Colors: Life After Death Halloween Short - The Unholy Land Part 2: Watch The Clocks

Opening my eyes again, I really don’t know how long has passed since everything turned chaotic. I lift my head from the uncomfortable pillow, and I see that I am resting on a strange bed, with dry blood caked into the grey sheets, that I’m sure was once white. Looking around, everywhere looks like something out of a nightmare. The walls all have old-timey portraits of a family, and either I’m going crazy, or their eyes are blinking. The wood on the floor seems to have all rotted away, as some of the floorboards are missing, which makes me happy that there is only dirt underneath it.

Jumping out of bed, my stomach starts to turn with worry for my friends. Remembering those screams send a chill down my spine to even think about, and I lost them all. They can’t be dead though, they just can’t be. They got out somehow, and I’m going to find them, and put an end to whatever the hell that thing was together. With a newfound boost of energy, born from anger and fear, I start to run for the steel door, but as I turn the little grey handle, it doesn’t seem to be moving at all. It’s locked.

“Looking for this?” I hear a familiar feminine voice ask from a darkened corner of the room.

From the shadows, Claryssa emerges as she swings a key on a chain around on her finger. It looks like she has ditched the cloak and is wearing her usual black corset with the bloodstain design... which thankfully is just a design. She looks at me with a smile on her face, as if she isn’t the one responsible for not only bringing us here, but separating me from my group. Needless to explain any further, I’m more mad than upset right now. I turn to her and let my disdain show through a scowl.

“You. Give me the key. I have to go back for my friends. I don’t know what happened, but I have to make sure they’re not dead.” I say to her, trying not to panic too much in front of her, even though I have my hand firmly on the gun in my right holster.

“Look, just relax, okay? As long as we’re in here, we’re safe. Before we even consider going back out there, I should probably bring you up to speed.” Claryssa says, before inserting the key deep into her cleavage.

“You know that wouldn’t stop me, right?” I say to her, thinking about fishing it out, but I honestly don’t think that would be a good idea, especially right now.

“Just listen to me, will you? That thing out there, the one that just came out of the hole and scattered us? I don’t know much about him, but I do know that he is bad news. If I were you, I’d cut my losses and run. There is no winning this fight.” Claryssa says, actually wanting me to give up on everything, like that is a possibility I would consider.

“No way. I may be freaked out, and I mean out of my mind, but these people are more than just my teammates, they’re my friends.” I say to her, not wanting to lose the only genuine friends I have in this world.

“Really? You would risk your life for people who likely wouldn’t even do the same for you? Friendship is, and always has been a hindrance. Listen, do what you want, but I just want to warn you one last time, not to go looking for that monster.” Claryssa says, sighing as she pulls the key back out of her... inventory, and uses it to unlock the door.

“Thank you. You are wrong though. If you think that having people on your side, and having trust in others, is a detriment, than maybe you haven’t knew the right people.” I say to her, passing by... and even though I was pointing out her issues, it occurs to me like a bolt of lightning, that I was the exact same before I joined The Colors.

I slowly open the door, as we both walk outside. Claryssa looks completely immune to what greets us on the other side, but all I can do is just stand there and take it all in, gasping in horror and morbid awe. The moon is completely red, there appears to be a white crack in the sky, just like the world is ready to collapse at a second’s notice. The pumpkins that were once sitting nicely on the porch corners of the houses, they seem to have grown legs and arms from strong vines, and their faces are glowing from the inside. They are everywhere, and seem to be patrolling the area, like they are looking for something.

“Come on. We gotta get out of here.” Claryssa says, pulling at my arm as we run behind the house we were just in.

“Alright then. Let me ask you just one thing. Even if we run away with our tails between our legs, where do you expect we can go where we’d be safe? This looks like a worldwide thing right now.” I whisper to her, trying not to let it all sink in that this might be the end of the world as we know it, and we were powerless to stop it.

“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. All we can do is survive, and then we can start-“ Claryssa says to me, filling my head and heart with even more dread, as heavy as lead.

