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The Architect's master work was the one responsible for Ethan's suffering, climbing 75 degree slopes just to reach the dedicated safehouse.
Buildings sat horizontal, facing their windows to the sky and ground with nothing to offer besides brief moments of rest and shade. Most furniture in these buildings long deteriorated to scraps of what they used to be or petrified into a concrete-like substance that made up most walls, floors, walkways and pillars, colloquially called petramir.
"How high is the safehouse again, Alexander?" Ethan called out to the reptile below him.
His back dripped in sweat that clung in the humid air, waiting for the next steady breeze to flow through.
"If you're trying to fill the silence, there's literally anything else we can bring up to discuss. We're almost to the halfway point. We can stop once we make it that far." he called above him, as the rear in their ascent.
As the strongest of the trio, he was the team's best rear guard, a safety measure if either of the two above slipped into a plummet.
Ethan wasn't concerned about falling since, using his shape change, chose something much more reliable; a treefrog Trac're. This made searching for a foothold much easier but it didn't help with the heat and humidity as he had hoped.
He assumed that the moisture of the skin or the light frame would help keep him cool in the tropical weather as well. But instead he realized that the truth was, people who lived in humidity had grown accustomed to the conditions. Just like how effortless Alexander was making it look.
The gator had no problem with the heat or the humidity, it felt familial for him in a way, but not the intensity of the direct sun.
Ethan could see the way that the cracks crept across his dense skin, digging in deep, threatening to dig deeper.
Although they took the lead, Feathers was doing the worst of all between the three of them. They were naturally unprepared for every element they faced on this mission. They didn't have Ethan's shifting abilities to better equip themselves any more than climbing gear could provide. Neither did they have Alexander's sheer strength and tenacity to rely on either.
Flying would become a calculated risk, leaving them to dig their talons into the rock with each leap of faith, from one building to the next, scraping into cemented cobblestone, and scrambling for the next closest ledge. The lower two knew that Feathers would not be able to keep up with this climb for very long if they didn't find a solution quickly.
"I can see a large building up ahead, it looks like a library. We would just have to get past this square and we can use the statues from the water fountain when we pass to make it easier." Ethan called out.
Up ahead, the road they climbed widened out into a city square. Booths and stalls appeared to have long deteriorated into crumbling petramir on the cusp of collapse if they had not fallen already. Light poles were completely gone, leaving behind only the stumps and bases that they used to hold on to.
In the center loomed a large crumbling water fountain almost completely frosted over in petramir, covering the remnants of the brass that it once was. Statues of waves frozen in time, rode by varying creatures like sharp finned doals, twilight fish, and surlettes surrounded by pearls and other plant life stretched out like spreading branches of an aquatic tree of art.
The fountain was taller than it was wide which meant that a lot of weight had been putting tension on its anchor. It appeared sturdy enough to hold at least one person at a time, which was a good sign. Feathers would have no trouble with climbing up at all and Ethan could still hold on to the sheer face if he needed to.
Reaching the fountain was slow and tortuous. Feather's talons scraped while Ethan pushed from behind each time they began to slip until they could reach the pool of the fountain.
Before continuing, Feathers took a momentary break to catch their breath, inspecting the fountain suspiciously from each angle before grabbing it at the base.
The caution of the structure's sturdiness was not unfound, making sure that their delicate hands grabbed only where some metal remained, posing as the safest option.
They were slow to traverse across, gentle with each leverage, like a feline wrapped in the night's darkness, burning against the light of day, before they slipped into the wide entrance of the building above, embraced by the shadows within.
Ethan made no problem climbing and catching up, forgetting about his own fatigue at the chance to get some rest.
Darting up the relic, he finally made it, a spot where they could rest and with a deep sigh, leaned back against collapsed furniture that cluttered against the walls of the entrance and its frothed windows.
Feathers had climbed higher, taking their chances away from the crumbling furniture, where more could tumble down to if this was finally their moment.
