Twisting shadows and snarling faces fill Eli’s vision, jumping out of the ever encroaching darkness, clawing at him in an attempt to drag him to his doom. The expressions of the strangers are varied and intense, though unified in their obvious hatred for Eli specifically. Filled with fear, it takes all he has to struggle free from the clawed hands that rip and tear at his naked skin. Streams of black blood spurt from his punctured flesh whenever the jagged talons so much as graze him. Hooked fingers gouge his skin to the bone as they desperately wrap their mangled hands around his twig-like appendages. Eli can only scream and thrash about as he is slowly swallowed by the darkness. The void of endless blackness rob him off all sensation, and he's awash in the vastness of time, floating freely without future nor past. The pain gradually fills his mind as he’s slowly eaten away.

His fingers and toes are the first to go, consumed by some invisible force made of teeth and greed. Then his hands, followed by his feet. Arms, legs, shoulders. Piece by piece, the blood curdling screams of Eli fill the endless vastness, echoing relentlessly across the wasteland of nothingness. Waist, torso, neck. All that remains is a screaming head of a young man, a bloody ball with bruised, corpse-like flesh and eyes empty of all hope. The swarming hunger climbs upwards, increasingly slowly, gradually closing in on Eli’s brain. All he can do is scream -- but that does nothing to halt the approaching death.

Eli shrieks in terror as he shoots his aching body into a sitting position, wincing simultaneously as his heavily bruised arms buckle to support the weight of his body. His limp legs splay away from him, his socks are blackened balls of sludge. As the imaginary pain begins to fade with time, Eli starts to feel a creeping sense of tension, a sharp stabbing sensation that jolts his brain and injects a dose of anxiety into his bloodstream, resulting in him unconsciously twisting his head to get a better view of his surroundings.

The cave Eli finds himself in is dark and damp, a deep thing that burrows into the overhead hill. The entrance is deceptively shallow, as if it’s meant to fool any passersby into thinking it’s nothing more than a ditch. The inside of the cave itself is rather smooth, with a firm floor and secure ceiling made of compacted mud. Eli turns his head, intending to gaze deeper into the cave, as he does, he manages to spot a rather strange anomaly. Why are there clothes here? Piled up against one of the walls are various articles of clothing, stained and stinking of mildew. The sizes are relatively small, seeming more suited towards women. Eli can’t help but tilt his head quizzically, confused as to why there would be women's clothing in some random cave. Suddenly, as if yanked by some invisible leash, Eli’s eyes are drawn to a dark corner of the cave, inadvertently sucking in a gasp of surprise at the sight in front of him.

Like a starving beast stalking its prey, a young woman hugs her knees in the far end of the cave, her face is an impassive mask, a sharp predatory light glinting in her eyes. Her long hair is brown in color, a dark tint reminiscent of the mud that surrounds the two of them. The tangled strands are knotted and clumped together, giving her a wild look. The woman is young, closer to a girl than a fully grown adult, most likely around Eli in age. Her eyes are a dark blue, nearing purple, pits of darkness that peer at the young man with a mixture of suspicion, concern, and wariness. Based on physical appearance alone, Eli labels her an immediate threat, but from her attitude he’s able to understand that she sees him as more of subject of interest than a target for hostility. What is she really thinking, though? Before he can ask who she it, the girl suddenly locks eyes with him, questioning him the next moment in a hissing tone of distrust.

“Finally awake? Who are you?"

Eli’s eyes widen, not from her words, but from the voice that speaks the words. It’s surprisingly clear, he observes in a mixture of fascination and wariness. There is reason for his surprise, however, as the current state of the world doesn’t exactly allow for the majority of the populous to have such a clear voice. Even though she’s just whispering, Eli can tell that the girl has quite the voice, like the ringing of a bell that gently graces his ears.

“Well…?”

She speaks up again, her voice rising in irritation in the face of his vacuous silence. Eli starts, too intrigued by her voice to have actually listened to her words and now suddenly at a loss. He feels that now would be the best time to introduce himself, and promptly does so. He tries his best to recall as much as he can from the night before, ignoring the painful hopelessness of the matter.

“U-Um… My name is Eli. I was attacked by a group of men and ended up finding this place last night. I figured it would be a nice place to sleep.”

“...”

She looks at him in disbelief. In all honesty he doesn't understand the look. He thinks back and eventually realizes that his words sound rather sarcastic, despite his absolutely serious tone. He quickly understands where the awkwardness comes from.

“Sorry, I'm still kind of out of it. At the time I was a bit desperate and figured a hole in the ground was better than nothing. Still, it appears I made the right decision. This place is rather nice, isn't it? That’s why you’ve taken such efforts to hide it, right?”

