\|/ Turn 10, early light
I had one of the worst sleeps in my life.
I went to sleep across the fire from Mik, though now that was much closer because the tent isn't that large. Under my blanket I was truly warm, and I felt protected. I trust Mik to sleep comfortably at this point. The ground is still sore, but I've collected some leaves and placed them underneath myself to act as a cushion, and it worked well enough.
I woke in the dead of dark. I was completely immobile.
It was utterly dark; the fire had gone out. There was extremely faint light from outside. I tried to move but nothing happened.
Then the breathing started.
The same breathing that still haunts my nightmares. The deep, raspy breaths of the living shadow. It was inside the tent. It was far too close.
The acidic sweet taste was there. My mouth started to sting.
I tried to move. Nothing happened.
Then, in the middle, I saw the eye.
The eye.
I tried to scream. Nothing happened.
The eye was staring at me. The breathing a constant drone.
My mouth and lungs burned. I wanted to tear my throat out. My ears buzzed with adrenaline.
I tried to cry. Nothing happened.
I started to physically shake from terror. I wanted to fight, run or beg. But I couldn't do anything.
This continued for a few more moments. And then everything shattered.
I managed to move.
I got up, hissing like a madscale, clawing the air. I wasn't going to give up this time.
But there was no eye. There was no breathing except Mik's own. I woke Mik in my panic and confusion.
Mik got up quickly, taking the hatchet into its arm, accidentally moving the injured one a bit (and immediately groaning from the action). It saw me clawing the air, hissing bloody murder. Mik put down the hatchet and grabbed its own blanket quickly. It threw the blanket on me, unknowingly making the situation worse. I thought the living shadow had enveloped me again and thrashed harder. I didn't see what happened next, being enveloped by its parachute blanket and half stuck in my own, but after a few moments I was on the ground. Had Mik pushed me down? Had I tripped? I'm still not sure.
Then there was a heavy weight on top of me. I was shaking underneath the blankets, not seeing anything, still in my delusions. My mouth still burned.
Mik had pinned me to the ground. Mik then started hissing at me which still baffles me.
It wasn't any coherent hissing, not the melodic hissing of Varanth or anything understandable, just a single chord.
"Shhhhh" it kept repeating, sometimes slowing, sometimes louder when I thrashed, sometimes with breaks in the hiss.
After a few spans I calmed down slightly, panting and shaking, but no longer fighting for my life. Mik then uncovered my head and looked at me. It made a face that it hadn't yet made, similar to the one when it first saw me. I think it was concern. I still can't read that contourable face perfectly.
I slowly calmed down, seeing it was just Mik. I looked around the tent, and there was no living shadow. It had all been a vision. My throat stopped burning, despite feeling the sensation of the living shadow's breath there.
Mik slowly got off of me, sitting down close.
I curled into a ball, still in shock. I muttered "I'm sorry" a few times quietly between sobs. Mik didn't respond, just sitting close by.
After a few more spans, with shaking legs, I slowly got up and untangled myself. I handed Mik's blanket back to it, and took a step back, lying down again. It watched me for a few more spans as I breathed deeply. It offered a few berries I had stored during the previous turn. I rejected them, I couldn't eat.
Mik got closer and offered me its hand again, the same gesture when we finished the tent. I placed my tail against it, no longer shaking. It bared its teeth lightly and went to its side of the tent, lying back down again, going back to sleep.
I didn't sleep. I spent the rest of the dark calming myself, listening to Mik breathe. It wasn't the raspy breaths of the living shadow, but just regular, deep breaths. It was the breathing of a friend.
I kept thinking about the entire ordeal.
I had hallucinated the living shadow within the tent and tried to attack it, after being tortured with immobility for a few spans.
Is this what madness looks like? I thought to myself.
I tried to reminisce on home, on friends, on what I hoped to see at least one more time in my life.
But I could only think of what had changed.
I would not return the same person.
