Party For One

By Josh Vieira and Justin Vescera

 “The sky holds the secrets of a time long past. In that past lie the foundations of man. If one were to stare long enough into that oppressive void, their ego would be crushed under the propensity of pondering their insignificance, or propelled to the purest forms of harmony with all other things; dancing with the forms of Plato, and shunning the shadows relegated to the woefully ignorant. For the former, merely rising from their bed to share in the common existence on this rock is a testament to their natural drives for survival. For the latter, sleep is only an archaic mechanism shunned, yet woefully required, for every waking moment is more unbelievable than the dream itself.” 

Rasan leaned back in his swivel chair and regarded the words gleaming on the screen. Nodding his head in satisfaction, he got up from his chair and climbed into bed. A holdover from natural selection, he thought. Every day we just close our eyes and live in another place for eight hours. 

Rasan could feel heat on his eyes. Morning. He looked around his room, a small space, only enough room for a fridge, a desk and a bed. Light was streaming in from the window on the other side of the room. He got dressed in regular clothes, a billowy linen button down shirt and khakis. The door to his room rattled in its hinges. It must be windy out there. Sand slipped under the corners of the door and accumulated at his feet. Such is my life.  Nightmares of sandy pizza entered his thoughts and just as quickly left. He glanced at his watch, cursing at his misfortune. He was late. 

It always surprised him just how perfect this world is, all things considered. The canyon walls below beckoned him as he drove his buggy down the barren road. He couldn't see the floor of it, and only pragmatism stayed his hand from pulling down, turning the wheel and causing his vehicle to lurch violently to the left, sending him and this metal cage careening into the abyss. The Sun hung low in the west, his buggy casting a morbid shadow that disappeared into the Awazac Desert to his right. As he made his way up and over a hill, he could make out a white building that seemed to rise out of the sand several miles in front of him. The building was the tallest structure, man-made or otherwise, within a 400 mile radius.

Several minutes had passed since he parked in the lot and entered the building, past two guards dressed in combat gear that patted him down and authorized his passage. A winding and labyrinthine series of hallways, each dressed with garish tapestries, ostensibly lead him to the one ‘elevator’ throughout the whole of the compound. “You are one sly fuck, Jakeet. It’s a wonder that I even found this thing.” A gigantic golden Buddha stood before Rasan. He stepped forward and poked the belly of the statue. The floor beneath him raised him up to the uppermost region of the building, in a cylinder with only enough room for himself. “Ooph, I’ll never get used to that”, he proclaimed, while stretching. He then glanced upwards, expecting to see the familiar face of Jakeet, his benefactor. But he was nowhere to be seen. Must be taking a shit, I guess, thought Rasan.

Rasan’s eyes danced about the room. A multi-panelled, fifty foot glass pane comprised the northern wall, which gave way to a wondrous view of the Awazac Desert. Precious trinkets and baubles were scattered about the shelving on the southern wall, each one housing the vignette of adventures since passed. Within the very center of the circular room, as if placed there to command its own title, sat a marvelously sculpted mahogany desk. Adorning this desk were Jakeet’s two favorite Bokemon, Darizard and Smashtoise. Rasan chuckled to himself and plodded over to the desk, picking up the hefty figurines. He yelled out so that Jakeet, whom he had presumed to be cemented to the toilet, could hear him - “What the fuck, man, these things are heavy, how much did you pay for these paperweights!?” 

Somewhere in the background, a toilet flushed, and the bathroom door was immediately thrown open.

“How many times am I going to have to tell you that those are to be kept in MINT condition, wash your hands before you touch my stuff, I don't need your greasy palms besmirching my prized possessions!”, yelped Jakeet.

“You were so worried about these little guys that you didn’t even wipe your ass”, Rasan snickered.

“Oh, right...just a minute!” Jakeet hurriedly waddled his way back to the bathroom, trousers at his ankles.

Rasan seated himself behind Jakeet’s desk, caressing his bum with the soft leather of the presumably hand-crafted chair which coupled itself with the desk. Jakeet emerged from the bathroom once more, this time with his pants settled at his waist. As the door opened Rasan could glimpse what seemed to be a golden throne.

Jakeet was rather tall. His faced sheltered a strong jaw line, and long brown hair fell just before his broad shoulders. He wore an expertly tailored black suit, complemented by the latest in men’s footwear. A scar rose from the base of his collarbone, to his adam’s apple, denoting the differentiation between his flamboyant exterior, and the hardships that we must grapple with at times. Rasan wondered if there were perhaps other scars hidden underneath Jakeet's suit.

“So, shall we order in, or go for the usual, my friend?”, said Jakeet, as his lips curled into a whimsical smile.

“Out of context that seems awfully seductive,” Rasan quipped as Jakeet shooed him out of the lavish chair.

Jakeet's whimsical smile turned into a lewd one. “As much as I wish that to be the case we have pressing matters to attend to...namely...” Jakeet's gaze lowered. Rasan suddenly felt self conscious. Then he remembered. He reached into his pocket and brought out his Exaphone, it was jet black, with rounded edges and a 5.9 inch screen. He handed it over to Jakeet, eyes wide in anticipation. He snatched it out of Rasan's hand and started fiddling with it. Rather bored, Rasan walked past Jakeet, and stopped at the north side of the room and gazed at the wide expanse that is the Awazac desert. Out of the corner of the window he could see the lip of the canyon wall, to the west. From this vantage point the horizon must be 35 miles away, maybe 40.

“So my friend, will it be something spicy or something tangy, maybe something saucy?”

Rasan turned his head to regard Jakeet. He had to be careful here, it wasn't often he was given the choice, best not waste it. He fumbled with his words, muttering “something saucy.”

“Saucy it is!” Jakeet gleefully tapped his forefinger on a red circle in the center of the Exaphone screen. The other two circles, one blue and one yellow, faded away. “While we wait Rasan, I have to ask, why do you still live in that run down shack you call a home? You could live here, in my lavish abode!” Jakeet was facing Rasan and the northern wall, his legs straddling the back of his chair, arms wide.

Rasan shrugged, “I like it, it's quiet, albeit dusty, and it gives me distance from certain individuals. Plus it's integral to my work.”

“Yes, work,” Jakeet tapped his lips, “you were late this morning, what's that about?”

“I was working on my report regarding Xantus Ridge geology and related systems.”

“Well, ever since that solar flare yesterday, all of our communications have been shaky at best. Whatever it is about, that ridge sheltered you from the worst of it, and somehow your Exaphone can still contact Keith and his crew. We're not the only business venture here you know, there's a lot of crazy fucks out there”, Jakeet nodded towards the vast desert, “I can't afford any one of my crew working at anything less than 100%. Hey! Are you listening to me?!”

Rasan opened his eyes and yawned, it was so hard to take Jakeet seriously. He knew all his talk about bottom lines and dire consequences was just a veneer. His job was never in any danger. Jakeet liked him too much. Still, while his job was safe, it made sense to stay on his good side. “Anyway, how the fuck in this day and age can your communications be knocked out so easily?”

“Our communications, and that is precisely why being late is an issue, we need to be ready for anything. Tyr and his group have been hounding us for weeks. Thankfully we haven't been hassled near the dig site as of late, but I can't let my guard down. As such, I have no hands to spare, so I'm taking you off research for a bit until communications are restored. You are now on maintenance.”

Rasan sighed, “just give me another day to finish my report,” but Jakeet was already shaking his head.

“You're going to be working with a woman, so I don't expect any fooling around from you. Still, she's crafty, whatever you do, don't let her get the better of you,” Jakeet eyed Rasan, a look of concern on his face.

Rasan suppressed a groan, here we go again. It was in his best interest to play along. “Of course not, pfft, you know which team I'm on.” He gave Jakeet a knowing look.

Jakeet seemed pleased with that, and smiled as the smell of food came wafting into the room. “You said saucy right?”

Rasan didn't feel like staying in the room for any longer, but when he saw what was in store for him, his eagerness to leave evaporated. Nothing in his house ever compared to what Jakeet could acquire. Being Jakeet's favorite does have it's advantages!

Rasan stumbled out of the transport pad at the bottom of the tower, satisfied and violated. Brushing off Jakeet's advances was tiresome work, but eventually he knew that Jakeet would come to find a more willing participant, should he not play along. In order to maintain his place within Jakeet’s inner circle, he would have to remain playful in his tease.

