Bygone

11

Juvenile

Every few moments, or if they were being real with themselves; every few hours, they found themselves turning to look at the path they etched in the soil and grass.

It was almost terrifying, seeing Premunio slowly fade away in the distance after passing by its ends.

Chloe would keep asking herself what would have been the point in making the city almost a perfect cuboid. All that extra space, used as grass for grazing. She just assumed that maybe their leaders liked the cows.

The questions were mostly just to keep her exhaustion from continuing to gradually eat away at whatever sanity remained in her. It was simpler just being harmlessly pranked by her friends; ultimately leading to a mental crisis that allowed her to sympathise with a very white cat.

At this rate, all Chloe wanted to do was to sink into the grass.

But despite all that, it was definitely something to watch as a landmark they thought to be an infinite plateau became something so insignificant. If anything, it was a reminder that they were now entering foreign wilds, maybe even foreign to the inhabitants of the Between.

And another reminder that they were in a real, tangible place.

The estranged pair's cold-hearted captain still refused to join them even after having to indulge in a silence for what they believed to be four hours at this point. Jaclyn was stubborn, if anything. A good trait to have now as a valiant soldier of goodness, though something probably not as favourable for a teenager living a modern life.

Like them both, she found herself turning back, not to account for their distance, but to acknowledge them both.

Of course him.

The seamless barrier that was once there was beginning to chip away. But she couldn't. She couldn't keep her eyes on the both of them for anything longer than a few seconds.

Two unrealistic, half-baked, chivalrous idiots.

And it felt something like a stinging sensation.

As though some part of her was paining more than the rest of her already limited, weakened body. It was a massive, lonely world they now joined to inhabit for a while. That was her reason for feeling so desolate.

Marcus and Chloe had their reason, or if she believed herself smarter; reasons, to stay and adopt their elemental burdens. And with each time she turned to watch as they loosely smiled at one another's comments and remarks, she felt as her beliefs refined. Jaclyn thought of her parents, her friends. She thought strongly of the faces she so desperately wanted to see again, of the people she now risked to lose.

It was herself.

She stayed for herself, and her own humanity. She knew she did. She knew she couldn't live with herself if she just.. if she just left her own friend to die by the hands of her own stupidity.

One thing was definitely for sure, every moment of an existential, emotional or even a physical crisis was only further elevated by their persistent resilient bodies. Exhaustion seemed to be the only constant for their adventure so far.

Jaclyn trudged on as stubbornly as perhaps she assumed the cattle would. They were slowly closing in to what was presented to her as the truly fearsome, yet awe-inspiring forest ring that was said to have enclosed the location of this artificial intelligence of theirs.

She knew they were walking into something stupidly dangerous. But at that point, stupidly dangerous was the foundation of their sojourn here.

It was a little hard to believe that they were about to already spend their first day in the Between. Their momentary silence allowed him to revisit what he originally did before Chloe decided to let her tired feet take the better of her; acknowledge their existence in this brave new frontier.