Project Lunarium: The Fall of Isen

“Tarli,” a voice quietly breathed from behind the wolf-pony as the two of them crossed from burning building to burning building through the large holes that had been blown into their walls, trying their best to avoid going onto any open streets, trying to decrease the chances of coming across one of the innumerable burnt corpses that littered them. However, it was hard to avoid the sting of smoke in the air.

“Tarli!” Softy said again, this time louder as the light brown wolf-pony hadn’t given any indication that he had heard her as he moved beneath yet another hole in a wall. This time though, he turned his head without stopping.

“Sup,” he answered, looking at the pegasus slowly catching up to him.

“What happened?” She asked, and Tarli gave her a confused stare. Seeing his perplexed look, she pointed her wing in the direction they’d come from. “Ya know, back in the bar, where we saw that tank.”

“That wasn’t a tank. It’s more a ‘swimming personal carrier’ than anything else,” he corrected her, but Softy rolled her eyes. “Also, I don’t wanna talk about it,” he added after a short break. This only caused Softy to once again roll her eyes, this time with an exasperated frown.

“Come on. You scared the hell out of me back there. I thought that swimming thing was gonna blast you at any moment,” she explained worriedly. Indeed, losing a new friend just because they’d frozen up in front of a big, metal, shooting box wasn’t the most pleasant event that could happen.

Tarli took a deep breath and gave the pegasus a quick look while moving over a pile of rubble. “Shellshock,” he answered simply, his voice lacking any semblance of emotion, but Softy was far from being satisfied with the reply.

“Well, I’m familiar with that. What did you see?” she said with a tone suggesting that his answer was far from conciliatory.

Tarli sighed once again before sitting down. He looked around, seeing that they were in a thin, dark side street with both sides blockaded by vast piles of rubbish that, at a glance, could almost be mistaken for walls. Softy sat down in front of him and waited for his response.

“Our beaches were mostly staffed by garrison soldiers initially, but HQ wanted even more firepower in the trenches. They wanted to send down a hail of bullets before the enemy could reach the beachhead, so infantry divisions were assigned to reinforce the garrisons. One of those was mine,” he said, giving himself time to gather thoughts before proceeding. Softy slowly approached him, staring straight into his eyes. She had been attempting to comfort him by showing she was listening, but this only served to make him feel a bit uneasy.

“What happened next?” She asked, trying to break his clear signs of inner-conflict.

“Well, the first wave came with a devastating artillery barrage, but we managed to remain resolute. Our bunkers were tough, and the corridors between them were deep underground, so it wasn’t that bad. We’d pinned down the first wave of attacks on the beach and were confident that the battle had already been won... But then, on the ocean, a great wall of white smoke began to rise. High calibre bullets started to fly right over our heads, slowly but steadily whittling us down. One by one, whoever dared to raise their head had it quickly blown off. When I looked at the water, I saw hundreds of silhouettes slowly coming out from behind a veil of smoke, destroying our fortifications with their cannons as they went. We weren’t prepared for that many,” Tarli paused, fighting with his memories as he tried to put forth the words.

“We gave them everything we had, but it just wasn’t enough. Our AT guns kept sending shells downrange, destroying countless boxes, but they just did not stop, no matter how many bullets we threw at them. When they finally reached the beach, we had our artillery fire on them. With amphibious tanks, you need a few seconds to switch from the propeller to the tracks, but these ones were different. They didn’t stop for a second and moved incredibly fast, slipping out of the kill zone, so once our artillery began their barrage, they were already just in front of our trenches, rolling through them as if there was nothing there….” Tarli sighed, remembering the desperate attempts to at least slow down the assault. Softy was sitting in front of him, with wide eyes. She didn’t know that she’d been speaking with a beach defence veteran, or rather, survivor. Beneath the remorse and sorrow, Tarli noticed a sort of childish curiosity in her eyes.

