Act 1 - Voyage

2072.

If the sun is falling should I chase it?

Don't know what I am guarding, yet I can see.

The sky is full of words you gifted me.

Stay awake inside this ancient dream.

Ignore enough warning signs and you will fuck around and find out.

They saw it, everyone saw it. But inaction is still taking a side and unsurprisingly everything gets fucked up in the end. You know very little of the world before this smoggy hell that eclipses the very air you 'breathe', born too late to appreciate earth.

Apparently born just in time to explore space.

There's a few universal truths that you've had to accept recently. That capitalism will kill you all, that greed is ultimately the driving force to extinction… And that you are ultimately just a vessel for the rich and powerful even no matter how hard you try.

Alas, spaceships right? There's less bread & circuses these days, turns out even they have their limits. You are getting sidetracked, need to join the masses of people sent as a last resort to undo a fuck up. It's cheaper to send people to find their own planets or perhaps they are just too desperate to do anything else.

You are one of those people going to space, it's infinitely better than this planet so you took it. The money doesn't mean much to you, given if you get the opportunity you'll outcast the fuckers where they stand. But your relatives still need to buy respirators and stuff while they stay here.

That's a pretty good personal motivation right? Stop further suffering on those you haven't lost to the smoke yet. It drives you forward, you shouldn't stay outside the ship much longer with your respirator shattered and ill-functioning. You take in one last glance of the depressingly smoggy atmosphere, throw your belongings over your shoulder and hit the button to open the vessel door. It's a pretty nice design, a ship that can split into two equally liveable spaces. Driveable apartments! Definitely worth the trillions not used on saving earth.

You didn't have much to bring unfortunately– memories require colour to be worth making, the entire world is grey. Everything positive you know is vicarious, from a time before. And now here you are, able to look through the glass before venturing on your own journey.

There's something poetic in that. Leave the greyscale hellscape for a colder, vibrant one.

Pretty profound all things considered.

"Heya." Someone greets you, catches you off guard for a second before you readjust. "Welcome aboard, final guy. I'm legally obligated to give you a tour. Come along."

"Thanks?"

"Don't even worry about it, it's ventricle.” She turns around, you follow suit. It's a pretty nice space, black exterior and all. Full of essentials to live like a depressed university student. "So here's our microwave, our kettle, our food forge. You know all the stuff by now."

"Exactly what I was expecting."

"I mean don't fix what isn't broken?"

"Yeah, I guess."

She takes you to the other side, it's a spitting image. Everything in the same dystopian grey it was before. "It's the same shit, there's a bathroom on both sides. Own water reserves assuming they don't get damaged. Only use it when absolutely vital."

"Ya."

"Final stop, our stuff! Yours is in the left vessel, if you need anything." You almost forgot that half your stuff got here before you did, practical.

"Thank you." You wave your goodbye and she does the same, all of the people on this ship are all on the right side. Except one, they sat in the driver's seat for that side of the ship. Wearing clothes that entirely obscure their appearance.

And another who's way too young to be here, who's not in either vessel. Sitting in the corridor.

"Kid, it's not safe to sit in the corridor. If the doors close you are trapped." You gently nudge, the kid jumps in surprise. Like nobody's tried to talk to them before.

"It's loud over there." They respond, pointing towards the bustling ship. "I don't like loud…"

"Then join me and that stranger over there in the quiet one, it's going to be calm there." Your attempts to comfort seem to work, they run on ahead. Nestling themselves comfortably on one of the beds nearby, hiding underneath the blanket.

That'll do for now.

You get out of the corridor, there can't be that much time till take off. Maybe you ought to take a quick nap.

Space is vast after all, going to be flying for who knows how long.

Insane how you can just sleep through going past earth's atmosphere, that much should be illegal in some variety. Look around, it's space. Nothing could have ever taught your crew how beautiful this was. There's stuff you can't identify. A remnant of explosive colours way off in the distance. A large black void even further off, killing all the light.

