Far away, the world burned. Quiet as a nightmare, witnessed only by the waning moon.
It was merciful, in a way, for those poor souls silenced in their sleep. A dignified death, free of suffering or pain. A peaceful one, unfettered by the sounds of a thousand ever-shifting snarls.
…
The Zorua had – expected otherwise. Why wouldn't he, after the terrors of the night?
Yet when Kleis finally fell asleep, naught but a moist, choking silence ferried him into his restless slumber.
He'd slept in worse places before, actually. In rancid swamps, amidst blinding blizzards, in bumpy delivery carts on their overnight route.
The small, hastily dug dirt burrow he found himself tucked in? Hardly uncomfortable by comparison. It was familiar, really, the wet smell of forest wrapping around him like a blanket from home.
All too heavy. All too thin. It soaked into his skin, clung to his lungs – but when it slipped off, what lay beyond would come rushing in.
Because wherever he'd travelled, however uncomfortable the sleeping spots had been – Kleis's parents had always made sure they were safe. Secure. That skittish though the Zorua was, he'd never need to snap awake ready to claw death in the eye.
Yet now it hung above him, at the corner of his eye. A petulant death which knew little judgement but its whim; a silent death which spared no ceremony before it swung.
The adventurer's death, impartial and unmoving. Waiting where civilisation and Rescue Teams ended, waiting where the domain of the wild began.
He'd met it once, actually, as a merrily reckless child. A fresh-eyed trailblazer of a Zorua who had scampered away from his parents, chasing the nonsensical, winding hallways and the endless depths beyond.
On that night, as a frantic Zoroark and Delphox turned the earth in his wake and called in every favour they could – deep in that Mystery Dungeon, Kleis had pulled himself into a ball and closed his eyes.
And deep in that Mystery Dungeon, he had slept the worst night's sleep of his life, bar none.
How could he top it? Lost in a Mystery Dungeon, help nowhere to be found. A stranger around every corner, hostile blank eyes haunting him no matter how far he ran.
Young and out of his depth.
The barest of emergency supplies to his name.
Walls closing in.
No end in sight.
A ragged cloak of dirt above, fragile. Thin. Thunder far on the horizon; a too-silent forest watching the way.
That noose of familiarity chafing against his neck. Shadows among the leaves, wandering, waiting-
Where was that light at his back, the buzzing smile and the confidence which cut through all doubts? The Zorua tried to remember, tried to see – but that glimmer of hope felt distant as the moon.
Still the Zorua reached – but it slid away with nary a sound. Yet Kleis couldn't let it go. Still he stretched, reaching, grasping-
A jaw of shadows snapped shut, winking the light away.
He blinked and found himself running. Freezing water on his fur, liquid fire in his lungs. A hollow bag of memories flapping against his back as a thousand melting howls tasted his tail.
How familiar it felt, Kleis thought, dashing side to side as he ran. His heart throbbing as blood hurried to flow, bag flapping in the wake of his flight.
Yet he wouldn't turn, couldn't stop. Stillness was death.
Quickly the floors passed, each stairway blurring into the next. Hope sputtered as it so often did, but conviction took its stead.
The next floor would be the last, if not then the floor after that. Even if it flittered ever further as he climbed, if he pushed a little harder, gave a little more-
The ground crumbled under him, shadows raised from the earth needling against his paws. So the Zorua tensed – and leapt.
Pushing off thin air with barely a twitch. He saw it, then; how his jump would carry him into the awaiting ledge, how the scrabbling of his paws would wrench him over and up. And time slowed and he reached, bracing for the stony punch to the gut as he soared higher and higher and-
…
And his heart gave out, splintering into dust.
Of course it would never be so easy. Of course – but how could he have remembered he was clawing up a mountain when it felt an endless abyss?
A precipice awaited, death both behind and below. Tears beaded in his eyes, never falling. The winds had whipped them away.
And though nobody stood with him, a teammate's voice dripped into his ear. A shadow of a choice which never came to pass.
"Of course I'd have sacrificed myself!" it said nonchalantly, as if any other option was incomprehensible. Kleis turned – and that mirage of a mirage stared up, warm eyes slicing into his soul.
"If it'll save a friend, well – what else is there to say? It's not like-"
The warm gaze froze over in a moment, dark judging eyes now pinning his soul in their grip.
"It's not like I'm a coward like you, huh Kleis?" it said, "How shameful would that be? A hundred thousand stories you've learnt from, but when you find yourself in one for real – your spine falls right out. You freeze. You fail."
A light laugh, as if it was simply a casual joke between friends. Kleis bowed his head, tearing his eyes from the shade's stare – but all the same its words found him. And all the same they struck true.
"What about the next time, huh Kleis? Or the time after that? There won't be another miracle Chinchou waiting. There won't be another narrow escape. When we trip I'll be the one to catch you, and when you lay there paralysed I'll be the one to die."
A grin like a razor greeted him, kind and taunting at once – it drew a slice across his heart, drawing fresh blood with each throb of his soul. When Kleis blinked the shade was gone, leaving only the echo of a single word.
"Coward," whispered the wind as the shadows drew closer. "Coward," intoned the stars from their all-seeing perch.
"Coward," screeched the shadows, before he turned to face the lightless tide. "Coward," his conscience whispered still as he waited for the impact to land.
The Zorua tried. But it was one Pokemon against an ocean, and the waves swallowed him whole.
Deeper and deeper the tide dragged him, snatching the air from his lungs. He sank, and fast, whorls of memory striking him in succession as the light of the surface faded away.
