[3 Days before Calamity]
The nightmare continues. Tomorrow is no different from yesterday, except that water no longer falls from the sky, and it is becoming scarcer than ever. For once, the citizens felt the coast raining above their heads through an eye-scorching dust. Drought expands, and water is tainted with ruin.
Great Stone was lost. But there are more towns to fall soon. Its downfall was a great warning for everyone—a certain reminder of a prophet. Not one had heard anything from the rubble since today, and priests are no longer in power.
*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*
Brak! The clock shatters.
"Hey!" Eve awakens from her bed—tired and distressed.
"Shut it off, human!" Charger walked out of the bathroom. "I can hear the damn ring from here."
Another day for the librarian, but another chaos too. Her windows are stuffed with dust, and the sky is orange. Had she not left the wall yet, she would've been afraid to death. But this was only a trouble that pinned her against the wall. This storm is worse than yesterday, because there's too little to see outside.
"Ah...what a view. I didn't realise they're chopping the Eastwood trees now." She gazed at the outside through the window. All orange—no green.
"That's because there's a sandstorm outside, human!" Charger muttered.
"Yeah, I'm being a jester here, construct. Anyway, we're off to the town to find those scraps now. But first, I need to find my dearest Cyrus among the dust."
The house was a shelter from the sand now, and the outside was nowhere near a place she remembered. The trees are withering by the sand, with some bark scraped by its skin and left bare to endure. There's no telling if Eastwood would have survived today. The librarian knew she had to make it swift.
*Tampering sound*
"What are you doing there, construct? If I hear something broken in my house, that only means another bill to my landlord, you—eugh?"
"And a little bit of sparks and...done. Now we don't have to worry about lack of light now!"
It's not an easy world she lives in now. She is on her own—dangling between life and death, from where she goes. The sand suffocates one's lungs mercilessly, and as one town had fallen before, so does a librarian fall so easily. But that's why she has a friend like the construct to her aid.
"A bit of primitive tool you have in this land. I'm not surprised, considering it's everywhere even outside this land." Charger holds the makeshift lantern. "Your boiler is warm, though. So I appreciate that."
"But look what I made from your janky machine in that bathroom of yours. Fascinating, isn't it?"
"It's just a lantern."
"A lantern? A lantern? Oh, you feeble flesh." Charger puts down his lantern. "This ain't no lantern! This...is a total illuminator against all darkness."
"This will be our key to traverse this terrifying town of yours! This is a man's pure artwork. Can't you see this?"
"I can. And I think if this is a man's artwork, then it's stink."
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[Outside]
A day was so bright, unlike yesterday, but at what cost? The librarian had to stay at the coast for the rest of the day. While the view seems entertaining and nostalgic like yesterday, it was dreadful and burning with ruin in the noses of the citizens of Eastwoods.
At least the sun was shining above their heads, where the clouds were thinner and brighter. The warmth erases all the cold from yesterday, giving the relief that the librarian needed after a terrifying blast of a storm and a deadly encounter with fate.
"I managed to repair the body-carrier yesterday, human. Let's use that thing and find your lover." Charger nodded. He pointed towards a suspiciously body-carrier-shaped blanket next to Eve's apartment.
"Thank you. But Cyrus lived next to my house on this side of the town, so we can just walk there and find him." Eve wore his scarf tightly on her face.
"Alright, but we are not going to walk in this sand like this. Aren't we?"
The librarian and the construct walked through the town with their face unbothered by the weather. Her face was covered in numerous cloths while the construct seemed unaffected by bits of sand.
"Woah, human. Look at this."
The trees are falling and scraping like a banana peel. The sand was so strong that everything it touched simply corroded with ease, leaving the town with holes in every wall. Citizens can't do anything but hide under the roof with the remaining bits of shelter in their beloved place.
"Help! My house is falling!"
"This is unacceptable! They said it would last until winter!"
"*Cough* *Cough* The sand is killing me and my family!"
"I don't think we can stay here any longer, human."
They made it quick to find the cleric's home. He was there, waiting for the librarian in his pavilion without anyone but himself. The man was covered from head to toe with a white robe, but the librarian recognised him from the mark of his faith on his hat.
The pavilion was slowly crumbling from the sand, but the librarian knew it would last long enough to protect her. After all, it was blessed by the cleric's voice from falling apart so easily.
"Eve? Is that you?" Cyrus greeted her from the entrance. The fog made it hard for him to see her clearly.
"Yes, love. Make a seat, please. And for three!" Eve walked through with a kiss on his cheek.
"Three, why three? Who are you bringing—"
"Thank you, fellow human! I'm going to take the side chair if you don't mind." Charger passed under his foot.
"Oh...of course. The third wheel..."
