The door burst open as Kino and Hermes crashed through it. Landing ungracefully, the two fell over into a clearing.
"So, you escaped," A voice coming from the surrounding trees said. Kino took out her persuader.
A man walked out from the shadows of the trees. "The rust. The rot. The cracked stones, the frozen sun. The eldritch sounds, from some other world," he continued. The man was young- he couldn't have been much older than Kino, though his hair was pure white. He was dressed in beige. "The beautiful world, the inscrutable world, the unfathomable world. You saw it all. How did you escape?"
Kino lowered the persuader, seeing that this stranger was harmless. "I made it make sense. I did something familiar to me that I knew and had known for a long time. I focused and drew my mind away from the bad craziness. I focused on what I knew was real and true. I was able to see through the madness and conquer it."
The stranger nodded. "Yes. I see. Well, that's certainly one way to do it. By the by, my name is Tertias."
"Three? Your name is three?" Hermes said.
Tertias ignored Hermes. "Tell me, did you see anyone in there?"
"Yes," Kino responded. "We saw an old man-" "He was scary!" Hermes interjected. Kino nudged his gas tank, and continued, "We also saw a child. It was a… frightening child, to say the least."
"So. That's what happened to them…" Tertias suddenly looked morose. He slumped against a tree and looked at the ground
"Did you know them?" Kino asked.
"Yes," Tertias said as he looked up. "We were a rare case of identical triplets."
"But you all look nothing like each other. And you're all different ages!" Hermes exclaimed.
"I don't fully remember why or how it happened," Tertias said, "But something happened to that place that made it all wrong. All I remember is that somehow my brothers and I were the only survivors of the incident. And I was the only one who escaped, as the land transformed behind me into something terrible. I looked back and saw that things were changing. The landscape was distorted. What was once a magnificent metropolis started to crumble, then reconstruct itself seconds later. It crumbled again, weeds and rot and rust covering all… I couldn't bear to look at it, and I ran from the gate. My brothers were still in there, and I somehow knew that they would be trapped forever."
Tertias got up and walked towards Kino. He put a hand on her shoulder. "I cannot thank you enough, traveler. So long have I wondered what their fate was and what the land's fate was." He hugged her, which made Kino feel extremely awkward. "Uh. Thanks?" She responded.
Tertias began to walk away. Before he vanished into the shade of the forest, Kino called out, "Excuse me, Tertias, but…" There was an awkward pause.
He turned around and said "Yes?"
"The child," Kino started. "I killed him."
"Now that's just rude!" Hermes said, and Kino nudged him again.
"Well." Tertias said. "They are lost. Everything there is lost. I don't know if I can even call them my brothers anymore. But I still miss them. I think." He took out a persuader of his own and aimed it at Kino.
"I still have deep scars from that terrible day. I do not know if I love or hate my brothers. And I do not know if I want to thank you or hate you. But go. Go now, before I make up my mind to kill you."
There was silence in that clearing. Tertias stared at Kino. He was sweating and gritting his teeth. Kino stared back, showing no emotion.
Without any words, Kino got on Hermes and drove away down the forest path.