“You haven’t got a plan? Alright then, it’s time for my plan. It involves squashing a lot of pumpkins and then, finding a way to fix everything. If you’re really not going to help me, then you’d better get going while you still can.” I say to her, preparing my Tarot and my trusty guns.

“Fine. But you know, I’m going to stick around for a little moment. Wouldn’t want to miss the beatdown.” Claryssa says, as she has one of the biggest smiles on her face... is she assuming that I’m about to flawlessly win? Or does she think I’m just immediately going to lose? Either way, I’m going to show her what I’m capable of.

“Boule De Feu.” I whisper into the Tarot on my finger, once again feeling the fire ignite in my body, as my guns start to turn red.

With more experience with using my powers, I feel confident that I can take down a few sentient pumpkins. Feeling stronger than ever, I walk back to the main area of the town, where all of the pumpkins are walking around. It doesn’t take long before all of their eyes gaze into my direction. Suddenly, all of the lights in the city die, leaving me in complete darkness, save for their glowing eyes and mouths. Quicker than I expected, their vines all extend towards me, giving me only a fraction of a second to leap out of the way. As I jump, one of them grabs my leg, pulling me back to the hard ground. It doesn’t take long before the others get their vines around me too. I grab the vines, and watch as they catch fire. They all retract in panic, trying to fight the fire, which just makes it spread more. Using this opportunity, I start firing my explosive bullets at them, making pieces of pumpkin scatter all over the place. Launching a shower of fire all over the place, I lose myself in the action, and I notice too late that I have set fire to the area, including some of the houses.

I stop the onslaught to take a look around, and even though I have taken down more pumpkins than I dare to count, their numbers don’t seem to be decreasing, or even losing focus, as I watch yet another wave approach me from the front. I look behind me, and see that they seem to have completely surrounded me. If I don’t keep up the attack, I might not make it through this fight. After bringing one last tsunami of pure fire down on them, even more pumpkins walk towards me. The second that I stop to take a much needed breath, I suddenly find myself completely mummified in their vines. As I feel their grip getting tighter, and the smoke starts to fill my lungs, it occurs to me that this fight might be beyond my limit. After I start to give up hope, I close my eyes, but after a little while, I can feel the grip getting looser. As soon as I can see again, I see Claryssa, wrestling their vines off me.

“I’ll be able to say I told you so in just a minute. For now, grab my shoulders tight, but not too tight.” Claryssa says, turning her back to me.

As much I don’t like where this is going, I find myself low on alternative choices that don’t result in a slow death. I jump up and grab both of her shoulders. Suddenly, black wings start to form out of her back, as we start to take off into the sky, leaving the pumpkins behind. Feeling clear air again, I catch my breath. I close my eyes, still not really cool with heights. I just hum to myself and pretend I’m in a car with the windows open.

“Oh yeah, I told you so. Just so we’re clear.” Claryssa says, in a smug tone, making me regret taking her help.

“Whatever. Forget about that. Since when did you have wings?” I ask her, feeling them in my hands as they pass... they feel so soft, like they’re made of rubber.

“I’m a vampire, remember? While I can’t fully transform myself into a bat, I can still grow wings when I need to. Also, I’m surprised you’re not freaking out about your city yet.” Claryssa says to me, and honestly, I still don’t think of her as a vampire- wait, did she just say what I thought she just said?

“What about my town?” I ask her, as I try to face my fears and open my eyes, despite my brain keeping them firmly shut.

Eventually, I can slowly open them, as I see Heaven’s Eye just above us. It looks completely grim from here. The whole city is looking a lot like it did back in Decain. The ship that the city is built on top of, it looks so rusted and vegetated, that I am surprised it is still suspended in midair. Around the outer perimeters, it looks like a colony of bats are orbiting the length of the city, creating a pure ring of bats, like Saturn’s ring, but less ice and more rabies. Looking at it, the city starts to shake, as a strange black tentacle appears, with what looks like sharp horrible teeth scattered across it, constantly opening and closing like it has a thousand mouths. If that isn’t bad enough, more tentacles start to erupt from the ground, as I can see the dirt and gravel flying down to the ground. Just looking at it gives me the feeling of terror, as I feel a weight fall upon my chest and I find myself short of breath. Any way we look at it, I think we can both agree that flying there isn’t advisable. Is it truly hopeless?

