System Lost: My Own Best Friend

Violet lets me take the front, since my class is better suited for exploration. I think Maggie jumped the gun a little on our slightly damp clothing, especially when there's mold around, but admittedly it's better than being naked. Before setting off down the lit path, I do a quick double-check of all my equipment.

The leader's belt pouch is a decent fit after some tightening, and includes a holster for the gun that stays conveniently hidden behind my cloak unless I pull the cape back behind my right shoulder. The gun itself won't be very useful to me, but maybe I can use it to bluff if things get ugly—no, that's a bad idea. Well, I don't want to lose it, so I'm keeping it nearby anyway. The pouch itself rests on my left hip and contains everything it had before plus what's left of the crackers Vi was nibbling on.

The knife goes in its usual place tucked into my belt on the left, but then Violet interrupts me as I'm trying to work out how to put on the shield.

"Not on our left," she warns. "Put the strap around our forearm and grip the handle with our off-hand. Even with the strap, you still need to keep a firm grip to use the shield."

I blink down at it, frowning.

"I'm confused. You want it not on our left, but also on our off-hand?"

"Uh...yes? That's what I said."

"Vi, are you left-handed?" I ask.

She pauses. "Are you not?"

Oh, okay. Wow! Not sure how I managed to go this long without noticing that.

"Nope, but I guess I'll go with what's more comfortable for you."

I'm not the one likely to be using them, after all.

With the shield secured, I puzzle over the short spear a bit. I guess I could just carry it around. I think the co-leader guy had a way of securing it to his back with that sash of his, but I can't figure it out. That doesn't leave any hands free for candles, but the path is lit anyway, so I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

That's everything, then. I glance over at Nipper, then immediately regret it and look away before I lose all the progress Vi made on those crackers. He's still busy.

"Uh...Nipper? Here boy! Come on!" I call, to a predictable lack of response. "Dang it. I guess he can hold down the fort while we're away."

"I'm a little worried about him," Violet admits. "He's been getting bigger again. Rapidly."

"Eh..." I adjust my clothes uncomfortably. "It's probably fine. I'm sure he can handle himself if anything comes wandering."

"That wasn't really my concern..."

"I know, but I doubt he can get up to too much trouble in just a few hours."

I can sense that Vi has her doubts, but she doesn't object any further. Ah well—exploration ho!

* * *

Exploration sucks! It's been like an hour and this stupid tunnel just keeps on going. My skill is giving me some pretty good vibes about what might be at the end of the tunnel, but it's like a tantalizing meal locked behind a display case in a restaurant I can't afford. All it does is make me hungrier.

"Couldn't the goat people have had some shoes or something?" I grouse, leaning heavily on the spear with each slogging step. "Ugh, I think we're going uphill now, too."

"It's not like we could have worn them if they did," Violet points out. "Their legs and feet are a completely different shape."

"Curse you, biology!" I cry, shaking my buckler-hand at the ceiling. I wipe my brow with a sleeve and take another drink of water. "I don't know if it's just the walk, but I'm getting pretty warm."

"No, I think it is getting warmer," Violet confirms.

"You think it's like last time? Another laser gecko sauna?"

"Maybe. Keep your eyes peeled."

"Yes, ma'am! Peeled like a carrot!"

Or an orange. Or apple. Or a whole mountain of potatoes. Gosh I'm hungry.

We ran out of crackers pretty fast, and while they were filling for their size, there just wasn't that much to begin with. This hike definitely isn't helping.

I trudge along silently, one foot in front of the other as I follow the meandering tunnel, just me, Vi, the soft glow of the lamps, and a cool breeze on my—

"Wait a sec!" I exclaim. "Is that wind?!"

"I think so. Don't get too—"

I sprint ahead around the next corner, despite Violet urging caution. The sight that meets me nearly brings me to my knees, my eyes watering.

