Emma allowed herself to be corralled into an interrogation room with the rest of her rag-tag group. She stole one last glance back at Spook as the gates descended behind them. She hoped despite all odds that he would be safe, but in the back of her head she knew that he would more then likely be dead soon. But she refused to let that thought surface above her sub-conscious, denying its very existence. But there was no more time to think about Spook, for no sooner then when they entered the room they were threatened. A tip of a bayonet was shoved into her chest, demanding her name and her weapons. She had a knife, which she reluctantly dropped, but no words came. The guards were shouting and threatening them and Emma was frozen.

Luckily Lily kept a cool head, speaking for the group. Emma was embarrassed by her inability to take action- it had caused so many problems for her so far and was continuing to do so. Meryn pleaded their case, doing her best to make the guards see they weren't the cause of their problem, but the guards were not listening. Emma didn't speak, but she emphatically nodded in agreement with Lily.

But suddenly none of that was important. The wood demons were moving from the forest and Emma could only hope Spook found some way out. But there was once again no time to worry about Spook. The door to the room they were in buckled under the force of the wood demons, threatening to break and let them in. Only moments before Lily was about to be knocked out by the ornery guard, which likely would have followed by the rest of them being executed- but now it appeared the attackers were their saving grace. The other guard shouted for the crowd outside to run, and Emma was inclined to do the same. He ran out the door, roughly shoving one of the city boys into Meryn. The other guard stood, protecting the door. Emma took her chance. She glanced at Lily and mouthed, "Let's get out of here." She turned for the door, making a mad dash for the city's interior. She stopped momentarily to collect the boy and Meryn, grabbing their hands and pulling them along with her.

This can't be it. There has to be a way out. Somehow, please, let there be a way out of this!

Scarlet was no stranger to life threatening situations. In fact he faces such situations almost daily. However this was of a much, much larger scale. A thick crowd of angry near-rabid people all shouting themselves hoarse were starting to grow less and less fearful of the weapons meant to keep them at bay. A wall of flesh, noise, and hate proceeded to press further and further inwards forcing Scarlet to scoot back in fear as the crowd forced the hostile guards closer to him. Frantically Scarlet's eyes darted in every direction but the crowd was far too thick to try and charge through and he didn't want to test his luck against the trigger-happy guards. He was going to be shot that was a guarantee. He had come all this way for a fistful of coin and a musket-ball feast. Suddenly the skies seemed to fill with nothing but the sounds of gunfire that drowned out even the deafening noise of the rabid crowd.

Is the world ending what is going on? Did those Travelers cause all this? Regardless I refuse to let this become my grave. If I can't go forward then I have to go backwards through the door while everyone is distracted.

His eyes shining with newly formed confidence Scarlet quickly rose to his feet and turned towards the door. It was just a simple wooden door. Even if it was locked he was sure he could break something like a wooden door. Scarlet grasped the door latch and pulled only for his hand to slip right off when the door didn't even budge an inch. Gritting his teeth Scarlet grasped the latch with both hands and tugged on it as hard as he could to no avail. Over and over he yanked on the latch but no matter what the barred door refused to open.

"Oi! Get away from the door! Now, before I shoot!"

One of the guards had noticed the flurry of movement behind him as the small boy dressed in rags on the ground was now attempting to force his way through the door he was supposed to be guarding. Scarlet, ignoring the shouts from the guard as insignificant they were compared to the gunfire above, proceeded to ram his shoulder into the door repeatedly tears welling up as his shoulder bruised from the repeated bashing.

"Open, damn you, open! Open!"

With one final shove against the door Scarlet fell to his knees and pounded on the door with his fist. The brief moment of confidence he had was now shattered. Slumping fully to the ground he sat down and put his back up against the door and looked up into the sky one last time.

Well this is it I guess. I can't go anywhere from here and my only way out is completely blocked. Blocked by a feeble wooden door. What a great end to this slum rat. I wonder what'll get me first? Whatever is on the other side of this wall or what's already on this side. The skies sure are clear today. I wonder what it'd be like to fly up there right now. Just look down on this shit hole and laugh. That'd be swee--

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted when the door behind him suddenly lurched inwards. Scarlet managed to scramble to his feet just quick enough to get grabbed and thrown by the panicked guard that had unlocked the door in the first place. He groaned as he crashed heavily into another person and landed on his bruised shoulder. Rolling off of the person he landed on Scarlet picked himself up and looked out at the newly opened door and grinned widely with a snort of laughter.

"Fuck yeah I got through! I'm still alive ya fuckers! Today sure ain't the day ya kill me off--"

Scarlet nearly choked on his own spit as he turned towards the noise behind him and saw the door leading to the outside undulating as roots burrowed their way in and out of the door.

"Oh come o--Ach!"

Once more he was interrupted. This time by a woman he had never seen before who decided it was best to run back into the city and get away from whatever was at the door as possible with both him and the other mystery person in tow.

"Who in the hell are you? Who is this, and what the hell were those!?"

He shouted as he tried to keep himself from collapsing as he kept up with the woman's pace.

Ronken tightened his grip on the bag, not wishing to ever let it go. With the world's biggest smile on his face he said, "Just call me your delivery boy then."

He wasn't sure how, or when he was going to deliver the letter. A part of Ronken just wanted to take the money and run. If the guard managed to get that poll out of their ass long enough to let the strangers in then he was right as rain. But he wasn't willing to count on that. At the same time he'd had enough scuffles with them during riots to not want to charge the door. Least not now, having just spent all of last night in the ring.

It dawned on Ronken that maybe it would be a good idea to ask some questions about the job.

"So uhm, do ya have any idea how-"

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT
BANG! BANG! BANGBANG! BOOM! BOOMBOOM! BOOM!

For second time today, Ronken may have screamed then. But, again, just a bit!

This time was far worse though. By instinct he held his hands to his ears. Eyes wincing from the shock.

There it was, he had been expecting it, but a certain woman and bag of coin had distracted him. Just like a decade ago. After the alarms came the artillery. Scared the whole city witless, no one had been through it before.

Ronken didn't dare remove his hands, the canons and guns still roaring. He was practically deafened. The pounding angering his headache.

As soon as it started, the gun fire stopped. And then a second after, the canons too. His ears rang, but it had ended.

The woman still stood in front of him, seeming unmoved. He faked a laugh and said, "Bloody guns, right?"

Suddenly he was shoved from behind by some old man running by. He was going to grab him when he was shoved again. This time by some short woman. Then again, again, and again.

By the time that Ronken understood that the mob was stampeding it was too late. He had had his feet stepped on, been spun around madly, and finally pushed to the ground. He'd been in enough riots to know that falling down in a panic was a death sentence.

Punching, pushing, and fighting he managed to get up. His employer was gone, all he saw was running strangers. And all he heard was their screaming and the ringing of his own ears.