“When that tank pulled out of the smoke, it reminded me of when I saw wolves throwing themselves under tracks with cooked grenades in a desperate attempt to rip them off. Some of us tried to plant explosives between their wheels, but the advancing infantry had them covered too well. A handful of wolves managed to reach some of those amphibious tanks and plant explosives, though most of them died pointless deaths because apparently, the transmission on those things is hidden deep behind a drive wheel. Hence, wolves had to practically climb into the tracks to plant an explosive where it would actually do damage. In most cases, this ended with decapitations or smashed fingers as the vehicle changed direction.” Tarli went silent after finishing that, his face and posture a hollow facsimile of the wolf-pony from earlier.

“Fuck’s sake” Softy swore, unable to conceave of any other way to respond. It was at this moment that Tarli realized that this was the first time he’d heard her swear.

“Language,” he said with a bitter grin, trying to expel the dismal atmosphere that he’d brought about. She smiled a bit, but it was more of an instinctive reflex than a true sign of joy.

“I-I’m sorry for bringing this up” she whispered with clear guilt in her voice.

“Nah, it’s fine,” he said, giving her a gentle hug. “Everybody needs to talk about their demons sometimes. It makes the fight a bit easier.” He looked into Softy’s eyes after finishing, which he regretted almost immediately as his mind was once again hit with a disquieting feeling.

“Come on, I know those memories are weighing on you,” she backed off a bit, seeing through Tarli's lie. “I just don’t know how to help you”, her tone was filled with what could only be described as a sense of helplessness. Seeing Softy like this made Tarli immediately regret giving in to her curiosity and not just keeping his mouth shut.

If I’d have just took half a second to think, I would’ve realised opening my mouth was going to end like this. The thought popped into his brain not long after the pit of regret opened up in his gut, leading to several seconds of him swearing to himself.

That’s a dumb idea, Karit unexpectedly said.

Karit’s sudden arrival, as there really wasn’t another way to describe it, sent Tarli’s mind reeling, and the wolf-pony had to suppress his face’s desire to move as it instinctively tried to make his confusion apparent. With how Softy had been acting towards him so far, suddenly allowing his eyes to widen would either cause her to become more worried about his mental state or scare her near to death from thinking he just noticed another threat.

What do you mean? he asked confused, still looking at Softy, who had started to kick a small rock.

Mate, what’s better, making a friend sad or dealing with this shit by yourself? Karit was trying to sound disinterested, however, Tarli could sense a small tinge of anger in its tone.

I guess neither option is ideal, Tarli answered feeling even worse than before.

Indeed, but it’s good to share what’s eating at you with others. At least then you won’t be all by yourself. Karit was still playing ‘neutral’ with him, making Tarli wonder if he really cared about all of this mess.

Alright, so how can I fix this now? Tarli found himself staring at the closest wall and saw out of the corner of his eye that Softy had started to say something, but her voice wasn’t reaching his ears.

Improvise… Karit answered before going completely silent, his tone clearly grim.

“Listen…” Tarli started, catching Softy’s attention and causing her to go quiet. As her blue eyes landed on him, that same discomforting feeling swallowed Tarli’s insides.

“You are helping me. Ya know, talking about the shit inside my head makes it easier for me to deal with it,” he said after a deep sigh.

“Are you sure?” She asked, looking not too convinced.

“Well, no, but there’s nothing more either of us can do,” he said, standing up and continuing the walk Softy had interrupted. As he reached a wall, he turned his head and saw that the pegasus still hadn’t moved.

“I just don’t want you to die because of shellshock, ya know. Going numb right in front of a machine gun or something wouldn’t end well for either of us,” she whispered, slowly following Tarli as they walked into an empty room coated in blankets of ash.