“No! What the hell is happening with the world right now?” I ask, feeling thoroughly fed up with everything already.

“We’re in a world of his making. The shadow beast, I mean. It’s strange. He’s been talking to me as if from inside my mind. He spoke of making this place a reality, but I never would have thought he’d actually do it. I’m afraid he won this fight. Heaven only knows what the capital is like up there.” Claryssa says, sounding a little sad, as I feel her slowly descend from the sky.

I close my eyes and wait silently for us to land on the ground. I don’t even care where we do land, as long as we aren’t in the sky anymore. I open my eyes and see that we are back on the ground, which gives the chance to breathe a small sigh of relief, but many things still weigh at my mind. We seem to have landed just across from the elevator leading up to Heaven’s Eye, and it seems untouched from where I’m standing.

“So, what do we do now? We can’t just stand here, we have to-“ I say in an urgent tone, still worrying about everything.

“What do you mean? You’re not still thinking of playing the hero, are you? Listen, I told you before, just by being here, we’ve already lost. We’re going up against a literal demon. Mandy is just a toddler compared to this thing.” Claryssa says, walking over to me and taking my shoulder, gripping it tight with her hands.

“That’s right. Speaking of Mandy, what brought you to Heaven’s Depths anyway? And why did that thing call me Mandy before?” I ask her, only just remembering what was said before.

“I came here to investigate the graveyard. It was the one I saw in my dreams, almost like a warning of something to come. Then you had the same dream too, didn’t you?” Claryssa asks, taking her hands off me and walking away, pacing around the open area.

“Yeah, I think so.” I say, not really sure what to believe anymore. “But that still didn’t answer my last quest-“

Suddenly, we start to hear some whispers, and a small light coming from somewhere in the distance. Claryssa and I look at each other, and walk over towards the hushed voices, getting louder and louder as we walk closer. To my surprise, I see a group of people walking around, minding their own business, though I can’t tell if they are talking to themselves or each other. They all shadow bodies, which I can only see in the dim light, except for their bright white eyes, and paper masks with little smiles on them.

“Excuse me. Who are you guys? Is there anything we can help you with?” I ask, hoping that someone can explain to me more about what’s happening.

They all turn towards us and just stare. Their stares start to drill holes into my soul, as I start to slowly back away. Seeing their dead eyes, those black beady dots on the mask, it looked unsettling and creepy.

“He waits.” “Sitting upon Heaven’s gate.” “Five keys.” “Watch the clocks.” “We die by sunrise.” “Watch the clocks.” “Watch the clocks.” “Watch the clocks.”

“Alright, what the hell did all that mean? What were they trying to tell us with watching the clocks?” I ask Claryssa, hoping she knows more about it.

“I don’t know, why are you asking me? If I was to guess, I’d say the leader is waiting for us at Heaven’s Eye, and that everything will go back to normal during the sunrise. I’m not entirely certain, but that’s what I-“ Claryssa says, thinking to herself.

Not even waiting for her to finish, I know that the time we have left is running out, so I start looking around for any sign that something, anything survived the attack. I look over, and just behind another group of those creepy children, in the middle of the road, I can see... no, it’s impossible. Poppy! I can see Poppy, just looking at me from a distance.

“Poppy? Is that you? Come over here, we have a lot of catching up to do.” I shout to her, waving my arms in the air like a maniac, but as long as I can get her attention.

“Shh. Do you want to get us killed?” Claryssa shushes me, before looking up at Heaven’s Eye to make sure nothing is coming for us.

“The Risen. They arrive for the noisy ones.” I hear one of the children saying to the one just to the right of him, before giggling.

Suddenly, coming from Heaven’s Depths, more of those pumpkin things start chasing us once again, somehow having escaped the fire. There are too many to count, so we would easily lose if we were to take them on as we are.