Disorientated and confused, he just started running. He shoved passerby as needed, his only care getting somewhere, anywhere, else.

Finally the crowd broke and he found himself at the door he had been huddled around not ten minutes prior.

He groaned and muttered a curse.

Snaked up and around the walls were creatures beyond Ronken's understanding. All he could make out were twisted black forms, with eyes that stared through him.

Surprisingly there were some guards still doing their freakin jobs. Sorta. They had their guns clenched tight and stood frozen at the sight of the monsters. Looked like they were gonna piss themselves.

"Don't just stand there! Shoot you idiots!!" Ronken yelled at them as he ran for door filled with, he hoped, the travelers. This hadn't been his first choice, but he thought he may as well make the best of it.

He spotted someone stumbling through the door, his eyes flickering to the a mask on their person. He sighed with relief.

Ronken ran to them and tightly grabbed their arm. He yelled, "Special delivery!!" before he shoved the crumpled letter into their chest.

And then he ran like hell with his new friend.

He really hoped that mask was brass.

The guard turned away from her, and for a moment Meryn was free of scrutiny. She couldn't run – the doors were locked and her friends were still here, in danger. She couldn't fight – the guards had guns. She still had Spook's rune, but who knew what that did. Meryn wasn't sure she wanted to take the chance after the ordeal with the snake monster. Her eyes darted to Lily and Emma. The clamorous sounds on both sides of the walls were reaching fever pitch. Oliver's bell sat heavy on her chest.

On an impulse Meryn raised Spook's mask and fastened it to her face.

The world that came into focus from behind the mask was a chaotic explosion of movement and color. Meryn saw her companions' familiar dreams shifting around them, as well as those of the guards, adrenaline making their movements sharp and erratic. She turned and saw a chaotic mass of color and movement from within the city – except she saw it through the wall. She turned her head to look at the other side. Her blood immediately chilled.

Beyond the wall was an enormous, writhing mass of black. It moved along the ground. Pieces broke away and started climbing the wall. The door started to crack. And then the scene was chaos.

Meryn's guard cut and run (not that she blamed him) shoving her aside and practically throwing a child at her. She didn't have time to recover as Emma grabbed her (and the poor kid) and made a break for the door. Meryn stumbled after Emma, unable to do more but follow after her as she was overwhelmed by the flurry of color and movement the mask showed. And the black slowly seeping through.

A foreign grip found her arm. Her head snapped to the side just in time for something to be roughly shoved into her chest. A stranger yanked and Meryn felt Emma's hold on her hand slip. And without that anchor, Meryn was lost in the frantic sea of people.

Meryn could only struggle to stay on her feet as the stranger pulled too hard, running through the panicked citizens of Cogswall. The dizzying sights of people and dreams and demons spun around her as she was dragged behind the stranger. By the gods above this was all her fault – if she'd just tossed the felidrake into the portal, if she hadn't used it to teleport the demon, if it hadn't been killed, if they hadn't been infected, if she'd never left Enn in the first place –

They broke through the suffocating frenzy of people and emerged in a narrow, dead-end alley. Whoever it was that pulled her along turned over his shoulder, saying "You one of those magic Traveller guys?"

But Meryn wasn't listening. Finally getting her bearings, she dug her heels into the ground and wrenched her wrist from the stranger's grip. She shoved whatever had been thrust upon her (some sort of… envelope? She didn't have the time to care) back into his own chest and used the force to try and push him away. Satisfaction flickered in her when she saw him stumble back a few steps, barely keeping from falling over.

"Hey!" he shouted in surprise.

She finally took him in – it was a man, older than her, taller than her (though that wasn't saying much), clearly stronger with how he'd just dragged her through the mob. He was also… rather dirty. And smelly. Meryn had lived on the streets long enough to know the look of those who called it home.

But Meryn wasn't looking at him. Not really. No, instead she was looking at the dreams living in the air around him. They were a lifeless mess of browns and greys, flat, stagnant colors that seemed to float aimlessly around him, even in this panic. They moved sluggishly, colors dripping and bleeding into each other. But every now and then, a brown would lighten to a flash of orange, grey would shift to an electric blue. They were the only hints that there might be any vibrancy to him at all.

Meryn wanted away from him. She had to find the others, and they needed to get out. She spun her head around, her long braid, frayed and messy from her 'adventure' whipping behind her. She could still see the ever darkening mass of dreams near the city wall. Her eyes found a route up the rusting metal building that lined the alley, if she could get enough momentum to reach the first hand-hold. Meryn backed up as far as she could and bounced once on her toes. Her whole body still had aches and pains arcing through it. Steeling herself, she took off towards the wall.

But the man had closed the distance in the time it'd taken her to collect herself. She'd barely taken her first step when he clamped onto her arm again. The sudden change in her momentum threw Meryn off balance and she swung around to face him just as he once again shoved the envelope at her.

"No, this is yours!" Frustration stained his voice his grip turning painful in his determination. Meryn lashed out – a response ingrained in her at a young age to angry men who wouldn't let go. Adrenaline surged in her and she grabbed her open bag with her free hand. She swung as hard as she could at the man.

"F - oof!"

Her bag collided with his stomach and he staggered back, releasing her arm. A slip of paper fluttered to the ground along with the envelope. The man was doubled over and coughing. Meryn turned and immediately took off at the wall again. Her feet landed once, twice against the rusted metal, helping to propel her upward. Her hands reached up, ready to latch onto a high window ledge to pull herself higher.

"Stop running!" Meryn heard just before she felt a hard yank on her braid. Her hands missed the ledge. She fell back, landing hard on her rear, her arms barely catching herself, keeping her head from hitting the ground. Her hands burned with new cuts.

Her eyes snapped to the man, still bent over but looking determined. And annoyed. He was glaring at her as he reached down to curl his hand around a piece of paper. Meryn's eyes widened when she saw the intricate lines of a rune peaking out from under his fingers. The envelope was still crumpled on the ground.

"For hell's sake just take it!!"

The rune began to glow.

Lily's eyes nearly crossed as the stock of a musket came within inches of her forehead. She lurched back a belated step, arms coming up to shield her head as her eyes widened. Fear shot through her, all but instantly burned away by rage. She'd long since stopped being afraid of men who turned to violence at the drop of a hat.

Tree demons, though...she was still plenty wary of them.

When the door began to crackle and snap with blighted roots, Lily flew into action. She ducked down, neatly slipping the now-limp grasp of the guard, grabbing Spook's sword off the ground and bolting for the door, notched knife forgotten. Neither guard turned their muskets on her, and that was what she'd bet on as she hastily knotted the jewel-studded belt around her waist. She kept a hand on the pommel as she nearly slammed into Emma on their way out—even as hopelessly untrained as she was, a sharp poky metal stick was better than nothing.