That is beautifully horrifying. The sight moves you for the first time in a while, the grey is gone. Replaced by real colour, real hope and a real potential chance for a future. You've finally got something to look forward to. It's overwhelming, you stay sitting on the bed. Gaze out at the serene landscapes a bit longer.

"Hey, Yena! The guy's awake." That kid again, talking to whoever's in the pilot's seat, assumedly this 'Yena' person.

"Okay?" Her helmet was off this time, her tone didn't seem much interested in you. Her hair was a very pretty shade of pink with black streaks. That symbolism is familiar, you heard about it a few times. A form of activism for finally fixing the climate. Their efforts were futile, but for it to be so well maintained means she cares.

"So can we say hello? I don't wanna do it alone." The kid keeps tugging at Yena's arm.

"Fine." They approach you and that's your cue to stand.

"Hi…" You say suspiciously and awkwardly. "Nice to meet you."

"I'll be the judge of that later, I'm Yena and this little eccentric is Olive."

You tell her your name and offer your hand, she doesn't go for it. But Olive does.

"Cool."

A loud ruckus is heard from the other bay. "At least you aren't as loud as those fuckers. That means you can stay."

"Thanks?"

"Yena you gotta show him the thing!" Olive points towards something on her desk.

"The book? Why are you so fascinated by that?"

"It's cool!"

You step backwards.

"I don't think he cares kiddo. Anyways, I'm going to make some space tea if you want some." She offers and you nod, she doesn't go far. Just by the counters, pulls out some of the water from underneath. Boils the kettle with a flick of a switch and then pours it into three mugs.

"Hot chocolate for you." Yena hands it gingerly to Olive first, "Tea for us. Ships on autopilot, don't worry."

"I wasn't worried."

"Exactly! You get it."

"Ow! It's hot." Olive yelps.

"Aren't you seven years old? How do you not know kettles are hot?" Yena sighs.

"Eight actually!"

"Close enough."

You three chat about nothing in particular for a while.

Yena goes off to do piloty things, Olive's still bugging you, asking for tales of the world before it went wrong. You don't share much, can't– all of those tales are older than you are. Plus it's heartbreaking, a kid with this much spirit should be able to keep it.

Though, they are here alone, why you aren't entirely sure.

Time passes, how much is hard to know. Space looks very similar no matter how much you move, it's an endless expanse. No words to articulate what you say. There's something to appreciate in th–

"What the fuck! Why is he not turning!?" You hear Yena shout, looking out of her window there's a belt of asteroids in front of you.She's trying to turn but the vessel isn't moving. She turns to you, "Olive will stay here with me, you go tell them to fucking turn!"

You dart up, Olive looks at you with concern as you dash. Before you can make it across an asteroid smashes through the corridor, exploding the two things linking the ships together. Suction from something starts to pull you outwards, desperately grabbing onto the side of the door.

"Fuck!"

"I'm coming, hold on!" Yena sprints towards you, boxes of your supplies are flying out, hitting you in the face. Threatening to loosen your grip and throw you into outer space.

Yena reaches you, grabbing onto your spare hand and tugging with all her might– throwing you onto the floor and slamming the button down in one swoop. "Fucking hell."

"Shit." The reality sets in, stuff survived but so much of it is now lingering outside as pretty collectibles.

"Are we okay?" Olive's timid and meek.

"I think we should be–"

An alarm blares out, then another crash. "That's the fucking engine failure alarm! Shit shit shit shit shit shit!" Yena jumps to action. "We have to land! Now!"

"Where the fuck are we going to land?!"

"Down!"

"Olive, hold onto something!" You shout. You're falling into orbit, it's getting faster and you can see the burning of the air around you.

"Look out!" You hear Olive say before a box domes you in the face, knocking you out cold.

The world comes back into frame. It's cold, so frigid. You can feel your limbs burning, there's holes in your clothes. You spot them, Yena's flipped upside down. Unconscious with blood on her arm, Olive fell onto the bed, also unconscious.

Just you.

All three of you are going to die if you don't do something.

You pry yourself out of the wreck that's scratched out of your clothes, pulling the metal frame just enough to fall out. Tumbling onto your feet, warmth. You need warmth. Snow's falling on your skin, on everything. It threatens to blanket everything.

