Aeris woke as the muted sunlight reached her through the uncovered window. Darker than it should be; the miasma from the Abyss extended in a seemingly harmless column as high to the tops of the atmosphere – as far as anyone could tell in any case. The strange refraction ensured Midgar remained dark until later in the day; electric lights still burned until the sun was well above the rim of the North Crater. Most denizens would continue to sleep until the light reached an acceptable level; when any encroaching Abyss-fauna had fled from the natural sunlight. A curious affliction of the myriad and by no means wholly categorized wildlife of the Abyss; explorers to lower levels noted how the miasma strangely ensured the interior was well-lit in the far depths – and the fauna flourished there. Some form of filtering in the miasma? Possible, but like so much of the Abyss, much remained in doubt.

A few hours remained for her purposes. Aeris dressed and hurried from her house, staff in hand. The actual chances of running across something was negligible – the larger and more dangerous monsters never ventured this high – the smaller specimens were more nuisances than actively dangerous, but it never hurt to be careful. Mechanical clanks sounded out across the city in the stillness; the huge wheels of the lifts were drawing human and relic cargo from far below – the limits of mechanical delving or at the limit of a surface-based retrieval. What would this party bring back? The messages sent back in advance would normally promise much, though revelations about their contents came solely at Shinra's whim. Not that Aeris minded; the jealous guarding of procured treasures from whatever and whoever came before helped drive the need for the black-market that kept her going. A few hours before dawn, via a unofficial route down to the first layer. Worth the nausea of coming back up fast.

Small creatures skittered and darted away as she hurried along the metal streets, her footfalls echoing against the walls. Rats or something other? There were rumours in the city of strange bites and unpleasant encounters in the night. She put them out of her mind and hurried onward. Soon she was on the edge; a platform jutting out over the bowl-like depression of the first Abyss-layer. Relatively safe based on the testimonies of those who had gone deeper. If Shinra could have restricted access to the pit they would have; various industrial and military secrets lay in the depths, held secure against prying eyes thanks to the complexities of exiting the abyss and the inherent dangers. But exploration had gone on too long and it was not as if no humans dwelled within.

Way stations carried Mako up from the depths of the Abyss, its source out of reach in the theoretical lower reaches, past the depth deemed the seventh layer and certain death for anyone there who attempted to reach the open sky again. Rumour insisted SOLDIER training went further than drills on the first layer, that successful applicants descended into the true depths, perched at a specific point somewhere between the fourth and fifth layer. No official document listed the side-effects of attempting to surface from that depth, but there were always rumours. One risked losing humanity and death to ascend from there. Hard to shake the plausibility of the story; SOLDIERs encountered in training on the first layer looked human. Those who went deeper returned with a glowing ring around each pupil.

And perhaps there was one SOLDIER who had descended to depths unknown. Sephiroth, the first SOLDIER, last seen entering the way-point of Nibelheim at the lower edge of the second level. His fate – and the fate of much of the town was little more than a mixture of conjecture and observation. Aeris had seen the fire when it occurred, the flames twisted and altered thanks to the miasma, but there was no mistaking the resulting column of smoke. Nibelheim, gateway to the third layer and major mako hub, burned. A rescue team scrambled down and the first reports back shared without much reservation. The town wiped out, buildings burned and people dead. A few people remained unaccounted for but no one of importance. Whether lost to an opportunistic predator or simply missed in the clean-up was never clear. Many wondered if they had gone deeper. Sephiroth's body was not among the recovered.

The full story when the team reached the surface and recovered from the ordeal was little different to the initial reports. The cause of the fire, Sephiroth's absence and the missing bodies remained unexplained. The loss of the town's denizens who had the best working knowledge of descent opportunities from layer two provoked a change of focus to the still standing – if less conveniently positioned – Gongaga. The new destination for all those intent on heading into the deep. The shift below ground changed many of the support mechanisms and infrastructure on the surface. In turn meant what had once been a workable and useful station to descend into the Abyss scavenged for scrap and abandoned. Perfect for her.

