text: [Themes: fantasy]
  
  Novitiate Murl asks you to take him to the place where you saw the magician.
  
  "Mother Larissa will come to our aid if we need it," he tells you. He also makes sure Westerly has a sword. You don't feel particularly safe even with these reassurances – but you trust the judgement of Mother Larissa.
  
  You guide them through the caves to the place where you think you became lost. It takes much going back and forth. You begin to wonder if it's even still there, or if you're totally wrong in your judgement.
  
  "Could the path be gone?" you ask.
  
  "Only the Temple priests have power to change the caves," Novitiate Murl tells you.
  
  You eventually find a tiny cavity in a high corner, positioned in such a way that it creates a powerful optical illusion. It looks as if it's plain cave wall, but only when you look very closely can you see it leads into a tunnel.
  
  "Wow," mutters Westerly.
  
  Novitiate Murl gathers a group of magic lights with a wave of his hand and ushers them into the cave. He climbs in first, then Westerly, then you. You wonder how you could've stumbled up here accidentally without realizing it.
  
  You continue to lead the way, looking around nervously. You feel as if you could melt into a puddle, you're so afraid. There's a feeling of intense malevolence in here.
  
  Slowly, you become aware of a soft sound. A sound of air gushing intermittently, with a high-pitched undertone.
  
  "Do you hear that?" you whisper.
  
  The other two stop and pause. You can't tell where the sound comes from. It seems to come from nowhere, and yet, everywhere.
  
  "I do," Novitiate Murl tells you. He closes his eyes and holds up his palm. With a slight frown, he moves his hand as if attuning it to the source of the sound.
  
  He snaps his eyes open and sends forward a ball of light.
  
  You almost jump out of your skin when you see there's a person there, near the ceiling, clinging seemingly impossibly off the ground. Where her eyes should be, there's only bare skin.
  
  Your sister, who you still can't remember.
  
  "Sap!" you cry, running over. "Sap, it's going to be okay."
  
  Just as your hands reach to her, there's a strong gust of wind, and you're blown off your feet, falling onto your back.
  
  "No!" Westerly shouts, coming to your side. "Mary, are you okay?"
  
  You nod. When you look up, you see the cloaked figure again. The magician, wearing orange, a wicked smile on his face. You look around and can't see Novitiate Murl.
  
  "You know what I am, don't you?" says the magician. You see a metal pendant swinging from a chain in his hand. It glints of gold. It takes you a moment to see what the shape is. A triangle with the point upwards. A leaf flattened against it, as if from a gold tree...
  
  The imagery you recognize. It's the emblem of the Pandrians: the nation that kept your people slaves for hundreds of years, until some of you fought your way out and founded Footink. They used to carve away the flesh of your ancestors as offerings to their idols. The thought that this is one of them in front of you sends fear through you like you've never felt before.
  
  > Flee.
  You know you cannot win this fight. You flee into the darkness further down the cave, leaving behind Sap and Westerly. Maybe they shout for you – but you don't hear anything more than the pounding of blood in your ears.
  
  The magic lighting gets so weak, you can't see in front of you. You go by touch.
  
  Suddenly there's a shock wave from behind you. Rocks fly off the cave ceiling. There's a terrible low sound, and the cave shakes and crumbles.
  
  You start to curl up, but the ground falls out from beneath you, and the last thing you remember is falling, falling...
  
  ...
  
  When you wake, it's impossibly dark. You cannot see. You don't feel pain. When you try to move your arms and legs, you can. It doesn't seem you're terribly injured.
  
  You have no idea where you are. You just know if you stay put, you may never be found again. You have to take a chance. You pick a direction and go with it, feeling your way carefully.
  
  The impossibility of your task hits you incrementally. Your stomach growls. You thirst. You're cold. Usually the caves are quite warm, but here, you're cold.
  
  Days must pass. You don't sleep. You can't find anything to eat or drink.
  
  Days pass.
  
  You realize you're going to die here. There's no way out. You pray to the gods to have mercy on you.
  
  Then you see a light. It's been so long since you saw anything, you don't know what to make of it at first. A light. So dim, so close to the ground. You go towards it fast.
  
  It's one of the magic lights, heavily faded. How did it get here? You cup it in your hands. It's warm to your freezing skin. You try to make out the area around you. There's only rock. Carrying it in your hands, you walk forward.
  
  After a long time, you notice something different in the landscape. You can't see clearly enough to know what it is, so you go up to feel it.
  
  It feels of fabric. You explore it more, and realize it's a tent. But for who? Who would live in such darkness? You call out.
  
  No response. It must be abandoned. You search further, and as you search, you see more signs of civilization.
  
  It's not until you start to hear a distant sucking noise that you understand where you are. This is Footink. This is your home. All empty, all abandoned. They're all gone. Your family, your friends, everyone you know. All gone. The magician won. You are alone.