Bleak desolation. It was certainly a new sight for Winona to behold. The little girl let out a grim chuckle and sat down on the cracked earth. Cassidy was beside her, murmuring his disjointed thoughts. “It would seem that not all land is bountiful,” Winona stated. The cat looked away, bemused by Winona’s state of mind.

“How can you even say that?”he protested. This wasteland, this…hell used to be overflowing with life. And now it is nothing. You should be mourning.” The cat walked off in disgust, quickly disappearing into the impenetrable haze.

“He’ll come back.” Now that she was alone, any hint of Winona’s cheerfulness had disappeared; sucked up by the very ground she sat on. She realized that it was a horrid place: not just devoid of joy, but of all emotion. Every second she sat was another stroke of apathy beating into her heart. There was only one plant visible, a miserable tree that had cracked and ripped until it was barely discernible from the malevolent Darkness that encompassed it. The leaves that still clung to life were brown and misshapen, also wrinkling into shrivelled corpses. She looked away, not able to gaze upon the sorry sight any longer.

A deep longing for Cassidy awakened within her. How long had he been gone? Two hours? She had no strength left for despair or fear; she just wanted her cat back. Standing up, she stared longingly at the sky; wishing to see that crystal blue glint and the chattering birds again. A hope in vain, as she predicted. The Darkness engulfed all, leaving no room for the skies. She wanted more than anything to leave the wasteland and never come back, but she couldn’t do that. The polluted sky, the dying trees, they had to avenged. No creature would ever get away with terrorising a place to such an extent. Winona would rain righteous fire down on their soul.

****

Cassidy hated being alone. As nothing more than an extension of Winona the separation coupled with the soul-destroying gloom was enough to make him give up completely. But he had similar ideas to Winona, albeit slightly more wholesome ones. The despair and the desolation had to be dispelled at all costs, lest it spread even further, extinguishing all light. But how? Cassidy couldn’t possibly see violence as the answer. And Winona wasn’t capable of thinking it out on her own. She needed help. But how could he – or anyone else - possibly reach her? Even the marvels of telepathy offered little assistance. He was left to fend for himself in a barren and parasitic world. He just hoped Winona wasn’t doing anything stupid.

The darkness seemed to be weighing down on the little cat as he tread. The ground was hot and jagged, but he strived to ignore the pain, already aggravated by the foggy sludge around him. Winona could be anywhere around here,he thought. She truly is a needle in a haystack. Cassidy trudged onwards before interrupted by a shrill squeal of excitement.

“Cassidy? Are you near?” The girl didn’t even try to conceal her nerves. “I’m going to cast a burst of fire; it’d be good if you could do the same.” Cassidy sent a quick answer and set about making a flare. His magic wasn’t nearly as powerful as Winona’s but he would manage. Their minds counted down in unison, both focusing on the magic while focusing on the slightest glimpse of flame. The second came for Cassidy to release his spell and he did so with relief. The orange ball ascended a few metres into the sky before diffusing, invisible, into the Darkness. Cassidy had just about seen a twinkle of flame from Winona. It was only a few metres away, ironically. He burst into a full run until colliding into the apathetic form of Winona.

“What happened to you?” he asked half-cynically.

“This place is just sucking the life out of me.”

“Exactly why we have to fix it.” Winona’s dull eyes suddenly twinkled with recognition.

“But we’ll need help. And we’re just a needle in a haystack.”

“Correction.” Cassidy smiled his wily feline smile. “We’re two needles in a haystack.”

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[The Escapist's Isle]