A scaletorn scientist, gone mad from barely comprehensible terrors, who thinks an AI was her friend and needed to be subdued by an alien to stop her from hurting herself.
I continued having these dark thoughts until early light came. Light crept through the open hole of the tent. Mik continued to sleep.
I managed to calm myself to some degree. It's light now, and Mik is stirring. I'll try to function normally this turn.
What is normal for me anymore?
\|/ Turn 10, dark
Mik slowly stirred awake, saying something before slowly getting up. It saw that I was awake, bundled in my cloak and blanket.
Mik got up and sat down next to me. It put its palm out, and I put my tail against it. I didn't want to touch Mik until recently, and I still don't like physical contact that much, but Mik's the only thing that brings me comfort in this cursed place.
Mik went outside first and then I followed. A deep dread hit me when we got outside.
I saw my own breath.
It's getting colder.
I still had my now partially destroyed thermal regulation suit, and the cloak draped over me, but soon, it would be too cold for me to leave the tent if this continued. Let alone if the tent got too cold.
All those thoughts about returning to Varanth, changed or not, evaporated immediately.
This is how I would die. A desert dweller, frozen to death.
Mik vocalized something, bared its teeth at me and left to drink some water in the direction of the spring. It would get some firewood after, while it was still morning, it seemed to prefer that. It didn't seem bothered at all by the cold, casually leaving.
I went and picked a few berries and thought about what to do. Warmth. I needed warmth.
I had thought about other things the turn before, like how I would be deprived of protein if we didn't get another food source, or more doodles to share with Mik, more actions and words to explain, but none of that mattered if I wasn't alive.
I started thinking about how to get more warmth in the tent and on myself. The only thing I could come up with was more insulation.
The parachute tent functioned great for the time being, keeping the inside warm, especially with the fire, but it wouldn't be enough. Mik still exudes warm, and I am beyond thankful for that, but the main goal is keeping warmth in.
I spent the rest of the morning gathering leaves and sticks and making essentially a second tent over the existing one. I glued the sticks in a grid over the parachute and then glued the leaves over them. Mik had been doing its own thing after leaving the firewood. It seemed to have its own plans, and I was too preoccupied to truly care.
At about midlight, Mik came back with some berries to eat. I sat down in the light, it still being warm enough for me to bask without the cloak, while Mik sat in the shade, enigmatic with its heat regulation as ever. We ate some berries, Mik vocalizing some words, and me saying some things. We were making small talk, and though none of us understood one another, it was comforting.
Afterwards I gathered a lot more leaves and went inside the tent. I grabbed my and Mik's parachute blankets and started gluing the leaves on them. I reminisced on reading some travel flyer for the Wet Domain for Thornkin before I traveled there, about layers being "your friend for keeping warm in the cool marshes!". I don't want Mik to freeze, either.
That took me the rest of the turn. I heard Mik doing some things outside, but I was busy. After I was done, I took a break in silence, slowly watching it get darker, waiting for Mik to come back and light the fire.
But Mik was taking suspiciously long with whatever it was doing. I was starting to wonder if everything was alright.
Just as the dwarf was setting, I went outside to check on Mik. I was surprised to see what it had been doing the entire turn.
The now upgraded tent was surrounded with wooden spikes, all varying sizes, pointing outwards. Mik was putting another one in a small hole in the ground when it noticed me and bared its teeth wildly. It ran over to the other side of the tent, and then back to me, handing me something.
It was handing me a makeshift spear. Wooden, sharp at the end, with a bit of bioluminescent mold scraped onto it from nearby trees.
I stood baffled at what Mik had made for me. I slowly took the spear and observed it. Mik bared its teeth while I observed the spear. I bared my teeth back at it, truly thankful for what it had done for me.
Mik is asleep now, and I'm about to go to sleep as well.
I pray to the suns that I don't see the living shadow again.
But this time, I feel ready to face it.