Rasan strolled down the corridor, tentatively twirling through the maze-like infrastructure, towards the grand foyer. Jakeet had informed him of his new partner’s arrival. They were to meet immediately. Maintenance, eh…and with some behemoth of a woman no less. Ah, well...I’ll just have to make do; some stress free busy work is probably a god-send at this point.

An exotic voice beckoned, “Holy shit, I can see why you’re his favorite; he always did like em young….and ripe.” Rasan was plucked from his maelstrom of thought. He squinted, and shook his head. Before him stood a woman of small stature, yet her posture and bravado could fill the whole of the room. Dark brown hair complimented the woman’s high cheek-bones and olive skin. Tantalizingly tight clothing hugged her body, but muddied boots gave insight into her assumed profession. Rasan couldn’t deter his eyes from wandering about the curves of her exquisite form. Likewise, her deep blue eyes surveyed him, inquiring about what was to be discovered beneath the ruffles of his collared shirt. As his bewilderment subsided, Rasan motioned for her hand, and as their flesh touched, a waft of her intoxicating aroma fell over him. This might be more fun than previously expected.

“I’m not so ripe, as to be eaten immediately”, Rasan quipped. “And what exactly is your name?”, asked Rasan, eyes locked, attempting to permeate her comfort zone.

Unphased by his penetrating gaze, she fashioned a sly smirk. “The name’s Eve, but that’s all you need to know for now, your other half is expecting us to be re-calibrating the communications grid, let’s go”. She turned on her heel, and briskly glided away. Rasan couldn’t help but follow her. 

As the Jeep sped along the dusty road, Rasan stared ahead at the building they would be repairing. There were several of them along the canyon, they were more than radio towers, they were silently collecting spectra from deep space, reading seismic activity, collecting air samples, recording the night sky for astronomical data. 

“So what brought you to this wasteland?” Rasan heard Eve say. 

“Research, mostly. The sooner we fix this the better, There’s much good work to do.” As the words left his lips he regretted it instantly. Laughter erupted from his left and he turned to see Eve bowled over laughing, her forehead resting on the wheel. She smiled at him and regained her composure. Turning her gaze back to the road she said,

“I came here thinking I could do good work too, but we’re really all just here for an adventure, aren’t we Rasan?” Eve paused, she stared ahead for many moments, the din of the moving jeep the only sound. “Tell me Rasan, do you still confuse East and West? Do you sometimes wake up and forget where you are?” Rasan just leaned back in the leather seat, sensing the rhetorical nature of the question. It’s true, sometimes he forgot the orientation of the poles here.

They pulled up to the building and stepped out of the Jeep. The two clambered their way up the sand covered walkway and into the communications box, which oversaw the desolate canyon. The metallic looking structure beheld a satellite dish upon its roof, 20 feet above their heads. A thick black circle with the letters ARS beside it made up the logo plastered to the wall. Wires and tubing entered from the ceiling to the center of the room, where a device received the signals and distributed them to computers along the walls. They had yet to realize this, but from within this stifling room, their fates were to become intertwined. 

Eve, pulling her head up from between the wires and copper tubing, stretched and breathed a sigh. She stood up, inspecting the progress of their efforts. A look of satisfaction blanketed her face. “Not bad for a cantaloupe”, she remarked. Before Rasan could supply a retort, a prodigious rumbling shook the room. The two hastily bounced up, lunging towards the nearest window. A blinding flash painted their metallic cage with an incandescent light, and the rumblings began to echo. Rasan fell to the floor, scrambling, attempting to right himself. Eve tripped, tumbling over his leg. “What the hell is going on!?” she screamed. Louder, and louder the reverberations became, until all was silent. 

Ears ringing, the perplexed and dazed duo opened their eyes, confusion drawn about their faces. Eve opened her mouth to speak, but Rasan couldn’t hear the the words. Rasan wearily hobbled to the window, examining his surroundings. That must have been another solar flare, but...how so soon after the first?, he thought. He shook his head in confusion, no, that wasn’t a solar flare, and as he gazed down at the canyon he could see that its shape had changed, was changing, as rocks even now were tumbling down its slopes. He was going to say something, but Eve spoke first.

“Solar flares don’t cause earthquakes, this was something different.” Rasan could feel the heat of her. She had moved to his side, gazing at the canyon below. The floor beneath them shook again, and suddenly something somewhere snapped, a long droning sound from somewhere far below. Eve looked at Rasan wide eyed, and suddenly all his dreams of bedtime conquest flitted away, and he groaned. They were moving. He lurched to the exit on the other side of the room.

Eve rushed past, pushing off him to gain speed. Feeling betrayed, Rasan grabbed her leg as the building tilted. Computers on the other side of the room were sliding, threatening to sandwich the two between their weight and the wall. The sound of metal twisting and bending continued, the low rumble of rock and sand shifting beneath the floor intensified. The only thing inside the room that wasn’t moving was the machine they had been fixing the entire morning. Eve had reached it, the floor was at a 45 degree angle, and Rasan climbed hand over hand up Eve’s leg, even as she was trying to shake him off. Eve was looking down at Rasan, both her arms firmly wrapped around the comm device, and he saw her expression as she looked past him, through the window. The visage of a woman who had beheld her own death; abject terror. He looked over his shoulder and screamed.

They were sliding with the ground beneath them, down the canyon face. The floor of it was too dark to see, no one had fully investigated its depths. They were going to be the first, if they survived. Rasan collected himself just enough to reach the center of the room where Eve was anchored. There was nothing to hold but her body. The building was turning as it was sliding, lurching and rattling with unholy fervor. The sound was deafening, all around them boulders tumbled and several crashed into the walls, leaving horrendous dents. Eve shivered, the air had gotten cold as they passed under the shadow of the canyon. The air was wet.  I never should have signed up for this. Images of the fantastic meals with Jakeet scrolled through his mind’s eye. He would miss those.

Suddenly the rumbling stopped. The room began to spin violently. The window’s view changed from black, to the orange and reds of the canyon walls, to the blue sky, then to black again. Rasan felt nausea settling in. Eve was grimacing, head tucked in, eyes slammed shut. As much as Rasan wanted to savor holding Eve, he wished he didn’t have to be free falling in a spinning metal cage to get the chance. He could see his breath in front of him, and then pitch blackness. Then he felt the whole building crash into something accompanied by a tremendous splashing sound. Metal caved in and teared, water surrounded him. He couldn’t tell what was up or down. He could only feel the warmth of Eve’s body as he lost consciousness. 

His face was warm. He heard the crackle of a fire. He opened his eyes. He was laying on his back in some sort of subterranean space, stalactites loomed above him, emerging from the dark. He sat up and saw Eve sitting on a rock, clothes completely soaked. They seemed to be sitting on an underground embankment, the flow of water rushing past them. The remnants of the communication building were not visible. Eve’s shadow writhed with apparent malice on ground behind her and disappeared into fathomless expanse.

“Why did you try to kick me off you?!” Rasan accused. Eve didn’t respond, she continued to stare into the fire. How did she start the fire in the first place?

Eve opened her mouth, closed her eyes, sighed, and said, “I thought that maybe I could open the door before the building was too far down the slope.” 

Rasan could only lay back down and cover his face, he knew there was something else, but considering the situation, arguing wouldn’t help it. 

“Who would have thought there was an underground river, right under our noses. And look at this purple moss, it's glowing!” Rasan opened his eyes and looked around. She was right, there was purple moss everywhere. In his anger with Eve he didn’t even notice their glow. He looked at the fire and realized that it was being fueled by the moss, it’s aroma just now being recognized. It was unlike anything he ever smelled before, a mixture of mint and decaying leaves. This is a scientific goldmine. Then it hit him, what good is a scientific discovery if you can’t tell anyone?

Rasan lifted himself onto his feet. He dusted himself off, astonished that he had not sustained anything more than a few minor lacerations. Judging by the flow of the river, I’ll assume that the wreckage has been cast downstream, and that I’m only standing here because of….wait, shouldn’t I have been washed away as well?

His eyes widened, and his neck craned in such a way as to immediately reveal his intention  “Eve, did you...?”