They used the sides of the bookshelves like a ladder, climbing higher, with more ease of a better grip, and without the weight of Decyra's persisting sun, glaring down on their back and faces.
They reached a thick marble pillar, sturdy without any sign of corrosion as their spot to rest, laying down against the cool to relieve their aching claws and muscles.
Below, Alexander begrudgingly followed the path of the two before him. Grabbing the base of the first light pole, the rim of the fountain's pool, and then came the statue itself. He narrowed his eyes at the delicate craftsmanship and the amount of deterioration that left its mark on the piece.
While Feathers and Ethan had made their way up the statue just fine, there was not a chance the reptile could be convinced to climb the very same way.
Instead of climbing the fountain, he grabbed the structure by the base, feeling the last trace amounts of metal beneath his hand, he slowly pulled himself up to reach the other end of the pool's ledge.
While reaching, the metal creaked under his palm, mixing with the cracking of the white concrete.
He squeezed, bending the metal back into shape, barely repairing the damage that was done but he knew that already. His reaching hand shot out, lunging for the edge of the pool but not before the entire base of the fountain crumbled. The weight of the statue ripped the tiles away from the gator's grasp and pulled him hurtling towards gravity.
"Alexander!" Ethan screamed, standing from where he had rested. Shifting his form, he looked down in horror, trading amphibious form for Avem.
Another moment couldn't pass before he heard another crash above him.
Above him, feathers had flung themselves from the pillar they laid on, crashing on top of the first protruding bookcase. Even with the distance, Ethan can see how much Feather's muscles shook from exhaustion. He wasn't sure if he would be able to catch Alexander by himself, but he certainly would not be able to stop both Alexander Feather's from falling.
"Stay where you are!" Ethan called up as adrenaline soared. "I'm getting him!"
Grabbing the doorframe, Ethan crouched down and angled his wings for a dive looking for an opportunity, looking for what direction to go. He had looked away for only one moment, one moment and now he couldn't find the reptile amongst the cloud of falling debris.
Ethan gave himself only a few seconds to find him before making a blind dive.
The first second he couldn't see anything but a cloud of petramir remnants, shattering as it fell.
The next he could barely make out pieces of metal glinting as they tumbled.
The third second he still couldn't see him, even with the wind clearing some dust.
There was no more time to waste, Ethan needed to dive now, but he stopped. Along the side of the vertically inclined streets he could see.
Alexander had crashed into the buildings along the streets, taking the massive risk that ultimately stopped his descent. Climbing out and along those building walls, he snaked his way up the side at a considerably rapid pace, hand over fist with lethal focus.
Ethan felt some relief, at first, as his teammate made it back up, pathing along the circumference of the open square, across buildings. Once at the center of the curvature, the gator turned to using the bases of where the light poles had stood, the rim of the sidewalk and up the concrete barriers of either side of the library's staircase.
That relief turned into dread as he could see the approaching rage burn behind the intent of the reptile's narrow eyes.
Moving back away from the entrance of the library, Ethan began pushing back whatever furniture he could move, breaking down fragile pieces for a more condensed pile to make the most optimal amount of space.
One hand was all Alexander needed as he ripped himself through the doorframe and hurdled over the ledge, his eyes darting around the room.
"My friend, I'm so glad to see you made it ok." Ethan patted Alexander on both shoulders, not risking a hug but to ease the wrath.
"And how well did you think that through?" he hissed. Throwing off Ethan's hands, he also climbed through the room to the same place Feathers had found. While still enraged, his anger dissipated as he checked over the bird, assessing their level of exhaustion.
"We are going to rest here. There's plenty of marble so we know this building is sturdy and Feathers needs the break." Alexander stated, harboring no patience for questioning from either of the others.
After that small scare, Ethan can only nod in silence. Even if it would be a short amount of time, he resigned himself to finishing reading through the information from their briefing.