The bomb hits and the landscape becomes daylight. A white glow powers through the sky. Siff tries to cover her eyes, but her father forces her to keep watching. The blast turns the village into a crater, knocking trees over as it makes its way toward them. The dust cloud rushes where they stand and strikes them. Siff falls back, but her father remains standing, his armor giving him stability, “Never forget what you did, child.” The voice speaks from the blinding dust. Jupiter puts his helmet back on, “We are going back, and you will face justice for all that you have done.”

Jupiter does not wait for Siff to get up, he just starts walking once again. Siff is dragged until she is able to stand, occasionally dropping to her hands in grief, but never being allowed to rest.

They continue their march for hours as the sun begins to rise. A hologram: another falsity in a world that feels so much more real than her own. Tears have stained her cheeks but there are none left to fall. Siff is exhausted as they enter the forest. The monsters don’t come this far down, there are only birds and rabbits and deer playing among the trees. Squirrels scutter about and mushrooms bloom in the healthy earth around them. Siff would have loved this place, so peaceful and full of joy. But they do not stop here. Her legs staggering from shock and fatigue, still not fully healed from her wound, Siff continues her journey back to the ship. They pass through the peaceful places and enter the foreboding forest beyond, where nightmare creatures lay in wait, “Dad. The monsters. They’ll kill us.” He doesn’t respond, but continues to lead her forward. Perhaps his plan is to give me to them. Let these monsters kill me off. Oh god I don’t want to be eaten. She collapses on the dark earth and sobs between the trees. Her eyes are too dry to produce tears, but she is in mourning and she is afraid and she is in pain and she is exhausted.

“Get up child. We still have a long way to go. I will drag you if I have to.”

Is this her father? Is it really the kind man who raised her? Held her when she wept and danced with her when she played? What happened to him? Siff struggles to her feet and continues behind him. Their pace is slowed now: a small mercy from the heartless man ahead.

It is hours still that they traverse the forest floor, following a path that is unmarked to a destination that is unseen. It must be his helmet. Some kind of guidance for him to find his way. Where are all the monsters though? Are we dodging them?

The forest floor becomes more sparse and rocky as they climb toward the mountains. They pass under cliffs and around fallen rocks until Jupiter finally stops by another cliff face, “No. Dammit, we were so close! Damn!” Jupiter turns back to look on his exhausted daughter, “The opening is not safe for us to return at this time. We have to wait here until it is.”

Siff collapses to the ground and leans against the cliff, Jupiter removes his helmet and sits next to her, “We can’t stay here long, there is no food or water. We have to move back down to the forest. I was hoping we would hold the Gate, but the fighting is still too fierce. We cannot enter the ship until the Gate is in our hands again.

“Siff?” She lays unmoving on the ground, exhausted breaths the only thing showing her life. For the first time since arriving, Jupiter looks on her with soft eyes, “Okay. Lets go. I’ve got you.” He lifts her into his arms and walks back the way they came, Siff is too exhausted to put up any kind of fight and quickly drifts into sleep, wondering how one girl’s desire to have hope could have destroyed so much of the world around her.