“I can’t promise, but I’ll do my best,” he said, making an effort to sound like he could easily conquer his demons. But if he was being honest with himself, those scars on his soul stretched and ripped ever so slightly with each second his mind registered their existence. The amount of them that had formed in just the time he had been around Softy was overwhelming, each constantly threatening to finally rupture and rend his mind till he was naught but a dead-eyed automaton. But despite this, he needed to stay strong, he’d promised himself that he’d protect Softy from this Scarha, and he couldn’t do that if he gave into the pain and the sorrow.

Softy nodded as they both disappeared into a section of the building shrouded in shadow. Their journey through the building didn’t last very long, however, as a few minutes later, Softy moved in front of Tarli and stopped him with her hoof.

“What now?” The tone he’d used was a bit too harsh. With everything that had just happened, he’d expected that Softy was going to start up another uncomfortable conversation, and he was just about out of patience when it came to that.

“We’re here,” She answered, ignoring his tone, causing Tarli to look around. The burnt and abandoned living room wasn’t the hideout he’d been expecting at all, but he wasn’t in a position to complain.

Softy noticed his confusion and quickly approached a wall to their left. She placed her hoof inside a small hole and a loud click echoed across the quiet room. The wall began to move after that, exposing a steel double-door hidden behind it.

“That’s unexpected,” Tarli whispered, getting closer and touching a big wheel on the metal hatch. Softy then pulled a lever that lay next to said wheel, causing it to spin and release a harsh, grinding screech. Both doors soon began to languidly swing inward as it creaked in agony.

“It’s a survival bunker. Before the war, Lunarium had built many of them in order to give civilians a chance to survive a warzone, stocking them with food, medications, uniforms, and even weapons for self-defence. Each of them can shelter at least a hundred citizens, but the architects had predicted an overpopulation scenario, so they prepared the so-called “Max+ space”,” she explained as the doors took their time at providing an egress.

Tarli looked at the pegasus in amazement at the knowledge she had, but then a random thought hit him.

“How is it that you wound up with a whole shelter just to yourself?” he asked, causing Softy’s expression to fall like a stone into a gaping abyss, and her eyes to turn towards the wooden floor.

“It was never meant to be finished, so you’re not going to find it on any maps or city plans,” she said, trying not to look impatient as the door had yet to open to any meaningful degree.

“Any idea why?” He asked, approaching the doors and giving them a kick, but it failed to help, as one would expect.

“Documents I found inside say that due to its type being outdated, it didn’t meet the requirements for a public shelter. Seems like somebody used old plans to build it and ended up abandoning it.”

“Well, if I’d have been a supervisor, after seeing these doors, this shit would’ve been scrapped,” Tarli hissed while kicking the metal once again, to the same effect as before.

“I think its mechanism wasn’t finished. Good thing it’s still working though,” she said, watching as Tarli began using his entire body to try and push open the doors.

“Anyway, how did you find it?” Tarli looked at the pegasus with unsuppressed curiosity.

“I was hiding in this room not too long ago when a patrol appeared on the street out of nowhere. They passed me, but I was still too scared to move, so I was lying here for almost an hour. After a while, I noticed this hole on the wall that looked really suspicious, so I put my hoof there, felt a small lever, pulled it, and suddenly the wall opened up.” As Softy finished her explanation, the doors had finally opened wide enough to allow them to enter and see what was inside.

Tarli quickly peeked through the crack between the doors and noticed a typical staircase leading underground. The entry wasn’t very big, as it was only about the size of a typical concrete corridor. Softy moved in, nodding to Tarli to follow her. As soon as they passed the entrance, the doors quickly closed behind them, scaring Tarli.

“At least we know the closing mechanism works,” he said, following the pegasus down the poorly lit stairs, the only light being the anemic glow from aged and dust-coated lamps placed across one of the walls. From the look of things, Tarli had to guess that the generator wasn’t working, or at the very least wasn’t working at full power. Is the shelter on power-saving measures?

Not too long after, the two reached the bottom of the staircase, and with it, another double-door.