Lily just bellowed for them to run as they followed the fleeing guard into sunlight. She was blinded for a moment, her senses overwhelmed by the sudden brightness, the screams of people and the ricochet of cannonfire, the utter stench she only recognized from the very lowest places in Enn—

Head spinning, she ran with the mass of people, trying to stick to the outer edges so as not to be trampled in the center. Grimly, she tangled her hand in Emma's sleeve and hoped, prayed that Emma could hold on to the others. She'd been on the periphery of enough mobs before to know that to fall was death. Lily frantically looked around, one hand tight on Emma and the other on the hilt of Spook's sword, and found what she was looking for—a slope upwards which, even better, a good portion of the mob was breaking off towards.

Tree demons. Tree demons. They were breaking in with roots and with leaves, eating through wooden doors but climbing stone walls. In the forest, they had struck out with branches and thorns. And, despite the screaming mob, they were still in a city—and a city with trundling man-machines must have some sort of upper class, at least a handful of snooty nobles who had better things to do than avoid the piss-buckets being tossed out of windows every morning—

"Come on!" she shouted into Emma's ear to be heard over the crowd and gunfire, tugging her by the arm towards the ascending road. "Follow me, I have an idea!"

What better place to escape tree demons than in the deep dark stone tunnels of a sewer?

Emma, Meryn, and the unfortunate stranger now tagging along with them were awash in the crowd. The city had devolved into pandemonium under the threat of the wood demons, and the reluctant Travelers were certainly partially to blame for the likely destruction of the city. But none of it mattered- all that mattered now was survival. Emma had to hold on to everyone, or it could very well be their death- being trampled underfoot was a real risk in the chaos. She held on to her companions for dear life, being jostled about by the mob. Emma had no choice but to go with the flow of the stampede, being pushed along by those behind them. The boy that had unwillingly come under her tow spoke up, demanding their identity and explanations. "We're... we're Travelers," She was reluctant to apply the title to herself, not really feeling she fit the part, "The rest can wait till we're out of this mess!" She struggled to shout over the roar of the crowd. Soon enough she found Lily on her arm. She was glad to see that they had all made it out of the interrogation room mostly unmolested.

That was until she felt one of the hands attached to hers get roughly pulled away. She turned around and Meryn was gone, lost to the crowd. She struggled against the mass of people, but to no avail, pushed forward roughly by the press of people behind her. "Meryn! Meryn! Where are you?!", She shouted for the girl, struggling to project her voice enough to carry over the rabble of the crowd- but it was futile. She was only being pushed further and further away from where she lost Meryn, seeing not hide nor hair of the small mute girl. It was clear she wasn't going to be able to find the Meryn with all these people here. She reluctantly gave up the struggle, unable to turn in search of her. She heard Lily at her side, shouting into her ear, pulling her in another direction. She wasn't sure whether to protest or let her tug her away- She knew they wouldn't be able to find Meryn for the time being, but it felt wrong to leave her all the same.

Emma turned towards Lily, letting her tug her towards the sloping street. "I lost Meryn! Someone grabbed her!" She was still struggling to be heard over the crowd and struggling to believe that she had really lost Meryn. Her head would be in her hands if it wasn't for the fact that she still had to hang onto Lily and the boy. It was a dumb mistake- she should of kept a tighter grip on Meryn, she shouldn't have let anyone grab her. Emma prayed for the young messenger's safety, unable to accept the idea of her dying in that crowd. Unwilling both because of her bond with the girl after years of treating her injuries, and because she would be emotionally unable to deal with more death on her hands. She always wanted to help the girl, even back in Enn, especially back then, but could she not have done more?

"Let's get out of here." Emma turned for the door, making a mad dash for the city's interior. She stopped momentarily to collect the boy and Meryn, grabbing their hands and pulling them along with her.

"Who in the hell are you? Who is this, and what the hell were those!?" Scarlet shouted as he tried to keep himself from collapsing as he kept up with the woman's pace.

"We're... we're Travelers," Emma was reluctant to apply the title to herself, not really feeling she fit the part, "The rest can wait till we're out of this mess!"

Ronken ran to Meryn and tightly grabbed her arm. He yelled, "Special delivery!!" before he shoved the crumpled letter into her chest. And then he ran like hell with his new friend.

"Come on!" Lily shouted into Emma's ear to be heard over the crowd and gunfire, tugging her by the arm towards the ascending road. "Follow me, I have an idea!" What better place to escape tree demons than in the deep dark stone tunnels of a sewer?

Emma turned towards Lily, letting her tug her towards the sloping street. "I lost Meryn! Someone grabbed her!"

Finally getting her bearings, Meryn dug her heels into the ground and wrenched her wrist from the stranger's grip.

Ronken was glaring at her as he reached down to curl his hand around a piece of paper. Meryn's eyes widened when she saw the intricate lines of a rune peeking out from under his fingers.

Explosions outside the wall filled the sky with flashing smoke. Mechs slammed their way through the streets and launched over the walls to join the fight against the dark onslaught. The screech of dying tree demons split the air; some of them that scaled the wall had caught fire from the explosions, and they stood hissing through the flames before they died in burning ash.

Alarms howled. Throughout the city, voices bellowed on loudspeakers and from the top of the wall, calling for flamethrowers and torches -- barely audible over the screaming and rushing and looting and crashing and people being trampled underfoot.

As guns were being traded for flamethrowers, more of the tree demons that rushed over the wall were set on fire as they ran. Bright streaks of nimble, screeching light darted in the streets. A cart of hay caught fire -- then a trash dump, then a house, long after the offending demon had burned to death.

But the city, in its eagerness to control the attacking flood, would only seal its own fate. As Spook had warned the Travelers only hours before:

"When the body dies, the crystals dissolve in the air and infect anyone and anything that surrounds it. Even if the host is killed before the crystals form -- even if the body is burned -- the chance is still too great that the remains will cause further infection."

In the shadow of an alley, Ronken grabbed the sigil that Spook had entrusted to Meryn.

A flash of bright blue light blinded them both for a moment. The paper disintegrated. Ronken would suddenly feel drained of energy, like he'd just run twenty miles uphill. Meryn would see, through Spook's mask, how Ronken's dreams shriveled and weakened as their power was sucked away in an instant by the sigil.

When their eyes readjusted to the smoke-dimmed sunlight, a shimmering fairy buzzed like a dragonfly in front of Ronken's face. The fairy's golden skin gleamed; it had blue hair, tiny green clothes, and wings that reflected all the colors of a rainbow. Its eyes were open wide in shock at suddenly finding itself in a war zone, staring at the ugly stubbled face of a human.