“Hey, are you thinking what I’m thinking right now?” Claryssa asks, gently walking backwards, not taking her eyes off the pumpkin army.

“If you’re thinking of running away like a coward... yes, we are.” I say, before sharply turning around and running as fast as I can in the other direction.

I fire a round of explosive bullets behind me, which makes the grass catch on fire. I feel terrible for setting so much on fire tonight, but it seems to be the only way of stopping them from giving chase. While they are distracted, we take this opportunity to continue running, until they completely disappear from view. We run until I start to feel fatigued, and need to catch a breath. We come to a stop by Lookout Spring, as I sit on the ground.

“Hey Liz, what are you doing? We have to get out of here.” Claryssa says, pushing me gently as she stands above me.

“What’s the point in running now? Looking at everything from this point of view, knowing that we are incredibly outnumbered, and that I’m hallucinating that I see my friends. I just... need a second, okay?” I say, looking up at Heaven’s Eye as I feel our chances of victory getting slimmer than an ice lolly putting out an open flame.

Claryssa breathes a heavy sigh and takes a seat next to me on the comfy grass, starting to look at me with an expression other than open disgust.

“Listen, I have a confession to make. I didn’t come here because of a random chance. I left the castle in Decain... your sister no longer had any use of me. She said that my heart belongs somewhere else, and honestly, she isn’t wrong.” Claryssa says, playing with the grass between her fingers before ripping them out and letting them dance in the breeze.

“Really? That sucks. So, where does your heart belong now?” I ask, shocked to hear the news, and wondering why it took her so long to bring it up.

“The world. I would really love to just follow the moon wherever it rises, and find a new home, one where I can truly spend the rest of eternity, somewhere I can be alone for once.” Claryssa says, stretching her arms out as I hear her bones click together.

“You want to be forever alone, huh? You know, up until I came here, I wanted the same thing. Just somewhere I can be alone and free from people who would wish me harm. Now, I see that not everyone is like that... just most of them.” I say to her, as she looks at me, slightly making me lose focus in my train of thought.

“Lizzie? Is that really you?” I hear a very familiar voice say from behind me.

Claryssa and I both turn around at the same time, to see that I wasn’t just hallucinating earlier. It is truly Poppy standing there... and Nuko standing just next to her. Both of them have something different about them. They are both in their regular clothes. They both look like they haven’t slept in ages, with black rings around their eyelids, and a calm and sorrowful look in their smiles. That doesn’t stop Poppy from running over and hugging me as tight as she can. I hug her back, so relieved that these two are okay.

“Poppy! Nuko! I am so glad to see you two again. What the hell is going on here? And where are the others?” I ask them, feeling overwhelmed by the relief and a strange sense of happiness, as I feel myself close to tears.

Poppy lets go of me, and looks over at Nuko, who takes his mask off as well, turning silently away from us.

“Come with us. We’ll be safe to talk in here.” Poppy says, helping me to my feet.

“Wow, you’re... smiling? I didn’t think your face was capable of such emotion.” Claryssa says, noticing my grin as we walk through Lookout Spring together.

I can’t help but smile. Seeing these two here, alive and well, feeling the familiar breeze, the old smell of the water and the trees around us. It feels like that day back when we were all just starting to get to know each other. Even though it was just a few months ago, it all went by so fast. Even though the world isn’t the same anymore, I feel happy to have felt this one more time.

“So, hope you don’t think I’m rude for asking, but who are you exactly?” Poppy asks, talking to Claryssa over her shoulder.

“Claryssa Livingstone, an assassin who used to serve under Mandy. I’m just looking for a way out of this hellhole.” Claryssa says, playing with a little dagger she pulled from... somewhere.

“A way out? If only it was that easy. We didn’t realise until it was too late that things were so easy back in the old days.” Poppy says, sounding a little more downtrodden with each passing word.

“Old days?” I ask her, as I hear Nuko starting to sob to himself.