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[Eastwood Church]
From the pavilion gaze, the church was sealed from the outside, but echoes of citizens could be heard.
Not long ago, it was built in this forest to give the citizens guidance and protection from evil. Now, its job was questioned by the seemingly apocalyptic, soon-to-happen. Dust scattered on the floor, walls began to corrode from the outside, and the church's bell could not ring due to the overflowing sand.
"Come, children. Pray harder! We'll fought these darkness together! And we'll live for the sixth day. All of us!"
"Raise your voice, children! Let him know that we needed him now than ever!"
"We might have lost a town, but we haven't yet lost our eye!"
Priests who survived remained faithful and hard-working, carrying all their best to protect the citizens. Yet none had thought of leaving this place, as they would rather live behind the wall than embrace a sprinkle of wisdom. The librarian tried her best not to hold her laugh at their pitiful fate.
"So...what are you doing here? And what did you do yesterday, Eve?" Cyrus confronts her.
"I went through the wall. I made it out, Cyrus! I made it to the other side!"
The librarian could not wait to tell what she had seen yesterday. It was nothing like the citizens had told her. No monsters, no beast, and nothing that hurt her as the fathers told them. It was all a lie, and now she had never chosen to believe anything but her eyes.
Yet the cleric was not happy with it. Her treason was huge, but her reward was priceless. The librarian could not be bothered by the punishment, knowing that she wouldn't be in prison here. The priests' words are empty to her ears.
"You what? You could've hurt yourself there! What if the beast found you?"
"There's no beast outside, Cyrus. I went there myself and there's literally nothing but sand on my foot and a vast ocean!"
"Then what is that thing? Is it not a beast?"
"I could be a beast if you want me to." Charger jokes. "But I'm calm because I wanted to leave this town."
She tried persuading him for the opportunity, but the cleric's eyes were focused only on others. It breaks her trust a little, but she understands his reasoning. But reasoning has always been the one thing that irritates her in this town.
"Come on, Cyrus! Join us, and we can save whatever left of this town together if we both reached the wall!"
"And risk ourselves in danger more than here? Nonsense, love! I'd rather die here a hero, than going there and never returned."
Her words were hard for these people to comprehend. Those who had never heard of the outside world would've thought of the librarian as a blasphemer, especially for her treason. But the construct knew otherwise with his eyes.
"I can't even tell if you're being honest or not, Eve. Maybe you were just lucky not to feed on the beast. But to leave this place? Are you serious?"
"Yes! I do, there's a chance for that. The big water on the outside of the wall is our way out!"
"Really?" Cyrus stares in confusion.
The vision was too bright; even the cleric couldn't understand. An escape against the wall is impossible and against all odds, but the librarian had seen the possibility in just one blink of an eye.
"Look, if you needed something now. Just tell me, because I can't be in a rush right now."
"We need to find a scrap." Charger muttered. "To fix my boat so we can leave this town through the coast behind the wall."
"A...boat?"
A boat was not common in this town, especially for an ocean. When the cleric heard this word, his mind immediately clashed between two trusts. The librarian can even see the nod of doubt and the gaze of a second look for this opportunity. The sense of preservation was revealing itself.
But even the cleric persists. Instead, the voice turned wary and repellent towards the librarian. He cast her off from the church, warning her once more not to misguide him. Or perhaps—perhaps he was doubtful?
"Ehm...uh...Eve, please don't play with me now, okay? Look, I'll give you my pass to the Wellspring. Just don't bother me, okay...?" Cyrus took out a wooden tag with his name carved on it.
"Wow, really? I was offering you salvation, and you spat at me? Well, there's still one more seat for you if you change your mind." Eve took the sign.
So the librarian continued her journey into the hill of Wellspring alone to find more salvation than here. Time was precious, unlike every reason to stay here anymore. Her eyes were focused tightly on the north, resisting the urge to weep from the dust in her eyes.
"I can't believe it! Is he insane?" Eve mumbled. "Bothering him? How did I bother him? Construct, can you believe that?"
"I don't. But that sounds like less waste on my skiff, so..." Charger remained nonchalant, holding its lantern tight.
The weather grew even worse as time passed, but the librarian only cared for the better sight. Thinking of the cleric's betrayal made her even more ambitious to reach the hill, leaving this town and never returning. After all, the mountain was not far from here.
"I need a new fuse for the jet, and six new 5-inch gears. Also, I needed a new oil and perhaps a fan replacement. Nevermind, I think I need more than that since my skiff is screwed to the bottom." Charger pulled a note.
"Well, keep the note ready, then. Because we just arrived at Wellspring."
They travelled on foot to the north, leaving the sand-filled forest and heading higher into a land with more absurdity than Great Stone. Wellspring lies through one long bridge to another, greater hill of this land. The sun was the closest, yet also the hottest to the dwellers.
