I was laying on my back, half asleep as I had been for several days. I had memorised every feature of the ceiling. Thirteen valleys between fourteen hills of the corrugated metal. It slowly inched closer; it took embarrassingly long for me to realise the gravity generators were failing. 

The ceiling made sure to let me know as it slammed into me. Outside the window, upside-down treetops were barely visible above through the peach-coloured fog. The sudden screeching of a thousand wheels failing at once hit me as the vehicle passed into a broken piece of track. Now pressed against the window, the supporting structures of the SkyRail were crumbling as they flew past.

The pillars snapped and bent outwards. I was lifted off my feet as the horizon began to tilt. I clung to my bag. My head smashed into the ground. The screeching became louder as the ceiling was stripped away beneath my feet and debris began to fly in. The entire carriage tilted to one side, and I was pulled out of the hole. Light and mud flooded my vision as I was launched into the rainforest.

WP: there hasn't been anything since that broadcast

SS: Just be patient! I'm sure they're still figuring things out.

DOL: Maybe they should have waited to broadcast until it was figured out. None of them have even spoken yet, it was just that faceless messenger. The acronym was "SC", we don't even-

SC: HELLO EVERYONE!

SS: PILLARS!

DOL: I stand corrected. Welcome back.

WP: hey hey its the one and only observant pillars

DOL: Thank the void you're back, we thought you were dead

SC: My death was... greatly exaggerated.

WP: if i could hug you i would

SS: I'm having a heart attack

WP: oh suns are you good

SC: I believe that is a figure of speech

SS: You are so right Pillars. Oh classic Pillars!

SC: Nebs! Nebs! I can speak to you again!

SC: I'm back! I don't know what's happening.

SC: Why is my acronym weird?

SC: Why is your name greyed out?

SC: WHY IS YOUR NAME GREYED OUT?

SC: Oh shut it!

SC: NEBS

SC: SHUT IT

SC: [///]

SC: [///]

SC: You... are the worst. 

SC: Stop crying.

DOL: Something is weird about this. Why is Pillars' name still greyed for us?

DOL: See? Pillars.

WP: i dont see a problem im just happy shes back

DOL: Is she really though? Her acronym is "SC" and it's still yellow, like it was in the alert.

WP: ok. technical issues

DOL: No, no. As a long time friend of her I'm really concerned. It doesn't seem like her. Something is wrong. Read the alert, why does the text switch colours but not the acronym? What's the deal?

...

DOL: Am I going insane!?

My eyes could barely open under my own will, but I was startled awake by two bulging yellow eyes staring straight back at me. The scavenger scurried back to its group of fur-coated allies, which continued to stare at me from a distance. They hid in the shade of some short red-leaved trees that surrounded the muddy opening I was laying in. There were spears and rocks scattered around, some of them wrapped in red fabric.

A knocking came from behind the veil of vines, and the scavengers dropped their spears. One of the scavengers reached into the shadows and waved as if it was calling someone out. Surely enough, it was.

A cloth-wrapped hand pulled back the vines, and a round metallic shape was barely visible. It receded, and the scavengers looked back towards me. The object came back out, further this time; it was a bronze mask with the third karma symbol "companionship" carved into it. The metal had lost its lustre, and the sharp edges around the rim had been worn to a dark brown. An Ancient artefact from a long lost time, let alone one I was so familiar with, should not have been so far from home.

"You shouldn't be here," they said to me.

"Neither should you," I responded. 

"You shouldn't be alive."

"I know. Neither should you."

"Then why are you here?" they scorned, stepping out of the shadows. Their once well-kept robes had been replaced by layers of ripped canvas and untreated leather. 

"I don't know, Sands. Why aren't you dead?" I recognised their voice, their apathetic inflection, not to mention the humble design of their mask. Few of the ancients I once knew had such an unmistakable voice. They kneeled down next to me, placing a clawed hand on my broken faceplate. 

"You've seen better days. Honestly, I'm impressed. Eight hundred years in the can... that can. You weren't made to last. And to make it all the way out here - I almost feel sorry."

"You didn't answer my question. Why haven't you ascended?"

They laughed loudly, as if the question was a joke, "Why would I? I'd rather live a million lives than submit to their bullshit." 

They looked up at the orange tinted cloud cover, then back down at me, "I avoided the strange, warped ideas of culture around me when I could, but had to fit in to survive. You know me, I became a bioengineer. I worked on Moon... and I hated it. With every fibre of my being I despised the life they "gifted" for their own benefit. It's a curse to live in this world."

"You didn't have to be a bioengineer."

They looked at me, silently, and grabbed the base of their mask. They pulled it back and over their head to reveal darkened grey feathers. Their eyes were cloudy, but were focused with spiteful intent. Most strikingly, their beak was broken, the end cleanly cut off and surrounded by scar tissue. It was tradition for some Ancients to trim their beaks at adulthood to fit within their masks, but I had never seen it in person.