Eventually, we come to a huge circular tower in the middle of the forest. So tall, that it makes a gap in the already tall trees. It looks dirty and long-since lost to time. Poppy takes a look around her surroundings, before pressing a hidden button on one of the walls. After a second, we watch as the bricks start to part ways, exposing a little wooden door behind the wall. She opens the door for us to walk in. On the inside, I don’t honestly know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. It would appear that the place is completely without furniture and just a big empty circle, but as I look up, I can see more and more with every glance. Furniture, appliances, decorations, all stuck to the walls.

“Follow us, let us show you around the place.” Poppy says, as we watch her place her foot on the wall, and to our amazement, starts to walk up it, as easily as a regular floor.

“Mind your step as you walk up, and speaking from personal experience, don’t jump. You won’t like the results.” Nuko says, walking past us, as I notice that his head has a huge scar going through his forehead, like he can crack it open when he wants to.

Following their example, we put our feet on the wall, only to find it as easy as they made it seem. It just feels like we’re standing on a floor, like gravity just shifts under our feet. I suppose the real-world physics don’t apply here, or they are capable of much better technology here. We walk up the tower wall, following Poppy to a round table. We all sit down on our own chair, but Claryssa is left without one.

“Oh sorry. We weren’t expecting company. I can find one to-“ Poppy says, getting up from her own chair, looking embarrassed.

“No need. The floor looks comfy anyway.” Claryssa says, as she sits down where he was standing, only narrowly able to see beyond the table, as we can just barely see her eyes.

“Okie dokie. So, what happened? We all thought you had died when you disappeared that day, and never came back.” Poppy says, looking a little sad, as she looks at me.

“Yeah. Don’t tell me you just bolted and left us to deal with it that day.” Nuko says, slamming his hand on the table, speaking in an angry serious tone.

“Nuko, I’m sure it’s not their fault. I’m sure Lizzie has a perfectly good explanation for this.” Poppy says, looking over at Nuko, before turning back to me, expecting to hear an answer from me... one that even I don’t have.

“Just so we’re clear, how long has it been since we separated?” I ask her, more so to quell my own curiosity.

“Well, I believe it’s been almost a year since that day. A lot has happened since then, though I don’t have much for good news.” Poppy says, looking to Nuko, who lets out a sigh, no doubt letting it all replay in his head.

“Bad news, good news, news is news to me. Please Poppy, tell me everything.” I say to her, taking her hand in mine from the other side of the table... and seeing Claryssa’s eyes light up in the corner of my eye.

“Alright. I cannot guarantee that you’ll like what you hear though. That beast that woke up that night, its name is Rest... at least that’s what we’ve heard. We were able to escape Heaven’s Depths, though the world was never the same again. It took a lot of casualties and deaths for us to survive, including...” Poppy says, trying her best not to cry.

“It... it was Roxy who saved us. It took sick pleasure in ripping her apart. None of us could do anything but run away, hearing those horrible screams. I swore to her that I would not give up until that Rest is resting in pieces. I will get him for this.” Nuko says, starting to cry tears of anger and sorrow, punching the table.

Even though I thought that would be the case, considering what we heard before, but to know that it actually happened, it makes my stomach turn and my heart break a little inside. Still, a year had gone past? Had I really been sleeping for that long? Something is definitely wrong somewhere here.

“I’m sorry... I really didn’t know anything was happening. If Roxy was the only one who died in that battle, where are Andy and Blanche?” I ask them, hoping not to bring up any more sore spots, but I’m just curious.

“You know those two, they can’t ever leave well enough alone. They ran off the other day. They went over to Heaven’s Eye. They just left us with no sign that they even made it there alive. We would follow after, but the two of us alone, we won’t stand a chance there.” Poppy says, sounding so defeated and beyond the point of worry.

“Even if it was the four of us? It just so happens we were hoping to talk to this Rest ourselves.” I say to them, feeling more angry than scared right now, letting my frustrations and impatience do the talking.

“Woah woah. Lizzie, can we talk for a moment?” Claryssa asks me, jumping to her feet, pushing me out of my seat.

We separate from the others, as she pushes me out of earshot, once again touching the ground.

