//------------------------------//
// 5: Dark Descent 
// Story: Infinity's Edge (Beta) 
// by Caldoric 
//------------------------------//

Sans POV, 3rd:

Sans had to admit, this stranger was surprisingly good with his blaster, managing to get up the nerve to try standing up on it in a matter of minutes. It was rather a shame that it wasn't ENTIRELY his, though. Sans had secretly provided the bulk of the power necessary to bring it into being, leaving space (where it counted) for Caldoric's power to have the maximum shaping effect. To be honest, he was impressed at how well the new blaster had taken shape, looking vaguely draconic in nature.

This kid showed lots of promise, and seemed to have a strangely deep reserve of soul power at his fingertips, despite how bottlenecked his access appeared to be at the moment. Perhaps this was as a result of the kid's determination? Sans HAD been finding more and more often, as he traveled the cosmos, that species which possessed that quality, the ability to be determined on such a high level, were more a rule than an exception. His friend, Dr. Alphys, hadn't been able to make any progress in successfully inducing it by artificial means. Then again, there WAS the fact that she was now in an open relationship with Undyne. In an attempt to avoid any strange thoughts about the two ladies' romance, he carefully brought his mind back to the topic of Caldoric.

There was something else that Sans just couldn't put his finger on about Caldoric, and that worried him. There was a sort of hidden darkness to his soul, and it wasn't entirely natural... Sans would have to keep his guard up until he figured it out.

Nevertheless, he definitely liked the kid. It made having to tell him that much harder, but he had to try. If he'd learned anything about humans from Frisk, it was that they could be quite open to change... Or they could be murderous assholes, depending on the timeline... Sans decided that, once they stopped, he'd take the chance and tell Caldoric. The guy didn't seem too interested in power as an end goal, and WAS rather all over the place at times, but still... he had to play it carefully.

————————————————
Caldoric POV:

Pretty soon, we began nearing the abandoned Matoran Universe. I had anticipated it being big, having housed untold thousands, if not millions or trillions, of sentients long ago. And yet it took my breath away when I realized how big it was. I mean, holy shit. I lost track of how long it took, or how far we'd traveled, but we were still whizzing by the occasional settlement or forest by the time it seemed to take up half the sky.

Judging by the fact that this thing was supposed to be on the southern continent, (according to Kapura,) the blasters could travel insanely fast, but didn't seem to generate much wind around themselves, which was good for me. I did get bored with standing for such a long time, so I eventually sat, and then laid down on my back, face first. THAT was an interesting experience, I'll tell you.

It seems, however, that using the Gaster Blasters for any great length of time (no matter what it's used for,) has a draining effect on one's stamina. Long story short, by the time we got close enough to see the large ship parked next to the giant-ass robot's head, I was tired as all get out. We stopped behind some giant rocks that were a comfortable distance from both the Robot itself and the ship we'd spotted, taking the opportunity to enjoy a breather.

"Alright," I said, once I'd recovered sufficiently enough to hold a coherent conversation, "what do you guys think we should do? Should we risk drawing the attention of the ship way over there by the head by trying to get into Metru Nui, or whatever's left of it? Or, should we continue on past the ship, and try to find another way in?" In all honesty, I wanted nothing better than to go in the head, getting in as fast as possible. But, at the same time, I didn't want to run into whoever was on said ship.

As we discussed which course of action to take, I brought out the Rahkshi staff I'd appropriated, and began twirling it about. Eventually, we decided to move further along down the robot's side, and try to find a way into Karda Nui. There had to be a way, I reasoned, due to the fact that the Kanohi Ignika, the Legendary Mask of Life, had been ejected from the robot's midsection during Teridax's reign of terror, carrying the spirit of Mata Nui trapped within it. And, where there's a way out, there is also a way in.

Having made our decision, we prepared to move out. I summoned the Mask of Speed, but the others put the kibosh on my plans of carrying them each under one arm again. While that was a great makeshift escape plan, it wouldn't be so good for long-distance jaunts. They could only withstand the shaking for so long before it began having deleterious effects on their internal organs. Sans and Kapura informed me that they'd make their own way there, but try to slow up enough for me to keep pace.

"Ah, a race, then?" I asked, replacing the staff in my Hammerspace.

"Alright," said Sans, shrugging indifferently, "if ya wanna call it that."

