"Tell me more about yourself, construct. I'm curious..."
"Me? Heh, you would've never imagine what I am, human." The construct said. "You barely had an idea about the outside world anyway."
"Rude, but whatever! I'll ask again when we're home!"
The wall was thick from the outside, and the librarian could not take the one creak she had used to return home. It's as if she were now sealed from the world she once knew, and that the calamity seems to have never existed here. But the librarian wanted to return, for she couldn't risk herself longer on the coast.
"Ugh! What do I do? I had to return! Why did the wall have to be so thick?" Eve punches.
"Your people must have a decent resource to keep them standing for centuries." The construct examines.
"Why did they have to seal the outside from us? Why aren't we allowed to live without a secret?"
The wonderful world outside was surely worth hiding from her eyes. But now the librarian is trapped on this coast, and perhaps there would be nothing for her left in the town afterwards. The thick wall was never meant to be passable, in or out, which is something the citizens had never forgotten.
"What do I do? What do I do? I need to get back!"
"There's must be something we can do here!"
"Maybe I can help."
The construct sees through her nervousness, a pity that it quickly wishes to ail. Truth is never for a blind eye, a tall wall, or even a scorching sun. Truth is the cure, the ladder, and the hat for these three.
"Give me a moment. Have yourself some fun around here with the sand."
The construct tells the librarian to conceal her eyes with the sand, so it can find her an answer to reach the town once again. All she needed to do was to wait and embrace the indifference.
"Okay, but don't take long! I need to be swift!"
"I do not tolerate your attitude, human. But given our situation with the calamity, I will try." Charger walked off to his tin house, returning for something.
But as the librarian does so, she can feel the striking indifference eroding every second of her body mercilessly. The coastly wind was warm, but the sand was aching in her eyes. The view of the paradise only lasts for a moment before it turns into yet another faithful's utopia.
"Ugh! I don't like this!"
Her eyes were opened against her will, yet ached her eyes to see the wall remain indifferent to her truth.
"Ugh! Why is it still a wall?!"
———————————————————————————————————
[A few moments later]
As a second pass, the wind turned cold on her shoulder, a reminder of how valuable every second of her life now is. She was impatient, ready to open her eyes after the long silence, but that's when the construct returned with its promising surprise.
"Here you go, human! Feast on my otherworldly gadget!"
Before the librarian's eyes was a machine out of this world. While it appeared old and frail with the rust-like skin, she was more drawn to its ridiculous shape.
The construct introduces her to its creation. The librarian was shocked that somehow it could mould something advanced without a companion. No master, no proper hands, and only the pure intellect of a higher being.
"W-what is that?" She approached the machine.
"Get in! I'll show you how to ride it."
It appears to be a transportation! It has a huge fan set above her head, but it doesn't cool her head and only blows sand across her face. However, when the librarian enters the strange machine the construct had given her, she finds a magic like no other machine.
Woosh. Woosh. Woosh.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! This is insane! Am I flying?!"
The fan spins so rapidly that all the sands began to fly away from her face. But then, her body felt lighter, and the metal floor she was stepping on no longer felt strong like before. She was floating in the air as the fan dragged her upwards.
She looked down and found herself above the ground, and the wall was slowly getting shorter than her head. The librarian couldn't imagine holding a floating machine by herself, and it wasn't a dream. This would have never been in the town.
"I call it 'body-carrier' and it can lift one human with ease. Amazing, right? You're lucky I salvage this from a fallen ship on the North." Charger sat on her shoulder, while Eve sat on the leather seat.
"Hold the stick, human. Don't let loose or we crash!"
"Okay! Okay! No need to yell, you know?"
She ascended slowly into the air, following as the construct's will. The wall might be thick, but it wasn't tall. As she flew even higher, the winds turned colder, and she could see the other side of the wall with ease. It was dark there, while on her side was a bright coast bordered only by a wall.
Gold Creek was such a tiny place before her eyes. What was once a vast, unique house of hers now became nothing but a small land. She can see the Great Stone, the Frayfoil, the Wellspring, and the Eastwood all in one place.
"Pretty view, huh? There's always first time for everything."
"Yep," Eve replied. "This would've been harder than I thought. I guess that's how every wanderer felt."
"Okay, now move! I need those scraps now!"
