The Aspiring Archivist

"I'm so sorry."

He embraced her, then began to sob.

He just looked into her eyes for a long while. "I... I'm tired."

"I don't. I can't."

"I don't deserve that." He paused. "I don't deserve you."

"Why didn't you let me go?"

"I'm just glad I was in town," she said. Cedar's eyes opened, and he looked up at Aydri. "Why..."

Eventually, Cedar began to breathe again. The woman pulled back, looking weary.

"I'm trying to help."

Loxy didn't get to eat a lot of food. The street urchin got most of her meals from discarded scraps or the occasional mild theft. She spent most of her days hungry, and while she was used to it, that didn't mean she'd turn down a free meal. The man who offered her the bread was a strange character. He had some sort of fancy cane and formal clothes, but looked ragged. A trickle of blood ran out from between his lips. Had he been in a fight? She eyed him as she chewed the soft loaf. She would have run off with it, but he held a second loaf in his free hand that he didn't seem intent on eating. "What's your story, child?" Loxy frowned at the question. Strange thing for a stranger to ask, though she supposed that could be why they were called strangers. "Father left when I was real little, sir. Said he didn't want anything to do with me, and mother was long dead." This was true, though it was a practiced story. Another way she sometimes earned a meal: sympathy. "You are alone?" "Sure am. No family, and no one wants to deal with a kid." So many questions. She had better get that second bit of bread. The man's cane began to glow then. Now that isn't right. Loxy made to back away, but then he said a word. "Still." Loxy felt her muscles go limp, and she fell to the ground, immobile. Fearful tears filled her eyes then. This isn't right. I... really ought to get away... The man approached her, and raised the cane. She closed her eyes, whimpering. She had just hoped for a meal... --- Polton winced as he plunged his staff through the child's heart. A brisk energy shot up through it and into his body, casting out his pain and fatigue, revitalizing him. The girl's body was consumed by bright white flame as the last of her essence was absorbed. It left no trace, and he was sure enough that she would not be missed. He almost felt sorrowful as a new scream joined the rest that filled his mind. But no. He was past that. Just fuel. A necessary cost, to bring order. @Ookla the Believer

"Yeah... maybe." He sighed. "I really don't know what to do, Rue." @Ookla the Believer

He shrugged. "We got here somehow in the midst of all of that chaos earlier... maybe something got disrupted, and the Clinic can get returned if that's fixed?"

"Though how we should go about that... I would guess that just jumping in to check it out is a bad idea."

"I don't know. I guess I'd like to have an idea of our situation before putting too much effort into creating a solution."

"Why do you ask?" @Ookla the Raveness

"The dying world."

"Currently, to observe and partake."

"You may just call me Envoy."

TAAron stared out into the void. "Maybe we should start by trying to really understand where we are." @Ookla the Believer

"Not really. Do you think you could somehow use your magic to transport it? Mine doesn't have any transportation abilities... at least, not that I know of or can use."

The woman closed her eyes, seeming to concentrate. @Ookla the Prehistoric

"And... you said he lost the will to live?"

She carefully touched his head. "Not quite dead, no. But in danger. Did something happen recently to damage his soul?"

A small crowd formed around the two, and a few people called or ran for help. After about a minute, a woman appeared and approached Aydri. Cedar had not yet begun breathing again. "What's happened?"

"I cannot say."