After Fate Fell

49 • MARINA

1 year, 3 months, and 18 days after it all
•MARINA•

Six is still unresponsive, and so we decide to let Sam watch over her as the rest of us venture out to explore the island. I guess technically it's connected to the mainland by a little strip of sand, but I'm calling it an island. Get over it.

Despite there being a few buildings standing around us here, as I look across the rest of the island, it looks barren. There are probably houses and buildings, just buried underneath the sand, and probably mostly foundations, the rest of the structures torn apart by the strong winds and reclaimed by nature. The only structure looking completely untouched is the church. Even the house Six and Sam are in has a huge chunk missing from the side of it, sand filling in the void. It's eerie, looking across the landscape, only to see one structure still standing strong, looking pristine and new. It looks just as inhuman as the light did when we first saw it out in what seemed like the middle of the ocean, shining so brightly it felt blinding, and causing Ella to fall to the sand below her feet.

I turn away from the church, away from the light. I can't let it take over me like it did Ella. We need a plan of action to take this thing down before we do anything, before we even lay eyes on it again. And I have no idea what that plan will entail.

I find my way wandering further onto the island, away from the sandbar we entered it on, away from the church, away from the house, away from the others. My feet find their way onto a road, a rare sturdy surface in a world of shifting ground. It feels so odd, my feet have become so used to the uneven, shifting sand below them, that once they come to a surface that should be known to them, it feels foreign. It doesn't feel like home. But it is, all the same. And they will have to get accustomed to it again.

I keep walking down the road, the sand blowing across it and accumulating on what I assume is the curb. I look up and realize I can finally see the blue of the sky again, not the brown-tinted blue I've grown so used to seeing, no, this is sky blue, and it somehow comforts me so much that I stop and stare, not even knowing how much time has elapsed, because all I care about is this color that I missed seeing so much. It gives me hope that there is more to come, that this won't be our last stand, this won't be our last day. Whatever this force is that is trying to take Legacy down and us down with her won't prevail.

I hear footsteps behind me, an odd thing to hear in the middle of the desert. I turn around to see Sam. I'm startled, I wasn't expecting him. He's supposed to be back in the house watching over Six.

"She's awake," he says. "Out of it, I mean. The vision or whatever," he says, and he gestures back toward the house, back in the direction I came from. "You should come."

The way he says this confuses me, because while I am happy to hear that Six is back with us, I don't understand the urgency, but also somehow casual tone of his voice. I follow, telling myself there's no need to worry, I shouldn't let my mind run free with questions, with scenarios. I need to stay focused and clear.

"Are all the others back at the house?" I ask, because I don't really know where any of them wandered off to specifically, we all just set out onto the island, all in search of nothing specific, but all searching for something. I don't really know how long it's been, and I may well be the only one still out, still searching for something.

"Yes," he says. "We were hoping to get together and eat while we plan everything out."

"Good idea," I say. "I was thinking about that," I tell him. I don't mention that while that is true, I was thinking about our plan of what to do next, all I was really thinking of is how I have no idea what our plan should be. I follow behind him, hoping that someone else will have the approach all figured out, so I can just nod my head without having to think about it. Because right now, I don't know if I can think about anything other than my desire to leave this place, leave this planet behind. I want to shake the sand off of my feet and step onto the surface of the world I knew so well before, the one I still call home, though it be foreign in my mind, the pieces not all fitting together just right, the memories not all clear in my scattered mind. I know it will take some getting used to, but I know I can do it. We just have to take that step off of the shifting grounds of Earth and back onto the surface of the place we all vowed to go back to when the time was right, the place we all call home. Lorien.

The house feels more like a living space when I step in, the few pieces of unbroken furniture set up, everyone sat down looking like a family or a group of close friends ready to sit down for a meal like any normal people on Earth. While I know none of this is normal, I try to let myself believe this little illusion, I let myself get comfortable, I sit down, I laugh, I talk, I help make the rice, the cans of soup, I eat, and I act like this is the only thing we came here to do. I look around at everyone, enjoying themselves, laughing, talking, doing the same I do. It feels surreal.

I glance over at Six, who just as mysteriously as she entered the zombie-like phase, came out of it and is back with us. I see something in her eyes though. I can tell that she was shaken by that experience, being pulled out of her body, losing control of her own actions and having no way out. I know that today, she may be enjoying this little break in the action, but I know that she's ready. It's the calm before the storm. And with the spark of energy in her eyes, like lightning raining down from the dark clouds, I know it's not gonna be a pretty one.