"What is this!" the fairy yelled in a tiny, high-speed voice. "Whaddaya want- Who're you- Where am I? You can't just summon a fairy for no reason this is against the rules I don't see an immediate emergency you can fend for yourself thank you very much and who the hell are you what are you looking at?" The fairy whirled around and shot accusations at Meryn as well, pointing accusing fingers at both of them -- but the mask on Meryn's face gave the little fairy pause. As the fairy stared at the mask its anger faltered, and it set its mouth in a grim line. "Spook is dead, isn't he?"

Another explosion ripped through the air -- this one sounded much closer. A nearby house caught fire, and the wind that swirled through the streets smelled like smoke and sulfur.

The fairy shot straight up into the air, leaving a dim trail of gold shimmer, and it hovered there for a moment, scanning the area. "They do know that killing the Crystalline-infested monsters is gonna infect the city, right? You've got ten minutes before breathing is a bad idea."

Outside the walls, at the edge of the forest where they had left Spook, the sigil he'd created finally activated. A beam of bright light shot up into the sky like a beacon, visible from everywhere within the city. So far, it seemed to be doing little good.

Meanwhile, Lily led Emma and Scarlet among the fleeing crowds, dodging clockwork robots and thieves running off with armfuls of valuables. Somewhere on the next street, a boiler exploded in a spray of boiling water and a billow of white searing steam -- but their attention was on the manhole cover in the road.

It would take both Lily and Emma to pry it up, and the well below it was a sheer drop into black nothingness, with only a thin metal ladder to lead the way down. It smelled like damp cabbage and rotting fish.

A tree demon skittered into the road, followed by two more, riddled with sharp black crystals, their eyes glowing red.

At the bottom of the ladder, the floor was wet with pools of standing putrid water, illuminated only by the light that filtered down from the hole they'd come in through. The brick walls were coated in a goopy growth.

To the left, far in the distance of the sewer corridor, a few shards of dim sunlight illuminated something dusty and metal.

To the right, deep at the other end of the corridor, firelight flickered -- like torches or lamps -- playing moving shadows on the walls.

For one crystal-clear moment, Lily stood at the manhole, her red hair blowing in the wind like a flag. She ushered Emma and the child down in front of her, screams and the crackling of fire ricocheting in her ears, before looking up. The city was aflame. She could see some of the wall from here, blackened tree demons still swarming over the sides, the few guards still left completely overrun. Gouts of fire shot from the hands of more pot-bellied robots, setting both demons and buildings alight indiscriminately, the smell of charcoal thick on the air. A sudden stab of guilty horror was only the third thing that occurred to her, though; the second was Meryn, have to find Meryn; the first was only Rose, Rose, Rose—her sister's name on repeat.

For a brief second, Lily considered shutting the manhole behind Emma and running off to find her sister, despite the chaos consuming the city—but then the boy looked up at her, a tree demon shrieked as it died somewhere down the street, and the next thing she knew her boots were splashing into the sewer filth.

“They might not come down here,” she gasped out, trying to catch her breath. She glanced down, wrinkling her nose but otherwise not protesting as she stepped forward to try and get a better view down the sewer tunnel. “We need to—we need to head downwards, see where the sewers empty out, it might get us out of the city—”

After a moment, she squared her shoulders and turned to the left, towards what looked like a flicker of sunlight, and started marching. Despite the disgusted look on her face, her pace slogging through the muck didn’t slow. She continued forward even as she turned to Emma. ”Meryn’s still up there. We have to find her, but—you know her best, where would she be? If she got lost?”

If it were ever to come up, no, Ronken was not losing in a fight against a person half his size. Well, he at least wasn't losing a fair fight.

All the running, spinning, tripping, traipsing, and stumbling wasn't good for Ronken right now. While Happyroot gave you the warm and fuzzies and put a smile on your face it did, sadly, also easily cause nausea, vomiting, and motion sickness. He knew better than to do anything physical while on it. Sadly he didn't have much choice. Much to his displeasure, that hit to the gut had nearly caused him to lose his lunch.

He was running low on restraint. If the little turd wanted to keep making things hard he would just shove the letter down their throat.

"For hell's sake just take it!"

He let his anger loose at the paper once he grabbed it, crumpling it harshly.

There was a harsh flash of light and Ronken was brought to his knees. His eyes slammed shut and his hands his only support from crumpling to the floor. The Happyroot already made him tired, but this. It felt like someone poisoned him. His muscles ached, his mind was numbed, he felt as though he could fall asleep there and then.

In a haze he opened his eyes to.. a- small, flying, glowy person?

"The hell?" He breathed lowly, his voice hoarse and eyes now wide.

The little thing started talking a mile a minute. Ronken shifted away quickly, now sitting flat, and he said again slightly louder, "What the hell?!

The bug glowy person then zipped over to his new friend. Ronken took that moment to slowly stand back up, his feet unsure and legs shaking slightly.

The little thing mentioned something about a spook, which he would agree the bug had given him.

Then it went and said some lovely things about infection and breathing being bad.

Ronken wheezed a weak, "What?!" He then started mumbling various things; Glowy bugs, magic paper, bloody happyroot, why can't I breath, I don't like infections, should have stayed in bed.

Then a giant pillar of light flashed up into the sky, and Ronken stood frozen and slack jawed, he started silently at the tower of spooky light, before yelling out, "WHAT THE HELL?!"

He whirled around to Meryn and shouted at them, "What in the bloody bollocking hell piss is happening?!"

Emma looked around before she descended into the darkness. It was clear: The city had fallen. Despite the walls, despite the guns, despite everything, it looked like eventually everything did end. She released the boy's hand, turning to him. "You can come with us if you want... but... well, I was going to say it'll probably be dangerous, but it looks like we're in the middle of a whole lot of danger. I'll try my best to get you to safety and then..." She looked at they boy. He was obviously homeless, bandaged, bruised, dirty. He didn't have parents to go back to, at least Emma didn't think so. "Well, you can decide what to do." She nodded at him, turning to the manhole cover, descending into the depths of the sewers.

Unsurprisingly it stank. Her face scrunched. She wasn't exactly use to conditions like this. She stepped down into the muck, knee deep in filth. "Gross." She sighed. Why can't our escape route be a nice hospitable underground anything-but-a-sewer, huh? As for Lily's question, Emma shook her head. She was wracked with guilt over losing Meryn. She took a moment to think it over. She saw Meryn a lot, but only in her shop, and it wasn't exactly like she could ask a mute girl where she liked to hang out. "If she got lost... I doubt she'd stay in one place, she'd probably take to the roofs, get on the move. At least that's my best guess."

Emma looked down at the filth they were walking in. "Y'know, this is a real shitty situation... figuratively and literally." Emma followed Lily to the light. "Although I don't know how we're going to find her. The streets are chaos and if those things find us they'll kill us. We need a plan- even if we get outside of the city it's not like we'll be much safer, there's just as many of them outside as there are in. Maybe there's somewhere inside that's still holding out?"

