I made it back to the ruined human city.

I left the bloody scene after the fight with Gruce, exiting Chronos. At first, Emit complained that I was going the wrong way, but then understood why I left.

If I went up the Tower, and fixed everything, these repeating days would also end. Which means Lyra would still be…

…

So I made my way to the ruins. My arm stung the entire way. I couldn’t move it. I had cut off a piece of my shirt from my waist and tied it taught around my arm. It was very tough, but I managed to make a makeshift sling.

I luckily avoided any encounters with rats as I made my way to the underground lab. I was a bit worried I’d have to jump in the pit again, but the elevator worked for me.

By the time Emit and I stood in front of the computer, we had little under an hour left. This was reconfirmed by the weird voice telling us so.

Emit guided me through once again, I took extra care not to bungle anything up this time around.

“Insert ID card.” The voice said.

Moment of truth.

I did as asked. On the screen, a little circle with a gap appeared and spun. Then it flashed green.

Emit bobbed in the air excitedly. “Heck yeah, Kid! Just in time too!”

“So we’re okay?” I asked.

“Yep!”

“Great.” I said. Then I finally let the stress that had been building and slumped down on the bare cold metal floor.

Now the only thing left to do was wait. Just have to wait until the Tower explodes, I’ll die and be sent back to square one.

Or I could speed it up? I took out my knife. The same one I just used to take another life hours ago. If I used this, I could just kill myself right now. That would take me back to the beginning right?

“It would. As long as you’re connected to me, death will just bring you back.” Emit confirmed.

I stared at the knife, the blood now dried and turning a dark brown. The same blood was covered on me, from when I struck the final blow.

…Did I have to kill him? I was just so angry. Lyra died. Over what? A stupid little card? The same feeling of anger boiled up in me. I threw the knife away from me, it bounced and slid to the other side of the room.

“It’s okay! Those two will be back and normal before you know it.” Emit said.

“Will it really be normal though?” I said. “When we go back, she won’t even know her friend killed her. What if he does something like that again?”

“I don’t think that’ll happen.“ You saw him, he went unnaturally berserk.” Emit said.

“That’s… true I guess.” I said, my voice getting weaker.

It doesn’t change one thing though. I killed someone. Animals trying to attack me is one thing. But a thinking, breathing Fallen is another. Even if he is a jerk, did I really have the right to take his life?

“Are you that troubled by it? It’s not like he’ll be dead forever. That’s why we're waiting out here.” Emit said, zero concern in his voice.

“Of course I’m troubled by it! It might be different for you, being a god and all, but you don’t just kill people!” I yelled to the floating ball in front of me.

“He was going to kill you if you didn’t!”

“I know that! It’s just…” I trailed off.

I looked away from Emit. I know that I didn’t really have a choice. When those flames appeared and nobody could enter or leave, it was either defend myself or be crushed by his sword. I just can’t get the look of his face as he died out of my mind… The smell of his blood spraying in the air.

I don’t like it. These thoughts, I hate it. I know I resolved myself for killing in the past, but this was too much.

“Kid…” Emit began. “I get it. I do. But trust me when I say it’s not your fault. You were put in a bad situation and simply defended yourself. Everything will be fine after today.”

I had nothing to say back to him. I simply sat there, curled into myself. Emit for once, was silent as well.

I don’t know how much time passed after that. I nearly dozed off a few times, but the thoughts of today just wouldn’t let me drift completely. The flames, Gruce’s unnatural strength, The glow to his eyes…

“What even happened back there?” I muttered out loud.

“Beats me.” Emit said. I looked up to see him still there, unmoved from his spot in the air.

I snort. “Useless as ever.”

“Hey! I am not useless! I have some ideas, but nothing concrete.” Emit said.

“Go on then, lets hear them.” I said. It’s a good distraction from… yeah.

“Maybe it was that lady?” Emit said.

“Which lady?”

“Yeah that’s a good name for her! The Witch Lady! Crazy and purple, I mean she’s trying to kill me. So it isn’t far fetched for her to make that big guy go berserker.”

I feel like something got lost in translation there, but I let it pass.

“So what? That girl we hid from did that to him?” I asked.

“More likely than not.”

“Why not just come out and kill us on her own? I saw what she did at the labs.”

“I dunno. Maybe she didn’t want to kill too many innocents? After all that kind of damage would hurt more than just you and me.” Emit said.