Eve cut him off before another word could be uttered, “I managed to haul the both of us to safety before we drifted too far down the mouth of the river; you owe me.”

An air of tacit agreement clung to the earthen walls. Walls sodden with depravity. An earthen cage, devoid of hope, yet brimming with beauty. The incessant roar of the churning black waters reverberated through Rasan’s thoughts, tossing him into a nebulous trance. His eyes sat, affixed to the apparently unending chasm which lay before him, beyond river’s reach. An ominous darkness threatened to corrupt his sanity, should he succumb to its whims. 

All of my efforts...triumphs...I worked tirelessly, day after day, and this is my reward. A bone-chilling wind ran shivers down Rasan’s spine. 

Is this my tomb?  The color began to drain from his face, as the wind whipped and rattled. It nipped at his skin, taunting him; its maniacal cackle swept over him, inciting a descent into madness.

I’ll never have a family….I’ve always dreamt of a family. Children, a wife, a home… His eyes began to well, and a single tear rolled caressed the side of his face, it’s salted kiss fell over his lips and ran down his neck.    

A distorted voice breached the confines of his mind, gradually becoming more clear. “Rasan….Rasan…..Rasan!”, it wailed. His body was involuntarily coaxed from its trance, but his mind’s haze lingered. Rasan sporadically spun, kicking up a fan of dust in his wake. Eve stood before him, crystalline blue eyes replete with befuddlement. 

“You’ve been staring into space for what seems like an eternity. I don’t have time to baby-sit. You didn’t strike me as someone in need of a tit to suckle.” Her words were sharp. They stung, but harbored no aggression, no malice. Her tongue was like a razor, but her voice was soft, almost unsure of where its sympathies lay. Rasan said nothing, his mind a blank canvas. 

Eve spoke again, “Your Exaphone, does it still work? Does it have flashlight functionality? Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Her muddied neck tilted upward as she glared into the sullen eyes of her partner. 

Unaware of his own action, Rasan rummaged through his tattered pockets until he found the device. He tapped the device’s now cracked screen, which fortunately lit up and prompted him to input a series of passwords. “It...works…”, Rasan whimpered. 

“Get a hold of yourself, man!”, Eve snarked. She snatched the device from Rasan’s outstretched hand, quickly managing to locate the application which allowed the Exaphone to double as a makeshift flashlight. Bright light burst forth, its powerful glow revealing that the water’s edge stretched on in what was practically a straight line, the other side of the river unknowable. Fifty feet from the shore was a natural wall decorated by the same purple moss, sporadically placed. Rasan’s body made haste, but his mind hung adrift. Enshrouded in glittering purple moss was a tunnel; a tunnel which presumably would escort them further into the heart of the unknown. Unless they were willing to test the murky waters, it was the only viable path. “Into the belly of the beast we go, Rasan!”, Eve barked. 

Rasan watched Eve’s backside as she ducked under the lip of the tunnel, momentarily forgetting the sickly feeling of hopelessness. He entered the tunnel, testing the pliability of the moss with his palms, its thickness is remarkable, he thought as his hand sunk into its surface. A part of him wished the flashlight would dissipate so that the glow of the moss would reveal itself to his eyes. He also wondered how Eve could be so strong in this moment. A spectre of dread seemed to accompany every one of his thoughts, and if Eve felt the same, she did a remarkable job hiding it. 

Eons seemed to pass, the tunnel inclined up and down, varying in shape as they crouched along. He only knew two things, the purple of the moss, and the silhouette of Eve’s ass against the brightly lit moss in front of her. He stared at it, hoping his concentration would abate the relentless fear. Eve suddenly stopped and Rasan, preoccupied with his thoughts, slammed into her rear. It was then that Rasan noticed that the tunnel wasn’t too low that he had to crouch, he could’ve been upright. He could feel blood rushing to his face as waves of embarrassment washed over him. He then realized that she had been talking to him, so immersed in his thoughts he was. 

“Rasan, you have to stay with me here, it’s like ever since we slid down the canyon, you became someone else.” 

Rasan was surprised, he was expecting her to lash out at him, perhaps the futility of their situation had finally begun to sink into her. She walked forward a little further, and a rush of air buffeted his face, accompanying a dismal wail, but it sounded just inside the limits of his hearing, it’s pitch lowering and lowering, with slight undulations in character, raspy to smooth to raspy again. So unnerved was he that he failed to notice the opening of the tunnel into a much larger space. Eve had already moved on, uninhibited by the ghastly wail. She was walking down stairs, stairs hewn from the stone, only, there was nothing else but stairs. Flanking both sides of the stair was emptiness, a void so complete that it called to him, it called for him to end his existence right here, to leap into the inimitable darkness. Eve’s steps echoed off unseen walls. She hardly slowed, descending down the stairs with a methodical sureness. 

The stair was wide enough for him to walk by her side, but that proposition was out of the question. He gingerly took his first step down the stair, racked with paralyzing fear. Eve’s light was a beacon in the oppressive bleakness, a beacon that was quickly disappearing. He shook his head. What is wrong with me? Then he heard another wail, this time lower pitched, it seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere. She seemed unaffected by the wails, unfazed by the same suffocating void, and had made impressive progress. The steps between him and Eve now numbered in the many dozens, a gulf of darkness expanding between them as she descended further. 

Rasan desperately desired not to be left behind, alone, without anyone else to talk to, to hold, to care for. With a growl of defiance, he lunged forward, willing his reluctant body to move, his will to live briefly outshining all other instincts. Within moments he’d caught up to Eve, and said, “What do you think made those wailing sounds?”

Eve turned to regard him with a face that made him feel like a patient in an asylum. “What wails? The only sound I’ve heard is your pitiable voice.” Rasan stood dumbfounded. Was I just imagining things? They continued down the steps. Eventually the light emanating from the Exaphone finally revealed flat ground. Purple moss once again filled their vision. Eve stopped moving and regarded the phone.

“Fuck! We’re almost out of battery! When was the last time you charged this thing?” 

Rasan shrugged, “I don’t bother, its solar cells usually provide enough juice for the day, it shouldn’t be low on batteries this quickly anyway.”

Eve looked at him, then back to the phone, and fiddling with it, concern spreading across her face. “If your phone is correct, we’ve been here for five hours. but it doesn’t feel like that at all.” She shivered as a pale wind blew across the landing. It was then that Rasan noticed the great stone arch that loomed above and in front of him, ten people could walk under it side by side. Flanking the arch was an arcade of them on each side, bending away from Rasan. Purple moss clung to some of its surface, strange vines strangled the carvings of odd shapes and figures, hideous forms of what seemed to him to be depictions of bipedal and quadrupedal creatures interacting. He stood mesmerized by the reliefs, and motioned to Eve for his phone so that he may take pictures.

Eve looked at him like he was the stupidest man that ever lived. “We need to get going! We only have so much battery life, and you want to waste it taking pictures!”

Rasan might as well have been slapped. Here was the greatest discovery in human history, and she wants to just leave it! “I’m not leaving this spot until I take at least a couple pictures!” He made for her, aiming to wrestle his phone back from her if need be. 

Eve ducked under his clumsy grab and kicked out her leg. His foot caught on her ankle and he became unbalanced. He was struggling to regain control as he collided with the base of the main arch.

Reclaiming his balance, Rasan propelled himself off the arch, ferociously lunging at Eve. With all his might, he thrust himself into her midsection, abating her breath. Her abdomen crumpled and bent under the weight of the charge, and her arms were flung away from her torso. Eve toppled, her head narrowly avoiding collision with the cold, solid ground. 

Rasan, although blinded by a seemingly foreign bout of rage, caught sight of the Exaphone being tossed to the wind as Eve’s arms were jerked about. Streaks of ephemeral light illuminated wall and ceiling, rapidly revealing and concealing, until all was black. Hastily unhinging himself from his opposition, he dove, and he tumbled, desperately scraping at the bleak darkness. The device splintered into an innumerable mess of scrap as it exploded upon the impact with coarse earth. It’s light dimmed and faltered, as the components of the gadget fizzled and waned. 