Meryn saw the stranger's dreams wither and drain just before she was blinded by a flash of light. Her eyes squeezed shut and an arm raised to shield her face, when after a moment a voice rang through the air. A very high, very grating voice. Meryn opened her eyes to see a… firefly? Nope nope nope it was talking because magic. It flitted between the stranger and her, pointing anger and accusations. It was a fairy. An actual fairy.

The stranger seemed to be processing this just about as well as she was.

Eventually both he and the fairy were looking to her for answers. Gritting her teeth, Meryn forced herself to her feet. She pulled at the nametag pinned to her chest to display it to them, tugging at the loose fabric of her shirt. Letting go, she reached up with her other hand and yanked Spook's mask off her face. The change was more jarring than she expected it to be – fluid, ephemeral color giving way to stark, solid reality. She held the mask up to the fairy. Meryn looked over her shoulder to see the beacon of light erupting from where she'd entered the city. It had to be Spook. Meryn looked back up at the fairy and pointed at the beacon, still holding up the mask. She bit the inside of her lip, glancing from the fairy to the stranger to the buildings lining the alley.

Her weight moved to the balls of her feet and she started bouncing almost subconsciously. She didn't want to be here, surrounded by infected demons in a dead-end alley with a creepy (was he high?) man and some hyped up glowbug. (Magic was wonderful and exciting and enthralling and all, but… really. Time and place.) She needed to move, she needed to climb. Fear and adrenaline mixed, morphing from blind panic to white-knuckled determination (desperation?). She needed to get some altitude and find her friends and get the hell out of Cogswall. Whether or not the fairy was interested in helping.

Meryn pulled the mask back over her face and instantly the world was an explosion of color once more. Moving forward, she bent to pick up the crumpled letter and shoved it into the man's chest without stopping. Her eyes made quick work scanning the alley, searching for the easiest route up rather than the fastest.

As gross as he was, Meryn couldn't just let the guy die in the city. Because in all likelihood, he would. (And so would she. Just like everyone else in the city and it was herfaultherfaultherfault)

She found a fire escape snaking down the side of the building at the far end of the alley. The ladder was pulled up, the bottom of it hanging about ten feet above the ground. The corner of her mouth quirked up.

Meryn broke into a sprint, headed straight for the wall at the end of the alley. She reached it, took two steps up the wall, and kicked off. She twisted in the air, facing the opening of the alley and stretched out her arms. Her palms found the bottom rung. Her weight pulled the ladder down, sending a jolt through her shoulders. She'd barely touched the ground when she'd already started climbing the back. Halfway up she climbed around to the front of it and pulled herself up to the first landing. Turning, Meryn looked down at the man, then up at the beacon at the edge of the city. She stared for a heartbeat at the fairy. Spook had given her that rune for a reason. Small, frightened hope flickered in her chest, that this would be some sort of help, that it wouldn't be just her trying to survive in a world more harsh than she was prepared for.

She turned and hurried up the fire escape.

This is a nightmare

The day had gone from a perfectly normal routine to an apocalypse setting faster than Scarlet could blink. People were running around in a frenzy almost as if their heads have been cut off. Looters were smashing and grabbing anything that wasn't bolted down, and the city guards were trying their absolute hardest to protect all of these citizens yet each and every one of them meant nothing compared to the real nightmares that dropped down into the city from the top of the wall like it was nothing. They screeched as they burned and ran into whatever they could without a care for the fire that has engulfed them. Scarlet has seen some of the worst Enn had to offer in some of the darkest corners but this was something far more frightening. The image of the burning, screeching tree demon as it collapsed with its dying breath on a family of three trying to escape their blazing home would be forever etched into his mind.

All the chaos around him was so distracting he never even noticed stopping as the women of the group pried off the manhole in the road and his attention was only torn away from his surroundings when the woman who had his hand in her grip let go and began speaking to him.

She released the boy's hand, turning to him. "You can come with us if you want... but... well, I was going to say it'll probably be dangerous, but it looks like we're in the middle of a whole lot of danger. I'll try my best to get you to safety and then..." She looked at they boy. He was obviously homeless, bandaged, bruised, dirty. He didn't have parents to go back to, at least Emma didn't think so. "Well, you can decide what to do." She nodded at him, turning to the manhole cover, descending into the depths of the sewers.

Scarlet watched with a blank face as she left him there all by himself in the middle of all the chaos. After a second he glared at the hole in the ground and growled as he climbed down and dragged the manhole cover with all his might back over the hole with to the best of his ability.

"Don't you fuckin' leave me there in all of that mess! It'll be dangerous my ass!" He shouted as he descended into the sewers, "You dragged me into this mess I ought to see I get my rightful compensation from ya."

Now that his mind was cleared of the nightmare above he began to brainstorm as quickly as he could thinking of anything that may just save his hide later down the road. As far as he knew there was no way out of the city through the sewers as he's tried often enough to do it himself. Being able to get in and out of the city without being branded as a Traveler could have its perks is what his young childish mind thought up. As he caught up to the two women he managed to hear a snippet of what they were talking about.

"Heh outside may not be any safer but do ya really think a city so sealed away from the outside like it is will have anythin' to stronghold yerself in. Not like havin' walls would help ya any against whatever the hell those were. On the other hand there ain't any way out in these sewers. Anyways I think it's about time I got that explanation ya owe me, eh?"

“We need to—we need to head downwards, see where the sewers empty out, it might get us out of the city—”

"We need a plan- even if we get outside of the city it's not like we'll be much safer, there's just as many of them outside as there are in. Maybe there's somewhere inside that's still holding out?"

"Heh outside may not be any safer but do ya really think a city so sealed away from the outside like it is will have anythin' to stronghold yerself in. Not like havin' walls would help ya any against whatever the hell those were. On the other hand there ain't any way out in these sewers. Anyways I think it's about time I got that explanation ya owe me, eh?"

"The explanation of everything is that reality only exists in your own mind."

A voice echoed ahead of them, where -- as their eyes adjusted to the dim light -- a shaft of smoky sunlight highlighted the worn edges of a rusting mech. It was sitting on a bent leg, tilted sadly in a pool of brackish water. The cap that usually protected the driver was missing, and all the knobs and levers were exposed.

"Your senses are all just triggers for your brain, and your brain interprets them to mean what you call 'reality.' So really, reality is anything you want to make it. A way out, for example. Maybe these sewers really smell like cotton candy and lavender. Maybe those demons aren't real. It's all in your head."

A young boy -- a few years older than Scarlett -- poked his head out of the mech and folded his arms on its edge, grinning. "Money's just made up, too. It has no inherent value other than what people give to it. So you might as well pay up." He reached out a dirty hand and crooked his fingers for cash. There was a sigil drawn on the back of his hand. "I'll tell you how to get out."