Kapura nodded, and we all got into starting positions. "Ok, first one on top of the torso wins a cookie," I said, jokingly, "and no doing anything that puts the others in danger. Ready? GO!" And we were off, like three shots from a cannon.

With the exception of the Mask of Speed, I was running pretty normally, arms and legs pumping back and forth at insane speeds. Kapura was running as fast as his short little Matoran legs could carry him, (which was no faster than normal Matoran running speed,) and he was augmenting his motion by "jumping" forward with every step. I was surprised to find I was having trouble keeping up! Sans, though... He was a whole other matter of his own. He was running almost exactly like the ninja characters you see in most animes, especially Naruto; whole body tilted forward at nearly a 45 degree angle (or less,) with the arms straight back. He was moving about as fast as Kapura, left eye glowing all the way.

Time to step it up a notch, I thought, and altered my running pattern a bit. Instead of the normal fast, short steps I took when running, I began taking longer, bouncing strides, and slowly pulled ahead. Seeing a sloped rock outcropping up ahead, I veered right, then swerved sharply left, cutting across Sans' path. Once I reached the tip of the rock, I leapt forward, throwing myself as far forward and upwards as I could, as I switched to the Mask of Flight. I only activated it once my ballistic arc had started to decay noticeably, and soared upwards.

Below me, I could see Sans tic-tacking madly up the side of the Robot, using two decently spaced plates in it's gigantic armor. Kapura was popping from ledge to ledge, keeping pace with Sans. The residual speed I'd had from my leap had begun to peter out, so I pressed forward as hard as I could. It was going to be close.

As it turned out, Kapura came in first, followed a hair later by Sans. I landed about half a second later, stumbling to a stop.

"*huff*...*puff*...Nice...*huff*...race...guys..." I said, desperately trying not to be sick whilst catching my breath. "Grats... on the win... Kapura. You too, Sans... Nice moves back there, buddy. Love to see you guys go at it full speed sometime. No holding back."

"Um," said Sans, who was sweating profusely, "I only really cut loose at the end, there, when ya went flyin'. Nice trick, there, pal."

"Where's my cookie?" asked Kapura.

I looked at him for a moment, before understanding dawned upon me. "Oh, um... There wasn't... It's... It's an internet thing... It's not really... I... *sigh,* I'll buy you one when we get back to civilization."

"And I'll cook us up a round of hot dogs when we get back," added Sans, and I could see the slightest smirk on his face.

"I'll pass," I replied. I knew what he put into his "hot dogs." Mainly, the brown oval-shaped bits on the end of cattail plants. But most folks said they were delicious, so hey, maybe he was actually on to something.

"Hey, uh, y'think we should, I dunno, maybe try to find a way in, now?" Asked Sans.

We began looking around, searching for a possible way in through the various pits and divots in the robot, but no dice. I'd hoped to find the point where what used to be Voya Nui had returned, sealing a hole to Karda Nui, just after Matoro had gone through. Our only other option was to find where the Kanohi Ingnika had been ejected. Assuming that said aperture wasn't part of Voya Nui itself...

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "At this rate, we'll never find a way in..." I muttered, a little louder than I intended.

"Not with the naked eye, it would seem," Kapura added, which surprised me.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, and he just shrugged.

"You have many masks, and yet you rarely use them, it would seem."

I smiled sheepishly, rubbing my hand over the back of my head. "Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting about those..." I summoned the Mask of X-ray vision, and tried looking around through the various filters, but I couldn't see anything of import, since all the holes and pits were playing havoc with my reception.

I remembered I had other ways of seeing, though. I switched to the Arthron, drew my sword, and focused on the Mask's power. I was startled at the "ping" that the mask sent out, so I didn't get a good read on what came back. Once I'd gotten ahold of myself, I flipped the sword point-down, and jammed it into the metal between my feet. Or, I tried to. The tip of the blade skated off to one side, almost causing me to fall on my face. After trying a couple more times, I gave it up as a bad job, and switched to my other sword. The shadowy, crystalline, star-filled one.

Frostbrenne. I had some mixed feelings about it. I mean, I'd summoned a bunch of crystals whilst in some sort of rage state, using my magic, which had gone all scary and Grimdark, and then formed said crystals into a sword. I had no idea what it could do, and it also served as a reminder to myself about how scary it felt to have such power running through me at once. As I looked at Frostbrenne, I vowed from then on out to refrain from using it unless the situation got really dire. As a certain character in the show "Once Upon a Time" always said, "magic always comes with a price." I had a distinct feeling that this sword was of the double-edged variety, in more ways than just the physical.

