Traum von Asterhive

The Viewing Deck

The elevator doors opened and you stepped out into the cool night air.

Flags and banners danced in the wind, unknown birds chased each other, and you felt like you might be blown away.

The shadow wrapped around your shoulders like a coat, silently promising not to let you be carried off by the wind. Or perhaps he was the one trying not to become a kite. Whichever was truth, his actions made you smile as you crept slowly to the edge of the deck where metal railings were the only things keeping you from falling.

You took a deep breath and tried not to look directly down. With your fear of heights, this probably wasn't the best idea you've ever had.

You forced yourself to look at the horizon. The little blobs should be the islands, and you thought that you could make out little moving figures upon them. There was nothing else of note.

"Well, I guess that's that," you said. "What do we do now?"

The wind carried your voice far, far away where no one would hear. Knight did though, and offered a reassuring squeeze.

I'll go where you go, he seemed to say.

"Thanks," you said. "For being here."

You leaned against the railings and gazed at the world spread before you, at the perfect counterfeit of nature's beauty. There was wind and there were waves. You wondered if gravity was the same, even in this place. If so, then surely, if you fell from this height, the water would feel like concrete upon impact.

Knight suddenly pulled you back, and you laughed. "Don't worry. I won't jump. I'm not that sad."

You still felt terribly hollow though. You wondered why.

Your family was safe. You've found a safe haven. You had your stuffed toys. You had Knight. Why then, did you feel such emptiness, in such a pretty place with such a pretty view?

The feelings swelled into something you couldn't explain. You shut your eyes with a sigh. You hummed, then whispered, then sang. The words were gibberish. Nonsense. Garbled syllables strung together that meant nothing to anyone, even yourself, and beaten into a a simulacrum of a song. You aren't a very good singer, but it didn't matter. The wind ate this song up too.

You stopped when you felt the metal of the deck shudder beneath your feet.

"Let's go, Knight."

Knight helped pull you to the elevator, but something was clearly wrong. Its display showed no numbers, no light. You heard no machinery.

Broken.

The metal beneath you creaked once more. You jabbed the down button over and over to no avail. You could feel the metal stem of the structure miles below shift. The viewing deck tilted, and you fell.

Knight wrapped around you and strung the rest of himself across the railings, stretching and straining like he never had before to keep you anchored. Still, you fell lower and lower, Knight's shadowy tendril around your wrist thinning as the wind tossed you to and fro.

"Knight-" you whispered. "Don't-"

Another metallic groan. The world shuddered. The trembling lifeline turned from rope to thread, thread to hair, hair to shadowy strand of spider's silk.

"Knight-"

You blinked. Why were you crying? You didn't feel sad.

"Knight, Knight don't-"

Don't let go?

Don't save me?

You didn't know which you meant to say, but that was fine. You'd never finish it anyway.

A final screech, and the metal gave.

There was a dreadful snapping noise, thin dark shapes wisped away by the wind, and then-

Then-

There was darkness.