Aeris paused to glance around in the growing light. No one in sight. Or at least no one capable of causing much of an issue. Rope secured on an anchor point and Aeris rushed through the air, plunging into the miasma and the first layer of the abyss. Nothing to feel at this stage. The light sharpened and brightened as she dropped, mossy cliffs rushing past. She slowed her descent and let go of the rope to step into a grassy plain, dotted with white flowers.

First layer; side-effects included nausea with flu-like symptoms in extreme cases. So far Aeris avoided anything so bad. Going back up was going to be a pain all the same. Something to worry about later. Lumps in the grass were her best bet as starting points; somewhere a Cetra relic might lie. History was unclear on the nature of the Cetra or why so many artefacts seemingly of their creation lay here and in the deeper Abyss. Some rumours claimed the race were immune to the effects of ascending, but other than their presence at all recorded depths (or at least those any explorer or a surviving message had returned from), few knew anything about them. The artefacts left in their wake ranged from curious trinkets to strange devices of unknown use. Shinra would spirit away everything they could; certain common and harmless items for sale later or used as the basis for some new emerging technology. How much of Shinra's advances were nothing more than re-purposed Cetra artefacts?

She scrambled over the grass, reaching in between flowers. A few times she disturbed nests and darted away to safe-distances to avoid swarms of biting insects. There were always more sections of ground, always more relics. Could Shinra ever expend this layer? Would the upper-part of the abyss one day be devoid of anything to scavenge? Perhaps. And would it be soon? The vast circumference of the North Crater seemed to mock the notion of ever expending this resource, but- Nothing was infinite.

Aeris had about another hour go when something moved in the middle-distance. She held still. A pale – too pale – girl, about her age perhaps was making her own way through the grass. She paused at intervals to pick another white flower to add to the pile she carried in her arms. She was not dressed for the abyss; tank-top and shorts, no shoes. No protection from potential monsters and with no way to carry a substantial relic find back. Was she a competitor? From Midgar or another operative snuck into the Abyss after evading Shinra's guards? The girl had not seemingly noticed her and continued to wander towards the centre, across the massive plain of the first layer ring. If she carried she would reach the cliffs above the second layer.

Aeris followed, curious and a little concerned. If the girl noticed her she gave no sign, stopping only to pluck more flowers and continued onward. Aeris blinked. The girl seemed less pale now. Odd. A trick of the miasma or-? No. No, her hand had a significantly pinker hue now, the smile the girl wore more genuine, less strained. She moved faster, energy and anticipation seeming to animate her steps. Before she had been beautiful but unearthly; an angel detached from humanity. Now she was more human, more real, muscle tone seeming to develop spontaneously in her arms. The lustre of her hair seemed to shift; now it was glossier and less tangled. The abyss suited the girl; a strange inversion of most explorers.

The conclusion was obvious. This girl was a denizen of a lower-level, somehow all the way up here. Poor thing. Those born in the abyss tended to stay there; they experienced the same trauma of ascent as everyone else, but it was so much worse for them and life up in Midgar tended to be uncomfortable. Unsurprising the girl would come here to recapture something like the normalcy of her previous life. But what of the flowers? Not enough sleep it seemed; the answer should be obvious. A funeral rite. The girl was mourning or honouring someone of note to her. Aeris carried on, not wanting to interrupt the girl's pilgrimage, but also curious now.

It seemed like the girl was going to continue over into the second layer; deeper than Aeris would go. But to her relief the girl stopped at the cliff edge, held the flowers out. She let them tumble into space. The miasma caught the falling flowers immediately, altering the movement; some plummeted faster, others seemed caught in an up-draft. The girl said something, the accent and words unfamiliar. The flowers still tumbled in the air, gradually sinking below the cliff edge on their way to the depths.

A quiet sound of shock dragged Aeris's attention back from the falling flowers. The girl had noticed her. Pretty red eyes, gorgeous lips; more wary than anything else. Aeris hefted her bag, smiled and ventured down to meet someone new.