The Moon, chapter 21: Grave

The blaring sound of an alarm shook Susie awake as the gates in front of her blurred vision opened, seeing behind it a short hallway, at the end of which was a giant pair of black metal doors. Apparently she dozed off at some point during the elevator ride, which either means she was very tired, or it was a very, very long way down. She had never been claustrophobic before, but right now she could imagine why someone would. She was currently countless miles below the surface of the earth, and the only way out that she'd seen was up a really long staircase guarded by a monster.

She suddenly felt incredibly trapped. All that was left was to move forward. Susie rubbed her eyes, and focused her vision on the black doors ahead, picking up the flashlight and walking cautiously towards it. The doors were even more monstrously large up close, at least five times Susie's height. Strangely enough, she could hear the sound of wind on the other side. Numerous symbols were engraved into the door, not the least recognizable of which was the symbol that was on the door of the school, and in some other places around Hometown. The Delta Rune. Though, on this door, it was different. The symbol was upside down, with the orb and wings below the three triangles. This gave her an uneasy feeling, but with nowhere else to go, she pressed on.

Susie put both of her hands on either door, and with a great amount of effort, pushed them with the whole weight of her body behind her. They eventually gave way, with thunderous creaks to announce the door's slow opening. Dust shook off of the door and onto Susie's shoulders as between it, a bright, orange light nearly blinded her, as such a stark contrast to the darkness she was accustomed to was completely unexpected to her. With the doors open enough for her to traverse through, she wiped the dust from her black coat, and walked forward, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the new light.

In front of her was a surprisingly narrow walkway made somewhat naturally out of stone and soil, that stretched on only for a couple dozen meters before it dropped off. Sitting on the edge of what remained of the pathway was a smaller figure in dark tattered cloth, who, as if her presence mattered none to it, didn't respond to Susie at all. She walked forward, nearly to the edge of the cliff's face, and couldn't believe her eyes. The orange glow came from the sun half dipped over the horizon, it's light illuminating what seemed to be an entire kingdom, hundreds of miles below the cliff, which in reality, was just a narrow outcropping that belonged to a much larger mountain face behind her. An entire city of mangled orange machinery and magma rested just below her. Closer to the horizon was what used to be a forest, but was now a mess of dead trees and similar foliage caked in ash. Even further away, a ruin of pink and purple stone lie dormant. Beyond that, she saw nothing but empty fields of dirt, and the sun watching over it all.

The thing that interested her the most, however, was the massive lake that rested between the machinery and the forest. A perfectly circular body of water that must have stretched miles across. The orange light of the sun made everything look as if it was burning, but the lake's surface reflected it perfectly as a small line of purple light danced and flickered across it. This made the lakes depth incredibly hard to gauge, but all she knew was that she couldn't see the bottom. A dark wind blew against Susie and the silent, clothed figure. One of which not knowing what to say, the other choosing not to say anything at all.

Susie couldn't handle the silence anymore.
“Wh... What is this place?”
The figure replied to her in a quiet, raspy, but somewhat high pitched voice.
“This is where they drowned God.”
Susie had no idea how to respond.  So he did it for her.
“It wasn't supposed to be like this. In an ideal life, we would've lived happily. But they came from above. They took his power, and placed him underneath the soft and crushing blankets of the water until the light was banished from his body. They took this light, and with it, began to experiment. This is the product of their last test, as am I.”
He stood to his feet.
“I sense it. You're from another test. Another timeline. They're attempting to find the ideal timeline for us, but their methods are flawed. An endless amount of suffering will come from this if they aren't stopped. The sun on this world is dying, and when it draws it's last breath, your world will be sent down a path of failure and misery. The fact that you're here at all means their project is failing and glitching. If you aren't lucky enough, you will become like me. Stuck in time to wander an empty world alone. Told that you would never be able to leave lest you turn to dust.”
The figure forces out a halfhearted laugh.
“But... Don't worry about me. Someone has to take care of this world.”

Susie stares at the dead, lifeless kingdom in front of her, and falls to her knees.

“So... there's nothing I can do. Me, my friends... We're all just doomed to an endless cycle of suffering?”
“No. That's... what I thought, too. But I was wrong.”
The figure turns to her, the sun casting a black shadow over the cloak that obscured his head.
“They may be stronger than you could ever imagine, and this world may be too far beyond saving...”
The figure walks towards Susie, and in a clothed hand, holds out a small black box.
“... But with what little power you have, you can save your own world, instead. Inside this box is a power they forgot to take from him. When you find a mirror that can reflect the entirety of the sky, as well as the moon, plant this seed next to it and wait until the night. I'm... not quite sure what will happen next. But this must be a power we can use against them. I can feel it.”

Susie takes the box in her own hand and clenches it tightly, before putting it in her coat pocket. Susie felt her body shake as she felt the sorrow of hundreds of monsters in the wind.

“Thank you... I-I don't even know your name.”
Another halfhearted laugh.
“... Nor do I. I forgot it long ago, along with most other things... except... I can still remember their faces.”
His voice began to quiver, as Susie recognized it as a bit like a child's voice.
“Their smiling, welcoming, loving faces. Calling a name I can't remember. Giving me hugs... saying they love me...”
Without warning, he weakly stumbled toward Susie, and wrapped his frail little body around her. Susie hugged him back, her body shaking in quite the same way as his. She heard the sound of tears hitting the dry stone below them.
“Wh-Why... Why d-did they let them leave, and then m-make me stay...? What have I d-done to deserve this?”

Susie hugged him a little tighter. His form... it almost reminded him of... Ralsei.
“You didn't do anything wrong... You were just... Dealt a terrible hand.”
“Please, stranger... D-Don't let anyone, o-or god forbid yourself suffer like I have. Not even the worst of monster nor humankind deserve this.”
“I won't. I promise.”
The stranger in her arms held on tighter.
“Th-Thank you... It's best you leave now... There's nothing left for you here.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Please, don't make this goodbye any more difficult than it needs to be. This kind of thing has happened far too much already.”

Susie stepped back from the stranger. She had met him only minutes before, but she felt a closer attachment to him than she knew could exist. Susie wiped a tear from her eye, and waved at him as she left. The stranger simply turned his body towards the sun once more. Susie walked back into the mountain passage, closing the black doors behind her. She felt an intense sorrow as the doors closed, as Susie felt alone in her struggles once again. But she took what he said to heart. To not let the goodbye be any harder than it needed to. The flashlight now her only guidance left, she walked into the lift, and hit the up arrow.

Susie felt her anxiety rise as the elevator descended instead.