“If this door’s gonna take its time too, I’m just gonna find some satchel charges and blow this shit up,” he said after sighing heavily, looking at Softy as she placed her hoof on a small panel next to them.

“Don’t worry, this one is fine.” She smiled at him, and Tarli noticed that he wasn’t alone when it came to his opinion on this bunker’s doors. A loud click echoed through a small corridor as the doors rapidly opened, disappearing into the walls and revealing what they were meant to protect.

The corridor they entered was covered in light grey panels and had a recessed utility light in the ceiling that spanned its entire length. But besides those and the three doors on either side, the shelter seemed to be completely empty. According to the small metal panels above them, the three doors to their left all lead to sleeping areas, while the kitchen, bathroom and storage area were on the right. As both he and Softy moved down the hall towards the last sleeping room, Tarli noticed a small panel on the wall at the end of the hall, but no doors near it.

When they opened the large sleeping area door, this one also sliding into the wall, Tarli was met with an enormous room that almost looked like the barracks he was familiar with. In front of him, divided by what looked to be a structural wall, were two identical sleeping arrangements, with military bunk beds placed regularly along the long walls on the left of each ‘room’, and across from them, a line of desks. When he turned his head to the right, he could see what looked like another structural wall with a gap in the middle leading to what could only be a third iteration of the bed and desk area in front of him.

“Cozy,” he whispered, noticing just how vast the room was due to its spartan furnishings.

Softy moved to the last bed in the line, the one in the far corner of the room, and sat down. Seeing how small she looked in a room this deserted, Tarli realized that Softy more than likely felt isolated, especially given his earlier outburst.

“Is that all rooms in this shelter?” He asked, peeking out into the corridor again.

“Well no,” she said, quickly joining him and pointing at the small panel he’d noticed earlier.

“What’s that?” he asked, approaching the small device. It was a paw-reader, which wasn’t exactly common in shelters like this.

“I think it allows citizens to access more important rooms deeper in a complex,” she answered, putting her hoof on a reader, which took its time examining her hoof.

“But it keeps denying me, for some reason. I’m a Lunar citizen, it should accept me.” The display flashed red followed by a loud beep and synthetic voice stating, “ACCESS DENIED.”

“Maybe you need to be a soldier?” Tarli had an idea and approached a device, putting his paw on it. Just like it had with Softy, the reader took several seconds to examine the newcomer’s paw print.

“ACCESS DENIED,” the voice said after a while. Tarli pulled his paw away, waited a few seconds till the device reset itself, and tried again.

“ACCESS DENIED,” the voice echoed again, making Tarli quite pissed.

“ACCESS DENIED,” once he heard the third refusal, he instantly punched the device, causing it to hoot and make some other strange noises before shutting down.

“Now it’s not gonna work,” Softy snorted as Tarli punched the device again, prompting the display to turn back on.

This time, however, when he put his paw on a reader, the voice almost immediately responded with an “ACCESS GRANTED,” before a part of the wall quickly moved, revealing another corridor behind it.

“See? Sometimes you just need to punch things to fix them,” he said with a satisfied smile.

Softy just rolled her eyes, giving him a stare that said, You wolves will just punch everything.

After their short exchange, the two of them made their way into the new corridor, finding that it contained four more rooms, two on either side, labelled as an armoury, a Command centre, and two marked as barracks. They instantly made their way to the armoury, hoping to find anything useful. Once they stepped in, they spotted three lines of uniform holders and empty weapon racks placed in rows across the room.

“Well, at least we now have some clean uniforms,” said Tarli, a little upset as he looked around.

“It’s gonna be helpful. I think I’m ‘ma try to find me a vest or something,” Softy said, disappearing between the wardrobes. Tarli moved to the other side, hoping to find a new set that would properly fit his rather small body. He sighed in relief upon finding a suitable combat medic uniform with a new vest.

