It was an industrial warehouse. Machines, equipment, those sweet, sweet delith cells…everything one could use to build and work in a mine, it was all here. And judging by the look of it, the brick and ceramic building had done enough to keep the elements out that most of it was salvageable.

I didn’t know if most of it was useful. I certainly had no current plans to dig a giant freaking hole in anything, but it was nice to know that potentially, it was an option.

First things first though, I grabbed a harness which looked like it was some sort of climbing rig made of synthetic weave and covered in rusted buckles and carabiners, as well as a durable-looking backpack in similar condition. And then I clipped as many things to my harness and stuffed as many things in my bag as I could lay hands on.

Hand tools, derusting solution, work gloves, dust masks, spools of synthetic weave and rope, more bags, safety goggles, a prybar, delith cells of every size, all disappeared into my bag until it was so heavy I could only carry it a few dozen feet before needing to pause and readjust the biting straps on my shoulders and stretch my back. I figured that was well enough for today and started to head out when I heard a voice.

A faint voice, a woman’s voice, sounding like she was whispering to me from a very great distance, and yet loud enough to be heard.

[Athan,] it beckoned. [Athan.]

“Who,” I coughed on my words again. “W-who’s there?”

[Athan. I know thee. I know thy struggles.]

“Where are you?” I spun around, trying to find any orientation to the sound but confusingly, it seemed to come from everywhere at once, or nowhere. I dropped the bag with a huge clatter and dug a finger in my ear.

[Athan. I have a sacred charge for thee. A quest thou must undertake to gain my favor.]

Even with a finger in my ear, the sound came as clear as ever. I plugged my other ear and heard her speaking still.

[Yes, Athan. I speak directly to thy mind. Fret, for this is but the least of my great powers.]

“Who the heck are you?” I asked the empty room. Feminine laughter echoed from every corner of the room at me.

[Thou may refer’st to me as Saga. Now we have wasted enough time with idle chit-chat. A great quest is ready for thy undertaking.]

“The hell are you talking about? I’m not doing anything until I get some answers!” I was trying to sound brave, to buy some time so I could peek into the distant corners of the room and see her, maybe. But the fact that I could still hear her whispering in my head, even with my ears plugged, this was disconcerting. And disorienting. And actually pretty panic-inducing.

[Tut, tut,] she said, rather than actually tutting at me. [Thou lie’st Athan. Thou shalt undertake my quest, or thou…shalt…die.]

“Look lady, I don’t know who you are, but I’m having a really bad sort of life here, and I’m not exactly equipped or able to go on any grand quests. I’m kind of banished here and not really allowed to be talking with people or straying very far, and I’m dealing with my own shit right now, like not starving to death. So if you could just lay off the death threats…”

That was the most I’d spoken in a long time. My mouth was dry, though from talking or from the fear, I didn’t know, but I was happy that I could still articulate if I wanted to.

[Foolish Athan, thou think’st thy greatest troubles lie in the mirror?]

“What?”

[In the mirror?]

“What about it?”

[Like, the one you saw just outside?]

“I really am not following you here, spooky disembodied voice lady.”

[I am called Saga. And you think that what thou saw in the mirror was…your biggest trouble?]

“Uh, no. I mean, what I saw in the mirror was me.”

[No, what you…] she paused for a moment and it gave me a moment of satisfaction that somehow I’d frustrated her, and then she started over. [What I meant was, the haunting visage that thou beheld’st in the mirror reflects the difficulties thou now face’st.]

“Yes, I’m hungry, and I saw that in the mirror.”

[But little dost thou know, the woes thou beheld in the mirror were paltry compared to the woes one would create by disobeying…me!]

“Look, lady,”

[Saga.]

“Sure. Look, Saga. That’s not even a real name…”

[I AM REAL ENOUGH! And it is MY name!] her voice roared in my ears, or mind maybe. I felt my head ache as her voice ripped through me.

“Ow, Jesus, okay. Saga. Whatever you say, just stop yelling. Look, it’s getting late, I can’t really undertake any grand quests because I have to haul this big bag of shit home and I need to get there before sundown or I’m just gonna be tripping over rocks in the dark all night, okay? And I can’t leave anyway, I don’t have any food or transport or anything, and I’m not allowed to anyway.”

[Fool, Saga knows all of this already. Her task for you is simple and nearby. Complete it and you will earn a respite for now.]

“We’re uh, speaking in the third person and dropping the ‘thou’ now?”

[Impertinent fool! Saga has always spoken in the third person.]