An axe was embedded into the metal of the ship, next to the sparking exposed wire of the button panel. That's your ticket. You make haste, grabbing onto the pick handle. It's jammed– doesn't budge. You kick into the wall, putting all of your strength into forcing it out.

One.

Two.

Three.

A particularly strong push and you tumble over, axe in hand. Time is not of the essence, you look at them. The snow is starting to bury them alive. You charge outside. More snow, pillars of something you were really hoping was flammable. Thank the tales of old.

The tears in your eyes were freezing up as you slammed the axe into the brittle wood. It takes a few strikes, your own body exhausting all its heat as energy. Slowly chipping away at it until it was reduced into carriable chunks.

Hail started to rain down, striking you on the head. This will not be how you die. Piece by piece is thrown into the ship, doing your best to ignore the barrage raining down upon your raw skin. Finally you get back inside, shit. It needs to be lit now.

Yena smokes. She has a lighter. You approach her, swiping the snow off of her skin, she's so pale. You rummage through her pockets, desperately searching for it. There it was, not much fluid left but that's all you get to work with.

"Come on! Come on!"

Click click

"Work, please!"

Click click click

"Now!"

Click click click click click

A fire erupts from the lighter, but it's no use. The wood isn't catching light, is it even wood at all? You make a desperate plea. Swiping at the snow to look for anything, right when you are about to give up hope you find a shirt that belongs to you.

You throw it on the wood, pressing Yena's lighter against it. And then, a spark. Burning, the clothing starts to disintegrate with an acrid smell– it's not a roaring flame, but a flame none the less.

No time to rest though, you pick yourself up. Lifting Yena and putting her by the fire, gently lifting Olive into your arms and putting them right beside her. The warmth is barely enough, but it'll do. Life starts to return to their skin as your body shuts down and passes out.

Eugh, what the fuck?

Your wake up is anything but pleasant, every inch of your body feels like it's getting burnt alive. Swelteringly hot with sweat clinging onto your skin, revolting. Both of them are still unconscious, but they look much better.

There's no way you are sticking to this outfit, the snow is melted and all of the sludge has evaporated. ruined clothes, tools. And now you can truly see the wreckage, the ship is fucked. Glass is broken, metal is scratched and damaged. Looks like this is your new homelife, because how the fuck do you get this back together…

You are sweating a factory right now, checking the boxes. Most of them scattered on the ground, but after some rummaging you found an outfit that is yours. Swapping into it quickly, it's shorts. You packed for every climate and how lucky you are now.

It's too hot for the campfire, you smother it. Looking upwards at the sky and the giant angry heat ball that are the same shade as each other.

"At least we are alive." You mutter to yourself, the next course of action requires all three of you to be present. So until they wake up.

Might as well chop wood. Just in case, frozen wasteland into solar hell doesn't scream 'one off occasion'

That's what you do until you hear a very loud whine from inside, Olive's awake and so is she. They've both changed into something slightly more wind-allowing. "Oh, I thought you didn't make it." Yena didn't seem particularly cheery, the news was about to get a whole lot worse for her.

"Yay! No deaths." Olive is being what you will affectionately call 'being Olive', they seem fine. Yena's arm still has blood on it, dried and craggy. Whatever wound has closed itself up.

"Good to see you awake."

"I'm assuming you built this campfire?" Yena shrugs, "How did you learn that?"

"Closely guarded secret." Your family taught you a few 'essentials', not in today's day & age but for preserving the culture just in case. Turns out they were right.

"Okay…"

She grabbed her tablet out of the now extremely destroyed pilot's seat. "This is quite the damage, fixable though." How she sounds so calm you have no idea.

"Really!?" Olive jumps up, "Can we fix it?"

"Law 1 of being a Technocrat states if there's metal anything's repairable." She's speaking like you have any clue what she's on about, Olive nods but you don't believe they know what's happening either. "Though the shower being broken is quite agitating for this weather."

"Oh don't worry, it becomes a frozen wasteland at night."