I jabbed the tip of Frostbrenne into the surface beneath our feet, (and it went in a couple inches this time, I noticed,) and sent out another "ping", doing my best to focus it down through the sword blade. I got a REAL good image that time, and I felt something... different... a few hundred meters lower on the sternum of the giant robot, just beneath where the massive "pectorals" came together. "This way," I said, gesturing with the sword as I yanked it out of the strange metal. I didn't know what it was, but I had a sinking feeling that it was probably something meant to be stronger than protodermis, or even protosteel, if I were to hazard a guess. Wouldn't want the inhabitants breaching a hole in the Robot during interstellar travel, eh? And all the more reason to keep Frostbrenne under wraps.

A few minutes later, we stood over a circular indentation in the armor, about 20-30 feet wide, and 7 feet deep. Unlike the rest of the surface of the Robot, the bottom was completely flat, and a few shades lighter. It was also segmented, though I couldn't tell how I knew that... I could also "feel" mechanisms present in the walls of the indentation. I could feel several points that stood out amongst the rest, and I could tell that if I reached out and turned them JUST so...

I switched to the Mask of Telekinesis, and was about to turn them, when a voice I didn't recognize at first stopped me. "I wouldn't do that just yet, if I were you." I turned my head to look at the speaker. I was actually shocked when I saw who it was. He had short, very blonde hair, very pale skin, and wore a pair of Aviator sunglasses. His entire outfit was themed in red, with a bright red 12-toothed gear on his chest, and he held a broken sword, with a very elaborate crosspiece in one hand. There were two floating turntable-lookin thingies on either side of him, with a red gear around the area where the records would lay. Timetables, I believe he called them, and aptly so. They were his way of traveling through time.

"Dave? Dave Strider?" I asked.

"Man," he said, laughing, "you really ARE slower than John, aren't you?"

I frowned, and the others jumped in surprise. "I'm not slow, I'm just surprised to see you here. I mean, I only know who you are because..."

He held up a hand. "Because you read about us in a webcomic on your world? Yeah, you already told us. Or, you will. Later, after we actually get here, which will be a while. For you, that is."

I deadpanned. "Dude," I said, "don't patronize me about timeline shit, I understand the 'Alpha vs Doomed Timeline' thing, and the stable time loops, and all that. Now why're you here, Dave?"

"Ironically enough," he said, and I groaned, "it involves one of those stable timelines. Future you told me, to tell Present you, to be careful with this thing, because HE was told to be careful with it..."

I sighed. "Just tell me what he told you to, Dave. Exact words and phrasing, if you please."

Dave raised an eyebrow at me. "Wow, man, and I thought you were a broom up your ass when you sent me here. Then again, your tail DID look... Um... Ah, shit...." He facepalmed. "I'll just give you the info, shall I?"

I nodded, a mix of emotions running through me at this little slip-up. "Yeah, that'd be best. Causal spoilers and all that."

Dave nodded. As he fumbled with a bit of paper, Sans sidled up to me and asked, in a hushed voice, "Hey, kid. Who's this douchebag?" I nearly choked trying to suppress a laugh.

"Oh, hey there, Sans," said Dave, inclining his head, "good to see you, ya little scamp. You weren't joking when you said these two were shorter when you first met them, were you?" I scowled.

"Right, right, causal spoilers, got it. Now," Dave said, holding up the paper, "the message Future you sent me with is this:

'Remember the first challenge on Riven, and the rotating puzzle on Amateria, and that should help. Three times it drops: the enemy's gate is down, round and round it goes, and the itsy-bitsy spider did a barrel roll.' And that's all he wrote."

Dave crumpled up the bit of paper, and shoved it into a pocket. "Did he send me anything, or have any parting words?" I asked.

He frowned, and looked at me funny. "All he really said was a bit of nonsense. 'Even in the darkest of times, one can find happiness, if you only remember to turn on the light,' he said. 'Your sword is sharp, sharper than almost anything else, but you brought other blades with you as well,' he said. He also said 'It's dangerous to go alone! Here, take this!' And then he made and handed me these."

Dave tossed me four objects, which looked vaguely like some sort of rebreathers. "Look, man," said Dave, "something obviously happened to scramble your brain between now and then, so take care." I crossed my arms.