"Light! Violet, that's an exit!" I sniffle, trying my hardest not to cry again. "We've found a way out!"

"We...really did," she agrees incredulously. "It was a lot closer than I expected."

"Are you complaining?" I joke, practically skipping towards the light.

"No, of course not—I'm just surprised."

Despite my excitement, I do slow down as I approach the mouth of the cave, squinting my eyes as they try to adjust to natural light after almost two weeks in the gloom. Beyond the stony walls of the cave, I just start to make out...more rocks.

Frowning, I shield my eyes and emerge slowly into the outside world, my life as a troglodyte finally coming to an end. My eyes adjust slowly, taking in the terrain.

"It's very..." I trail off.

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"Dry?" Violet supplies.

"Yeah."

Rocks. Yellowish orange, dusty rocks are everywhere I look. The debris and rubble is worse out here than it was in the cave, which is an ugly portent for the future of my poor soles. There isn't much by way of vegetation, at least not in the immediate vicinity of the cave mouth.

I turn around to take in the hole I just emerged from. Though the tunnel itself felt pretty natural, aside from the lights, this entrance was clearly carved out intentionally. It's got that too-perfect arch shape, reminding me of the long smooth tunnel leading back to where we started. Also? We're very much on a mountain. Or maybe an escarpment. There's a pretty sheer cliff here that forms a ridgeline that stretches as far as I can see in either direction and also straight up.

Facing away from the mountain, my eyes have finally adjusted enough to see an arid, dusty landscape stretching out below me, full of treacherous looking cliffs and hills that I haven't the slightest clue how to navigate. I can't make anything out beyond the mountain, as other cliffs and peaks block my view down.

Finally, I look up at the sky and gasp. It's mostly clear, with what few clouds there are dyed red and orange against the purple sky.

"It must be very early morning or late evening," Violet remarks. "We're just in time to catch the sunrise or sunset."

"Yeah—oh, I hope it's a sunrise. I really want to see the sun right now."

I step away from the cave, alternating between watching my footing and following the horizon in order to catch a glimpse of the sun. Using the shadows to orient myself, I carefully step around a nearby cliff and look towards the source of the light, freezing at what I see.

"Oh my—what? What?! Violet, what is that? What the heck am I looking at?!"

Instead of a sun, a brightly glowing ribbon of light arcs across the horizon like a monochrome rainbow.

"That—or rather, those, look like..." she trails off, as awestruck as I am. "Rings? Does this planet have rings?"

"You mean like Saturn?" I ask.

"Yeah, exactly like—"

I gasp and clutch at my head. Forget everything else!

"Saturn! Saturn, Saturn, Saturn!" I repeat the name like a mantra in my head, refusing to let it slip away. "Six...sixth planet? Sixth planet from the sun! Saturn!"

"What are you doing?" Violet asks.

"I'm remembering! Saturn! I know what Saturn is!"

It's such a stupid thing to cling onto, but I can't even remember the name of my own planet let alone—

No wait! Maybe I do remember! Didn't I say something earlier? It was...to Maggie? Oh frick, I can't remember, but I'm certain I said its name before.

"Think, Allie, think!" I admonish myself. Squatting down and pressing on my temples as though I can squeeze the memories out. "What was it? What was it?!"

"Um...Allison? Hello?"

"Earth!" I stand up and shout. "'Earth to Maggie!' That's what I said. I didn't remember because I wasn't in front at the time. Earth, Earth, Earth...the...third? Third planet. Blue. No rings! Haha! Take that stupid amnesia!"

"Oh! That's great!" Violet says, catching on. "You're starting to remember?"

"We're from Earth! The third planet from the sun! It's blue, and its sky is blue, and it doesn't have rings, or magic," I declare with a triumphant nod. "And...! That's...it. Frick! I was really hoping I'd get more out of that."

"It's a start," Vi encourages me. "Maybe we'll start to remember more now that we've got a better foothold on our memories."