"Fun."

"I thought so."

"Oh no!"

Yena stretches, before vowing "We need a plan though, no fucking chance did we get sent into space just to die this early on this hellhole." She had enough conviction that was nearly motivating, if you ignore the sweaty hell that was threatening to consume you whole.

"What do you suggest?"

Turns out Yena can be quite the concise tactician. Go out, look for anything metallic. Repair things and slowly get this ship off the ground. It sounds like a pipedream but one you will happily take going after. It's the next morning now. The frozen storm was no more pleasant than it was the first night. But at least you three are alive.

You two were going to go out, wanting to get a lay of the land before bringing Olive along. "You'll be alright here, you've got stuff to toy around with." For all sanity, Olive's stuff was on this side and perfectly untouched.

"Yep!"

That reminds you. "Hold on a second Yena, need to grab something." You rush over to your box, feeling a sense of anxiety and giddiness. This was packed just to preserve the family heirloom. To actually use it, wow. It's absolutely incredible.

Your bow, in all its blue and modular glory. It's seen a variety of different styles, from a hunting bow to a style bow to this. Powered by mechanisms and more tech than technique. It's killed from boars to robots, probably people as well.

And now, it's yours.

It fits your hand like a glove and the quiver sits on your back like it's tailor-made. You practice drawing it once or twice to refamiliarise yourself. And it feels just like you remember, here's hoping you still remember how to shoot anything.

"That looks so cool!" Olive jumps up and down in excitement, touching the frame.

"Yeah, my family gave it to me. Shall we get going, Yena?"

"Need to before night comes."

"See you soon Olive."

"Bye!"

You and Yena head out, jumping out of your ruined ship. It's pretty drab, the trees are very orange and the leaves even more so. Apart from that, just more trees. Some rocks, a few mountains off in the distance. The landscape is quite boring– but there's so much beauty to be seen here. The lack of smoke, oh the lack of smoke. Like space, you are liberated from the smog. Able to see past the impurity.

It's untouched from humanity.

Yena doesn't say anything, kicking her feet against the burning hot dirt. Eyes pointed downwards into the ground. It's been an overwhelming time, so she's left alone. Just enjoying the time of being able to breathe without a respirator, seeing people dying on the street.

How you wish your friends who didn't make it could see this sun, to feel this freshness. Sadly they will never see this, they are beneath tarmac. Crushed beneath all of life and its troubles.

"What the fuck is that…?" Yena called out, staring ominously at the most disgustingly grotesque abomination she laid her eyes on. It's pale skinned, arms split out from its spine. Has the teeth of a British man and smells like one too, being far enough away to social distance yet still the odor remains.

"That's fucking atrocious." It's crawling around on four legs, there's an animal. It's wooly and quaint. A small fluff ball that's approaching the monster. You weren't expecting to see nature run its course so quickly, the abomination leaped forward. Turning itself forwards so its arms could grab it, ripping open its guts as red bloomed outwards. Spine opening up to consume its flesh.

"Ew…."

"Thank god Olive stayed home."

You pull out your bow, grabbing a silver tipped arrow from the quiver on your back just in case. Yena's breath hitched, she's tense. Hiding behind a nearby tree. Her axe in hand. The same one that saved everyone's life earlier.

"Can you take that shot?"

Here's hoping. Tightening your grasp on the grip, setting up your stance and taking a deep breath. You shoot. The arrow rips through the air and hits the ground next to the creature. Shit.

It shrieks, snapping its neck to face you. Flipping itself upside down as it flies through the air. Maul first, its arms reach out and push you to the ground. Able to see into its mouth directly.

"Get off him!" Yena's axe saves you from becoming a meal, piercing the flesh and dragging it off you. The terrifying fucker shows no signs of stopping yet though, lunging at Yena. She's keeping it at bay with the tip of her weapon.

A quick scramble and you get your bow, drawing. This time it can't miss, you won't miss.

You fire.

The arrow pierces the skull of the creature, stunning it onto the ground. Yena takes no chances, slamming her axe into it. Again, again and one more time for good measure. Pink blood spews onto the floor. "Fucking hell."