"Or," I supplied, "he was just being cryptic, and fulfilling the stable time loop. How'd he manage to coerce you into doing this? You don't do things for random strangers, if my guess is correct."

Dave nodded. "Yeah, but he bet that he could beat me in a duel. Obviously, he won." He froze for a second, probably blinking behind his Aviators. Then he did a 2x facepalm combo. "God dammit," he muttered. I smirked.

I honestly hated taking advantage of his laid-back coolkid attitude, but this was important. "Yeah, for a supposedly 'fully realized Knight of Time,' you're pretty shit at this. You lost your touch or something? Should I take you to see The Doctor?" I asked, innocently. I was familiar with the Dr Who franchise, but had been unable to watch most of it, because it got taken off Netflix when I was just getting into the show. I honestly had no idea if "The Doctor" had ever been in this reality at any time, or what form he'd take if he had, but it never hurt to err on the side of caution.

He backed away, raising his hands in a calming gesture. "Nah, man, I'm fully realized and all that, it's just an off day, after the events of what you call 'Act Seven.' And I'm a God Tier now. We don't get sick, and you won't go near any of the local physicians."

My smirk widened. "True, but I was talking about a very powerful time traveler, who calls himself 'The Doctor,' though everyone else calls him Doctor Who. He's also an alien, older than can be counted, and has lived multiple lives."

As I finished, Dave walked over to the floating... things, and placed his hands on the top surfaces. "No thanks, Caldoric, I'm good. See ya in the future, man." He then spun his hands, and vanished in a flash of red light.

"Well, he seemed nice," said Kapura, as I did a little dance and made small excited noises.

"An' he used a lotta quotes, if I'm not mistaken," added Sans. "Hey, Caldoric, ya OK over there?"

I stopped dancing. "Huh? Oh, yeah. That was just a message from my future self, which was probably sent in a cryptic manner to throw off anyone nearby who might be listening, or put us on the proper timing," I said, and focused on the machinery in the wall of the indentation. Indeed, it appeared that if I hadn't been interrupted, I'd have broken a subcomponent or something in my haste. With some fiddling, I figured out the proper opening sequence, and activated it.



 just a few seconds in... Take that grindy stone-on-stone sound, amplify it, and boom. Glorious Crunchy Rumble.



And with that, the ground beneath us opened up, separating into several curved segments, which were rotating into the walls with a glorious crunchy rumble. This revealed a large cylindrical tunnel going straight down. There were only seconds left to us to figure out what to do before we fell to our death. I had a crazy idea, and it probably wouldn't work, but I put it into motion anyways. I summoned the Mask of Speed again, grabbed Kapura, pulled him to my chest, told Sans to follow, and ran off the point of one of the floor segments, which was nearly in line with the wall anyways. "Grab a lightstone when we hit bottom!" I shouted to Kapura. I hit the wall feet first, nearly perpendicular, and began pouring on the speed. I ran, round and round the side, going downwards at a steady and fast pace, and we eventually found another "floor" to rest at.

"That was... interesting..." I said, slightly dizzy, and removed my helmet. Kapura produced a few small lightstones, and passed them around. After I received mine, I dug in my Hammerspace, pulled out a roll of semi-clear tape I'd filched from home, and used it to secure a lightstone to the front of my chestplate and the inside of my wrist and ankle armor. Noticing the strange looks I was getting, I said, "it keeps my hands free, and lets me see where where I'm sticking my appendages."

A few minutes later, I activated the machinery in the walls once more, and the floor beneath us split in the same manner as the surface above had, but this time, there was a great rushing of air through the gap. We repeated the same process as we had with the last descent, with myself carrying Kapura, and Sans running alone. On the way down, I had plenty to think about. The exchange of atmosphere as the "lock" above us had opened... That didn't bode well for the internal portion of the Matoran universe. How long did it take for all the air in a space the size of a giant robot like this take to stagnate, and become completely devoid of breathable oxygen? Already, the air around us both smelled and tasted stale, with a hint of ozone. Was 400,000,000 years enough?

Once we reached the bottom, I called for a stop. We had to talk.

"Ok, first thing," I said, once our vision had ceased spinning, "put these on." I then handed out the rebreather things, and left the fourth one, which was purple instead of black like the others, in my Hammerspace.

"What're these?" Asked Sans, holding his up.

"I'm pretty sure they're some sort of rebreather, or oxygen scrubbers. Long story short, they should allow us to breathe properly once we get inside."