I chewed at his words for a moment. So the purple Fallen, ‘The Witch Lady’ I guess we’re calling her now. Charmed or hexed Gruce into losing his mind? Still, I don’t think it makes very much sense. I kinda got the impression she didn’t know who she was looking for. Since she was randomly blowing up old buildings.

“This is true, but she clearly can track us to some degree. She knew we were there after at some point. It’s not far fetched to say she knows we’re centered in Chronos, especially since that’s where my body is.” Emit said.

“How’d she know to curse Gruce then?” I asked.

“Probably didn’t target just him. You ever hear of the six handshakes rule?” Emit asked, returning my question with a question.

“No?”

“Well, there was a theory out there that said every person in the world was connected by six degrees of separation. You got a friend here, who knows another person who knows another person, etcetera. That sixth person can be anyone in the world. From France to China!”

Hmm… I think I get what you’re saying. So what? Did she just curse a sixth of the population in Chronos?

“It wouldn’t even need to be that much. Chronos is a lot smaller than the entire world. Between the daily commerce, social gatherings and what not, I’m sure that even a few hundred ‘cursed’ people would be enough.”

Yikes. That’s worrying. Thankfully, if Emit’s theory is true, that shouldn’t be a problem anymore. After all, we’re done now. I just have to take this card the next time I wake up in my bed.

Oh. A realization dawned on me. If we go back to yesterday, I’d lose this ID card. Meaning I’ll have to take it from Gruce again. Damn it. The idea of today repeating made my heart start to race just a bit. Just as I was starting to feel a bit better too…

“What’s the issue?” Emit asked.

You saw how it went today!

“No no no, I mean we don’t have to get it from him. Just do what you did with your diary.”

I tilted my head, but then remembered. The soul jar thing, right? Emit bobbed up and down in what I assumed was confirmation.

I’m afraid I’ll mess it up though, didn’t you say I put half of my soul into my journal?

“I thought about it, it probably was so easy to stuff so much of yourself in there since, in a sense, it already contains so much of your thoughts and feelings. Other objects shouldn’t be so bad.” Emit explained.

Well… I really didn’t want to grab this card again, so even with the fear of screwing it up, I had only one choice. I took the card out of my bag. I was still pretty banged up, my bleeding had stopped and started to scab. I picked one of the scabs off my arm. Fresh blood welled up that I then scooped with the edge of the card. I closed my eyes. Just imagine it was a part of me, right?

Unlike the first time I did this, the pain was much milder. I kinda imagined instead of the card being ‘me’ it was something smaller. Like my tail, or the small finger on my talon.

Afterwards, I felt fine. No weird flip of perspectives or anything.

“No hallucinations?” Emit asked.

“Other than the god in my head?” I joked. Emit got a chuckle from that.

“Nope, I think I’m okay.” I said.

(Really, I should be glad. I was afraid there’d be voices in my head or something.)

What?

(Huh?)

Emit are you doing this?

“Doing what?” Emit asked.

The other voice! It sounds exactly like me!

(Hold on, I can’t move! Emit! Help! I think the soul thing went wrong!)

My heart skipped a beat. Afraid, I waved my hand in front of my face. Still works.

(Now my body is moving on it’s own!)

Your body? Excuse me, this is my body!

(I take it back, the delusions are starting. Emit help!)

“Uh…” Emit said.

Don’t uh me! Fix this!

(Don’t uh me! Fix this!)

“Okay okay! Listen, it’s easy to figure out which voice is which, you can’t hear me when you slow down time right? Assuming that's the case then I think the other voice should go away when you use Respite.” Emit said.

(Great! Alright then, here I go.)

And when my other self finished those words, Emit’s floating form slowed down, the specks of mana that occasionally fell off of him nearly freezing in place. Respite had activated without any willing of my own.

(…Hello?)

…Hi

(God damn it.)

Time resumed.

“It didn’t work.” I said.

(Not at all. He’s still here.)

“Huh. Well I think I know what’s going on then. You want the good news or bad news?” Emit asked.

“Bad news.” I said.

(Good news.)

“Will you be quiet?” I said to… myself?

(You first!)

“Uh… Well you know what, I’ll just go with the good news, after all don’t you want to eat dessert before dinner?” Emit said.

(Mom never let me do that.)

She’d let our brothers do it though.

(Totally unfair!)