She moves forward, flying with the machine and above the wall easily. Entering the town once again filled her with dread, as the gloaming was nothing like a mere cold. Even the lifeless construct could feel the absence of life in its skin. But still, not a drop of rain has fallen.
"Hey, I notice your grip is tight on me, construct."
"Y-yeah, uhm...I was just making sure I don't fall around here." It replies. "Are we going to flew over those shiny town over there?"
"No, we're going back to Eastwood so I can pick
"Anything but this darkness, I guess! Just be swift, okay?"
She flew casually, all while the citizens on the ground were in panic. Yet because of how high she was, nobody could notice her flying above their heads. All the librarian sees below her feet is a once calm, thoughtful person, whose now empty houses and mass gathering say otherwise.
"So what do we do now? Should we stay here? Do we even have a reason to do so?"
"Don't you dare
"Look with your eyes, brother! We are doomed!"
"Watch your tone! How dare you speak like that wretched Frayfolian?"
The truth unveils before the librarian's eyes. Even in the darkness, she could see the brightness in everyone's face. No one's hiding it from her anymore, and it brings her a deserving smile that the hypocrites no longer stay loyal to their beliefs. Their false confidence, their unruly belief, and their lost guidance are now their undoing in their town.
"Haha! Did you see this, construct?" Eve looks below. "All these people are nothing more but an ant in my eye. But even a blind ant is still stronger than them."
"I can't see anything! Are we there yet?" The construct replied indifferently.
What are they doing without the sun now? The librarian chuckles when see had to sees Great Stone turning barren without a fire. No lights ever shone bright since she returned home, and no machine had ever turned on.
She flew away from the Great Stone. But despite the amok she finds everywhere, she still sees the priest shining in the darkness. He was never lost, just like these people, which the librarian found relieving to see. But he is also surrounded by people she dislikes.
"Priest Cyrus, what do we do? There's nothing else in this town that wanted to heard us!"
"Well, I guess we had to reserve a place in the Wellspring! Maybe the forest there could help the survivors here from destruction? Trees can withstand storms, right?" Cyrus gathered the priests under a tent while they were reading scrolls.
"The Wellspring didn't want to share with us. Their closing their gates! We were betrayed!"
"Okay, okay! We'll try something else, okay? Let's just—huh?"
She flew into the forest, watching the trees with a darker green hue on their leaves and greyish brown on their barks. The nature was more silent than before, as animals seemed to have cowered in fear. But she wasn't, for the air is in her will.
"Whoa! Construct, what is happening?" Her grip tightened on the control stick. But it didn't do anything as it did before.
"You're flying too high! Now the clouds are messing with the rotor!" The construct held tight on her shoulder.
"With the what?"
At first, it seemed everything was peaceful in the air, free from nuisance and terror. But as they flew higher, the clouds were heavier and darker, with winds that blew fiercely. The machine could not handle the intense gust as it stirred them into chaos.
WOOSH!
"Woah! The wind!"
Terrifying things for the librarian. Drizzles fall upon her head, then it turned into rain, and it turned into heavy rain. She was swinging in the air uncontrollably, facing winds from all directions, while thunder struck above her head.
BOOM! Thunder breaks the silence. The air was frozen for a moment.
"The storm! The storm is here!!"
"Run for your life!! Run!!"
She tried looking for anyone to help, but there was nobody high enough to hear her. All that lies on the ground turned bitter, and what was broken now even more ruined. The citizens had more to fear on the ground than what she felt.
Rain falls, and thunders come along. There's light, but not a warm and comforting one. There's water, but not a refreshing and relieving one. Everyone wanted to avoid the water, but they didn't want to stay in their dark houses.
"AAH!!"
"NO!!!"
"HELP!!"
Rocks are soaked, homes are flooded, and the air is as humid as a graveyard. All the people were swept and gone in a second, without even a chance to escape. Those who stand higher on those rocks are always the luckiest and longest-lasting ones. Yet it doesn't mean they would escape it.
"No, no, no, no...what have we done to end up like this?"
"Brother, help! Brother!"
"Fire Son, what have you done??"
"Everyone, run! Get to the houses or find a low spot! Don't get yourself—huh?" Cyrus pauses. "What? What is that?"
The sky was bright, and every flash was enough to turn the sky white and clear for a moment. The librarian is still flying in the air, but slowly she descends against all odds. However, her smile vanished as she felt no control over her ground. She was diving without a wing.