Throat clenched, and short of breath, Eve lay enshrouded in darkness. For a moment, she lay against desolate ground, allowing it’s cold cradle to soothe her worry. “Do you realize what you’ve done, Rasan? We’re blind now!” she accused. She could, albeit faintly, hear the shallow respiration of a man rife with regret. Despite this, she continued her barrage.“What good is a discovery if the people that’ve discovered it are buried along with it?”, she blasted. Eve’s voracious offensive advanced, “Jakeet was an imbecile to task someone as naive as you to anything other than busy-work, disgusting…”

Rasan shifted about, still ineffectually scrounging for absent scrap. His face was embittered with self-reproach, his body weary with anguish. “I….I…”, the words could not reach his chapped lips. His eyes, diluted with despair, lethargically lifted, and came to rest upon the burgeoning purple moss, which sporadically coated the chamber. Hopeful of his designs, Rasan spoke, “Your lighter, give it to me...you must’ve used one in order to spark that campfire.” Eyes once aglaze and distant now harbored a meager hopefulness. 

Eve replied, “Are you going to fight me for that, too?” A pallid silence seeped into the crevices of the earthen hall, disseminated only by the snicker of one manic mister.  

“Passive aggression, eh? Once I’ve renewed our chances of survival, you may even come to like me again,” Rasan snarked.

Again? Disdainfully rolling her eyes, Eve hopped to her feet. Questioning her own sanity, she retrieved the lighter from her jacket’s upper-right pocket and after fumbling in the dark managed to hand it to Rasan. Why do I feel as though I’m just worsening the situation...

Rasan clutched the lighter within the palm of his hand, and strode in the direction of the glimmering purple lichen. His body creaked as he knelt before a batch of the mystifying plants. Clutching a bushel of the moss, he rose and nodded at Eve, “A torch….we’re going to fasten a torch!” His hands were faintly illuminated by the moss, the rest of him only visible in that the sporadic clumps of distant moss that clung from surfaces beyond. “So you plan to just carry that moss around, babying it in your hands…..on fire?”, Eve rolled her eyes once more as the words flew from her mouth. Her arms criss-crossed on her chest, as she let out an audible sigh. 

Rasan walked under the arch, his form barely visible, a soft tinge of purple outlining his shape, and seemed to sink into the gloom ahead as he walked further. “It seems that this moss isn’t the only thing living down here, there may be more to this place than we know”. She had no idea what Rasan could be talking about. What did he see that she didn’t? Eve shuddered as a soft wind brush past her, it’s icy tendrils raking her soft skin like a cruel lover. A dull, ominous roiling moan seemed to come from a distant place, from deep within the bowels of the earth. 

“Did you hear that?” She then heard grunting sounds, followed by the snapping of wood. 

“What? I didn’t hear anything!” Rasan’s voice called out as he continued an unseen craft. Just a moment ago he was a bumbling fool and now he’s happily busying himself….Eve walked under the arch, hoping to escape the chilled wind. The moaning seemed to cease upon her venture into a wide space, distant moss could be seen hugging far away structures. Somewhere in this complex, Rasan was working on a torch, but would that even help? The darkness seemed to slowly disintegrate her fortitude, the scent of stone and dust, overlayed with a tinge of the putrid minty moss entered her nostrils as she walked further in. Footsteps sounded off stone to her right. Rasan. She headed in that direction, only sure of her step because of the moss that grew sparsely out of the cracks in the stone beneath her. Several minutes passed as she tried to follow the sound. Rasan’s voice cut through her thoughts.

“Here goes nothing!” Rasan shouted. Eve swiveled her head around to see a bright light erupt from a long staff made of lashed together vines and branches, ending with what could only be moss blazing in its prison. The orange flame was speckled with green patches that flitted in and out. Then the smell hit her. Memory of their impromptu campfire came rushing back, carried by the scent of mint and rotten leaves. In that excited moment Eve almost forgot about the footsteps she heard. If they weren’t Rasan’s….

Rasan clutched the torch in his hand, triumphant. See Eve, I can be useful. He figured it gave a roughly 15 foot radius of light. He picked a direction and started walking. Then it hit him, where did Eve go?  Just as the thought entered his mind he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Eve?  He spun around, seeing nothing out of sorts, only the cold stone ground, only moss and weeds. He could only keep walking, hoping his beacon would guide Eve to him. 

A large fountain, crumbled and defunct, came into view after a couple minutes of aimless walking. This must be the center of some large square. A very ancient square. He peered over the bottom bowl of the fountain, and could see a few dust covered coins. He leaned over the waist high basin, and picked up a few of the coins. They were hexagonal in shape, and on one side, the visage of one of the bipedal creatures from the reliefs outside, its scowling -- or frowning face gazing at him. He flipped the coin over, revealing what seemed to be a ziggurat, multi-tiered. The coin was crafted with exquisite care, and he could even make out an arcade of arches at the base of the ziggurat. A severe chill ran down his spine as he noticed that. Something about that fact awakened a horror within him unmentionable. Suddenly he remembered he had to refill his torch. Frantically pulling out moss from the ground and crushing it onto his torch, hoping for not just light, but warmth. It was freezing. Shadows crept into his vision. A wail, like the first he heard, but this time louder, with an urgency that sent him running away from the fountain, welled up from behind him. He could hear Eve’s voice, pallid and distant. She was the voice! He turned around, expecting to see her. 

Nothing. Footsteps entered his mind, echoing inside his head, running into each other like one loud continuous clamour. Movement caught his eye to the left, something small, and quick. Another frantic call issued forth, from above, and upon looking up, suddenly realized he was inside a building. A very large building that would swallow him whole and devour his essence. It would take his mind and it would suck his marrow. The smell of the moss had become overwhelming. A figure was rapidly approaching him, as if running away from a calamity of abyssal designs.  

The body of the torch, greased with sweat, unwittingly slithered from Rasan’s quavering palm’s, falling to meet the concrete beneath his frayed and muddied boots. Branch and vine scraped the grimy floor, uncaging the shackled, dying flame. It’s dull glow diffused, and the smell of rot and ash petrified the senses. A baleful shadow cloaked the area, exacerbating Rasan’s urge to rekindle the lost flame. Light, I need light. Moss….there has to be some within reach, quickly...quickly…. Abandoning his footing, he dropped to his knees, frantically augmenting the makeshift torch. 

Fortunately, some moss was left over and unscathed. As he foraged for his lighter, which he’d nested in his shirt pocket, a faint noise invoked anxiousness. Near, and to his right, someone, light of foot, crept closer. Frenziedly whipping his neck, Rasan twisted to the right. Nothing. Again, to the left, a meek press of the foot brushed with stone. The warmth of another's form grazed his backside, as feeble breaths puffed at his neck. A tormenting shiver traveled his spine. Cumbersome and languid, Rasan slowly craned his neck to the left, whilst igniting the torch once more, illuminating a tender oval face. 

Tiny brown and sullen eyes, wrought with tribulation, gazed into his own, threatening to well with sorrow. They pierced his being, desperately clawing at hope. These timid eyes belonged to a young girl, no older than eight or ten. Silken brown hair dressed her head fancifully, but it was razzled. Petite shaken hands pleading reached for Rasan's grasp. Dainty pink lips mouthed an unknown language, but words cryptically 

began to process in Rasan's mind. "Mister, can you help me?" She tugged at Rasan's sleeve. "My mommy...daddy...they're hurting them, I don't know what to do!", her voice, meek and docile, like a newly christened fawn. 

Bewildered, Rasan pursed his lips, blinking intently. “Who’s hurting your parents? Where are they?”, he breathed. 

The girl’s delicate grasp directed their path, “I’ll take you to them!”, she proclaimed. 

Hand in hand, they ran. And as they ran, the darkness lifted, unveiling the grandiose components of the enormous edifice. Fastidiously crafted marble stairs and banisters. Exquisite furniture of every color, and tapestries of varying pattern whooshed by as the two creatures dashed up and over staircases. Short of breath, the two sprinted about the place, until a frail tug latched their position. The girl pulled at Rasan’s sleeve and motioned forward. Long bangs sheathed the agony in the girl’s eyes, but it lingered. An alabaster doorway, decorated with carvings of boisterous gods and goddesses barred entrance to their destination, safeguarding the calamity hiding just behind. 

