Morning in The Remnants never truly looked like morning.
The sky remained the same dull gray Vira had grown used to, fractured clouds stretching endlessly over him while thin streaks of light seeped through the cracks in the fluff itself.
Even after leaving the ruins behind nearly a day ago, the world felt unreal to him.
Vira limped behind Nora carefully, his ribs aching with every half and uneven step he took across the broken concrete. Massive pieces of collapsed highways hung overhead like the ribs of some dead giant, casting long shadows across the endless dunes of sand and ash.
Yet despite all the devastation and ugliness, parts of it were beautiful.
Vines glowing faint blue and purple wrapped themselves around shattered buildings. Glass towers leaned against one another like empty carcasses... frozen mid-collapse, like something foreign stopped them from moving.
Far in the distance, an entire cluster of buildings floated upside down in the sky... bits and pieces of them scattered all throughout the ocean of clouds.
Vira couldn't stop staring at it all, in complete awe.
"How does that stay up there?"
Nora didn't look back.
"Don't know."
"Has it always been there?"
"I think so."
"What even causes—"
"Vira."
"...Sorry."
Silence returned briefly.
But it never lasted long...
"How much farther is the city?"
Vira's head perked back up seeking for an answer.
Sighing, Nora answered reluctantly.
"Still far."
"How many people are there?"
"Enough."
"What does enough even mean?"
Nora sighed heavily through her nose and closed her eyes.
"You ask way too many questions."
Vira rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before looking away.
"I'm sorry..."
Again, a few seconds later—
"Do you think those floating buildings can fall?"
"Yes."
"...Oh"
Nora finally glanced back at him, exhaustion visible beneath her eyes.
"You really can't stay quiet for more than ten seconds, can you?"
Vira opened his mouth before hesitating... because she was right, and that truth sat painfully in his chest. When things became quiet for too long his mind wandered.
It wandered back to the silence, the months traveling alone and hallucinating, the months of crying and praying to find someone, to the months of being completely alone.
Talking grounded him, it helped remind him that Nora was real.
"...I just don't like the quiet."
Admitting that felt like a punch to the gut for him, and for a moment Nora didn't answer.
Then she looked away again.
"You'll hate these parts of The Remnants then."
Vira frowned and replied:
"Why?"
Silence started growing between them again until Nora finally answered.
"Because making noise here is a death sentence."
Something about the way she said it made his stomach tighten and ache.
The two continued moving through the remains of a collapsed district, stepping over rusted and broken down vehicles. Some half-swallowed by sand while the sound of metal echoed through them.
Vira noticed Nora constantly scanning everything. The rooftops, windows, dark corners, and broken alleyways.
Even while talking from time to time, she never stopped watching.
Vira cleared his throat and asked.
"How do you know where food is?"
Nora pointed toward a cluster of cracked buildings.
"The concept of Nature prevails over Decay and Destruction."
He blinked.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
The inside of the building smelled damp and rotten, Nora chuckled and continued walking.
"You'll see."
Roots thicker than Vira's arms had burst through the floors and walls, twisting through what used to be some sort of shopping center. Pale green fungus flowed along the ceiling, and strange vines wrapped around shelves.
Then Vira noticed the fruit.
Dark red bulbs hung from the vines overhead, pulsing faintly like beating hearts.
"Are... we eating those?"
Nora looked at Vira and nodded.
"Probably."
Vira's face lit up in disgust.
"Probably?!"
Nora grabbed one anyway before tossing it towards him.
"You want to starve instead?"
Vira stared at the fruit suspiciously... before taking a careful bite.
The taste was strangely sweet and alluring.
"...That's actually not bad."
Taking a bite, Nora nodded her head in agreement.
"Don't eat too many."
Confusion grew on Vira's face as he went to take another bite.
"Why not?"
Nora spat out a seed and took another bite.
"They'll make you hallucinate."
Only the sound of a sharp hiss could be heard as Vira spat out the fruit, choking and coughing while he tried to collect his bearings.
Nora continued searching the vines calmly while Vira stared at the fruit in horror.
"You could've said that first!"
She grabbed more fruit and stuffed some in her satchel.
"You already ate it."
Vira threw the fruit to the floor and yelled:
"That doesn't make it better! Why would I voluntarily WANT to hallucinate?!"
For the first time since meeting her, Vira noticed the corner of Nora's mouth twitch slightly upward... Not quite a smile but close.
Something warm settled briefly in his chest at the sight.
The journey continued for what felt like days.
Maybe it actually was days, time always felt distorted in The Remnants.
Sometimes the sky darkened for hours. Sometimes the light from the clouds seemed a little too bright... almost like you could touch it.
Nora never let him get too close to find out though.
Vira swore he even saw the sun split into three fractured reflections before vanishing entirely, although that could just be due to the fruit Nora had been making him eat.
The world itself felt simply unreal.
They crossed through places that made Vira stop in silent awe, neighborhoods frozen between walls of translucent crystal. A train hanging in the middle of the air, forests of black trees growing upside down from the underside of some of the floating buildings.
And then there were the horrifying places.
Sometimes they'd pass by caves and Vira could hear wailing from the darkness.
The times he slept he could hear the shrieks of Nullborns, and other things out there in The Unknown.
By the fourth day, Vira barely noticed how often he walked close beside Nora now.
His wounds had healed up nicely, his abdomen still having black veins spread under it like the roots of a tree but they didn't bother him much anymore.
Whenever Nora moved too far ahead unease immediately crawled into his chest, whenever she disappeared around corners panic flooded through him.
He hated how much relief he felt every time she reappeared, but couldn't help but grow attached to how it made him feel safe.
They finally saw the city near dusk.
Massive walls of crumbling sky scrapers stretched across the horizon while flickering lights glowed between the windows...
Human lights.
Vira stopped walking entirely.
"There's... really people here?"
Nora nodded faintly.
"I told you."
Something almost painful tightened in Vira's chest.
People... actual people, maybe families, conversations, voices.
Life.