“What the hell!” Softy yelled out in terror when the wolf-pony stripped off his ballistic protection and unceremoniously dropped it to the ground, causing a sudden and loud noise to reverberate off the walls. Her reaction made Tarli laugh, but she was staring at the armor lying on the ground. After the chopper accident, what was left of his vest was now just a mangled and deformed piece of dead weight he’d had strapped to his torso.

“Is that a bulletproof vest or a damn amour plate?!” She yelled, her eyes clearly showing her confusion as she stared at it.

“Hard-type protection. It mostly prevents bullet penetration, but you feel every hit,” he answered neutrally, taking a fresh uniform from the locker. “I’m ‘ma change out of this crap,” he said, looking at the deplorable state of his dirty clothes. He noticed Softy’s smirk as she leaned into a shelf containing medic uniforms

“You could use a shower as well,” Tarli looked at his paws and tail, realizing that his fur had almost completely turned black.

“Yeah, right,” he answered, heading towards the doors but stopping halfway.

“You have water here, right?” He asked, looking at Softy who was busy looking for the correct size.

“Yup, inner rainwater collector. Quite efficient to be honest” Tarli nodded and headed out. When the doors closed behind him, he moved towards the bathroom, but suddenly, when his eyes found their way onto the Command Center label, he couldn’t help but start to wonder what was inside.

I guess it would be a good idea to lully check this place out before taking care of hygiene, he thought, putting the perfectly folded uniform he was holding on the ground.

Well, you’re right. Who knows if there’s a monster or something, Karit said cheerfully as Tarli approached the metal doors. He noticed a small touchpad, similar to the previous one, causing him to sigh deeply.

“Not again,” he said, putting his paw on the console, but this time, the small display showed ACCESS GRANTED almost immediately.

“Thank goddness,” he whispered with relief, as the metal cover slid open, revealing a dark room. Tarli walked inside and began blindly pawing at the wall next to the door in an attempt to find a light switch.

After only a few seconds, his fingers brushed against something on the wall, causing a loud click to echo throughout the empty room as the lights suddenly came on. Looking around, Tarli saw that the Command Center was decently spacious, at least in regards to the floor space reserved for walking around. The walls to his left and right each had five computer and radio stations packed against them, while the far wall housed two more coms desks and what appeared to be a vid-screen. However, the room primarily seemed to have been built around the huge, table-like device at its centre, given that the last wall possessed nothing other than two pew-like benches, one in front of the other, facing the strange table. Tarli started walking around and trying to turn on anything to see if at least one thing was still operable. Unfortunately, every device remained dormant, either fried or missing parts based on Tarli’s examination. If he had to guess, he would have to say somebody had gotten here before them in order to prevent the enemy from gaining any vital information and decided to just break everything rather than retrieve it all. Tarli stood next to one of the huge radio transmitters full of clocks and cables and looked over the dozens of nobs, switches, and displays. He removed a small metal plate from it and peeked inside, but the radio appeared to be nothing more than an empty shell.

Tarli sighed as he wandered to the table, curious about what it was. After a quick examination of the green-tinted screen that comprised the top of it, he deduced that it had to be some kind of interactive hologram display. He stared at the buttons placed around the frame and noticed that one of them was emitting a weak green light.

That means, it still has power, Karit said emotionlessly.

Tarli began examining the table even closer, but couldn’t find any switch to restore it to life.

“Do you know how to turn it on?” He asked his non-existing friend, slowly crawling beneath the hologram table in order to see if there was anything there.

I dunno, maybe smack it like the paw-reader, Karit said half-serious, half wittily, making the wolf-pony frown.

“What are you doing there?” The sudden arrival of Softy’s quiet voice from right behind him scared the wolf-pony, causing him to hit the table with his head as his body shot up.

“Cunt!” he screamed, falling down on his broken leg, causing another wave of pain to wash over and paralyze his entire body. The pain was so great that it forced him to close eyes and collapse to the concrete floor. “Son of…!” he yelled, locking his left paw onto the second source of pain, the back of his head.

