A Dark Red City: Klara's Rise To Adventure

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I’m the only one awake. I decide to go for a walk. Some fresh air will do me good, maybe I’ll even take some pictures.

When I reach the main square, it dawns on me that this is not the same place I left behind. In fact, nothing seems familiar at all. The statues are gone, and so is the fountain. The buildings have changed too; they are now taller, and covered in strange symbols. The whole place feels like a maze. I wander around for what seems like hours, but without any luck finding my way back to the hotel. Exhausted and hungry, I find refuge in an alleyway, where there are some crates to sit on.

As I look around at my surroundings, I notice a red light in the distance shining from somewhere above my head. It doesn’t seem very strong or intense; more of a soft glow than anything else. As my eyes adjust to its presence, it becomes brighter and brighter until it finally blinds me with its intensity. I hold my hand up before my face to shield my vision from the blinding light, as a loud noise rings out all around me as if someone had just fired a gun right next to my ear.

When I open my eyes again, everything has changed. The alleyway is still there, however everything else has disappeared along with all trace of the city above ground: no towering buildings, no people, no cars… nothing except for me standing alone in the middle of an endless desert sandscape illuminated by a blood-red sun hanging low in the sky above me.

I start walking without knowing where I’m going or why. There is absolutely nothing around me except for sand and rock and emptiness that stretches out ahead of me on all sides as far as the horizon goes.

After walking for an hour or two or three or four or ten *or a thousand* – how can you tell time when there’s no sun? How can you tell distance when you don’t know where you’re going? – I see something up ahead: another person walking towards me across the sand dunes! Excitedly, I wave over to them and call out their name! They turn toward me and smile! “Colette! COOOOOOTTTEEEEEE!!!” We run towards each other and embrace with tears streaming down our cheeks while simultaneously shouting “I’ve missed you so much! Where did we go wrong?!?!?!? How did this happen?!?!?!?!? We need to fix this – we need to get back home! Why didn’t we think of this sooner – what were we thinking?!?!?!? Go back into the past! Tell them! What if… what if…” *but then suddenly…*