“Just to be sure, you’re not suggesting we go up against Rest, are you? You do realise that 7 of us weren’t enough to fight, so what makes you think just 4 will do the trick?” Claryssa asks me, keeping a straight face, but I can tell in her voice that she is at least a little afraid... I wouldn’t blame her for that.

“Because we know what we’re up against now. Even Mandy had a weakness, albeit a small one. Rest has to have one too. And I’m going to find it, whether you’re with me or not.” I say to her, scared of what could happen, but I’m even more scared of spending the rest of my life in a place like this.

“Never took you for the optimistic kind. Fine. If you really want to die that bad, be my guest. I just want to say that I think this is a very bad idea.” Claryssa says, crossing her arms and shaking her head at me, like some strict teacher.

After a moment passes, Poppy and Nuko walk towards us, once again in their suits. It would seem they have reached a decision together.

“We can’t say that our chance of success is favourable, but we know Rest can’t be allowed to continue his path of destruction.” Poppy says, trying her best to keep her iconic smile on her bright face.

“I’m not going to rest easy until I put whatever it is in the ground.” Nuko says, taking one last look inside his bag of explosives.

“Wait, you’re all serious about going?” Claryssa asks, as we all pass her on the way to the door.

“Oh yeah, I was meant to ask. What is the deal with those kids? The ones in the paper masks?” I ask Poppy, hoping that she could tell me more about them.

“Remnants. People who surrendered themselves to Rest, and lost their bodies in return for immortality. They’re just eyes and ears for Rest, so it would be best to avoid them wherever possible. Whatever they see, he sees.” Poppy says, as we continue to walk towards Heaven’s Eye, as I see Claryssa start to walk with us, closing the door behind her.

“They were talking about some keys, and that we should watch some clocks. Any clue what they were talking about?” Claryssa asks, asking something I was a little hesitant to speak up about.

“It’s like he’s challenging you. Sounds like he wants you to find five keys before time runs out. Of course, I’m not as good as Blue when it comes to analysing things and making plans.” Poppy says, crossing her heart and bowing her head for her.

Nuko just listens silently to the conversation, but I can see he is still upset by what happened. I know they were close, but with how much they bantered each other, I underestimated just how close they really were. As we make our way to the elevator, I can feel a pair of eyes, burning a hole at back of my head. I turn around and see nothing but more trees and darkness. We continue walking until we are out of the forest. In the air, I can smell smoke and the familiar scent of death in the air, which only grows thicker with the closer we get to Heaven’s Eye. Silently, we get into the elevator.

With lots on our mind, we just stand in painful silence, fumbling around our brains for the appropriate words to break the tension, if there is any. The higher we get, the colder the air gets, as we find ourselves shivering before long. Suddenly, as if they were looking deep into my worst nightmares, the elevator comes to a screeching halt, sending us all to the floor.

“What happened? Is everyone okay?” I ask, picking myself up from the ground, trying not to look down, or anywhere else other than forward.

“Yeah, we’re okay. No idea what just happened though. I’m sure it’ll come back on eventually.” Poppy says, as Nuko helps her up.

“Alright. Don’t freak out, but does anyone else see this?” Claryssa asks, pointing out in front of her, seeing something outside the glass window.

We all look and see one of those Risen, those strange pumpkin things, being lifted into the air by bats, and holding some kind of metal spear. Suddenly, once it reaches our height, it comes towards us at lightning speeds.

“Lizzie, move!” Poppy says, as I feel her muster all of her strength to shove me to the floor.

As I hit the ground, I hear the sound of glass shattering, a horrible grinding sound, and followed by screaming. Before I can get back on my feet, I feel something kick me with enough force to flip me on my back. I can see that Risen about to plunge a bloody spear into me. I simply pull my gun out and shoot it between the eyes at the same time that Claryssa stabs it and Nuko kicks it out of the window, making yet another hole.

I pick myself up, and realise that the worst thing that could ever happen, has happened. Poppy falls to her knees, sliding her back to the wall and leaving a trail of blood behind her. She grasps at her chest, trying not to burst into tears.

“Poppy!” We all shout, as we run over to her, completely devastated.