“What the hell?” Softy’s blurred face appeared in front of him as soon as he opened his eyes. She looked worried, yet also quite amused.

“Are you crazy? Sneaking up on a wolf like that.” he hissed as his vision started to clear. Softy folded her ears back and looked away with an apologetic expression.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” she murmured, her expression one of so much shame that it caused Tarli to feel bad about the anger he’d just directed towards her.

“It’s fine. Just next time, please don’t stand right behind me when I’m under a table” he forced himself to smile warmly, but it quickly turned into a painful grimace.

“Alright, so what’s this?” She pointed at the mysterious device in curiosity.

“I think it’s some kind of interactive map,” Tarli replied, going underneath it once again.

“Do you know how to turn it on?” She asked, watching her friend as he slowly crawled back under it.

“I think so. I mean, it’s receiving power, so all I need to do is redirect that energy into the main display. In order to do that, I need to find its powerbox or crystal chamber so I’ll be able to switch over the dust relay,” he explained like a professional, not sure how he knew that though. Seems like he hadn’t lost all of his memories after all.

“Dust relay?” She asked without an idea of what it meant. Tarli sighed quietly before answering.

“Lunarium uses Night Crystals as small reactors. In a controlled environment, those crystals release their dust, functioning similarly to electricity. You know. It’s like a nuclear reactor, but with less power and more stability,” Softy nodded, having no idea at all what the hell he was talking about. She wasn’t a technician, so it was quite an alien technology for her.

Meanwhile, Tarli was crawling past two massive metal legs and beginning to look around, trying to find one of the two things he’d just talked about. However, despite the lights in a room being on, the underside of the table was still drowned in darkness.

Suddenly, he spotted a small box with a tiny hole emanating a weak, shining blue light.

“Got ya,” he whispered, moving closer. As he reached a crystal chamber, he noticed some switches and tiny levers attached to it. He narrowed his eyes and put his nose as close as possible in order to read the small words above them.

“Navigation, com relay, dust transmitter, ignition…” he was reading slowly trying to find something responsible for the main display.

“Got ya,” he said, seeing a small label with “Interaction map display”. He flipped the switch, but nothing happened. Then, he noticed a small lever on the power box’s side saying Dust chamber main conduit: Close, so he grabbed it with his two claws.

A sudden explosion of lights and noises scared Tarli and caused him to jump and hit the table again.

“Cunt!” He yelled, massaging his head and struggling to crawl back out.

“First off, stop swearing or I’ll punch your face again.” Tarli saw Softy’s leg appear in front of him as he was almost out. “Second off, I have no idea what you‘ve done, but it worked,” she added as Tarli pulled himself out from underneath the table and stood up. When he took a look at the table, the whole top was shining green.

“I guess it’s ready to go,” he said, pressing a red button nearby. The table answered with a huge bar suddenly appearing and beginning to hang in the air above the table while slowly filling up.

Engaging Central Command Assistant appeared over it as it began to rotate horizontally like a holographic commercial. Tarli and Softy had been standing in silence, waiting for what was gonna happen next, but the loading bar stopped in the middle. Suddenly, the whole display turned red and a new message appeared.

ERROR
Failed to load Central Command Assistant…
Rebooting the system…
…
…
Reboot engaged…
Estimated time: 40 minutes

“Are you nuts? 40 minutes?” Tarli hissed and prepared himself to hit the table, but stopped in mid-air as one more message appeared.

Please do not hit the device.

“Cunt,” Tarli hissed, causing Softy to look at him sternly. Tarli swallowed loudly and prepared for an incoming punch, but one never came.

“Well, since we have 40 minutes until this thing decides to cooperate, why don’t we take care of your leg before it gets worse?” she said, pointing at him with a look suggesting he just concede.

“Fine, fine. I‘ll take a shower, change clothes, and then I’ll let you do your thing,” He sighed helplessly before beginning to move towards the doors.