“Okay, whatever. Look, if it’s easy and close I’ll do your stupid quest on my way home. What do you want?”

The voice gave a very distinct impression of clearing its throat, though I couldn’t actually hear it do that. Or…think it do that. Conversations inside my own mind were confusing.

[Thy sacred charge lies in this very building. Thou must go forth and find the room known as cafeteria. Once there, I shall direct thee further.]

“Okay. Should I uh, bring my stuff?”

[I care not.]

“Sure.” I grabbed the huge heavy bag and struggled it over my shoulders. I hoped I hadn’t broken anything in it when I dropped it, but now was apparently not the time to check. I only had a couple hours of light left, and some kind of angry mental ghost thing bossing me around now.

The cafeteria was easy enough to find. The building was a couple of long hallways with rooms leafing off either side, and it looked like the community living-related areas were all on the opposite side of the building from the community working-related areas, with the warehouse/loading dock place I entered at the working-related extreme end.

I didn’t do much more than peek my head into the other rooms along the way, wanting to save time to get home, but it looked like there was still plenty to salvage in this building. I’d have to come back…though the prospect of exposing myself to this bossy ghost was unappealing. I finally entered the cafeteria, which once probably had enough tables for a couple dozen people and a serving line off to the side, though pretty much all of that was just rust and rot now. I walked to the center of the room and waited for a few moments.

“Yo, spooky ghost,” I said.

[Thou will’st address me as Saga,] the voice insisted with a hint of annoyance.

“Yeah, I’m here at the cafeteria. What do you want? Want me to sweep or something, make the old haunt a little less depressing?”

[No, why would…no. (is this guy for real?)] It was as though I were hearing two different voices speaking, but the same person. One, the whispery, dramatic, overwrought voice which I’d been speaking with in the garage…the other, the same person’s voice, but asked in a casual, disbelieving air, slightly overlapping the first voice, like a quick aside.

“Did you just…ask if I was for real?” I asked.

[I said no such thing. Now, thy quest lies in the kitchen. Go forth.]

“No really, you did this thing where you were talking like you sounded like two people–“

[I have no patience for this (such a freaking pain!), now go forth to the kitchen at once.]

“See…there it is again. Is there someone el–“

[GO FORTH I SAID.]

“Jesus, okay. You don’t have to shout.” My head rang from her yelling, and I wasn’t sure the satisfaction I got out of pissing her off was worth whatever brain-exploding she’d do to me if I kept it up. I stepped through the doorway into the kitchen, which was actually pretty well preserved. Dull–but not rusted for a change–dusty machines stood in rows along the perimeter, and stone countertops lay cracked on the ground, the wood shelving holding them up long ago rotted away. Random pots and pans and utensils were scattered around.

[To the pantry!]

There was what looked like a closet built into the wall. It might have had shelves and doors at some point, but now just mostly looked like a dark empty room full of collapsed crap.

[On thy right. Further forward. Further. Further. Stop. Sift through the debris.]

I kneeled down and stopped, looking at the pile of jagged rusty crap in front of me. After a moment’s thought, I opened my bag and pulled out the work gloves I’d stowed. They were thick and durable, and seemed to have some combination of synth-mesh and stainless metal links that made them almost like chainmail. However they worked, they did it well, and I was able to shift the rubble without tearing my hands apart.

Underneath the top layer, things were much better preserved. This whole area must have been floor-to-ceiling shelves and collapsed in on itself before everything went to rot. I wasn’t sure, but there were canned foods here which were mostly rust-free, and still had readable labels, though they were pretty badly faded, and many cans seemed bloated, punctured, or rusted through. Still, some weren’t, and I started to put a few in my bag.

[Halt! Complete thy quest first!]

I rolled my eyes and kept digging, sorting the good and bad cans for later. “What am I even looking for?” I asked.

[There! Thou behold’st it! Open it, quickly!]

Close to the bottom, there was what could be charitably described as the remains of a box, and inside of it, faded but recognizable, 4 jars of dried fruit preserves.

“Your great quest…is for dried fruit?”

[Open it, quickly!]

She didn’t really need to tell me twice. After a couple of weeks, even ancient food like this was extremely appealing. I twisted the lid as hard as I could, but it kept slipping off my gloves. I took them off and torqued with all my strength, but still nothing.

[Oh come on, open it.]

“I’m trying!”

I dug in my bag for some of the tools I’d thrown in there and came up with two wrenches. Wrapping the bottle in one of the gloves, I put a wrench on each and clamped them down, though the wrenches themselves were also ancient and resistant to my efforts. Finally, I had them both on and twisted them opposite each other.