“At least you’re agreeing on something. As I was saying though, good news! You’re not suffering from a bout of mental illness.” Emit said.

“Okay? And?” I said.

(Not very good news since I still can’t move my body…)

“You maybe, probably, most likely… split your psyche into two?” Emit said.

“So what? The voice in my head is actually just me?” I asked.

(Why can he move then and I can’t? See, watch.)

A moment passed. Nope. I’m not moving. But I did feel something weird from my side. I noticed my journal was rumbling.

Even though it spooked me, I took out my book. It was slightly moving. I cracked open the cover.

(Ahaha! Oh that tickles! …Why does it tickle?)

The book that contained years worth of thoughts sprung from my fingers, the pages flipping rapidly.

(Emit did you turn me into my journal!)

“You can’t blame me for that!” Emit said.

(Yes I can! Fix this!)

“I agree. I don’t like the idea of a version of myself residing in my journal.” I said, picking up the book. It was on the latest page, and I noticed the words my other self had been saying were transcribed into it.

(That’s disturbing.)

The words appeared, fading in like an inverse of invisible ink. You’re right, me. This is disturbing.

“As far as fixing this goes… I don’t think I can, at least not at the moment.” Emit said.

“Seriously?” I said.

(Worthless god.)

“Hey! Call me worthless again and I won’t help you!” Emit cried.

“I’m guessing once we stick you in your body I’ll go back to normal?” I asked.

Emit made an affirmative noise. “That’s right. It’s the same issue as when you initially split your soul. I can’t really fix that in this state.”

(Speaking of, I just did it again to the keycard. Will a third version of me show up?)

“I highly doubt it. The only reason this happened is because that journal of yours contains so many of your thoughts already. Giving it effectively half of your soul on top of that is what’s causing what’s happening now.” Emit said.

(I feel like I’m gonna have an existential crisis…)

Same here, Me. Uh. Journal? Diary? I don’t know what to call myself.

(How about my name?)

“You both can’t be Feathers though.” Emit said.

(When is he gonna realize?)

I don’t know. Is it even worth correcting at this point?

(Probably not.)

“What’s going on?” Emit asked.

Nothing, don’t worry about it. Anyway, a name for myself. If I’m ‘Feathers’ you can be… Papers?

My other self gave a heavy sigh. It’s just like Emit, how do you do that without a body?

(I… don’t know? Anyways, I guess my name is ‘Papers’ now. Sounds good enough.)

“I would have gone with ‘Papyrus’” Emit said.

I’m sure you would have. Well, the rest of this waiting game has gotten interesting. This is what I get for wishing for a distraction, I suppose.

Although, as soon as I say that we collectively ran out of things to talk about. The silence sat for a while after that.

“Wanna hear some jokes? I came up with a few on the way here.” Emit asked.

(Please, no.)

I agree. Please don’t.

“Why did the cat-bird jump off the roof? They were feline flighty!” Emit said.

I could only groan in response. This is gonna be a long wait…

A loud crash echoed through my room, snapping me awake in an instant.

My arm was good as new. I waved it around. Pain free! Y'know, I don't think I'll get used to my injuries magically being fixed.

...Hello? Papers? You still there?

(Regrettably. I was hoping when we came back things would just fix itself)

Yeah, same here. Wishful thinking hurts when it doesn't come true.

"Oh quit whining already. It's gonna be fixed and over with soon. Just get me back to my body and we'll be peachy." Emit said.

(It better be. I'm not staying as a book a second longer!)

"Hey Feathers!" Lyra shouted, cracking open my door. "It's too early! Keep it down!"

Lyra! I hopped out of my bed. I pulled her into my room and gave her a hug.

"W-whoa watch it!" Lyra said, pushing me off.

"Sorry. I'm just glad to see you alive." I said.

Lyra gave me a concerned look. "What? Did you think I died or something? Nightmare?"

"Yeah… a nightmare." I said.

Lyra peered over my shoulder. "Did you pee your bed? Looks a little damp over there."

And there goes what leftover worry I had. Lyra laughed as I pushed her out of my room. Before I closed the door on her, she looked confused.

“Where’d you get that card?” Lyra asked, pointing at my chest.

“What?” I looked down. The keycard was hanging around my neck. Oh! It worked!

“It looks just like the one I gave to Gruce.” Lyra noted.

“You gave it to him?” I said.