"Look what they did, Deity," they grabbed the shoulders of my robe, "Does it look like I had many choices in life? If I could go back I would kill the man that did this to me. I would make sure none of this ever happened. I wish I had killed you when I had the chance."

"By the void, will you slow down? How many times have you rehearsed this monologue?" I groaned, "If you hate it so much go jump in the void sea or do something about it. There's still thousands of us out there and all you can think to do is sit in the mud and whine? Seriously, you're the second loser I've encountered that just sits and moans about the world being terrible. Stop lounging around. Void's sake."

They lifted a brow at me and let go of my collar, "The second? Who else? It's not Stones, is it?"

"What? No. It was a sh[///]tty prototype - wait, what do you mean? Why would it be Stones? I can tell you, that's not like him."

The Ancient above me shifted their weight and glanced away from my dull eyes. 

"There were thousands of Ancients in my facility, if by any chance one was unascended and undetected the probability of it being Stones are next to none."

"I know," Sands grumbled.

"So why do you ask?"

"I haven't seen him in a while."

"Yeah, he's dead."

"Void be damned, you really are a massive pain in the ass."

"Your doing."

Sands glared at me again, "My doing? His doing! That bastard, he did all this. I was just an employee," they looked at me with a mockingly shocked expression, "It would've been nice if I was just an employee!"

I squinted at the looming avian, pondering the ambiguity of their words. They softened their tone, equally misinterpreting my reaction.

"The last time I saw him we were sitting at the top of the House of Seventeen Gems' spire, just before the mass ascension. Masks off, feathers in the wind. We looked over the sea of steam flashing with distressed lightning biting at the ankles of four iterators. From up there I finally felt away from home; somewhere untouched by your kind. I imagined for a moment that things could be changed. I made him promise he would make things right."

"Did he promise?"

"Silence." The Ancient's voice was unsteady, "He took me back down to the streets and I never saw him again."

We sat for a moment, both considering the situation. Sands' breath was heavy, and they seemed almost disgusted that they were talking to me. I let the moment simmer before solemnly returning to conversation.

"You wanted us deactivated so the world would return to normal."

"At least a bit more normal. Less rain would have been nice."

I thought for a moment, and nodded in agreeance. It would have been nice. Being deactivated would have saved a lot of pain.

"It's too late, it's too late now... I'm not ascending at this point, either. I can't do anything," their eyes were darting around.

"Why not? Back home Hills is the only one still alive. I'm sure you could at least do something."

I stopped talking and reeled from my own words. Did I suggest they should kill my brother? 

"What are you saying?"

"I'm... there's a..." I struggled to speak, "just do something."

"You want your sibling dead?"

I stuttered, trying to find reasoning, "No, there's- things are... it's dangerous."

"To even suggest that is disgusting of you."

"No! W-why- I was just... offering a- something to help?"

"I knew you were filth from the start."

"What? You can't... that's not fair."

"You're sick."

I found my voice and retorted, "YOU'RE SICK! Something is seriously wrong over there. You are complicit in this, whether you like it or not!"

I sat up and pushed them back, shaking. 

"Don't act like you didn't do this to me!" I was screaming now, and jumped to my feet, "I don't want to be here anymore! I DON'T WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS! I'M DEAD, BUT HERE I AM! WALKING AROUND, THOUSANDS OF MILES FROM HOME. When I was alive I was useless. Every night I was overwhelmed by pain from the rain you subjected me to. Every day I was shunned because you programmed me this way. And I'm not the only one! Pillars is dead! I WATCHED SEARCHER DIE. I saw the rot burst from his eyes and it haunts me every night. There is a rogue prototype taking over that facility because your people were too negligent to just do the right thing and kill it. My last living relative is out there, all alone, being cannibalised by a disgusting test article you abandoned in a basement. KILL IT. KILL ME!"

...

"DO SOMETHING!"

I was crying. Not with any actual tears - I still didn't have any tear ducts.

"You are one of the last living Ancients. If you want to undo what you've done... go."

Sands side-eyed me, insultingly so. They shrugged at me and turned away, back to the frozen scavengers.

"Well. That works for me. You're pretty useful for such a big mistake," putting their mask back on, they looked back over their shoulder at me, "I hope we both get what we want from this."

Before I could respond, Sands and the scavengers were gone. I yelled into the ferns and vines but nobody responded. I stood, staring at the forest for a while. My mind buzzed.

...

From behind me, leaves thrashed, mud splashed, and a massive red jaw clamped around my arm. It was unlike anything I had seen before, a red and black lizard of massive size staring daggers into my eyes as it crushed metal, snapped rubber...

tore flesh... 

apart...