Bogs and swamps claimed these lands, thus the name. The river used to run strongly here, with various animals thriving freely for the fresh water and cold-like temperature. Yet there are many resources within, especially beneath the water.
"Welcome to the highest place you could be in this land, my friend."
"Brr, a bit chilly here. But why here?"
"Because when you need something like a machine, you can always trust that's there some within the pond."
The biggest pond in the land is before the librarian's eyes. This lake is so huge that its end still can't be seen from here, yet there's so much sand polluting the surface. No animals are around, and the river is spewing with ashes. Yet behind that piling dust, there's a wonderful ecosystem inside.
"Many boats used to travel here to reach the other side of Wellspring. It was huge that sometimes they never left the pond, drowning in the bed and rusting in time." Eve rubs the surface.
"Augh! This boat is useless around the sand! Just drown already!"
"When I was bored, I swam around to ease myself with the chilling water so I don't have to be reminded that I lived around these fools all day. And because nobody can see me naked..."
"Lucky. I was thinking of a metal dipping yesterday, and I think I know how to spend a time."
She showed the construct of the wonderful lake she has. Ugly now, but it was beautiful before. The vast water may not be the same as the ocean she had seen outside, but their eyes cannot see the difference. The construct was satisfied, as if ready for a swim.
It thought that it was saltwater, but it wasn't. It was freshwater, without a taste, and the one that doesn't rust its metal body. Below the water was the treasure the librarian wanted to show the creature, and when he heard about the metal buried within, he couldn't wait to grab them all.
"Alright! Alright! Let's swim now! I had to get those scraps immediately!"
"You got it. But, uh...can we take a moment? I need to make sure its safe. You know people can you us here, right?"
"Fine."
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[A few moments later]
The sand grew even stronger, but the land persisted. The silence continues by the lake, for there's only the librarian and the construct waiting. The bold warrior prepared for its deep dive into the water, searching for the promised treasure the librarian owed.
"Alright! Pull me in when I signal, okay?" Charger ties his waist with a rope.
"Got it. Take your time there, creature. Maybe you can find yourself a clothing there." Eve jokes.
"Oh, I will. Or I can just be naked all the time..."
Splash! The librarian nearly soaked her boot by its splash. It has swam deeper into the unknown, and its story was now its doing. The librarian can only watch as the ripple turns quiet once more afterwards. But her curiousity spikes in at the loneliness.
So many questions, but so few answers. She wonders what the outside world would be, for she had been yearning to see it with her own eyes. But she was fearful of the danger she wasn't prepared for. Because the one happening in this town is too dangerous for her.
"Oh, I wonder..."
"I wonder how long would it take..."
"I hope I can do this. It's the only way! No more ways..."
"I knew I could hold this well..."
Suddenly, she was surprised to see the cleric appearing from behind her. The man was covered in dust, but he was alive. He had followed her into the mountain, where he found her waiting in the silence near the lake for no reason.
"Eve? Are you okay? Uhm...what are you doing there?"
"Cyrus? Why are you here? Go back to your church now! This is dangerous, you know...?"
"I...uhm...just wanted to see you here. You know? Because you're going around without me and I was scared you'll be dead." He reasons. His tone seems stuttered.
"Are you sure you're going to do this, Eve? What if you can't really leave this place?"
"Then I'll find the way! You want to die here alone because of them, Cyrus? What about you? Do you not deserve better?"
The cleric stood stagnant, but he was more vulnerable than before. The sand might have corrupted his mind, because his eyes can't see as clearly as before. The librarian's words were sharper in his ears, as he was only getting even closer to her. His white robe is stained with a black tint, scraped by the sand like his purity.
"Look, I'll be here helping you, okay? I don't know what and how you are going to execute your 'escape' in less than two days. But I hope that if I helped you now, you would've finally understand."
Yet despite everything that happened between them and this town, the cleric always cared for the librarian as a whole. A human like her deserved his attention, which flattered her heart. The man was pleading for a chance to be with her—to be in this opportunity.
"Aww, flattering. But you should've know that being here is already supporting me. I just want you to trust me for this, Cyrus."
"I trust you, Eve. Just tell me what do I have to do now."
"I will. Stay with me, Cyrus. I want to help you, as you always helped me. So please..."
The cleric decided to join her after the sand became too powerful to hold. Now the librarian finds herself a treasure she was looking for. Together, they worked on this very escape out of the land.
Splash! "Woo! I got it! I got it!" Charger resurfaces, pulling another skiff by the nose. "I got a jackpot, ladies and gentlemen!"
"I came here looking for a copper, and I found gold! This day was never any better for me!"
"Hello too, creature." Cyrus waved.