“Great! Meanwhile, I’ll prepare the splints and painkillers,” she replied cheerfully, smiling suspiciously wide.

_________________________

Tarli moved into a bathroom. It was a spacious room with a line of showers to the right, separated from each other with short white walls so users could get at least some privacy. To the left, he spotted a mirror spanning the length of the wall with sinks placed below it. He sighed, wondering how hard it was going to be to wash himself standing on two legs as he needed to hold a nozzle somehow. Then he noticed a strange-looking tube at the end of the line of showers.

I guess it’s a shower for anyone who’s disabled, Karit said, causing Tarli to react with a smile. If that’s true, then getting clean just became a whole lot easier. He thought, immediately approaching it.

“I’m kinda disabled right now,” he whispered, placing his fresh uniform on a sink nearby. When he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror, he freaked out as if he was seeing somebody else staring back at him.

Apart from his fur being covered by a thick layer of soot, he noticed black trails coming down from his eyes, making it appear as if his tears were composed of tar. Similar trails were also visible around his mouth as well.

“How long have I been looking like this?” he asked himself, taking a closer look.

I dunno. It had to be when you were shellshocked back in the bar, Karit answered, sounding both worried and unsure.

“Have any idea what this means?” Tarli asked, trying to wipe away the trails, but only managing to remove some soot.

I can only guess, and you ain’t gonna like it, the voice’s reply was followed by a deep sigh.

“Hit me. It can’t be that bad” The wolf-pony answered with fake cheerfulness, trying to mask the terror in his mind.

You know. There is a legend in Lunarium. It goes more or less like this: Those who sinned will have to make the difference in order to touch the moonlight.

“The fuck does that mean?” Tarli shot out confused, trying to take off his old uniform.

It means, if you’ve fucked up during your life, you’re gonna need to pay after your death.... You can tell who one is from their grey eyes and black trails. The same as the ones you have. This answer froze Tarli in place as he tried to process this information.

“Wait, so am I dead?” His voice began to break as he was slowly realizing what Karit said.

Well, not quite. I mean, you’re still here. Walking, breathing, but you don’t have a soul anymore. At least that’s what I think. What visions did you have when shellshock got ya and during your talk with Softy next to the burnt wolf?

“Well…,” Tarli paused for a second, trying to remember those pictures. “Dead wolves, wolves dying in my paws, darkness attacking me, a fading Lunar symbol…” he said uncomfortably, as he looked nervously at his reflection again.

Well, that would make sense. And you’re suffering from memory loss as well… hmm…, Karit fell into an ocean of his thoughts, leaving Tarli alone. The wolf-pony waited awhile before saying loudly and impatiently, “Are you still there? Tell me more! What does it mean? What the fuck is going on?”

I told ya, you need to pay for the things you’ve fucked up, Karit said with a neutral tone.

“How am I supposed to know what the hell I’ve screwed up if I can’t remember anything?” Tarli almost yelled, but in the last second, lowered his voice. He didn’t want Softy to hear his conversation at all.

That’s the hard part. You need to regain your memories and find out. Otherwise, you’ll stay like this for a month, and in the end, turn into a black mist. The same one that attacked you in your dream.

“Fucking great. More crazy shit to deal with” Tarli hit a sink furiously, cutting his skin a bit on a small unevenness on the ceramic surface. He looked at the wound and froze. He wasn’t bleeding, but a small mist began to pour out of it like smoke.

Yeah, I’m right. You are one of them. Congratulations, you’ve officially become a “Wanderer”, said Karit with a tone filled with sadness and certainty.

Tarli had no idea what he was supposed to do now, nor where to go, but he knew for sure that he had to do something. It wasn’t exactly a good thing to turn into mist so it was something he’d rather avoid.

“Make the difference,” Tarli murmured as those words echoed in his mind like a jammed record.