"Nice to see this planet isn't friendly." You wit, she punches you in the shoulder.

"Of course it isn't, that'd be one fucking victory! We can't have that!" She snaps, caving in the skull with her foot. "No happiness allowed here!"

You try to reach your hand out, she slaps it away. "I don't want your comfort! Let's keep going for a bit. Maybe we'll find some metal."

And so you go, thinking about how this life, no matter how hostile, no matter how finite this is, it’s forever more appealing than what you've seen for most of your life. It pushes you– despite the sweat, despite the pain, despite the high chance of death. The fact that the crash didn't take you out is enough to keep fighting.

Keep going, nothing. Turning back when instinct made you both feel like there was a chance you'd be stuck in frozen weather in shorts.

The lack of a shower was quickly becoming a problem.

Perhaps it's the most trivial option to repair first, but Yena (and Olive didn't seem too fussed either way) was hellbent on getting it repaired. You agreed, doing your best over the next few cycles of hot & cold. Learning a little bit of the surroundings, running into more of those things and a few other specimens. Who knew bears would be on other planets?

Reminds Yena of her stuffed bear her mother got her. Some 'Djungelskog', sounds cute. You three don't fuck with things that don't fuck with you, so when you found some metal in a nearby wall that you just missed you were elated. Yena worked some 'technocratic magic' (her words, you don't grasp how she does it.) and the shower was repaired. Giving you the ability to at least enjoy yourselves a bit.

Now there were important tasks, y'know nothing major– just repairing a ship. Siphoning water out the ground happened with the shower so that's fine, food you estimate a few more months.

Just repair the ship.

Easier said than done.

"Isn't it funny?" You cut through the still air, Yena laying down on a haphazard pile of pillows next to the sole warmth. She turns up to face you. "We were somehow the only three on that side of the ship. What the actual fuck could they have been doing?"

Yena's brow raises. "Language, be a role model."

"It's okay I've heard it all before." Olive says meekly.

"Not the point, you are right Yena."

"Oh maybe they were playing Monopoly!" Olive chimes, already swapping.

You chuckle, sitting by the warmth. Maybe it was time to get some of your stuff out, most of it looks untouched. As if the weight of the world crushing did nothing to them. "If only we weren't so socially awkward, also how do you know what monopoly is?"

"Uhm…"

You interject. "Do we even know what happened to them?"

"No, but they didn't have an asteroid strike their engine so…" She huffs. "eugh."

"If we ever get up and running we should find them, maybe kick the driver in the dick."

"I said language! Though it's been on the bucket list since."

Another glance at your box, not now. If it started to snow it'd ruin everything, those memories are all you have now. All you've ever truly had.

"I've got an idea." Yena starts, "I've been holding until we fixed the roof but– I would like to reminisce."

"Yay!"

She moves, grabbing something out of her box. A speaker? It's small but knowing her tech affinity it's going to be louder than a concert. Another item, something unrecognisable. A screen but not a phone. Hm.

"Music, gosh– I remember performing this. Yeah, I miss it." You sit silently as she syncs them together with a small cord. Letting a sharp intake of static violate your ears. "Sorry."

"Music!? Yay!"

She presses play.

Somebody like yourself, true and kind

would never understand this aching heart of mine

Cursing other people yes is what I do best, and so I

Write songs to pass the time

"You wrote this?" You ask, the melody is incredible. The sound of raw instruments and rawer vocals, this was performed who knows where. All of the passion, it's touching.

"Yep." She's blunt, listening to the music more than you.

The birds cry out their song in the sunset

This empty ache I feel starts to sing a swan song too

And yet you linger still in the shadows

Standing on your toes, sky a flaming red hue

"Hey, it came true in the end. The sky bit– I was always hoping to see a day where I could see the sun in its raging glory. How my mother saw it." Yena's hand tightens, gripping the device so hard the music dampens for a second.

"That's touching, at least we finally saw it." Your heart feels warm, Olive's jumping up and down, dancing around in circles. They might not get the meaning, that's fine. The harshness of life would be better lost on them anyways.