“We went diving into the human ruins, you know the ones you never come to with me? It looked neat and I gave it to him. That let me keep the real cool stuff, like these colored cubes I got, I think they’re call bix cu-“

“Okay okay! I got it! You can go now!” I said, stopping what would have been a long rant. It was nice to know why Gruce was so protective over the card though.

Lyra stuck her tongue out. “Whatever! See ya bedwetter!”

I shook my head and closed the door. I could hear Lyra laughing as she went downstairs.

(She never changes.)

Isn’t that the truth?

Moving on, now that I'm awake there’s a lot to do. I grabbed the keycard around my neck. It’s weird, even though I’ve lived through this day a few times now, seeing this card around my neck really proves that all of this happened. Plus, I really did doubt it would come back with me.

"Did you really doubt it?" Emit said.

"Well it came from you so yes, yes I did." I said.

Emit swarmed in the air. I laughed.

So with this we can go on right? To the top of the Tower?

"Yep!" Emit said.

Wonderful. Let's get going then. The sooner the better. I got changed and I walked out of my room. Halfway down the hallway though I felt weak. My knees almost buckled under me. I ended up leaning against the wall as my head swam.

(I don't feel so good… why is it getting darker? Hello? I can’t see anything!)

Oh. I forgot Papers. I went back to my room, slowly as to not hurt my head. When I got closer though, I started to feel much better.

I took my journal out of its hiding spot and stuck it in my bag. I felt still slightly nauseous but otherwise I was fine now.

"Seems like you can't get too far from your journal anymore." Emit said.

Did you know this was a side effect? What would have happened if I continued down the hallway?

"Probably would have died." Emit said casually. "Would have been fine though, you'd just end up back in your room anyway!"

(That's still troubling…)

Very, I don't really like the idea of another thing that can kill me at anytime!

Just another reason to get this over with.

I went down the main area of the workshop. I'm going back inside the Tower, so I should make my bow again

"Really? Again with the bow?" Emit said

What's the issue?

(Worked for us so far.)

"It's overdone! Make something new! Better yet, don't make anything at all. You shouldn't need a bow at this point." Emit said.

I thought about it for a moment. I mean, they did just get the drop on me the first time. Maybe he was right. Let's try going without the bow.

(You sure? I still think we should play it safe.)

It's okay. Emit's right, I think I can handle it without.

(If you say so.)

Papers had nothing more to say after that. With that issue settled, it was time to wrap this up.

"Ack!" I cried as one of those rabbits leaped for me. I swung my sword, cutting it out of the air. Two more came for me though, I didn't have enough time to react.

At least not normally. I held my breath. Their movements became as slow as grass growing.

I easily moved in such a way to avoid the first rabbit aiming for me and also strike down the one aiming for a follow up.

Time resumed as normal. The cry of the fluffy creature rang out in the corridor. That left only one left for me to deal with.

Surprisingly though, after seeing me cut down its allies, the last bunny ran away. Probably the better choice.

I put my sword away.

"See? Who needs a bow." Emit said.

It was a lot easier than the first time. Honestly even without Respite I think I could have done it.

(Could we though? Respite is really useful.)

It is a huge advantage. Still, I think I've grown a little bit with using a sword!

(At least it'll help us out when doing the Sorting next year.)

"What's that?" Emit asked.

"It's like a tournament between blacksmiths. It gets held yearly in Caecus."

"Cay-whatiz? Isn't that Latin?" Emit asked.

"The heck is Latin? That's just the name for the Hidden city to the west."

(I wonder what it’s like over there. Can’t be very bright.)

“It is underground partially. We’ll find out next year though.”

(Think we can take first place? Lyra can’t even beat us with Respite on our side! …Probably.)

“I wouldn’t get too used to it, Kid. Once I’m gone so is that fancy ability. I’m still not quite sure how you’re doing that.” Emit said.

“Is it that weird?” I asked.

“Kind of, Time magic usually works on a bigger, exterior scale. In my body I could make an entire area slow down, speed up, even rewind itself like this time loop you’re in. But you’re speeding up your reflexes. It’s very strange, honestly. Maybe it’s cause you’re just a catbird. Can’t handle the true power of god!” Emit laughed.

Uh huh… Anyway with the rabbits dealt with, I made my way into the thicker forest area. Those… What were they called again?

“Monkey-spider. Not to be confused with Spider-Monkey or Spider-Men.” Emit said.

