Backdated to 23 December, 2022

Snow glittered across the open 'field' of sorts in the park. One of many, the same she'd opened her eyes to the year prior. Even submerged in winter's snow and buried by autumn's decay, she'd still seen life here. The first she'd seen in… what? A hundred, two hundred years? Somewhere along there. Centuries. Now and then, she wondered how many people on Earth could really comprehend that. Even the annoying mosquitoes and gnats, the buzzing and festering flies or creepy crawly spiders, the mold that decays and poisons if not cleaned up and disposed of properly… none of that even existed any more on Solaris beyond barely a fraction of a percentage of tiny outcoves. Couldn't. Chaos had choked it out. Beyond the most sheltered of spots where she'd managed to scavenge food, bits of flora and fungi still seemed to try and huddle together, but even over the millennia the flora she'd taken to nibbling were no longer the plants she'd once known. They'd evolved somewhat, turned into something more stunted and bitter. Life's attempt to shield itself from being devoured, even while something seemed to try and keep her alive with it.

There was a lightness on her shoulders, at least, knowing she wasn't alone in seeing such absolute destruction of life. There were others like her who came to this still overabundant, wonderfully overflowing planet of life.

She still found it a disconnect with those born and raised on Earth. One she wasn't entirely sure how to come to terms with or overcome. Children fighting in wars was bad enough--she wasn't convinced they understood the extent of the risks at hand if this place also fell to Chaos.

Kyrie glanced down at the phone weighing her hands down into her lap. She'd powered up into the uniform of Solaris ages ago, brought out the phone from subspace, and just…. stared at it. Or the snow crystals that shimmered under lamp and moonlight. Or the not so distant lights of the city. Or just listened to the faded sound of traffic, things scuttling around the underbrush…

Life.

She'd told Alastor she was scared of going back. Not a fraction of a lie. She was terrified of that emptiness. The plant was a tomb, and it had been barely a breath ago that she'd been sure it'd eventually be her tomb as well. A year surrounded by people and animals and extensive plants and life... it'd been a balm, but it'd only served to hide the festering wound and terror and hate of that place.

Because she couldn't just ignore it. She couldn't just focus on trying to build an existence on Earth. And oh, oh did Kyrie loath that. But the evidence was stacking up in her eyes--she needed to be stronger again, mere experience did only so much when she didn't have the power any more to further back her antics. A ghost of a smile flickered across her face--she'd vastly underestimated the strength of some of Chaos' agents here, and she'd drastically overestimated how much she could make up for the loss of her magics and ranks by just knowledge of how to handle herself in conflict.

Limited knowledge. Aiding Alastor had made her come to face a painful fact: she didn't even know what the Chaos on her world looked like. Only it's far reaching effects across the planet.

"<Winds abandon you,>" she breathed, the words forming pale puffs in the air. The Solarian language rolled off her tongue without hindrance or falture. A dead language, considering she was the only one left to speak it. Her eyes no longer pricked with tears as she wondered--will I ever hear someone else speak it again? Those tears had dried up centuries ago, torn away by wild winds and shrieks that bloodied her throat.

Beside her, a large camping bag sat, stiff and bulging with supplies. A second one, equally stuffed and barely contained by zippers and heavy straps, sat somewhere in subspace. Between them both, she felt almost overwhelmed by the amount of stuff she was bringing back. Enough food and water for a few weeks, a dense first aid kit, sleeping bag, some supplies for notes and solar rechargeable pack and batteries to fuel small electronics--flashlight, mainly. The meals were effectively all MREs, various levels of dehydrated and vacuum sealed to take up as little space as possible, complete with self-cooking bags and whatnot. Effective.

She'd told Lilith and Realta she didn't need all of that, she knew how to survive on her world. But they'd insisted, just as they'd insisted on garaging her van and watching over her plants while she was gone. Benefits to knowing someone who had a stupid amount of funding she could rely on, really. Eliminated all of her excuses why she couldn't go back.

"Just scout some of it out. You don't need to trek across the whole world," Lilith had offered, trying to help lessen the weight of it all. Kyrie hadn't mentioned how impossible that would have been anyways, with how the weather had destroyed aerial travel routes, the oceans had risen so much most of her old land bridge options were submerged under wild waters. The point had still stood, and she'd been only able to discuss the simple logistics of it all.

Go back. Just for a little while. Look around. Start trying to gather herself again.

"You'll be able to come back here, you won't be stranded."

It'd been that line from the woman that had frozen Kyrie, blue eyes gazing back centuries before she could stop herself. If Lilith had noticed her crying, she hadn't commented, but the woman had leaned into her, allowing the Solarian to let her weight press back against her. Let someone else hold her up for a moment. Let someone else take the burden, if only for a small, tiny moment.

She'd declined their offers to come with her to the park. Her only company was the random critters she couldn't see, and the small glowing wisp that was her near constant companion when she powered up. Even now, it floated around her, idling and… waiting, she thought. On her, on her eventual choices.

She was probably projecting, though.

Cuz she knew she was delaying this as much as possible.

Again she looked down, flicking a thumb over the buttons to bring up the homescreen. An app with a house symbol stared back at her. One she'd never used. One she moved to the last possible screen so she didn't have to even acknowledge it since receiving the phone from Realta and learning what it meant.

It was pathetic the amount of will it took to finally move her thumb to it.

She clung to the bag she shouldered, felt the slight warmth of the wisp as it somewhat settled on her shoulder. Her hand shook, thumb trembling before she finally let it drop. Press. Summon that magic around her with the activation.

Afraid she'd open her eyes and it'd be gone forever. The bags would be gone. The wisp would be gone. Awaken in her broken home to wild, roaring winds and emptiness.

Magic swirled around her, closed around her, and she felt her body shift. The world fell away, direction meant nothing. She was aware of moving, but had no control over it.

And just like that, it stopped. The gravity was different. The air felt different. No howling winds, but they still blew past. No traffic, no shuffling animals. Solaris opened her eyes to the sunshine splayed out over the shattered settlement, and let out the last breath of Earthen air she held inside her. She was… home.

Such an alien sensation, that was.



WC 1,361