"Why do we need them, though?"

"The robot's been lying here for about 400,000,000 years, give or take. The air's probably gone stagnant, and become unbreathable. Not to mention any sort of super-bacteria that may or may not have evolved in there."

"Um," interjected Kapura, uncertainly, "are you sure they'll work?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure. After all, future me made these, which means that the three of us manage to survive in there..." I trailed off. Something Dave had said had just hit me.

Then again, your tail DID look... Um...

I pushed the memory aside, and focused on the present once more. Time enough for that later. Presently, the others were getting ready to move on again. I sighed, got up, extended my mental reach into the walls, and manipulated the mechanisms inside.

Three times it drops...

My eyes snapped open as the floor beneath us separated, and air began rushing through the cracks at an insane speed. A grey, murky light was shining up between the retreating segments of floor.

"PUT THE RESPIRATORS ON, NOW!" I shouted over the wind, summoning the Mask of Flight as I jammed my own respirator underneath it and into my mouth. I felt it expand to cover my nose, then wrap around the back of my head and latch onto my helmet, effectively placing my head inside a hermetically sealed environment. I watched the same thing happen with the others as they put theirs on.

I had to grab the others before they got sucked in by the wind shear. Looking over the edge, I was glad I'd gone with the Kadin this time, since there was nothing below us except clouds, it seemed, and the occasional supermassive stalactite which had fallen from the ceiling, impaling itself in whatever ground there was to be had so far below. This was the last, and longest, drop.

"Alright, boys," I said, voice slightly muffled by the rebreather, "drop your socks and grab your crocs, it's about to get crazy." And without further ado, I jumped, letting the slipstream pull me in. Amongst the buffeting, I could feel my armor shifting slightly, becoming sleeker, more aerodynamic. At the same time, I saw the icon for the Mask of Adaptation flash twice.

The tugging of my cape in the wind changed noticeably, as a pair of forward-swept, airplane-like wings unfolded from my back, complete with engines. They didn't look strong enough for sustained flight, but powered gliding (and minor hovering,) appeared to be working options, as I soon found out.

What I needed to do, though, was find some solid surface to stand on so I could shut one or more of the segmented... floor... wall... things. What even WERE they, anyhow? Doors? Seals? Yeah, seals, that'd work. I needed to shut the seals, before the atmospheric exchange could potentially cause more damage inside and outside of the Robot than could be fixed.

I landed on top of one nearby stalactites and set the others down. As I summoned the Mask of Telekinesis once more, I could feel my "wings" fold up behind me, in a sort of "Buzz Lightyear meets Michael Bay style Transformers" kind of way.

"We got company," I heard Kapura's voice say, practically in my ear. I turned sharply to see him several yards away, pointing at a few dozen large dark shapes that had broken off from one of the neighboring stalactites, and were now swooping up towards... Oh no.

"Take them out!" I shouted, and turned my attention back to their intended target: the seal I had foolishly left wide open.

"Got it," said Sans, his voice coming to me, not from his location, but from inside my helmet. It seemed that the rebreathers had radios.

As I was wondering about that, Sans went at the creatures hammer and tongs, using a combination of summoned mystical bone attacks, Gaster Blasters, and gravitational redirection attacks. He managed to get most of them, and Kapura helped a bit by launching Kanoka disks at them, as I did my best to close the seal. It was harder than I thought, due to the increased distance.

Two or three managed to slip past the impromptu blockade, though, and they made an attempt on the exit, which was still allowing air inside. The largest of the black shapes was making headway, while the others were swept away, finally knocked out of the sky. It was a race against time, between the closing seal and the rising creature.

The seal slammed shut with a clang just as the entity reached it, but something was wrong. I could feel that the seal hadn't fully closed; there was something stuck in it, slowing it down significantly. The creature, from what I could see, was pulling at the seal, pushing with it's hind legs. And then, with a shower of dark liquid, it pulled itself free.

Minus half of it's right foreleg. And it was pissed.

It saw us, and somehow I knew that it had figured out we were responsible for this. It gave an almighty roar, and began diving towards our location.

"Run!" I cried, before turning and doing the same myself. Turns out the others had already had the same idea, and were way ahead of me. "Well, thanks for the vote of confidence," I muttered, running after them.