Boom! The thunder shatters the fan.
"Whoa! Help! Help!" She yelled. But the fan is too damaged to hold her long.
"Eve??"
"We're falling!!" Charger yelled.
The bird is falling rapidly into the ground, through thunder and rain. The librarian was trying to control the wings, but there was not enough power and wind to bring them back. The tin creature tried to tamper with the fan back, but it was jammed and useless.
"Ugh, can't this thing work already?" Eve pulls the stick fiercely.
"No, the fan's damaged. We're going to fall free into the ground! Our body is going to be crushed into a tin can!"
"Can we slow the landing perhaps?"
"With what?? There's nothing in this place to softened our landing!"
The forest is below her feet, and the trees stand tall. But seeing this firm, unshaken nature gave her an idea. The librarian carefully held the machine once more, trying to regain the wings as before.
"I like to see the odds on that!" Eve replied.
Through miracle and odds, the machine worked its way through the wings once more. The librarian felt a jolt of second chance as she saw the fan spinning again. But it was too weak to fly her away from the trees, and so she felt the leaves reaching out through her skin.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"
"Keep on the control!"
"I'm trying! I think we're slowing down!"
Twigs swept through the machine she was riding, as if they were helping her to slow her fall instead of crushing her as she feared. The ground was getting closer, but there was little pressure now. Curiousity fueled her to try harder.
Fire burst through the engine and spread across the leaves as it began to land on the ground. But the tension from the fall still gave the librarian a heavy bump on her head on the ceiling. The soil was dragged across meters in her landing, and before her was a rock standing in her path.
"No, no, no, no!! We're going to crash!" Eve sees the frontline. A giant boulder amidst the trees is her doom.
"Slow it down!"
"I can't! I've already pushed harder."
That's when the librarian realises the risk she must take. An idea once again struck her head.
"Human, jump!" Charger yelled above her head.
"What?"
"Jump!" Charger leaps away from the machine.
The construct and the librarian quickly leap away from the unstoppable machine, letting it crash into the boulder with a massive explosion, but leaving them unharmed. Dust and ashes spread across the air while the rain swept them back into the ground. They were saved with only one second of chance.
*BLAST* The machine falls.
"Eugh..." The construct landed with its head plunged to the ground.
"Heh, I see everything now." Her head lies on the ground.
Fire sparks through the air, and the librarian walked out with a muddy face. Returning to the ground of her home once more, but now she was satisfied with what she saw. The fire burns brighter in the crash of the machine, and its ashes warm the librarian more than anything.
"Construct, did you see that? That's definitely an explosion! I have never seen one before!"
"Can you stop calling me that? I have a name, ya' know?"
"I couldn't believe it! I'm home, and it's still real! What a day!"
Instead of being afraid, the librarian was in joy. She had never felt so alive with the witnesses behind the walls. The darkness is covering all but her eyes, and the fire burns ever bright like no pyre and sun. Today, she was awakened with a new spirit.
"Augh, finally! Something bright to clear my eyes."
"You really are scared of darkness. Aren't you?"
"It's my kind's fear. I can't shut it off of my head, ya' know?"
The fire was bright and warm, and the daylight was bright for the librarian and the construct in that forest. She was basking in bravery and readiness for life, carrying her new friend out of the forest while rain swept off the fire.
"Hey, wait! The fire! I need the fire!" Charger resists in her grip.
"Calm down, buddy. We're almost at my house. Feel free to satiate your pride there."
"Eve, what are you doing? Are you the one flying there?" Cyrus appeared on the street of Eastwood.
At the edge of her doorknob, comforted to see her house again, the cleric gazed into the librarian's eyes with surprise. It's as if he had never seen such a face from her before—satisfied and dreaming. Her eyes are filled with wonder and hope, whereas he was drawn with despair.
"Oh hey, Cyrus! How's your lecture in the Great Stone doing?"
Cyrus pauses, "Eve...what is wrong with you?"
"I don't know. You didn't even know that?" Charger replied.
"W-what is that? Eve, what is happening? Where have you been??"
There's so much that the librarian could share with the cleric today, but there's so little he could understand. The adamant believer remained blind to her truth, searching for hope in a dust-filled house. But the librarian was different—she was curious, and now she had an answer.
"You still owe me that dinner, you know?"
"What!? Are you serious?" Cyrus yelled.