Emilia guided the group to a large tent set up at the opposite end of the parking garage. Next to it were several water tanks, and a system of hoses connected them with the vats in which the behemoths grew. Each tank had a different label, and it seemed they contained not only water but also the nutrients needed to keep the trees growing.

“Hi Papa, it’s us,” said Emilia before entering the tent. The others followed her.

The interior was cozy, with carpets covering the floor and thick curtains lining the sides of the tent to help keep the place warm. Wooden tables and shelves were arranged in a semicircle, leaving space for some larger pieces of equipment between them. The yellow light from electric lamps and the crystals on the shelves coated everything with mellow tones.

At the center of the tent was a large desk, where books and instruments lay spread out over it. A bald man, perhaps in his seventies, sat in a wheelchair and was hunched over a table, deeply focused on his reading. He didn’t notice the approaching party until they had all walked in. Calmly, he straightened his back, took a deep breath and attempted to speak, yet no words came out.

“This is my father, Fritz,” explained Emilia. She then kneeled next to the wheelchair and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Papa, these people are crystal hunters who arrived today. She’s Rosario, and the young ones are Stefan and Franziska.” The man paid no attention and continued moving his lips, his gaze now fixed on the large red crystal that Rosario had brought along.

Unsure why, Rosario moved closer and set the crystal on the table before him. Fritz’s eyes grew wide, and his hands trembled before picking it up and holding it against a lamp. He stayed like that for several long seconds, after which he took out a notebook and began making annotations. While that happened, Rosario noted that many of the items lying over the tables and shelves were, unlike in the workshops above, more biological in nature. There were plant cuttings growing in beakers containing different solutions, some of them glowing as if powdered crystal had been dissolved in them. Dried out vegetal specimens were arranged near a microtome, waiting to be processed, and she even saw a laboratory incubator filled with culture dishes. She didn’t notice when Stefan walked to the back of the tent and stopped in front of a shelf.

“This is the same type of red crystal we found in the cave,” he stated, looking back at the group while pointing at a small fragment placed neatly under a bell jar.

Rosario looked at the smiths.

“And that’s the reason we wanted you to come here,” said Noah, who then directed his attention to Stefan. “Hey kiddo, do you see the notebooks over there? Be nice and bring them to us.”

Stefan had barely talked to this Noah guy and already disliked him, but he still picked up the books, noticing there were four of them and each one had a different year written on the cover.

“These are some experiments we ran using this red crystal,” explained Emilia, after giving the books to Rosario. “You can skip to the bookmarked pages for the most important results.”

The hunter gave her a skeptical look and then shuffled through the lab books, realizing they were filled to the brim with careful notes taken over the course of four years. She took a moment to read the marked pages and, once finished, put the book down and struggled to find the right words.

“You’re joking, right?” She said at last, looking at each one of the smiths in the eyes. “A crystal that’s deadly to monsters but doesn’t do anything to people?”

“Not only to people. It’s innocuous to non-mutated life forms in general,” corrected Carlo, who had been standing quietly in the back. By his side, Fatima nodded in agreement.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing before,” Rosario shook her head. “It doesn’t even make sense… mutated life forms are still identical to regular ones in terms of basal resistance to unrefined crystals.”

“That’s what all the evidence we’re aware of points to, yet this crystal in particular seems to be an exception to the rule,” said Emilia.

Franziska, standing next to Rosario, grabbed her arm.

“Rosario, how did they find out the red crystal doesn’t harm people and animals?”

“We exposed animals and plants to the crystal, obviously.” Responded Noah before Rosario had a chance to say something.

“But that could have killed them!”

“Yes.”

Franziska didn’t inquire any further.

Stefan raised his hand and looked at Emilia. “Have you told this to other smiths?”

“Of course we did, and some years ago we sent out notice to other coteries asking if they had seen similar crystals, but none had.”

“But this is important! Did no one else start looking for similar crystals outside of the coteries? Or offered a reward to people who’d bring them?” Stefan insisted.

Emilia sighed with a defeated look in her eyes. “The problem is that, with only this little fragment, all we can do is basic observations.” She looked up at Rosario. “And most people reacted just as you did, like it sounded too good to be true.”

Rosario looked again at the old man in the wheelchair, who was now measuring the crystal using a large caliper. “I mean, I would have found it difficult to believe if someone just told me. I’m still finding it difficult, to be honest.”

“When we told others, not knowing where the crystal came from was a huge problem. Some even questioned if this was a real crystal, or assumed we faked the data.”

“But how can you not know its source?” asked Rosario. “Did you just find it lying around? Or did someone give it to you?”

Emilia shook her head. “My father found it four years ago. Unfortunately, he isn’t in a condition to tell us where he went to find it. You see, my father was perfectly normal until the Collapse, but shortly after, he started dissociating, like he was trapped in his head and had a hard time coming back. It only got worse from there; he gradually lost control of his legs and became unable to speak. Besides that, the only thing that seems to motivate him is everything associated with behemoths and crystals. He rarely wants to leave this place, but four years ago, for some reason, he wandered outside. We looked everywhere, and then he came back on his own the next day, carrying that piece of red crystal. He didn’t tell us anything, but we realized from his annotations what his intentions were and did the experiments by ourselves.”

The old man was now trying to place the crystal inside a dark box with an opening where an instrument similar to a photographic camera was placed. Carlo and Fatima went to his side to help him, only for him to continue with the experiment without acknowledging them.

“This is just my opinion,” said Carlo. “But I believe our Old Man Fritz is some sort of genius when it comes to crystals, but he can’t tell us. Or maybe he’s too interested in the experiment itself and doesn’t care to tell us.” He looked at Fritz again, still focused on taking pictures of the crystal. “I’m sure if he wanted, he could make a behemoth grow out of that crystal, right?” Fritz looked up at Carlo, and for a brief moment, he seemed to acknowledge him, only to go immediately back to his experiment.

Emilia shook her head. “In the past, I’m sure there would have been technology to do a deep analysis of the crystal and figure out its function right away. I like to imagine that smart people could have found a way to make more of it, grow it in a laboratory or something in that line. This only fragment would have been enough to use as a starting point. Perhaps the technology exists somewhere in the world, but we don’t know where.”

Noah slammed a hand on the table where Rosario had left the notebooks. “The point is that, as things are now, all we have are our observations, which I’m telling you we did not make up.” He held the crystal hunter’s gaze for a moment, as if challenging her to dispute his argument. “The best we can do from here on is find out what behemoth grows these crystals and expand the heck out of them.”

“Imagine how much of a game changer it would be if anyone could manipulate crystals regardless of their innate resistance.” Emilia smiled. “I believe we have something big here. Perhaps this particular behemoth grows only in a very specific terrain and is nowhere else in the world. Now imagine if we managed to expand this tree and get a large supply of red crystal. It would change everything! This is why I’m breaking protocol and asking you where you found it. Let’s work on this together!

Rosario felt dizzy, but it wasn’t a headache this time. Emilia was right, this could be a turning point for mankind. It felt surreal, yet she wished with all her strength for it to be true. She looked at her apprentices and the smiths, saw the expectation and nervousness in their faces, and couldn’t stop herself from laughing.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Of course, I’ll tell you where we found it. Do you seriously think I care that much about formalities?” She raised her hands, not finding the words she wanted. “You have no idea how I want this to be true!” She could see the relief in the others, yet her thoughts went back to the ravine, the forest behind it, and the monsters about to hatch from their cocoons. What a mess. “But it’s going to be more complicated than you think.” She didn’t know where to start. “Maybe we should sit down.”

*****