As I raced forward, I caught a glint of light off one of the clouds in the distance... Except that it wasn't a cloud. It was the topmost part of a giant metallic dome, whose outer surface was moving. The flash had come from the edge of a hole in the outer shell that was sliding across it's surface.

"Guys, the Codrex is dead ahead!" I shouted, pointing.

"I see it," replied Sans.

"If we make it to the edge, don't stop! Just jump!"

We all managed to reach the edge at about the same time, and we jumped. I felt claws snatch just behind me, missing by inches as I grabbed my companions around the waist once again. Activating the Kadin, I unfolded my newfound wings enough for the engines to get clear of my legs, and turned downwards. I'd need them shortly.

"Wait, what are you... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGHH!" screamed Kapura, as we punched through the cloud layer.

I had been listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks on the days leading up to when I ended up here, so I decided I'd try something that might get us out of this.

Something dangerous.

The Wronski Feint, to be exact.

"Why aren't we flying?!" Yelled Sans, over the rushing air.

"I have everything under control!" I replied, not entirely sure that I actually did. I was freaking out, internally, to be truthful. "We gotta shake 'em, and I have an idea, but I gotta focus, so hush!"

I risked a glance in the direction of my feet to make sure the monsters (for several others had joined in the fray,) were still on our trail. I was disconcerted to find they were closer than I had anticipated. I felt my lips tighten as my eyes went slightly wider.

Ever so slowly, I turned myself so that my belly was no longer facing towards the receding stalactite, but away from it. This was to prevent any G-forces generated by the maneuver from ripping Kapura and Sans out of my arms when I pulled it off. Without warning, I felt my ears pop from the change in air pressure. That was the last straw.

See, I have what most normal folks would call a "fear of heights," inaccurate as that is. I mean, I can be up high, like on a mountain or on top of a climbing wall and be just fine. I do get slightly nervous looking down, but I'm still fine. To be honest, I'm afraid of the "falling to my death" part, that's all. So you can see why I was scared, and not exactly thinking rationally.

I chickened out at that moment. I snapped the wings out to full extension, set the jet engines at max throttle, arched my back, turned the ailerons and other flap-looking bits to the "down" position, closed my eyes, and said a little prayer:

"If we die, I commend my soul to any gods that can find it."

Slowly, slowly, I felt us turning, leveling out. I opened my eyes and looked forward, only to see a "ceiling" of foliage just a few meters "above" our heads, rushing by at insane speeds. I looked behind to see the beasts attempt what I had done, and almost all of them ploughed themselves into the ground, leaving bloody messes behind in the marshy, foul smelling ground. The one who'd gotten caught in the seal was among them, I was glad to see.

I flipped over, gained some altitude, and turned my attention to my charges. "You OK, guys?" I asked, as we continued coasting.

Sans groaned, arms clamped firmly over his stomach. Kapura merely nodded, eyes closed.

"Don't ever do that again," I heard Sans mutter.

"Wasn't planning on it," I said in a small voice. I folded my wings in, since they were no longer needed, but kept the engines out for the extra speed.

We still had five or six of the creatures on us, so I had to act once more. "Hey, Sans... Could we, maybe, use some Gaster Blasters on those guys?" I asked.

"Nope," he said, resignedly, "too worn out."

I thought for a moment, and then came up with an idea. "Could you handle a gun?"

"Maybe," he replied.

So, careful not to drop either of them, I pulled a couple of the AR150's I'd absconded with out of my wrist-access Hammerspace spots, and passed them to my passengers. They made short work of the monstrosities following us.

That threat taken care of, I was able to slow down and find a spot to stop for a bit. My arms and neck were tired, OK? Actually, my whole body was sore, to a certain degree, but those were the top of the list at the moment.

Up until I heard the signature double beep of my watch chiming the hour. I was surprised that I actually heard it, seeing as it hadn't registered with me before. I looked at it, shocked that it was still working after what had happened on the airship earlier today... Wow, that seemed like a couple days ago, now, to be honest. Anyways, the time read 4:00 AM, which had no real bearing on the time here. Even then, it was about 2 minutes fast, but still, it was the closest thing I had to "normal" home time.

And then my eyes caught the date, displayed just above the time.

It was Friday, April 22nd, 2016.

My birthday.

I blinked a couple times, and then my face fell. I let my head bend forward, then sank into a crouch. This had to be some sort of sick joke.

And to think I'd been worried about getting my taxes filed on time, just a few days before I arrived...