Right. Sure. Monkey-spider. Those things didn’t show their face yet, so I hastily attempted to make my way through the forest. My pace quicken when I heard rustling from the treetops, along with howls from the creatures. I also made sure not to step on any ropes like last time. Fool me once!

I luckily moved faster than the noises behind me and made it to the other side unscathed. We were making time much faster than before. Still, it was a bit of a walk. I slowed my pace down to catch my breath.

I made it to the wider area. A few cut down logs surrounded an unlit firepit. Those two adventures were nowhere to be found.

(We did run into them the last time tomorrow.)

True. They just haven’t made it here yet I suppose. At least I can avoid the odd small talk this time around. I made my way up the winding staircase.

The elevator was over here right? I cut down some vines that covered it. I opened the elevator doors and entered.

Moment of truth! I took out the I.D card. I spotted a little slot under the buttons, like the one in that computer in the ruins. I awkwardly stuck it in there. Human devices are weird.

“Okay, now hit the top right button.” Emit said.

I did as I was told.

“Authorized User detected.” A voice rang out. Suddenly, the floor beneath me began to move.

“Here we go!” Emit said, bouncing excitedly.

I had to admit, I was feeling pretty excited myself. It took awhile, but after dying repeatly, fighting wild life that wanted to kill me and dealing with Emit’s jokes, this weird journey of mine is going to be over.

(We can go back to helping the Master!)

Yeah! And we can go on that date with Amelia!

(Even better!)

“Boo. Don’t be too excited to get rid of me.” Emit said.

Well you are annoying. But I didn’t mind having you around for the most part. Maybe come out of your Tower once we get you fixed up and visit the shop? Show me more weird human junk like that Polly-metha-lean stuff.

“You know what? Maybe I will. We’ll see. I still have to deal with that Witch Lady after all.” Emit said.

After Emit finished speaking, the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened and I was greeted to… a familiar looking room?

(Isn’t this just like the lab in the ruins?)

Just as myself noted, it was almost exactly the same. Several cells of areas, filled with those weird machines that almost sucked Emit to bits. At the end of the area there was another massive computer and a closed door next to it.

Looking around though, I didn’t see anything that looked like Emit’s body. Not in any of the rooms with the machines either.

“The heck? This isn’t the top floor.” Emit said.

Excuse me? But you said it would take us there!

“Well it should have! What even is this place?” Emit asked.

(Shouldn’t you know? You’re the one who told us about the elevator in the first place.)

Exactly! Papers you hit the nail on the head. Do you just not pay attention to the place you live in at all, Emit?

“I do! …I will admit I don’t think I ever used the elevator myself, I just knew it was there. Maybe there’s another one then? I know there’s one that should lead to the top. In the area where my body is, the entrance to it is visible all the time.” Emit said.

I could only sigh. Lets just check out the computer. Maybe it can shed some light on this elevator situation.

I walked towards it and hit one of the buttons on the keyboard. The screen lit up. Words appeared that I couldn’t read.

“I can’t read this.” I said out loud. If it was anything like the last computer then…

“Welcome, Mikhail. Time since last visit, six months. Would you like to continue when you last left off?”

There we go. “No. I’m not Mikhail.”

“User recognized. Hello ‘Huh’.” The computer said.

“Hello. Can you tell me where the elevator is?” I asked.

“Nearest elevator, fifty feet down the hallway.” The computer replied.

“No! I mean one that goes further up.”

The computer took a moment to reply, a spinning half circle appearing on the screen.

“Nearest ascending elevator, next floor.”

Great! We’re getting somewhere.

(Just need to climb another floor then.)

“Okay, and how do I get out of here then? Through this door?” I pointed to the door next to the computer.

“Affirmative.”

“Can you open it?” I asked.

“Access denied. I.D is required.”

“What do you mean access denied! I got a stupid I.D card here!” I said, pulling it out.

“High level clearance required.” The computer said.

“Quit it! Just let me through!”

“Playing Quilt, ‘Moving Through.’” The computer said.

Oh come on not again. A familiar voice of the man from before starting playing.

“Moving through the research, we’ve found some truly strange things.” The man said.

“Not again. Technology never works no matter what year it is. Just press what buttons I tell you.” Emit said.

(We have something to listen to as well, can’t say I wasn’t curious to hear more.)