Rasan placed both hands on the double door and thrust himself forward. It screeched open, deafeningly, as though writhing in pain. A putrid fume traipsed the magnificent ballroom. Shimmering marble reflected the horrors of grim reapings. Limp cadavers, adorned in palatial robes painted the very heart of the room. Rivers of blood pooled and stagnated around blanched skin, which defectively wrapped shattered bones. “We’re….too late…”, the girl mouthed, pointing at the diced carcasses. 

Fragile fingers, once intertwined with his own, plucked themselves free. Rasan looked down, and into the girl’s eyes. An ocean of grief swam down her profile as she peeled away, crying. The ruffles of an elegant white dress billowed, waving as though it were signalling a farewell. The inscrutable pearlish white and yellow light dimmed, and the no longer silent wind whistled, singing, as her silhouette sunk into the floor. The rustle of bone and cloth roused him from the shock of the girl’s sudden disappearance. He turned to see that the corpses had begun to rise from the red coated marble. Rasan stood transfixed as a mottled pair commenced their shambling gait. What was left of their skin began to give, peeling off and splashing onto the pool of blood, accelerating the pool’s expansion. It lapped against his shoes. As the blood expanded, and the awkward advance of the monstrous perversions approached, the unbearable smell of blood and decay encroached upon him, Their flesh continued to slide off them, the pool of blood continued to spread, rise even! 

Rasan turned and ran. He could hear the silent pursuers close behind him. He spotted a grand tapestry to his right. It’s intricately woven threads arrested his agency. It depicted a scene of obvious luxury. A grand city was shown, littered with great buildings of stupendous height and lavish decor. Among the buildings sat a familiar form, a form he remembered from its appearance on a particular coin. Something odd began to happen to the picture. The sky turned from a vivid blue to a sickly yellow. The fields around the city dried up, the vast expanse of farmland withered and died. Four legged creatures entered the field of view from the bottom left, holding spear-like weapons, their huge bodies supporting insectoid heads, mandibles clicking and snapping. They began a siege on the city even as the tapestry began to soak in the blood that now had reached his waist. The tapestry continued to metamorphosize even as it became ruined by the sanguine advance. 

Rasan tried to wipe away the blood from the large tapestry, but his impotent attempts did nothing. “No! Not yet! I must know! I must help that girl! I must, I--,” He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned around to see the two skeletons that had risen just moments before. He only now realized that their shape was not human, though similar. They made no move to attack him, but the blood continued to rise, and as the blood came up over his mouth and continued over his eyes, he felt no anger in their hollow stares, just a profound sadness. A wave of sympathy washed over him even as he began to drown.

Eve saw the torch slip from Rasan’s fingers. She was there, only twenty strides from Rasan when he dropped it. The flame sputtered and died on the ancient floor. The immediate area was once again plunged into darkness. 

Eve heard Rasan a moment later shiver and shuffle on the floor. “Who’s hurting your parents? Where are they?” He rasped. Eve stood perplexed and tried to get Rasan’s attention, running up to where she saw him last, and noticed the discarded remnants of the torch, the embers of which glowed pitifully. The smell of rotting leaves and mint remained, though it had waned. Eve strained to hear Rasan’s footsteps, and 

followed the sound. Without the lighter, she only had her keen hearing to track his movement. Still clutching the now burned out torch, she picked her way over steps and nearly tripped on one as she felt a familiar gust of wind. The bitter cold lingered on her skin as she climbed over a crumbled statue that she could not see. The only navigation being the timid moss and the footsteps of a man possessed. 

Before long a series of steps appeared before her, covered in moss. As she climbed the air grew colder, and Rasan’s heavy breathing could be heard further up the stairs. She dashed up to the top of the stairs, hoping to overtake Rasan. Expecting open air, she collided into a stone wall, instantly dazed. Reeling, she felt cool air come in from her right, and headed in that direction, clutching her throbbing head. She heard a splash ahead. A pool of water greeted her, an undulating reflection of the moon displayed. She looked up and saw that she was in an absurdly large cavern. A giant opening in the cavern ceiling above her revealed the night sky, an ominous eye that was sure to close as Eraz continued his nightly journey. The moonlight revealed a frightening sight in the middle of the pool.

“No! Not yet! I must know! I must help that girl! I must, I--,” Rasan was flailing, splashing about in the pool. Eve quickly waded into the water, discarding the torch at the edge of the pool. Upon reaching him she had to defend against incoming punches. It was as if Rasan was fighting an invisible enemy. She caught his wrists and held them to the side.

“Even in a place like this, you still manage to make a fool of yourself, eh?” Eve snickered. Her faint smile faded as she caught sight of Rasan’s blood-shot eyes. 

“Did you see her?”, he shouted.  Moonlight entombed the grotto. The luminescence enveloped the cavity, highlighting the scintillating purple moss which varnished the floor and walls as though it were jewelry. He freed himself from her grasp and waddled from the basin, clothes sloshing as he nudged past Eve, almost marching through her. "She was here...they were all...here...", he said. His shoulders slumped, and he turned back to face Eve. "What happened to these people, Eve?" 

"What are you talking about? There’s only been us", she scoffed, kneeling down to gather a gob of moss. She dusted off her boot and rose, frowning. Whilst tossing the shrub to Rasan's chest, Eve smacked her gums, "You better not have gotten my lighter wet.” With a twist of her heel, and the clack of her teeth, she strode over to the lagoon, resting alongside the purple moss. Eve rolled her eyes, "Take a break for now. I doubt you’ll be of much use in your current state." Rasan nodded his head, hunching in a corner. His eyelids, as though more robust than his own muscle, closed. 

Icy tendrils of wind pecked at Eve's dry skin, birthing reality from sleep. The moon, that once endowed brilliancy, had commenced its vexatious journey, the eye above, closed. A sterilizing silence left no room for treachery, and an intimate darkness was accompanied by the smell of musk and dirt. Eve yawned, propping herself up and onto her feet. Stretching, her eyes swiveled about the grotto. The place was pitch-dark, 

like an onyx stone. Fumbling about in the darkness, she patted the ground. The torch she dropped earlier was quickly recovered, but she still needed the lighter. 

For minutes she searched, until finally concluding upon Rasan's body. The shallow murmur of his breaths barely broke the overspread silence, and the heat of his body brought comfort to a comfortless cold. Eve gingerly combed his person, searching pocket after pocket before plucking the treasured lighter from his shirt. Gently shaving herself of the resting man's warmth, she pried a bushel of moss from the wall. 

Her legs, ill from travel, twinged as she became upright again. Fiddling with the lighter, she invoked a dazzling green and yellow flame, which danced about the cup of the torch. Now illuminated and like a beacon guiding her to shore, the pool beckoned her. Its once stoic stillness now morphed into the waves of a deep and imperious ocean. She knelt to the ground, unsure of her balance. It was as if the thought of standing was an impossible task. She felt a low hum, feeling the vibrating earth against her bottom as she sat, staring at the almost imperceptible ripples in the pond. Eyes transfixed on the water, glinting in the feeble torchlight. Forgetting the putrid smell of the burning moss, forgetting the dreaming man to her side, the world seemed to narrow. The ripples were now rolling with a greater urgency. The water was rising, and she found herself on all fours, watching the ominous transformation of a still body of water into a sea. 

In the churning water rose a black silky object. The object rose and revealed itself to be the head of a girl, perhaps 8 years old. She was wearing nothing but a white gown that clung to her youthful frame. She saw Eve and shouted for help, or at least 

that’s what it appeared to do, for no sound came out of her trembling body. All Eve could see was the panicked expression of the girl as she started to run, chased by an unseen pursuer. 

“Girl! What's chasing you? There’s nothing there!” Eve shouted. As the last word left her mouth a monstrous creature burst out of the water behind the girl, forelimbs waving, mandibles snapping. Its grotesque legs, four of them in total, propelled itself to horrific speeds. It was taller than a grown man. The creature lunged itself at the girl, issuing a heinous shriek as it did so. The girl never made it out of the water. Eve only stood transfixed as she watched the gruesome execution. The insect-like creature didn’t even stop to admire its handiwork, it kept on, coming at Eve with abandon, its mandibles dripping with blood. She turned and fled.

