"How do I keep this part of me? How do I save what I've lost?" Your voice is shaking, and you have to shout through the rumbling noise drawing ever closer with every second. "I can't leave it behind, I can't, this is all I have!"
She grabs you by the shoulders, shaking you slightly. Her expression is stern, but you can see the fear in her eyes.
"You can't keep it. I'm sorry Lyfrassir, truly I am, but what you left here is no longer yours. It's gone, and if you keep trying to recover what isn't there, you will lose yourself in the process."
Despite the constant noise now surrounding the train, her expression softens as she speaks quietly. "Promise me you will find something new. Something to live for that isn't here. Promise me you will never return."
You have no time to respond before a loud cracking noise shakes the train car, and you both stumble.
You feel yourself freeze in fear. The sight before you is one you'd hoped you'd never again see, but you chose to come back here, didn't you? You knew the risks. and now you must face them.
The dream falls apart before you in seconds, and you find yourself falling through an endless void of color and noise before sharply hitting something that shouldn't exist.
You bolt upright in bed, your heart racing and your limbs shaking. You're crying. You don't remember why.
It's still late, you can tell, but it would be impossible to go back to sleep now. There's nothing left to do but start moving, to get as far away from here as possible. You throw on your shawl, hoping to stave away the cold chill of the night.
As you wander the empty halls of the ship, you find yourself drawn to a large door with a light shining through it. Is someone else awake? You can't be alone with the thoughts swirling in your head anymore and so, in a fit of desperation, you step inside the room, bracing yourself for whoever you may find inside.
"Ah! Good evening, Inspector Lyf!"
The voice is familiar, but your thoughts are too scrambled to come up with a name.
The longer he looks at you, the more concerned he becomes. "Hey, are you...feeling okay? You look like shit."
You never checked a mirror on your way here, but you're sure he's right. You're still deeply shaken from the nightmare you had, and you honestly think it might have been more comforting to remember what had scared you so badly.
You can't shake the feeling that you just lost something deeply precious to you.
He luckily notices your current state of mind, and doesn't press the issue further. All he does is pull back the chair next to him, gesturing for you to sit. After a moment, you do.
The second you relax, you begin to cry.
It was too much, it was always too much and you never knew what to do. You feel a reassuring hand touch your shoulder, and for a moment the sensation feels familiar in a way you can't describe. No words are exchanged, but you know he understands.
There was nothing you could do but move on.
End of Act 1.
Voting ended onFeb 21, 2024
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