There was a pop and I felt the jar give. I pulled the wrenches off and realized I hadn’t unscrewed it, just broken it at the top, shearing the lid and the glass at the top off entirely.

But hey, it was open, and I didn’t get glass shards everywhere, so that’s a win.

[One strawberry.]

“What?”

[You can eat more later, but first, (I mean,) for thy quest, thou must eat one strawberry. Do it slowly, savor the flavor. Please.]

This was the weirdest quest I’d ever been on, but at least we were agreeing on something finally. I dug a finger into the jar, careful to avoid the broken edges and came up with one syrupy somewhat withered-looking strawberry. I slowly put it on my tongue and then closed my mouth and sucked on it a little.

Definitely still tasted like strawberry. It had a bit of a sugary and acidic bite compared to a fresh one, but it was still the best thing I’d eaten in weeks.

[Ohh, shit. That is sooooo good.] Just like I’d sensed her clear her throat before without hearing anything of the like, now I was getting this enormous sense of…well…almost erotic enjoyment.

I wasn’t even going to ask at this point, because she was saying exactly what I was thinking.

Once the syrup had washed off and coated my taste buds in saccharine goodness, I gave the strawberry a more determined sucking. I felt some of the little seeds come off and bounce against my tongue, the flesh of the berry long since turned to mush and incapable of resisting the suction in my mouth. I tasted the red rich ripeness, and the bitter over-preservation. I could sense how the middle of the strawberry was the most flavorful part, with the tip being hard and dry, and the tail end being more earthy than sweet.

Experimentally, I bit into it at last, and sensed a chill go down Saga’s spine. The sensation of her closing her eyes languishingly, her toes curling and uncurling, holding herself tight against the tidal waves of the feeling flowed into me, and made me wonder again for a moment, who or what the heck was she? But the thought was just fleeting, because I was lost in her sensations as much as she was lost in the flavors of that one strawberry.

The strawberry was gummy and hard, but not so tough that I couldn’t cleave through it with my teeth. When I bit down, it stuck to my molars, top and bottom, and as I opened them again, they played a game of tug-of-war with the pulpy, sticky remains. I shifted it to the other side with my tongue, getting another hit of the flavor now released from the chewed pulp, and feeling another thrill of Saga’s.

I…or we…probably sat there for two or three minutes savoring the weirdly erotic sensation of me chewing on a strawberry, before it had turned to completely pulverized mulch in my mouth and I really had to swallow. As I did, I sensed her sigh of satisfaction.

[Oh, that was well done. You’re a grade-A eater.]

“Thanks…I think. Hey, I have no idea what happened there, but I feel like I should be thanking you. Or, offering to buy you breakfast or something–“

[You…breakfast–] I could feel the gears in her head turning as she put two-and-two together what I was insinuating. [WHAT?]

“Ow, ow, ow, no yelling, please.”

[(Did he really feel all of that?) Uh, what do you mean? (Shit, I must have let my guard down.) I mean. Um. Ahem!] Again with her saying/broadcasting/whatever the word “ahem” instead of actually clearing her throat.

[What I meant was…(shit, I have to make something up, this is so stupid)…what I meant was, that was…your reward! For thy service. For completing thy quest so selflessly. (Yes! He will totally buy that.)]

“Look, lady,”

[It’s SAGA (it’s not even that hard a name!)]

“Stop yelling. Look, Saga, I don’t know who you think you’re fooling with this whole thee and thou bit, but it isn’t me. I don’t know what just happened but it was pretty fantastic so try not to stress about it too much okay?”

[O…kay (is it okay? No, of course it isn’t. Humans can’t be trusted).]

“You can trust me, I promise.”

[That is certainly what an untrustworthy person would say!]

“Yeah, well, I don’t know what I’d possibly stand to gain by fooling a disembodied fruit-craving ghost. Anyway, I’ve gotta go.”

[Wait! (Shit. No, I don’t want him to wait, I want him to go.)]

“Man, you are massively confusing to talk…talk? With. What do you want.”

[You…I mean, thou must promise to return. I have many more quests for thee. Should thee not return, I shall give you the death I so earlier (So earlier? That makes no sense.) promised.]

“Yeah, I’ll come back. I’ve got nobody else to talk to, and I’m forbidden from talking to normal people ever again, so I guess whatever the hell you are is a pretty good companion?”

I stopped and thought for just a moment about the events of the last few minutes of my life.

“You know, I think I just realized I’m going insane. I kind of thought that would take longer.”