"We did, at the cost of nearly dying a few times."

"Smog was killing us anyway."

Hear the crash of glass bottles striking lamps

The blaring noise a guitar makes as it’s being slammed

These regrets with no way to make amends

You pause. "Do I want to ask?"

"Let's just say I made my choices and they made theirs."

The song starts to pick up, nobody says a word. Yena is entrenched in her past, you are peering inside. Olive is dancing still, for the first time since you've crashed.

You feel like you know the people you have fallen into hell with.

Progress comes quick when it's life or death. At least in the form of fixing a roof, it took several days of searching. Fighting and hunting, looking around for deposits of metal. Yena was a dedicated woman, willing to brave the unknown and force you right alongside.

And after some time, a lot of hard work. Cold nights and hot days, you could at least call your shelter enough. Less fear of getting jumped at night, at the snow overwhelming and collapsing you during the night, it's not perfect. But it's better.

That's what's important.

One step closer to the big goal.

Then came heat regulation, which was done right after. Otherwise there'd be no heat without killing yourselves with carbon monoxide poisoning, which didn't seem wise or fun. So now you have a ship that can't fly, but it's comfy.

Yena and you are lounging around, finally able to wear whatever clothes you like– typically whatever you were wearing post-expedition. Olive spends a decent bit of their free time outside, as long as they hold a knife you leave them to it.

Finally, it was beginning to feel a lot like home around here.

An instrumental of Yena's was filling the space, bandmate's stuff apparently. She never got time to perform the vocals, too busy with other things. The regret's obvious, so you change the subject.

"So, were you ever told much about what Earth was like? Before it got absolutely enveloped?" You break the ice, it's a conversation you are surprised has taken this long to happen.

"Parents didn't want to get my hopes up, sister did." Yena's fingers tap together absently. "Fogless, full of 'flora and fauna' that was real. Sounds too good to be true, real butterflies? That's so fucking cool."

"Butterflies?"

"Butterflies! And ducks, artificial animals never really hit the same. Wax and metal.." She escapes to her own mind for a moment, envisioning a personal utopia you two could only ever dream of. You get up and grab something out of your box. Safe from the elements, you pull out something you've always held dear.

A drawing of a moth, all it has to sign it is a signature that's written so weirdly you can't decipher it. You hold it out and show it to Yena, she takes in the picture with a surprising amount of intrigue. "Moths were always cooler."

"If only we got to see either…"

"Yeah…"

You can hear Olive whistling outside.

"They always said that 'moths should come running with all this fog' but I never saw any."

"The smog killed most things, even what was supposed to survive. Look at what happened to the fucking bees." There's rage in her words, you two never saw the bees. Such a simple creature that everyone took for granted, until greedy pesticide usage extinguished them all. Then they scrambled to make robot ones. But the damage was dealt.

It's said to be the catalyst.

"If only we were born earlier." You gruntle, kicking the floor in woe.

"If only."

Another night, another voyage. This one had to be done at night, because you wouldn't make it in time for day. It's the furthest expanse you can see from your little base of operations. Olive insisted on coming along. Because of course they only show interest when it's likely the most dangerous one you've done.

Rime coats everyone's jackets as you've gotten close, you must have wished upon a star to have everyone's stuff in your bay and for it to survive. The hats are helpful to not freeze your ass off. This cave wasn't just picked because it was far away. Caves got to have cool stuff, maybe you could make a sword or something awesome. Forging can't be that hard to learn.

And whatever Yena said about 'potentially being strong enough to repair the engine.'

"So that's a dangerous cave, Olive stay behind me okay? You have a knife but you aren't practiced– if need be run." Yena grabs their hand softly, pulling them close.

"Okay!"

Yena has her axe, a back up blade and whatever else she has. You've got your trusty bow (Olive named it Big Shooty, you are not calling it that.) and an axe of your own. Sadly provisions only granted two knives. Here's hoping you don't get jumped.