“Rasan! Get up! Get up now we have to move!” the words broke his reverie, he could feel trembling hands clutching his shoulders. He opened his eyes to see a shivering Eve, eyes wide, gritting her teeth. She forced him up onto his feet and took his hand, he yawned even as he started to sprint, whatever shook Eve this badly was worth running from! He looked back and saw only the still water of the pool.

“What’s going on? What are we running from!?” Rasan asked. 

“Don’t look now, but we’re being chased by a monster!” Eve shouted as she lead him up a set of steps. Too late for that, thought Rasan.

“Eve, there was nothing there!” Rasan shouted. Clearly Eve was hallucinating. Eve just looked at him with concern. She grabbed his hand more tightly and dragged him up the steps. Rasan stumbled on a step, eliciting cursing from Eve. She looked behind Rasan, wearing a horrified expression. 

“No! I refuse to die here!” Eve shouted. Perplexed, Rasan could feel the wind escape his lungs as Eve’s boot slammed into him. He was no longer standing, but tumbling head over heals. Agonizing pain and blinding numbness racked him as he collided with the stony steps. He tried to right himself, to break his descent, and found that he could not, the stairs were too steep, his momentum too great. 

Eve watched Rasan collide with the creature, both of them tumbling down the stairs. The creature had struck it’s head on the stone, it’s ichor spraying lazily on the dusty floor. Rasan lay close by, very still. She sighed and laid back on the steps, still breathing heavily. Several moments passed. Then it hit her. She rushed down the fifteen steps that separated them and set down the nearly depleted torch. She knelt by Rasan’s crumpled form and cupped his face in her hands. 

“Rasan, are you there, are you with me? Wake up! I’m sorry!” Eve shook him. His face was very still, and she brought two fingers to his neck and breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to see the torch fizzle out, the creature was nowhere to be seen. A moment passed. Then she laughed. It didn’t stop, it couldn’t stop. She leaned her head back, and closed her eyes, laughing, a lonely voice in a lightless cavern.

Warmth. Rasan opened his eyes and regarded the sunlight streaming down from the large opening in the cavern ceiling above him. He squinted against the welcome brightness. The light was dancing, casting shadows that rolled over the ancient stone floor. The light dimly illuminated his surroundings, and the breathless vista of an ancient city sent him back into the dream of the extravagant tapestry. 

“I have to help her,” he found himself mumbling. Eve stirred, and only then did he realize he was laying on her lap. He jumped up, or tried to, as his right leg gave out from under him and he collapsed in a heap on top of her. The expected elbow to the face nearly made Rasan swoon. 

“What the fuck man!” Eve exclaimed, shoving Rasan off her and rising off the floor just as Rasan lay feebly on it. Rasan almost managed a smirk as Eve’s face contorted from anger to regret as the spectre of the nocturnal incident hovered in the air. Rasan spoke first.

“What did you see last night that scared you so much you had to kick me down these steps?” He said, nodding his head to the steps of an ancient ziggurat Eve stood at the base of. Eve sat down on the first step, looking past Rasan at the abandoned vista.

“It kinda looked like a human sized insect. It had scythe like forelimbs that…” She trailed off, noticing that Rasan’s face lit up, a visage of intrigue. 

“And they were a sorta dark red brownish color right?”

“They?”

“There was more than one.”

“When? I’m talking about only the one I saw.”

“They were a race of creatures that besieged this city long ago,”

“And how do you know this?” Eve asked as she crossed her arms. She leaned back as Rasan crawled up to her and placed his hand on her knee.

“I saw it last night when we were separated.”

Eve glanced down at the beaten hand of Rasan. Dried blood splintered from his knuckles, drafting rivers upon flesh. Through heavy panting, Rasan recalled the macabre vision, told her about the melting people, the tapestry that told the story of the ancient city even as it soaked in blood, and his impromptu awakening in the pool. 

“Rasan, even if that’s true, we still have to survive! We can’t be chasing imaginary girls helping them solve ancient problems.” Rasan could barely hear her, her face vacillating between blurred and focused, he knew he hadn’t much time before he passed out again. 

“Listen, I think if we climb to the top of the ziggurat we can get a good vantage point and maybe find a route out. Though I don’t think I’ll be of m--,” The world pitched over and darkness spilled into his vision.

The way was arduous, but the perilous path Eve discovered at the other end of the ziggurat proved continuous, if one defined a continuous path as one fraught with chasms, narrow ledges and crumbling steps. The physical work was welcome, after her partner passed out back at the footsteps of the ziggurat she had been haunted by a 

specter of dread. His words hung in the air, and even though there would be no chance of ever returning to the surface carrying him, the decision to leave him behind weighed heavily on her toned shoulders. 

The light that spilled from the oculus above barely found its way to her, as she slowly made her way between natural columns and under moss covered overhangs. The higher she went, the more massive she discovered the cavern was. Resting against the wall of the cavern, she surveyed the ancient city below her. Awe came over her as the sheer massiveness of the cavern became apparent. The far side of the cavern was cloaked in a grey mist. Several local waterfalls spilled from unseen openings and filled the air with rumbling. The ziggurat sat, adorning the city with its dilapidated splendor. She couldn’t see the side of it where she left Rasan. Her stomach growled. Her body ached and her thirst was palpable. She continued along the cavern wall, finding paths that led up higher.

The unmistakable sound of running water grew louder as she continued her hike. It was very close by, the water, and the thought of having a drink spurred her on as she scaled over a large abutment in the cavern wall.  She reached the top, and saw below her that water trickled out of the wall to her left to run along the floor. Moss clung to the channel’s edge and populated the immediate area. She dropped down from the top of the abutment. The running water plunged into the open air to her right, and as she landed on the wet rock, her right foot slipped awkwardly, pitching her toward the perilous expanse. Shear terror filled her as she stumbled, sprawling so as to keep her 

center of gravity low, landing hard on her stomach, she felt the icy water drench her clothes as she landed in the stream. Unbidden images of the last night and the frightful, clicking monstrosity filled her mind as the water splashed against her. A growl of frustration and anger ripped through gritted teeth, but heard only gurgling as the water lapped against her face.

The world was still tilted when she finished drinking, as her head lay half submerged in the stream. Bubbles rose out of the water as she exhaled. Rising from the icy water she mustered a drawn out sigh and couldn’t help but grimace. Her muscles ached as she rose out of the water, it couldn’t quite reach her ankles, but it soaked her boots all the same, and her time in the water drenched her clothes. Time seemed to slow as she contemplated her situation. She held her hands out to inspect the damage, when she noticed that she had been shivering. Her knees were bruised, her palms scraped, her right forearm was bleeding out of a shallow but long gash. A chill wind pressed against her like an icy pillow, it breathed into her clothes and encased her in ice. She was shivering uncontrollably, her neck and shoulders tensing up. 

There was a correct course of action to take but it seemed distant and clouded, she panicked at the realization of her mental state. It came to her then, and she began undressing, pulling off the soaked shirt. The wind howled louder, carrying with it voices, one of which she heard before.

 The voice called out, “it’s your fault, you know.” Eve’s lacerated fingertips fumbled at the hem of her shirt. “You are at once my savior and my jailer, it wasn’t enough to maim me, you had to leave me.” The shirt was over her head now, and she bent down to tear it off, the wetness of it making the process that much more laborious. “I hope you rot in this sterile tomb, void of warmth and reeking of guilt.” She finally wrenched the vile fabric from her body, She tilted her head upward, slowly guiding wearied vision. Sweat and blood veiled the glittering rays of sun, which poured down from the breach above. Indistinct voices continued to mock her sanity. There was a flicker of movement above, a silhouette of a head and shoulders peeking out of a sea of blackness, the blue sky mocking her. She was close to the surface now, but the oculus above was not an exit, it only teased freedom. 

“Hey you down there! Do you need help?” Eve couldn’t believe it. Surely it couldn’t be this easy. The silhouette waved at her.

Eve raised her arms and called out to her savior, “Yes I’ve been down here for days!”