---

"What in the bloody bollocking hell piss is happening?!"

Small, frightened hope flickered in her chest, that this would be some sort of help, that it wouldn't be just her trying to survive in a world more harsh than she was prepared for.

She turned and hurried up the fire escape.

The fairy hovered high and watched as Meryn made quick work of the old fire escape. Rusted metal skiffed and snapped into place.

And then, there was the dirty one that smelled like happyroot.

The fairy flashed in anger and buzzed in front of Ronken's face. "What's happening is you're going to die if you stand here yabbering." It grabbed a fistful of Ronken's hair and yanked toward the fire escape, though this did nothing but cause a bit of discomfort on Ronken's part.

The infected tree-demon that was skittering like a rabid dog toward Ronken's heels, though, promised a very different sensation were it allowed to catch up.

The fairy let go in a huff, spiraled in the air, and whizzed upward after Meryn -- just to narrowly avoid being sprayed with musket shot. The fairy screeched and hid behind Meryn's shoulder just as a tree demon behind Meryn toppled head-over-heels to the street far below. The woman on the roof peered down at Meryn over the sight of a smoking musket, her sooty face as expressionless as stone.

After a moment, the woman lowered her weapon and offered a hand to help Meryn up onto the roof. "You're lucky, street performer," she said, making an assumption about Meryn's mask and acrobatics; she reloaded the musket and set her sight on the demon that was chasing Ronken.

Behind her, a younger boy stood at another side of the roof with a quiver of arrows and a bucket of burning coals at his side. He took careful aim and let loose a fiery arrow into the alley.

"How's the road to the palace?" the woman asked Meryn. "Could we make it through without wasting ammo?"

The boy-archer waved a fiery arrow and smirked. "It's a fine day to overthrow the government."

The fairy lighted on Meryn's shoulder. "What we should be doing is getting underground before that portal opens." It pointed to the sky, where the beam of light disappeared into the clouds. "Or we could be sucked up along with the demons."

The woman stared steadily at the fairy. "What's that, a mosquito?"

Ronken's eyes were darting everywhere, from the beam of light, the fluttering bug person, to the Traveler with the bronze mask. His mouth agape and expression slack. His mind was was yelling over and over 'what is happening'. He was seriously considering if he'd taken something 'bad'. He had a bad feeling in his stomach that he had overdosed on something and in reality he was lying in a gutter comatose imagining all this. Then again maybe that feeling in his stomach was just a mixture of Happyroot and a sucker punch to the gut.

If it was the former and he ended up living, he vowed to give up his drug habit.... at least for a week. Maybe.

Taking a quick shallow breath Ronken said to the Traveler, "You're gonna tell me what the hell is going on." His voice hard but face still slack from fear. It was hard to be intimidating when you were being told it was the end of the world. Right now he was wishing he had a mask of his own to cover his face. He did his best to imagine the Traveler with the same expression, and it made him feel a bit better. Though deep down he knew no legendary Traveler would even blink at something like this.

The Traveler showed off some pin on their shirt, and Ronken tried to see what it was. He was still seeing stars from whatever had just blown up in his face. He noted to ask about that flash next. Once he did make out the tag he just groaned quietly. He couldn't read. No idiot in Cogswall would expect your average Joe to read that chicken scratch the nobles called 'writing'. But then, he had to remind himself, this idiot wasn't from Cogswall in all likelihood.

They ripped off their mask and to Ronken's mild surprise, they were a woman. A young woman too at that. It wasn't that he didn't think a woman could hold their own (he'd had his ass kicked by plenty of ladies) it was more that when he imagined a heroic legendary Traveler, his mind went to a wise old man. Maybe with a long grey beard.

He was slightly disappointed that they weren't shaking in their boots like he had imagined, but oh well.

And just like that, they were back in action. The Traveler put her mask back on, shoved the letter onto his chest again. What did they not understand about a delivery?! He was about to start to start their dance of hot potato, but they had already run past him and towards the end of the alley. This time there was no catching up, and no pulling them down from the wall. Ronken just yelled at them, "Are ya' dim or somethin'? Stop runnin'!" He ran after them, but knew they'd ditch him this time if they wanted to.

When they shoved down the fire escape and looked down at him with the cold grinning mask he gave a surprised, "Oh." Catching their wordless meaning. 'Follow me'. Or at least he hoped they meant that.

He jogged to the ladder. He debated thanking them for not leaving him for, as the fairy said, dead. But he decided he wasn't feeling very thankful at the moment. Instead he started to ask them, "You still haven't told me what is happeni-?"

He was cut off when the glowy bug person flew down and shouted at him, "What's happening is you're going to die if you stand here yabbering." They grabbed onto his tussled and dirty hair and started tugging. Making him grit his teeth and go to swat his hand at them. He already had enough mats and tangles in his hair as it was. He didn't need more.

He only managed to miss the thing, but it decided best to let go and leave him alone. Smart. He hated bugs.

Ronken took his first step onto the ladder and felt it lurch under his weight. A few specs of rust shaking off at the movement. He really hoped he wasn't about to fall flat onto concrete. That was all he needed to do today.

The sound of a musket shot made him jerk his head skyward to see a black crystalline form crash past his head. Landing a few feet away from him in the corner of the alley. It looked like those things he saw on the wall. And speaking of those things.

The demon that unbeknownst to him had been stalking Ronken and the Traveler was making its move. It gave a sickening screech and jumped for his leg. Its teeth sinking into his left foot. Fortunately the thick material of his boots managed to stop any skin being broken. But the panic was there all the same.

He gave a scream and kicked his leg out, trying to shake the demon's grip on his boot. The ladder gave a deep groan before the rung he was holding onto snapped, and Ronken fell to the concrete as predicted.

The Demon released its grip. It skittered back and gave a low hiss. Its white eyes staring through Ronken, sending chills through his spine. It shifted slowly around him, before bolting back forward and leaping at him. Ready to sink its teeth into whatever it could get.

He brought his leg back and threw a kick, hitting the demon in the jaw and sending it across the alley. While it recovered he got off his back and stood crouched over, his hand gripping the broken ladder rung tightly.

His stomach was doing twist and turns and his face had gone sheet white. He was seeing double and he was faintly aware he had broken into a sweat. He swore sourly that if he didn't get his throat torn out he was done with Happyroot for a while. Too much hassle. This sort of stuff never happened with Cloudhead or Plum.

The Demon had gotten up and, if he didn't know better, he would say it had stared daggers at him. It shook its head and twisted its jaw around, the crystals creaking in protest as they set themselves. It then started sprinting right back at Ronken, letting loose a scream like fingernails on a chalk board.

He was ready to strike with the rusted bar, the only problem was he saw two demons. He knew there was only one last he checked, but try telling that to the Happyroot. Under his breath he cursed whoever invented the drug in the first place before swinging the rung in a broad stroke.