"Maybe..." I grumble. "So, I guess it's not really a sunset or sunrise, then?"

"Afraid not," Violet sighs. "With those rings lighting up the sky, this could be midnight for all we know."

"At least it's pretty..."

I sit down on a nearby rock and just admire the night sky for a bit. There's no stars like back home—ah! That's another memory! But still, even without the stars, the purple-orange twilight glow of this place has its own appeal.

[Level up!]

Pathfinder is now level 2.

+2 Awareness.

+2 Will.

I sigh, relishing the soft tingle of the level up before rising and stretching. That's my cue to get moving, I think.

"Do you think that camp is nearby?" I ask Violet, brushing off some of the dust I picked up from sitting down.

"It could be," she answers. "If it were me, I wouldn't want my camp too far from the mouth of the cave—though they may also have set up closer to the base of the mountain."

I frown, pondering all the ways I can go. There's no obvious trails, and now that we're out in the open—even with a mountain—there are a lot more ways to explore. Between [Inner Compass] and [Retraced Steps] I'm not too worried about getting lost, so I just close my eyes and spin in a lazy circle, focusing on my skill and stopping on the direction that feels most camp-siteish.

That direction would take me straight off a cliff, it turns out, so I approach it cautiously, staying a good few feet away from it while I survey the area in search of a way down that doesn't involve climbing.

"They had to get up here somehow, right?" I muse, trying not to let my gaze linger on the nearby edge for too long. Why'd it have to be a freaking mountain?

"Well..." Violet hedges. "They were pretty light on gear, and they were goats, right?"

"Wow, racist," I comment playfully. "Goat-people, Vi. That's like calling us apes."

"It wouldn't be inaccurate to call us apes, though," she observes.

"No, but it's kind of offensive? Anyway, go on."

"Right—uh, aren't goats good at climbing?" Violet asks rhetorically. "With their hooves, they might have a very different concept of what makes a viable trail than we do."

...

"Uuuugh!" I groan. "Nothing can ever be easy, can it?"

"Let's keep looking for another way down," she suggests. "Even if their route did involve climbing, that doesn't mean it's the only way."

"Alright."

I spend the better part of another hour, as my totally accurate inner clock reckons it, searching the surrounding cliffs for a reliable path down the mountainside. In the process I find some actual plant life—some kind of tough, dry brush with leaves that crumble to dust in my hands—several trails leading up the mountain, a few signs of animal life but no actual animals, and not a single way down that doesn't involve less than a seventy degree incline.

Frustrated, hot, sweaty, and out of water, I eventually give up and—very begrudgingly—retreat back into the cave to regroup for another try tomorrow. As I'm heading back, I'm struck by a sudden chilling sensation—an inexplicable shiver down my spine that makes me brandish the spear and whirl around.

It reminds me of the feeling the Stalker gave off, but different. I scan the horizon in search of anything out of the ordinary, but the feeling disappears as suddenly as it happened.

"Did you feel that, Vi?"

"Only vicariously," she says. "Do you think it's another of those Stalker things?"

"Gosh, I hope not," I mutter. "But it didn't feel like it. The Stalker's gaze was...predatory. Hungry? It was persistent, but shallow. Whatever this was, it passed quickly, but it felt more..." I chew on my lip, searching for the right word. "Invasive?" I hedge.

"Hmm, that's concerning," she says. "Let's be careful when exploring out here from now on, alright?"

I nod, turning back and returning to the cave with a depressed sigh. It sucks going back after finally finding our way out, but the exit's not going anywhere. The wilderness will kill us just as quickly as the cave if we aren't properly prepared.

Still—I'm really looking forward to finally seeing the sun again. Or...a sun, I guess. It's really sinking in now, seeing that purple sky, and those rings. This really is another world. Another planet entirely. I...don't know whether I'll ever see my home again. That hurts, but I can't afford to worry about it right now.

I need to learn how to survive in this world first.