“Okay! Don’t move I’m going to send down a rope ladder!” The silhouette disappeared and several moments passed. Sound of metal scraping rock and dirt being displaced, followed by hammering and excited voices reverberated across the the cavern. A rope ladder tumbled down from the ceiling, and Eve wasted no time climbing it, feeling the warm steel in her hands. She climbed higher and the warmth of the sun’s rays tingled her skin. She reached the lip of the oculus and strong arms helped hoist her onto the surface world. She looked at the face of her savior, and as she did so, the cold wet air of the underground once again enveloped her. 

Her savior smiled at her and said, “Why did you leave me Eve? Why?” a dank wind cut through her like a knife as Rasan’s pitiable face twisted into a scowl, and she found herself careening back into the oppressive void, the oculus shrinking with distance, the howling wind intensifying as she picked up speed. As she fell she couldn’t shake the image of the other man sitting beside Rasan. He was sitting cross legged, cradling a bright orange toy, stroking it’s shiny plastic surface.

“It’s my prized possession, you know,” the voice breathed into her ear, hot and wet. Life shot into her, heralded by a large gasp for air as her eyelids shot open. She was standing, her surroundings unknown. Light in the cavern was dimming, and the cool air never stopped blowing, the lamentations of a man discarded never ceased. She didn’t know where she was, the oculus was no where to be seen, but the reflected light inside the cavern was enough to guide her. The ground sloped upward ahead, and droplets of water escaped from the cracks in the ceiling above, playing notes in the rhythm of a song she couldn’t quite place  The slick ground made progress slow, and occasionally she slipped, each time the lamentations of a distant soul would cry out from the ether. She seemed unimpaired by the haunting voices, having tuned them out. But it wasn’t the voices that harangued her, it was the unbidden images of freshly cut grass and smiling people. She was signing forms on clipboards, walking down a narrow catwalk, clutching to it’s rails, her knuckles white, conversing with men dressed in orange suits, all wearing a familiar insignia, sitting in a cockpit with kindred souls, the measured optimism of her colleagues showing distinctly on their faces. 

Pushing out the unwelcome thoughts, she spied a natural series of steps, the natural formation smoothed by water over many eons. The tall tunnel she was in continued to dim as she climbed, but what the scene lost in light, it made up for in volume. The wind howled down through the tunnel at a frightful speed, dry and carrying with it sparse sand. The surface had to be close now. The wind was so loud she almost didn’t notice the sound of footsteps behind her. She turned around, the dark tunnel revealing nothing, the undulating fuzziness of the gloom was a velvet cloth, squinting into the darkness, the footsteps became clearer, the velvet cloth shifted, the sound of a boot on the floor, followed by the scraping of hard rubber along a rough rock surface. The howling wind was great, but the repeating sound of step, slide, step, slide was undeniable. Whatever it was, the pattern of sound changed when it reached the stair-like formation Eve was now standing on. It simply was not possible he had followed her here. She turned and quickly scrambled up the stairs, desperately putting distance between herself and the source of that hideous sound. 

She was careless, the tunnel curved slightly, and steps were sometimes just slopes, and in other instances there was nothing there at all, just a hole with no bottom. It was in one such hole her right leg shot into, sending her torso forward into the hard floor of the tunnel. She felt something below the floor touch her leg, grab it even. She yanked her leg out of the hole, or tried to. The unseen pursuer continued its inexorable climb towards her, even as she struggled to wrench her trapped leg free of it’s prison.The unmistakable screeching from below would’ve paralyzed her in fear if not for 

her heavy panting and loud cursing. Suddenly her boot collided with a solid mass, the screeching stopped, and she was finally able to extricate her leg from the hole. 

She could hear the haggard breaths of her pursuer even as the relentless wind scoured the walls of the tunnel. Light began to fill the tunnel as she climbed, the ceiling of it was tapered, it looked as though it was vaulted. The tunnel was getting brighter and brighter, and she was able to navigate the gnarled floor easily. The air grew warmer. It wasn’t long before an opening revealed itself. A surge of relief would be putting it lightly. As it came into view, she steeled herself. It was quite possibly another hallucination. Only a few meters from the opening, she gingerly approached, noting that the passage emptied into the side of a canyon, likely the same canyon she and Rasan fell into. If there was any excitement at finding escape, it was replaced by disappointment, for the tunnel emptied into a sheer drop. Surveying the scene, the canyon stretched out for miles in either direction. Even if she could scale its walls, there was no way to know which direction led back to headquarters. The tan surface of the rock wall to either side of her curved away from the entrance, taunting her.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her right shoulder, and twisted around to see a familiar face. 

“Eve?” Is that you?” The man said.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Eve yelled as her fist collided with the man’s face. He reeled from the blow, dropping to one knee. He was dressed in a suit that had been ripped in many places, his elbows visible through tears. His face was caked in dirt, and 

his tie was missing. His unruly hair fell to his shoulders. His tight pants were ripped at the knees and his right foot bereft of his customary turquoise loafer. It was then that Eve noticed the rope corded around his torso, from his left shoulder to his right hip. 

Jakeet recovered from the punch, massaging his cheek and stabilizing himself on the wall of the tunnel. 

“Okay, yeah, I probably deserved that.” He looked up at the ceiling, and down at the floor, smiling to himself. “Did you notice?” Jakeet asked, turning to face the other wall, “This tunnel is shaped kinda like a vagina.” The cringe worthy utterance had Eve rolling her eyes. He regarded the shirt he had been holding in his right hand and tossed it to her. “I just noticed you were missing a shirt, nice bra, I love the lace, black is a good color on you.” Eve smirked as she snatched the damp garment from the air. “What happened to you? Oh and can you believe it? That ancient city back there is mind blowing! Who woulda thought such a place existed here!” Jakeet was bouncing from wall to wall, clearly excited, too excited. “Oh and why did you take off your shirt but not your pants?” He stopped his bouncing and now leaned against the wall. Eve tied the damp shirt around her waist. 

“I really don’t know, it felt right at the time. What are you eating?”

“Just answer my first two questions, it’s important,” he said as he reached back into his pocket and brought a hand to his mouth, a glint of purple briefly visible.

“Is that moss?”

“You wanna try some? It’s delicious! It’s everywhere down here!” Eve couldn’t believe what Jakeet was saying. Eat the moss? She wouldn’t put it anywhere near her mouth.

“Why are you eating the moss? It could be poisonous!”

Jakeet shook his head “I don’t know what you’re talking about. If it’s good enough for the ancients it’s good enough for us.” 

Eve’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Ancients? You mean the things in the city carvings?” As the words left her, Jakeet’s mouth gaped open, a look of disgust arrayed on his face, and began sputtering something unintelligible. Eventually he found his voice.

“I’ll have you know that those things were living, breathing citizens of a bustling and thriving civilization!”

Eve sighed, “Let’s just get the fuck back to HQ.” She began planning a route down the canyon face.

“Why don’t we just go up?” At the prompting of his voice Eve looked up the canyon wall. Occasionally Jakeet had fine ideas.

They had begun climbing up the face of the canyon, with the rope and tools Jakeet brought with him they made slow but undeniable progress.

“How did you find me anyway?” Eve said. She waited for a response as her voice echoed off the stone.

Jakeet shrugged. “I got lucky. I was wandering the desert after the explosion. Came across a camp in the desert. Odd how the orbiting satellites didn’t image it, or maybe they did and we simply missed them, you know there were thousands of pictures in the archive, I’m telling you there is just an unbelievable amount o--”, Eve scowled, urging him to get to the point. Jakeet cleared his throat, “anyway it was a ruined settlement of some kind, but not of ancient make, it was of human making. As you know our venture isn’t the only organization here. I spent a while looking down that hole, and I saw the ancient city and the ziggurat. I also saw people moving about down there too. Luckily there was climbing rope in the jeep I came with.” 

“Explosion? What do you mean?”

“I didn’t say anything about an explosion. Are you alright?”

Eve let it pass, was it the moss? “Whatever. Continue.” 

Jakeet found a handhold in the stone and reached for it. “Ahem. Well I descended down to the floor through that opening, grrrraaagh,” Jakeet grimaced as he pulled himself up, “and I explored the city, I couldn’t help it.” 

They were almost at the top. Not ten feet away. This time, she would be free, truly. Jakeet stopped climbing and turned to her. 

“Where’s Rasan?” 

“I don’t know, Jakeet,” she said, never stopping.

Jakeet still hadn’t moved. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Weren’t you with him?” Eve sighed and paused her climb. 

