9: IF

Chapter 4

If two weeks ago, you told Cera that she will one day climb a cathedral with a grappling hook just so she could get to the top of the spire, she would ask if you were on serious crack. And yet here she was doing EXACTLY that, and now Cera is starting to wonder if SHE was on serious crack.
"There is no way anyone is going to believe me by the time I'm done here." Cera says to herself. If anything, the whole climb up was not that bad. It was slow, yes, but Cera managed to reach the top while avoiding every window.
Soon, Cera found it easier to climb with her bare hands thanks to the still-sturdy clover-shaped holes on the spire.
Finally, she reaches the weird man?-made structure, supported only by her arms on the wood used for a floor and her feet on the clover holes.
Whatever this place was, it seemed to be a watchtower of some kind. The sextant Cera saw looked like it was modified to be a telescope, a tiny bell, and what looked like a wooden board complete with a clipper.
As Cera grips with the fact that what she saw was not a illusion, she reminds herself why she's even up here in the first place,
"This could be the first of many signs of proof in this place. It's a good thing my camera has a strap." At least, that's what Cera tells herself as she's carefully grabbing her camera wrapped around her neck. In her mind on the other hand, Whatever you do, do NOT lose your balance! playing in her head over and over as Cera takes her pictures of the scene. Before the brunette could take any more however, the rope starts to move.
Realization dawns on her; the spire has holes and is way too steep, whoever is climbing up is going to spot her soon!
Cera needed to get off this spire and fast, so she hangs on to the clover holes and quietly but swiftly climbs down. By the time she reaches the bottom hole, she takes her grappling hook from her pocket and hangs it onto the hole.
Hanging onto the rod for dear life, Cera looses the string attached to the hook and slides down as farthest it could take her. Once it runs out of rope, Cera realizes she's only a few feet away from the rooftop. Determining it safe enough to let go, Cera unleashes the grappling hook....
"Oof!" "Owww..."
.....causing her to land on the roof oh so non-gracefully.
"Nailed it...." Cera groans as she slowly gets back on her feet. Brushing off the dust off her jumper, the young woman observes her surroundings and ponders on what to do next.

I'm going to need more than just the pictures of the spire as evidence. After all, the mission requires that I go inside the building. Just the outside of it won't be enough.

Nodding to herself, Cera decides on her plan: Sneak inside, get evidence, sneak out without a sound. Luckily for her, there's a giant hole in the middle of the roof next to the damaged plane that's stuck on the wall. Walking towards it, Cera peers inside.
For a moment, she sees no one. Hears no one. That's the sign for her to sneak in.
Once again using the grappling hook, Cera slowly descends into the destroyed cathedral. And once again, she misses by a few feet. But this time after she unleashes the rope, Cera makes a much smoother landing.
Oh yeah! A three-point landing on the first try! Celebrating with a quick fist bump into the air and a smile on her face, Cera continues her quest.

To call the inside of the cathedral a mess would be an understatement. In fact, the whole place looked liked the aftermath of a really violent riot. Seats were scattered but intact, dirty choir papers were all over the floor but could still be in good use, and Cera could have sworn she smelled ink everywhere. So far, nothing looked like anything that she could call evidence.
Of course, there is always the upper floors....
*pitter patter*
The sound of tiny feet interrupts Cera's train of thought.
Wait, tiny feet?
Cera listens some more, and very faintly, the sound returns.
*pitter patter*
Where is that coming from? What kind of tiny men live here?
Cera silently moves through the cathedral, her sharp eye looking for detections of movement.

"The source....."

Cera jumps up in fright, her head frantically looking all over for whoever just said that.