The girl frowns and her eyes narrow, a look of outright annoyance dressing her expression. It’s only natural that Eli pieced together the truth of the matter. After all, from the deceptive entrance to the well worn floor, and the pile of clothing, it’s clear that this place is frequently used, though perhaps not solely by this girl. Whatever the case, it’s clear to Eli that this girl is using the cave as a base of sorts, a convenient location to hide away during the night.

“Don’t look at me like that. I did nothing but point out an obvious fact. I’m not wrong, am I?”

Looking to the side, the girl glances away with an expression in an act of indignation. After a moment of suppressing her dissatisfaction, she looks back towards Eli, a bit of the suspicion fading away, leaving her more curious side to act. She looks him up and down, and he notices her wincing slightly, leaving him to wonder whether he’s really in such a bad condition. Sure he might not feel the best, or rather, every movement he makes causes an aching pain, but he’s still capable of movement so it can’t be that bad. She’s rather kindhearted, isn’t she? Was that attitude just now simply an act?

“What did you do that got them so angry? Griff’s group isn’t so aggressive… usually."

"From what I remember, I apparently didn't pay a tax of some kind. I tried to run away but they just chased me down."

Eli’s voice trails away as he remembers their theft. Immediately the previously suppressed self-loathing and feeling of utter uselessness greets him like a slap to the face. He can’t help but let out a defeated sigh, his thoughtful expression yet again being reduced to a husk bordering on corpse-like.

“They took everything I had… My food, clothes, water… Heh, I’m probably gonna starve to death, if the dehydration doesn’t get me first…”

The young woman stares at his sudden face of utter defeat, a look of concern even crossing her eyes in the stretching silence. She watches as he raises a scarred, bruised hand and drags it through his long locks, his face slowly cracking into a disgusting smile. Just as she’s about to speak up, he freezes. His expression tenses to the point that the woman braces herself, sure that he’s reached his breaking point and is about to attack her in a fit of rage. Defying her expectation, Eli looks around, eyes scanning the ground. Slight desperation is able to be gleaned from the inner depths of his eyes. As the girl watches in confusion, Eli suddenly feels his eyes being tugged towards where his head previously lay, and he instantly freezes the next moment. He silently reaches out and picks up the standing lighter. Why didn’t she take it? If she had, he would have had no reason to suspect her. The events leading up to his passing out in the cave are extremely hazy, and he’s honestly quite surprised that he managed to keep hold of the lighter the entire time. It wouldn’t have been shocking had he dropped it along the way. His thumb brushes against the initials, a look of comfort finally settling on his face.

The girl watches these actions and feels an intense pang in her heart. She clutches her fist as she watches him stare devotedly at the small rusted lighter, his fingers brushing against the tattered metal. She had checked the previous night and is confident that the piece has no fuel, so her suspicion is most likely on the mark. Feeling the urge to speak up, she hesitantly asks the question that’s been burning a hole through her soul.

“What does that mean to you?”

Eyes still latched onto the small rectangle of happiness, Eli slowly raises his head. Eventually, he manages to lock eyes with the girl, giving her a look that spears her through her heart. It’s an expression she’s possessed many a time, one she’s intimately familiar with, one she’s completely weak to.

“It’s my future.”

The words he speaks are simple, but she understands. How could she not? The girl lowers her head, thinking hard, coming to terms with the current situation. She glances up and sees that Eli has returned to staring at the small lighter. Her heart constricts. I guess I really am unsuited for this life, she bitterly thinks. Finally, she opens her mouth, her face blushing bright red as she refuses to admit to herself how much of a pushover she is.

“My name is Audrey. If you want, the two of us could pair up. I don’t know who you really are, but I know that you’re not so different from me. Life is a bit easier when you have a partner…”

Eli calmly lifts his head, eyes deep with an odd sense of stillness. His fingers quietly brush against the rusted metal as he stares emotionlessly at the girl sitting in the shadows. His heart suddenly constricts as he sees a startling scene spread out before him. In the face of his surprise, the red world shatters, returning to its chaotic state of color and life. The image from before is burned into his memory. Surrounding the girl, Audrey, is a spider web of silver strings, a veritable tornado of buzzing history and experience that he somehow is unable to pry into. Eli trembles. Dumbstruck, he can only nod his head dully to Audrey’s offer. After all, there’s no way he can afford to lose a person like this. A complete unknown in a world that's always been painfully dull. How could be not feel an intense sense of intrigue and curiosity?

An invisible storm begins to brew as the wheels of fate solemnly turn.