“Rasan fell and broke his leg, he told me to leave him behind.”

“I’m going back,” said Jakeet. Eve shook her head and continued climbing.

“We’re almost free and you want to go back? Have you any sense at all?” She placed her hand on the top on the wall, she was almost there. Then she felt a hand grab her leg.

“We have to go back! I can hear him even now!” Jakeet began climbing back down, and then it suddenly came to her. The hysteria, the hallucinations, auditory and visual, had a common link. But it didn’t matter now. Eve unclipped her tether. The rope cascaded down past Jakeet.

“Whoa! At least warn me before you do that!” he said, the weight of the rope startling him. Eve could only sigh.

“Look boss, I don’t hear Rasan, I don’t have some gross attachment to a dead man. He cannot be saved, alright? How is he supposed to climb with one leg? Huh? What the fuck can you do? Go, go fucking back in there, play with your fucking ‘ancients’ and get high on moss. Join your beloved Rasan, cold and dead.  I’m going back to HQ.” By the time Eve finished the sentence she was sitting on the top of the canyon wall. She looked around, her gut churned. Something was off. It wasn’t what she saw, but what she didn’t see. The familiar tower should be on the horizon. Surely She hadn’t travelled far enough to render it beyond the edge of vision. But there was 

nothing, the Awazac brooked no answers. Then she saw it, a flash of light twinkled on the horizon, a reflection of the sun on a metal hull perhaps?

Rasan no longer haunted her, she accepted his fate, but as she walked toward that distant beacon, an urge scratched at the back of her mind. Like a nagging child, it grew louder and louder, Jakeet’s condition notwithstanding, she had to try. 

“Jakeet! You have to let him go! You cannot survive on your own!” She ran to the canyon’s edge and looked down, but saw no one. The world began to spin, there were three options, Jakeet was a better climber than she thought, she had spent a long time staring blankly into the desert, or he simply was never there to begin with. The fact that the latter option could not be ruled out, in light of everything that has happened previously, meant one thing. She could not be sure of the answer, but her sanity rested on it. The idea that she could have never climbed the canyon wall without his rope never entered her mind.

One foot over the other, continuously. The star in the sky neared the horizon, and her legs ached from hours of walking, but headquarters was almost upon her. Seeing the ruin no longer shocked her, the trauma of its apparent destruction dulled the longer she stared at it. She had suspected something was wrong many hours ago, and it came as no surprise to discover its degradation. Rubble and debris were scattered throughout the plot, smoking husks of fried electronics lay in a jumbled heap. A large portion of a wall had been torn, and hideous gashes and holes adorned its facade. She weaved through the wreckage, and it became apparent something was amiss. 

There were no bodies, but evidence of a struggle was apparent, bullet holes and scorch marks scarred the ground. Long gashes raked into sides of cooling units and storage containers. A strange purple liquid covered many of the surfaces, alongside another liquid, probably blood. There was a lot more of the latter. Walking through the wreckage she noticed a familiar orange object. It was nestled in the sad remains of a magnificent table. Eve bent down to pick it up, and discovered that one side was charred. Warm to the touch, she tossed it over between her hands, she never had gotten to touch it before. 

“The other one melted,” Eve spun around at sound of Jakeet’s voice. He continued, ‘Tis a shame, that.” The orange toy slipped from her hands as she stared, dumbfounded, at a man that shouldn’t be. 

“You’re aren’t supposed to be here!” Eve yelled. The man put his hands on his hips and cocked his head sideways. 

“Oh? And where should I be?”

Eve squinted, furrowing her brow, “Underground,  I saw you. I’d recognize that moronic, shit-eating grin of yours anywhere!”  Eve’s blood-shot eyes pierced Jakeet’s. 

“I prefer to stay above ground, my dear. I’m allergic to mold, but that’s why I pay you, isn’t it?”, said Jakeet. His face drooped as the pair exchanged glances. 

“That reminds me, where is my lovely Rasan? Ah, no matter...a bit of separation ignites our passions!” Jakeet clicked his heel and twisted away, his voice trailing off in song, “oh Jakeet how handsome you are, haha ooooh.” 

As he danced away from her, she tried to follow him. She marvelled at his alacrity, dodging twisted metal and skirting over slick patches of oil and blood. She noticed that blood stained his jacket. It glistened brightly.

Eve mustered a yelp, “Jakeet, you’re bleeding. Even a fool like you should realize that! What’s happened here?!”, her voice was shrill. She bit back a grimace as she realized how sluggish her thoughts had become. Why didn’t she ask him what happened earlier?

Jakeet paused, balancing on his right heel. He rolled his eyes and donned a sigh, swiveling his head to show his profile. “Haven’t you heard? 6-8 hours of sleep is imperative for proper cognitive function.” Armored men flooded the area.  Jakeet motioned toward Clarence, his head of security. “Get this one a drip, Lord knows what she’s been up to.” He cupped her chin in his hands, “Hallucinating or some such, well...I suppose that we all have our days.” He could see Eve shiver as he whispered those words, her eyes going wide with shock. 

Four armed men advanced towards a quizzical Eve. One of the men (who was considerably larger than the others) calmly approached her, and as he did so she noticed another man to her right retrieve a syringe from a pack. She mindlessly swung at the man. Unsure of how to respond, he forced her to the floor, gradually drowning her consciousness. However, before her curtains closed, eyes heavy, she noticed that her surroundings were no longer blasted. It was as if there hadn’t been a war after all. Jakeet started snapping his fingers in rhythm whilst he babbled to the men around her. The words couldn’t reach her, and the thin man calmly walked away, reaching into his back pocket to bring a purple sprig of a familiar plant to his nose.

It was cold and dark, a pallid abundance of stasis. The passage of moments left unmarked graves. Gaiety had long since abandoned the derelict vessel, pressed out by the ponderous air, its stifling girth imposing a malevolent will. Vitality had been trickling, running down cracks and furrows in the stone, when the change happened. It started as a shift in the air, the sickly nature of it became entwined with faint tapping, wrapped up in its own gaudiness, the malignant ambience sunk its tendrils into the vessel. 

Then there was the light. It started meekly enough, but rose in power, swallowing up the darkness wherever it tread. As the tapping grew in fervor, its details became more easily parsed, and so too did the light. The tapping became familiar, the light sharper, the damp wind and the turgid stench likewise became more acute. The instruments were playing in frightful harmony.

By the time the tappings became footsteps, and the stench became of mint and decay, the breathing, oh yes!—the vessel’s own, joined in the fugue. A fifth element joined the building fortissimo, and much like the fourth, it possessed many of the same qualities, yet it behaved erratically. It beat like a drum, it’s pace doubling as the fury of the moment came to a fever pitch.

Rasan’s eyes fluttered as his consciousness waxed. It struck him from all angles, whipping at his senses, but he felt lost. Ephemeral images sputtered in his mind, he couldn’t tell up or down, reality was slippery, and before he was dragged back into the dark he could taste a tinge of copper in the air. 

When he awoke again he could see a young girl in a white gown, unmistakable. He started talking, without knowing why, without knowing if it was truly his voice.

“Who are you? Why did you come to me? Why did I follow you into that blood stained past? Why did I think I could help you!”

The girl in a white gown stared at him.

“Answer me! Your family died in the past! What could I have done to help you! You’re just a figment of my imagination right!? I am such a fool! Why did I believe you? How could I have tricked myself into playing this game of death with you?!” His voice came in ragged form.

The girl said not a word, she stood there for a moment, and began walking towards him, her pale feet slapping the damp stone floor. She pressed against him, wrapping her arms around his dying body.

“It’s warm, isn’t it? This embrace. You’d think it be cold, lifeless, pallid, but in this moment it is none of those things. In this moment, I am more alive than I’ve ever been.

“You helped me when no one else would. You had no intention of finding yourself here, but when you did, you latched onto me, a beacon in the dark. It gave you a purpose in the sight of absurdity.

“You didn’t know if you would ever escape this tomb, but at least you could do something good in your life, at very least you could perform one final act.

“And while you never got to tell my story,” She was kneeling over him now, “you can die knowing that you tried, and that’s all that matters.” She leaned over to kiss him, and it was in that moment he knew he had died.