With a sharp crack the rung connected with the demon's skull, pieces of crystal shattering and flying off. The rung itself snapping on contact. Ronken gave a cheer as the demon fell the ground. But he realized quickly that more damage was done to the rung than the demon. The beast once more began to crawl to its feet.

Unarmed and getting sicker by the second, he decided on a tactical retreat. He was not running away. If this was a person he would be kicking their ass right now. But it wasn't human, it was a magical creepy as hell diamond monster. So really, there was no shame in running retreating.

He shouted up to his well armed friend on the roof, "Help me!" He then started quickly trying to make his way up the fire escape. Trying to keep the demon off him by dodging and on occasion throwing a punch. All while trying not to puke.

Meryn blinked at the two would-be revolutionaries behind her mask. Because… seriously? Was now the time? The fairy flitted about, and Meryn's eyes widened at what it said. She spun around to look at the beacon – the portal – bright and ominous in the sky. They needed to get underground. Meryn whipped back around, looking between the fairy and the woman. Her hand dove into her bag and curled around the magus lens. She held it out to the woman, tapping at the glass eye on her mask as she did so. Still holding the lens out, she looked over her shoulder to see the city. Tar black shadows leaked into the frantic dreams. The city air darkened as the color was snuffed out.

A shout and a clamor came from the fire escape. Meryn spun and looked at the woman again, pushing the magus lens towards her. Then she very unceremoniously grabbed the fairy and shoved it towards the woman too.

Meryn darted back towards the fire escape and bent over the edge of the roof to see the man trying to scramble his way up the ladder. A demon was following behind him. Meryn thrust her hand down for him to grab, her heart in her throat.

Emma's trek through the sewer continued unceremoniously. Scarlet demanded an explanation, which was fair enough- they did destroy his hometown, after all. Hmmmm... how do I put this? Emma rubbed the back of her neck. "Well... as I said, we're Travelers," Emma saw that as a total lie. They may have technically been Travelers, but in truth they were still little more then city-folk. They'd been outside the walls of Enn for what, a day? But it was better to keep your hand hidden, especially since she had no idea who this kid was; borrowing the title of Traveler could prove useful. Traveler's were quite frankly scary to most people, which was all the better for Emma. "We were working on eliminating a disease that's been spreading between cities, and then the wood demon's attacked us and chased us towards this city. We've lost one of our companions, the girl from earlier, and we need to find her then get out of this city. That's the long and the short of it." Emma spoke confidently, putting on a mask of fake bravado while her true emotions couldn't be farther from. In truth she was scared, out of her depth, and really just wanted to go home. If only Forivel was still alive. He'd have known what to do... about the Marquis, about this Traveler business, about everything.

But she knew, as she so often did, that there was no time the dwell on what could have been. The light they had been walking towards was growing ever so slightly closer. It eventually grew to reveal some sort of mechanized suit of armor- a sight unfamiliar to the girl from Enn, a city devoid of many of the odd technologies they'd seen here. The mech seemed to be on its last legs, rusting, breaking, and with a literal damaged leg. A boy popped out of the mech, grinning and spouting total nonsense. The girl slowly nodded, only somewhat comprehending what he was saying. She was into plants, not philosophy. "You want money? What're you going to do with a couple of bucks while the city's getting destroyed?" She shook her head. "It doesn't really matter, does it? If you'll show us the way out, sure." Emma rummaged around in her pack- she brought money with her, even though she wasn't sure how useful it would be outside of the city. She eventually presented a hefty sack of coins. It wasn't all for him, of course. She opened the pouch and presented two gold pieces.

"Good enough?"

He then started quickly trying to make his way up the fire escape. Trying to keep the demon off him by dodging and on occasion throwing a punch. All while trying not to puke.

Meryn darted back towards the fire escape and bent over the edge of the roof to see the man trying to scramble his way up the ladder. A demon was following behind him. Meryn thrust her hand down for him to grab, her heart in her throat.

While the gun-toting woman turned the magus lens in her hand and quirked a brow at the screaming fairy, Ronken was having his own trouble.

The little tree-demon took a punch to the face and went skittering backward, but it snapped to its feet again and leaped like a rabid dog at the gambler's heels. Sharp splintered teeth sank into Ronken's ankle just before a blast of light shot out and turned the demon to dust. The fairy lowered its arms and wheezed a sigh.

Throughout the city, buildings were being overgrown with thick roots and vines; leaves started appearing around the copper and brass; gears jammed with branches while fires broke out. Through the lenses of Meryn's mask she could see the teeming black masses of the demons' tainted souls flowing like water in the streets.

High above, at the top of the clock tower, a little girl screamed. A mass of demons had scaled the tower and were swarming out of its every crevice; a child in a bright green dress backed away from them along the railings. In an effort to get away, she climbed down the thin rickety ladders, shuffled along the eaves and lowered herself down to stand precariously on the hour hand of the enormous clock face. The demons scrabbled to get to her, screeching, their dark souls rippling.

The portal overhead, through the view of the mask, was only emptiness. It expanded at an alarming speed.

"Everyone get down!" the fairy hollered. The fairy raised its arms, and a domed shimmering shield expanded around Meryn and Ronken -- just as the portal above their heads flashed white. The revolutionaries took up their weapons and dropped off the roof, on their way to the palace to declare a new government, cutting down demons in their path.

There was no sound. The demons all disintegrated where they stood; their bodies turned to ash. The air was thick with the crystalline dust, except within the fairy's barrier. "Just stay here," the fairy commanded. "Don't breathe it in."

Through the window of another tower -- opposite the clock tower -- a crossbow was aimed steadily at Meryn's masked head.

She eventually presented a hefty sack of coins. It wasn't all for him, of course. She opened the pouch and presented two gold pieces.

The boy grinned greedily while the coins clinked in his outstretched hand. He raised one up to watch it gleam in the dim light -- but his expression quickly turned confused. He brought it closer, studied the markings, and traced the outer edge with his finger. The sigil on his hand glowed just slightly.

His face slowly drained of color.

The coins, as far as Emma knew, looked just the same as any currency in Enn -- maybe a bit dented and notched, but that could be attributed to long use. This kid, however, knew immediately where they came from.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I didn't realize."

He scrambled to his feet and gave Emma a short bow, pocketing the coins. "This way."

He jumped down with a splash and began to walk deeper down the sewers, into the dark beyond the last shaft of light. He clapped -- the sound echoed on the moldy walls -- and a spark of fire flickered to life in the air in front of him, dimly illuminating the damp corridor.

He walked past a gaping dark doorway that led off to the side, and continued down a different route -- but as Emma came near to that doorway, the compass in her possession grew warm and bright. It pointed fervently down that empty dark hallway, while the boy walked on away from it.

