she landed, she could see that the terrain was mountainous and she could make out what looked like it would be roofs of buildings down the side of the mountain but it was uneven so she wasn't sure how she'd find the buildings, if they were built into the mountain, on leveling sticks or what.

She cautiously climbed down watching where she stepped, she planned on changing her shoes when she got to the buildings, perhaps there would be a place to sit down there. She noticed a small path that ran up the side of the mountain and she glanced up to see if she could see anything.

Alas nothing that was easily visible. However she made a note to follow it upwards later.

Right now she was interested in what was down the mountain. "So glad I like hiking or this would suck." Cardinal said with a laugh as she continued down the way.

It wasn't long before she saw what she could only call log and plank cabins resting on the mountain side, some were built into the mountain with a small area flatten for a yard outside, others were on stilts to level them out. They had their own little quirks some had wood carvings in the side others had paintings.

They looked very picturesque too. As if they told stories.

Cardinal could see a clearing and where the land plateaued out. Here there was a very large central building that looked as if it was half out of the ground and half in, but it was huge, the shortest sides at the eves of the roof had to be about four foot but from there it went up and had to be a good twenty feet or so in the air before it peaked. The building was wide and long, and looked as if part of it was carved into the mountain as well. There were large totems depicting animals and what she thought was the Uktena at the top.

Standing beside the poles made her feel very small, and one of them was the entrance to the large building that sprawled out before her. Flat planks used for the siding and roofing she inspected it and rubbed her hand on it enough to confirm it was cedar, still fresh smelling. She was looking at the painted parts that seemed to tell a story or perhaps it was a face to ward off enemies? She wasn't sure.

"This is fascinating." She turned and looked around, other smaller buildings weren't quite as fancy but still sported the same style and feel. There was a place in the center for what she assumed was a large bonfire, seating was around there looked to be places to hang ceremonial decorations.

The senshi slide into the open mouth of the totem pole that served as the entrance of the largest building. Curious what this structure was. And after a few moments it was like she stepped back into time.

There was a fire crackling, others standing around the fire itself and one dressed very much like her.

"The chaos is growing dangerously close." The senshi was pacing, "We're going to have to be careful. It'll wipe us out if we're not."

"We can't let that happen our people depend on us."

"What are we going to do?"

"Fight it. It's the only thing we can do."

"How?"

She could hear the vision explaining. Was this the ending of her world? The reason she was reborn on earth? She was watching softly those speaking, they were concerned and didn't seem to know how to battle what was coming.

As the vision carried on Cardinal moved softly looking, there was a fire in the center which they were all gathered around, she could hear the crackle of it; outside sounded as if there was snowfall? She was surprised she could hear it. Even still the building was warm. Looking upward there were kills from a hunt hanging in the rafters, perhaps that was why the building was so large? Hides from animals were in the far back.

There were places where you could climb under the floorboards and she took a quick swift peak hoping she didn't disrupt what was going on. She could see food storage, what looked like vegetables and other food stuffs that needed to be cooled. This must have been a root cellar, Cardinal thought to herself.

"It's been observed just plaguing other planets and bringing them to an end. No one knows how to stop it. The planet itself seems to fall victim to the plague and as it's resources go so do the people."

"We need to protect you Cardinal."

"I can take care of myself, we need to protect everyone here so we can still thrive. There's so much left to live for."

Cardinal tilted her head as she watched them speak and slowly the vision faded after her past self said there was so much to live for. This was concerning. What sort of chaos was that deadly? She'd heard about the Harold of chaos but from her understanding if it was the problem her whole world would've been devoured.

"At least it wasn't Harold I guess that got them." She said softly as she wondered down into one of the two root cellars. Looked like there wasn't any food left. Which she didn't expect there to be anyways it would have been petrified by now.

She pulled herself out of the cellar and was looking at the construction. The cedar type trees that had been used had to been huge because each board spanned a good five foot wide. There weren't many trees this size left on earth if any.

The senshi was marveling at the craftsmanship of the place. That was until she saw a small piece of paper that was laying on the ground. She picked it up, and while she couldn't read any writing there was a picture, that looked much like the totem pole topper outside. That had to be the Uktena.

"I wonder if they were looking for protection from the Uktena. But that would've been me - - -would it have not been?" She seemed curious as she made her way outside looking around at the rest of the buildings.

They were in disrepair and decay but nothing looked un-repairable the more she looked at the other buildings, a few of them were starting to crumble but the wood that had been used was standing up well. As she looked she noticed from the plateau she could see the valley. The village wasn't far from a lake at the bottom of the running river. There was an impressive waterfall from the plateau down.

"How do I get down?" At first she didn't notice there were hand carved stairs that took the steep drop and made it walkable but after a few moments she found it. Climbing down she found the valley was a large expanse, easy to hunt for food here and fish. Not to mention she was pretty sure the people use to grow food here as well. She looked around and noticed what looked like a pulley system up at the top of the plateau, had it not been for years of decay it probably would still be usable. She located the trolley, it was large enough for a pair of people and perhaps an earth elk or maybe even a moose. Whatever rope had been used to pull up the trolley with though was long since gone.

"I wonder if I can fix that. It'd be neat to be able to use that if I need to get supplies up." Though she wondered how it was operated from the ground level, and pondered perhaps she needed a cat's help to make it more user friendly for just one person. As she assumed there were multiple people to operate this originally.

Sadly she didn't have time today to tinker or try to figure out how to put a cable on the trolley to make it operable again. So that would have to wait until her next visit. Maybe she could find some cable that wouldn't designated to help her out. However, she wasn't sure how she'd get such a thing to her homeworld because she needed a metric ton of it. She assumed just from the fact the trolley was large enough it needed cable for all four corners.

"I'll have to think on how to solve this. Maybe see if I can find answers from the cauldron." Either that or --- "Oh maybe I could catch that merchant named Almadel sometime, he might have something that I could use or find me something."

She'd heard about him through her cousin, after Hugbell seemed to have all the knowledge. Cardinal made her way back up to the plateau before giving a last look around for the night, "I'll be back. We'll get you fixed up in no time." She said softly, hoping she could maybe bring back life to the homeworld. It would be cool to see animals roaming again and perhaps fix it so it was livable again.