“Quickly, use your power. You can still fix this, there’s still time. Please Poppy, don’t do this.” I say to her, taking her other hand.

Poppy silently whimpers as she places her healing hand over her chest. It starts to glow as the hole slowly starts to fade, piece by piece. Suddenly, as we’re waiting, more Risen start to appear, each with their own spears.

“Guys. We need to think of something. Quick!” Nuko says, looking out of the window, and starting to panic.

“I can fly us out. Grab a hold of me.” Claryssa says, once again growing out her wings and running towards us.

Nuko and I both grab her hands, as Poppy climbs on her back. Claryssa kicks the glass to make it fully break, as we fly out into the open sky. We hold on for dear life, but it seems like Claryssa is having her own struggles. Her wings are flapping wildly, but we can’t seem to make any progress flying upwards. We can just watch as the Risen begin their charge towards us.

“Things aren’t looking very good, guys. I’m sorry, it’s too heavy.” Claryssa says, speaking through her strains, clearly trying her best.

“That’s not a problem. Hey guys, do me a favour. When you meet Rest, I want you to give him hell for me.” Nuko says, as we watch him pull the pin of a grenade with his other hand and his teeth.

Unable to gather our words in time, we helplessly watch as he swings himself on Claryssa’s grasp and lets go, launching himself towards the Risen. With less weight, Claryssa starts to fly upwards, and finally onto solid ground. As soon as we turn back...

Boom!

A huge explosion knocks us backwards, showering us in pumpkin pieces and blood. We just listen to the grinding metal as the elevator falls back to the ground with a mighty crash. We just sit there, completely dumbfounded by what we just had to see. Another friend... gone... just like that, and before our very eyes.

“No. Nuko!” Poppy says, dragging herself to the edge and screaming her lungs out, before breaking down into tears.

“I’m sorry. I really am.” Claryssa says, staying out of the way, completely unfazed and unaffected by what she just saw, like she is beyond used to this.

“This can’t be happening. There’s just no way.” I say, closing my eyes and hoping that this is all just one crazy dream.

“...Rest must know we’re here, and he’s going to throw everything he can at us, because he can. If you really want to continue on, you can’t let your guard-“ Claryssa says, looking down at the wreckage.

“He’s taken another one of our friends. What he’s doing to us, to the world, I will never forgive him. When we find him... I am kicking his no-good ass.” Poppy says, beyond upset and losing her temper more than I’ve ever known her to be capable of... this is a whole other side to her I’ve never seen before, and I’m not sure how to feel about it.

Once we have cried our tears, and Poppy’s wound has completely healed, we both stand up and dust ourselves off.

“Let’s do this. For Green and Blue. You know what? To hell with the codenames for this mission. For Nuko and Roxy.” I say, trying to find the strength to keep going, but more importantly, the strength to keep Poppy from breaking.

“You’re right. For Nuko and Roxy, and in the hopes we find Andy and Blanche too.” Poppy says, wiping the tears from her eyes, breathing heavily to keep her cool.

Knowing that we have to keep going, we turn around and face the rest of the Heaven’s Eye. It looks completely different now. The shrine is completely gone, replaced with nothing but more pavement, like it never existed in the first place. Hanging above the city is that giant demonic octopus thing we saw earlier, and it looks even creepier from up close. It looks like most of its tentacles go down into the ship itself. With lots of sets of teeth across it’s body and many eyes, it would be suicide to take it on headfirst. Across the city, I can see a lot of those Remnants walking around, going about their lives as if nothing is wrong here. The other difference is the appearance of five black landmarks, each with a different symbol painted in the sky using smoke. In the centre of those buildings, it looks like there is a staircase going down. That seems to be the way into where Rest is hiding.

The time is 2:59, and the sun doesn’t rise for another 4 hours, so if that is our time limit, we need to make a move now.

“Come on, let’s do this.” I say, trying to keep strong in front of the others, otherwise, I don’t know if I could do this in a million years.

The others follow shortly behind me, as we continue into the city, knowing that the biggest battle we’ve ever had, is just five keys away. He won’t win again. He just won’t.