After Fate Fell

66

2 years, 4 months, and 10 days after it all
•MAREN ELIZABETH•

The night is cold, almost too cold. But I pull my hands inside my sleeves and lift my eyes to see the world we've landed on. The world I've always referred to as home.

It's dark, but I can make out the landscape in the moonlight. It's more dynamic than I'd thought looking down. Now, from the ground, I can see hills rising up out of the dust, valleys jutting down between them. It's lifeless, cold, yes. But it has some character. Something deep in my mind recognizes this place. Or at least a memory of a memory of something it used to be.

I turn in a circle, looking in all directions. It's a lot more of the same. I know I've said it before, but it reminds me so much of the desert we just left back on Earth. I didn't want to come back to it. Yet here I am. But this place is different. This place is home. Somehow, beneath the dust and the death and the cold air is the place I once called home, still call home.

•ELLA•

I jolt awake. I'm sweating through my clothes, tears streak my face. A nightmare. I thought they were over. I thought I'd never experience that he'll again. But I should have known. Legacy told me what was at stake when I spoke to her in Mexico. And I understood. Yet now I'm confused.

The nightmares are back. So this must mean I feel Legacy's presence, even here, on this dead planet. But how? I know this is her home, but we haven't even stepped on the planet to awaken her, haven't even breathed life into the air. I knew, I hoped I would feel her presence here eventually, but I never thought it would be as early as tonight.

I rip the covers off my body and get out of my bed, my bare feet falling to the cold metal floor. I hurry to the navigation room, shoes in hand, to see if anybody else is awake. But before I even get there, I can feel each of their presences, asleep, soundly. Some have dreams floating around in their heads, but I don't want to invade in on their minds. I don't want to feel their pain, their happiness, their hopes and dreams. Those are theirs and I have no right to anything of the sort.

The only one I'm having trouble reaching is Maren Elizabeth. She feels out of reach to me, as if she isn't alseep, or isn't dreaming, or isn't even near me. But that can't be right. I walk back to her room and crack the door silently. I peer inside to see an empty bed along with two sleeping bodies, Malcolm and Sam. But she's nowhere to be seen.

I go back toward the navigation room and breathe in the air. This isn't the recycled, tasteless air of the ship. This air has a different feel, a different taste, a different pressure even. Somebody has opened the hatch, recently. And I know that it must be Maren.

I quickly press the button to open the hatch, and I get my first glimpse of the world outside without any windows or dust to taint it.

The hatch door rests on the ground and I step off onto the dusty ground. I am surprised by how it all feels, the ground, the air, but none of that matters. I need to find Maren. I need to find out what she's doing, need to get her back inside the ship.

The icy air bites at my extremities. It feels as if Marina is leaning over my shoulder and is in an icy rage. The sweat that stuck to my skin inside the walls of the ship now feels like I have icicles hanging from each of my pores. I shiver but continue looking around. No luck. It's too dark out here to spot her, at least not until my eyes adjust.

I walk in one direction, wandering, hoping that this is the right way and I'll miraculously stumble upon her. My mind is filled with doubt, but I close out all these thoughts.

I walk and walk and I have no concept of how long I've been doing so. I walk until my legs burn and I lose feeling in the tips of my fingers and toes. I look behind me and see the soft glow of the ship in the distance, still no people in sight.

A little voice in my head tells me to keep walking, not to stop, not to worry about anything, so I listen to it, and forge on into the night.

//

It's been so long and I can't see the glow of the ship anywhere on the horizon. I can't feel my hands, they trudge on beside me like two blocks of frozen ice.

I've gone over a couple small hills, but nothing else worth mentioning. Other than them, it's all looked the same. I don't know where I'm going, or even if the voice in my head is Legacy. I know this can't be a dream, I've tried waking myself up countless times with no avail, and the cold bites too hard not to be real.

A huge dark jagged line becomes visible on the horizon. I feel it calling to me. I push a little harder, my frozen blocks of ice for hands move back and forth beside me a little faster.

Nearing the jagged line, it becomes clearer, even in the darkness. A huge canyon juts down into the ground. This is like nothing I've seen so far on this world. Those hills before were nothing compared to this. I skirt the rim of the canyon, looking into the depths.

It's almost a straight ninety degree drop to the bottom, which I can't even see, the moonlight doesn't even reach it. Along the side, there is a line of rock jutting out just wide enough for someone to venture down into the depths. It's sickening. I want to throw up but the cold air reaching into my lungs won't let me even muster a cough.

Go, Legacy's voice tells me. And so I take the first step out on the rock.