Ronken was clambering up the rusty ramshackle fire escape, fighting his feet to go up the stairs without tripping, slipping, tumbling, and other types of clumsiness. His breaths were labored and uneven, his ears were ringing with the roars of explosions and poor decisions, and he still didn't know what was happening. At this point he was guessing the apocalypse.

He could hear the metal of the fire escape clanging behind. As he ascended the next flight of stairs he turned his head to see the demon still on his tail. Jumping from place to place, leaving marks in the off-brown metal where its claws met.

Ronken hit the top of the stairs and starting running around the platform to start the dance again. He vaguely heard the demon yell and looked to see it about to lunge. He threw out his left arm in an attempt to keep it away. He could tell he hit it when he felt the immense pain in his hand. Whatever the thing was made of, it wasn't fun to punch.

He hoped he managed to finish it that time, but he didn't dare to check at this point. He was stumbling with every step, his reflexes dulled. He needed to concentrate on the stairs. He was almost there.

His footwork wasn't doing him any favors, but he was making it. Until all too late Ronken heard the sounds of claws on metal and the same horrid scream. Before the thought even entered his head to defend, or much less even turn around, the demon had sunk its teeth into his right ankle.

He gave out a yell as he tripped, landing hard on the stairs. He looked to the demon ready to fight for his life, but after a flash the only thing to fight was a bunch of dust.

It should be hurting, he knew it should be hurting. The thing had teeth like rusted knives, his leg was probably torn to shreds. Or maybe it ripped off his foot. Or his leg. Oh hell, did it bite off his leg? Was he hallucinating it was still there?!

Ronken started patting down his leg to makes sure that, yes, it was there. Giving a bend he confirmed that it also was still attached. A relief.

The only thing on his mind was running to safety. Right now the closet thing to safe was next to a bona fide traveller. So he got back on his, thankfully two, feet and finished his trek up the last set of stairs. Walking on his ankle stung a bit, but beyond that it was really nothing. He'd had much worse in the ring.

What he wasn't accounting for was the opioid in his system added onto an incredible amount of adrenaline. He'd would realize this after the fact, Right now he was seriously considering if his drunken claims of invincibility were becoming reality.

He tried to imitate Meryn's feats of parkour, but he barely got an inch of air as he weakly jumped from the wall, missing Meryn's hand. This time he just stood still and jumped for her hand, producing far better results. He nearly slipped from her grasp due to the blood covering his hand. After that he almost pulled her down with his weight, he forced himself to only use her as leverage and leaned into the wall for support. Eventually he made it up.

After that he just heard something about getting down. Fine by him. He was very happy to lay on the stone roof. Could practically nap there. In fact he probably would.

The fairy made some sort of magic bubble thing, but at this point Ronken just didn't care. She did magic, grand, but right now he just wanted to rest. There were more flashes and more explosions, but he'd had his fill for now. He just sat on the ground wheezing, looking over his injuries. One cut up hand and a maimed ankle. Yay.

The boy quickly proved to be an enigma. If the fact that he was roaming through the sewers with a broken mech wasn't enough it seemed that the coin she offered, which she could find not discernible difference in from the local currency, seemed to change his attitude. Emma scratched her head as he apologized, but nodded, "Uh, don't worry about it." She said, more confused than anything.

The path ahead was lit by some form of magic- so the boy knew magic? An odd skill for someone living in the city. She accepted it though, having seen stranger things during her short time as a Traveler. As she followed him she felt a growing warmth in her pocket. She reached in, and found the source- Spook's compass, now radiating with warm light. It pointed down the hall, urging her away from the boy.

She would've kept following him- wanted to, even, he seemed to know the way far better then her, but she felt obligated to use the gift Spook had entrusted her. She called out to the boy in the mech, "Uh, wait up, there's... I've got another way," She said, holding up the compass for him to see. She did not wait for reply- she would trust Spook. She quickly moved down the dark passage, hoping for some escape from the sewer.

Meryn winced and grit her teeth as the man grabbed onto her hand, his weight straining her. She didn't know how much help she was, but eventually he managed to scramble up – just in time for the fairy to shout and throw some sort of glowing dome around the two of them. There was a blinding flash of light in the sky. Meryn blinked, tears in her eyes as she waited for the dark haze of her vision to clear and readjust. Only… it didn't.

The dark haze wasn't because her eyes had been blinded. It was the crystalline, black particles contaminating the air. The monsters were all dead, vaporized by the light. Meryn's eyes widened with the realization.

Don't breathe it in.

She looked out from behind the mask to see the telltale colors of dreams still rising and moving throughout the city. The people were still alive. And now they were all infected. Meryn was frozen, numb with horror. All these people, her friends – she tore her gaze up to the fairy, still holding the dome. No doubt, the only thing protecting them from the cloud of crystalline. Emma was somewhere in the black mess. Infected. Marked to die a slow, diseased death. A hard lump formed in her throat and Meryn sat back on her rear. She reached up and yanked Spook's mask off of her face, throwing it to the ground in a clatter. Its glassy eyes stared back up at her.

With stinging eyes, Meryn forced her gaze away and ran a rough hand through her hair. It followed her long, fraying braid, pulling it over the shoulder. Though, perhaps calling it a 'braid' was too generous at this point. More like a loose, tangled mess that was tied off at the bottom. With a sigh, Meryn yanked out the tie holding it together. She'd redo it later. For now, she sat back up and looked around the blackened city, safe inside the fairy's bubble. For all she knew, she was the only uninfected one remaining. Well, her and the man sitting beside her, sullenly looking down at a scratched up hand and a heavily bleeding ank–

Well shit.

Meryn's eyes froze on what were clearly bite marks puncturing the skin just above his foot. The monster had bit him. The infected monster. She supposed that meant she really was the only uninfected one. Her eyes, sad and frustrated, flicked back up to his, her eyebrows furrowed.

What was she supposed to do?

She looked away and ran a hand through her hair again, her fingers catching in knots. Meryn looked back at him. Maybe… maybe he wasn't infected. What had Spook said to look for? Black crystals. He didn't have any crystals growing on him (yet) so that was a good sign. Though granted, it was a later symptom. What else?… Lethargy. The man was high as a goddamn bird, so that was a little harder to measure.

Meryn sighed quietly to herself. Infected or not, she felt responsible for him. She had to help him somehow. Resolved, she reached a hand into her boot and pulled out a small knife. She unsheathed it slowly, looking down at herself. She'd ditched her jacket outside the city, so all she had left was her shirt, her pants, and her bag. After skewing her mouth in thought, Meryn finally brought her knife down to the right leg of her pants, cutting a few inches above her ankle. When a ragged cylinder of cloth was free, she slid it over her boot and held it out to the man. She'd seen Emma work often enough to know they ought to stop the bleeding.