Tarli moved into a shower tube, hoping that the hot water would wash away his thoughts and the soot on his body. The device was wide enough to move around freely inside and with a floor that was one big grille to let the water out without flooding the whole bathroom. As he looked around, he found multiple holes surrounding him as well as a small red button on a nearby wall.

After wasting some time on trying to figure out how it worked, he pressed the button

The loud beep echoed throughout the bathroom, and before Tarli could figure out what it meant, his fur was being sprayed by gentle streams of water, soaking it almost instantly. The holes started to spin around - slowly at the beginning, but gaining speed over time, making Tarli feel as if he was inside of some kind of mixer or car wash.

As the water was getting deeper into his fur, he found himself slowly melting from how relaxing this was. He was right. The shower did really wash away his thoughts, but not for long.

I see you already know, the harsh, emotionless voice caught Tarli off-guard as he was leaving the shower-tube, causing him to trip.

“Oh come on, not you again,” he said, regaining his balance and looking at the mirror. The black marks on his face were even more visible than before now that there wasn’t a layer of soot allowing them to blend in.

“What do you want from me?” Tarli sighed tiredly and with a hint of resignation as he tried to get dressed.

Redemption, the Voice intoned with an even deeper voice, making Tarli feel like somebody was grinding his mind.

“What do you mean? What’s the reason for all of this?” The wolf-pony felt like he had been brought back to life just to entertain this unknown being sitting inside his head.

“Talk to me! What have I done!” Tarli yelled as the voice hadn’t reacted for quite a long time, but it didn’t work either. Tarli sighed deeply and moved towards the doors, carrying the new bulletproof vest in his mouth, hoping to ask for Softy to help him with it.

You will see… soon, The voice said at last, Tarli tried to reply, but he was already out of the bathroom, and Softy had appeared from out of the corner.

“Alright, I’ve pre…,” she broke off as her eyes met Tarli’s silhouette. Her look of confusion was met with one of questioning from Tarli.

“What happened?” He asked finally, wondering if the black marks on his face were the reason for the sudden stop. What if she knows what they mean? Did I scare her?

“N-nothing,” she said, clearing her throat, trying to regain her professional tone.

“I've prepared the splint and some painkillers,” she shook her head in the sleeping area’s direction, avoiding looking at the wolf pony, tormenting Tarli with the implications.

Tarli nodded and moved towards the bedroom, followed by Softy, who was staring at the ground, making him even more stressed about his marks. Once he reached the destination, he quickly noticed a professional splint lying next to the closest bed, as well as a small wheeled carrier with some medications on it. He moved onto the bed and laid down to wait for Softy to play her part.

“I’ll give you some morphine,” she said with a fully professional tone. Tarli’s eyes went wide though as his brain processed what she’d said. He didn’t know if it was a good choice due to the fact he is basically a dead-wolf walking, but on the other hand, telling her the truth wasn’t an option either.

“Is it necessary?” He asked, trying to find any way to change the medication choice, but she was already getting closer with an auto-injector.

“Well… yeah. Otherwise, it’s gonna hurt. A lot,” Tarli felt a needle slowly moving through his bright-brown fur.

“No other painkillers?” He tried to appeal, but Softy’s serious look caused him to regret speaking up again. The sting caused him to hiss, but the following wave of relief eliminated the pain in his leg. His mind started to melt, similar to how it did after he’d smoked several strong cigarettes before the world began to spin like crazy.

“Wait, it’s not supposed to work that fast.” Softy’s voice sounded as if it was coming from far away. She noticed that her patient’s mind is drifting away a bit too much, but it was too late. Tarli wanted to say something, but his words turned into nonsense babble as the back of his head slowly drowned into the pillow.

“Tarli! Wake up!” Her scream seemed to be muffled by a thick wall of painkiller. The last thing he saw was a blurred pegasus picking up an autoinjector of adenosine before darkness consumed his vision.