Oh and you've got a bag with a pickaxe in, that's quite uncomfortably heavy. Why they put the weight of the world on your shoulders you'll never know. "So this is it? The ominous pitch-black cave that we can't see in? Any flashlights?"

Right on cue, Yena turns hers on. "Feels like a basic thing to pack ya'know?"

The cave's still dark, a drop in a puddle doesn't make a pool. She takes the first few steps forward, keeping her wits sharp. You cautiously follow behind, none of those freaks are in your vision.

"Shiny!" Olive shouts, screaming like a kid in a candy store. You snap and look, there's a bunch of tasty multicoloured gems that reflect the shine of Yena's light back at you viciously– singeing your eyes.

"Mine some for them will ya?" You can't really refuse a kid and their biological desire to collect shiny objects. Dropping the bag off you and whipping out the pickaxe. You've obviously never used this, but cavemen apparently broke rocks all the time. So you do what seems right, smashing it into the base of the pretty gem. It cracks and falls off with a bit more 'motivation'.

"Here."

"Thank you!"

Yena keeps walking, then suddenly she's sliding. A trail of dust whipping up behind her. Olive getting pulled down with her. "Woah shit!"

"Language."

"Fuck off! Come down here." You join them in the lower levels.

"Woah it's cold." As if it couldn't find some way to get worse, it feels like you are submerged in ice water while being pelted by snow and hail while also in a block of ice. "What is that?"

"I have no idea Yena."

"It looks cool!"

"Hand the pickaxe, this looks delicate– with how you cack-handed the other one I don't trust you." You hand it over, let her work her magic. The rock? thing glows dimly, the glow intensifying with every gentle whack Yena hits it with. Creating a few openings. "This is definitely Igneous, which I won't question."

It falls into her hand, which falls into your bag. Then you hear something you certainly weren't hoping to hear. A loud wail, piercing through the air. The flashlight points, they are barreling down the exact way you came. "Fuck!"

"Run!"

You darted into the unknown, rushing away. Sprinting upwards a spiraling formation, making sure Olive was in front of you two. Dim moonlight guiding you forward, only one way out. The halcyon weather from earlier was entirely removed. The rain is hammering down, freezing into hail. On the nearby mountains there were loads of them. All barreling towards you.

Olive screamed, the ground beneath them collapsing. They were falling. You rushed immediately, your hand yanking their wrist. "You are okay!"

"The bridge! Get across the bridge!" Yena shouts, running onto the icy surface connecting to a neighbouring mountain. There's too many of them, you'll all be overrun trying to get across. You make a desperate call.

"Olive. Listen, run to Yena and stay close. I'll be right behind you!" They scramble and you draw your bow out, feeling every muscle in your body tighten with fear. But this is not the time, you get on the bridge as well. Walking backwards slowly, there's so many of them.

You shoot arrow after arrow, you miss some. Hit some. There's too much going on. It's harrowing, time is running thin. One of them lunges before you can react, knocking you to the ground. Your bow is out of your hands, sliding off into the pit.

Fuck!

It wrestles with you, trying to eat you. You manage to get the upper hand just before it makes you its meal, throwing it into the same spiky pit. "We're across! Run!"

You throw yourself up, sprinting across. Crack. Crack. Crack. Beasts were falling left and right, it's about to break– fuck fuck fuck! Another one tries to grab you, but the bridge gives way before it can. You start to fall, only narrowly grabbing leverage on a nearby divot. Holding on, you turn to face the storm. There's blood all below you, so many of them pinned down and trapped in the spikes.

"You alright!?"

"Yes!" The ice is cracking under your weight, uh oh.

"I'll come help you! Hold on!"

"No! It'll break underneath both of us even faster than just me. I'll find another way!"

"There's more!"

"Go then! Get Olive safe home!"

"But –"

"I said go!"

They start running, your sight of them is gone. Replaced by a horde. You were starting to slip, it was now or never. You look around for another crevice, there's only one option. You prepare to jump for it. Looking forward, your feet touched the ledge.

Then it cracked, you are falling with no way to be saved.

Falling into the deep.

As the world went dark.