Emit told me how to navigate the computer, as I did so I listened to the audiolog that played.

“-The findings indicate this Tower has been around for a very, very long time. There’s evidence to suggest that this has existed since as far back as 1500 B.C. That isn’t the strange part, however. No, what’s really strange is that several cultures within the world have been in here at one point or another.”

“Babylonia, Mesoamerica, Nepal, the list goes on. Various cultures have come into contact with it, dating back thousands of years ago. Much before the first recorded contact of most of these civilizations with each other. No, if anything it seems like the Tower moves to places throughout the years.”

“And on top of that, the substance that we found, Manafolithic gas —or Mana as some folk have started calling it— is seemingly as old as the tower itself.”

“I just don’t understand how we couldn’t have noticed it sooner, even assuming the Tower truly did have the impossible ability to vanish in thin air, the Manafolithic gas at least should have left some sort of remnant behind. The effects it has is pervasive to say the least. Only recently have we started to figure out a truly secure way to contain just a relatively tiny amount of it. We’ve set up several devices to absorb the gas and transform it into simple electrical power. Within a month, if needed, we should be able to neutralize it all. That’s with modern day technology though. In theory the gas, if it really did exist before, should be planet wide.”

“And if it was, just seeing what Rine’s —excuse me— Doctor Vita’s experiments have yielded so far. Creatures with anatomy that borderline fantasy should be apparent all over the world as a side effect from the Mana. My question is then… What happened? Why did the Tower that seemingly migrated around the world disappear for thousands of years? Why did it and the gas it contains only reappear now?”

The man stopped speaking with a click. A few moments past before another person started to talk. Another man, as far as I could tell.

“Regrettably, Doctor Quilt passed. As our official data keeper he did a wonderful job documenting the process of the projects of our group. Especially in regards to his own power research and His wife, Kathrine’s work on the mantle project. She opted to take over in his place. But I dismissed her service for the foreseeable future.”

“Oh Quilt. Why did it have to happen to you? You were so careful around the gas, always taking precautions. Even as your wife continued to experiment recklessly you kept a level head. I guess it was just bad luck, that the containments for the mana suddenly failed.”

The man paused, sighing before continuing.

“As a result, seeing what this substance can do to an unprotected exposed human first hand, the government called for the complete destruction of the Gas and the Tower. Ah, our funding… Gone. Just because of one death. At least your power project will get used to wipe out the remaining bits of gas before we blow this place to smithereens. Rest in peace, Quilt.”

The audio clicked once again. The original voice started to speak.

“…What the hell? Just as I finished my recording, The Director started to speak. I… I died? I thought it was a bad joke, so I immediately called him. Judging by his confused voice, he had no clue either. Furthermore, I checked the date of the recording. It was listed as a month from now. A month in the future. You can’t edit the creation dates in a quantum computer. I need to get to the bottom of this. Now.”

A final click and the voice went silent.

“Oh great.” Emit said. I started to pay attention to him again. I was only half listening to him give me orders.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Good news or the bad news?” Emit asked

(Bad news.)

“Good news.” I said.

“Oh bother. Okay whatever, long story short, we’re not getting in without another keycard. I guess we need one from the director. Luckily the location is right here!” Emit said, floating at the screen.

It showed an overview of the area. A map, but as if someone drew an impossibly detailed one from high above in the sky. I could see the Tower, but not any of the usual landmarks I was used too. Well, that’s not true. The Ruins were there. But they weren’t ruined. Even from such a high image, I could tell how new those buildings were.

A part of the map was highlighted. Even with the old map, I knew exactly where it was. There was one problem though.

“Problem?” Emit asked.

(Oh. I see it. Damn it. So much for fixing things today.)

“What? What’s the issue? It’s just in the lower city. We’ll just walk there, grab another card and we’re set. It might not be today, but we’ll both be as good as new by at least tomorrow!”

“You don’t understand. That’s not a city anymore, Emit.” I said, pulling out my journal. I flipped through the pages, I know I copied it in here somewhere…

(Hehehe! That tickles!)

Sorry, Papers… Aha! Here it is.

“Look here.” I pointed to the map I had.

“What? Is that supposed to be water?” Emit said, his usually bobbing in the air slowly stopped as the realization came to him. “Oh.”

“Yeah. That city? It’s a massive lake now.” I said.

𝓔𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓐𝓬𝓽 𝓞𝓷𝓮.