Once, twice, thrice – Kleis felt himself die.
A violent tear in space, obliterating his body as he flew from its implosion too late.
The ghostly touch on his haunch snaking forward, seeping in. Limping, leaping – but his numb legs weighed him down, held him still as the shrieking shadows fell.
And there atop the cliff again, the jagged maw of the earth awaiting below. Pushed back by the shadows, winds buffeting his retreat. A single misstep, paw landing on thin air – and he fell with a choking scream.
All the while they drew closer, that massless mass of darkness. A hundred ravenous eyes finding him wherever he ran, endless screams awaiting him however he turned. Even as he leapt and dodged, twisting through stone passageways and forest undergrowth, used every drop of craftiness in his body to evade, evade-
But that wasn't how he'd done it before, was it? Movement only carried you so far, Kleis knew that, but the Zorua bolting from the shadows in a frenzy, eyes squeezed shut with tears as his paws glanced off ground writhing with each breath-
Something in his instincts snapped.
And far away in the world of the waking, the light of a sleeping Chinchou twisted, exploding into a thousand strands. A Vibrava snapped his laser-attention from the sounds of the surface before-
Kleis was gone.
Under the silence of his cloak his haggard breaths echoed. A facade thin as paper against the prying eyes of the world.
Danger, his instincts screamed; outside and all around. It was too dark to see, invisible to the eye – but so was he.
A noise flicked his ear, and Kleis danced from the strike in a whisper. A woosh of air, barely felt on his fur – and the Zorua dodged the dark lance by a hair.
On and on the shadows came, but with each wave Kleis found a gap. Slipping through, slipping forwards, that adventurer's death trotting by his side. Soon, it said – soon you shall falter.
But not yet, replied the Zorua; not here. The burning of his muscles was but a throb in the background, his steps matching tempo with the beat of his heart. Instinct and training guided every movement of his body, threading the needle through that infinitesimal hole.
He was doing it. He was doing it! Kleis felt the rush, the focused grin touching his face. He was untoucha-
Something solid jabbed him in the side, making him flinch just a moment too long. U-turn, said his mind as he threw out a paw, jetting himself away from the shadows in the nick of time.
What... was that? Kleis barely had time to look around before he was spinning through the shadows again. Off-beat this time, the rhythm of the dance thrown off.
He thought he'd known its tricks. He thought he'd taken its measure.
Another jab landed on his side, sending him stumbling. He snapped at it, felt it darting back- Kleis dodged as the shadows struck again, feeling a line of searing numbness draw itself across his haunch-
And for a moment, it felt as if the world stopped. The shadows freezing, processing the smell of blood in the water. Kleis doing the same as he realised what it meant.
The feeling in his leg was gone, as if it had never existed. Kleis kicked with all the strength he could muster – but his leg moved not a hair.
The shadows turned.
Kleis squeezed his illusion close.
And somewhere in the distance, death let out a single laugh.
Yet another taunting jab in his side, as the shadows began to lunge. Closer and closer until he could make out each grimy wisp of shadow, until the world ended in black, pulling the ground out under his paws. He was falling, falling into a bottomless abyss as the jabbing turned to shaking turned to-
Kleis's eyes snapped open as he threw out a paw against the oncoming ground. It clipped a wing, glanced off the ceiling and sent him tumbling onto Mirage before his brain caught up.
The first thing Kleis did was to try vocalising his confusion. The second was to choke the attempt down as he remembered just where he was.
Trapped in a cave, far from the stars-
Just above a very sharp Vibrava, all the spiky edges digging into his skin. As if on cue a thin leg drove itself into Kleis's stomach, drawing forth another stifled yelp.
He felt Mirage's squirming pause. Then the leg drawing back slowly, deliberately...
Kleis rolled off before it could connect. Heaving with an effort, fighting the feeling to retch-
His breaths were ragged, he realised. Short and forceful- Hyperventilating, his mind vaguely registered. Panic. But why – why was he panicking?
A wing on floating above his back, uncertain. U-turn half-formed on his paw, the hastily-assembled Bug energy lashing his skin. He was shrinking, trying to hide, but-
He felt Mirage's wing land on his back. The Zorua turned, seeing the innocent, worried expression of his friend-
And flinched. The wing flittered off, Mirage drawing back with alarm and hurt and betrayal all over his – Kleis turned away and buried his face against the wall.
His mind was frying, Kleis noted, thoughts drowned out by emotion. Anger and loneliness and terror and –
He was drowning in them again, feeling the breath choke from his lungs. No, came down the hammer of conscious thought, shoving the feelings into a box and sending it flying with a kick.
Breathe. Breathe. Let air reach his lungs, give his brain the space to process and recover and shore up the overflowing river of emotion.
For the moment nothing else mattered. Breathe.
Kleis... didn't know how long it took. He wasn't keeping track. Fifteen minutes at least? He turned from the wall, smudging away any tears left in his eyes.
In front of him sat a Vibrava, patiently waiting with worry naked on his face. He stopped his fidgeting as Kleis propped himself into a sitting position.
A few seconds of silence passed as both Pokemon stared at each other. Wondered what to say. The dim light of a still-asleep Chinchou cast long shadows on the walls.
Mirage moved first. Of course he did. He reached for Kleis with a leg. Hesitated.
The Zorua nodded so faintly the fur atop his head barely shifted. And so Mirage leaned in with a comforting squeeze to his shoulder, draping a wing across his back.
A minute passed in silence. Then Kleis felt a poke at his side.
Mirage pointed at him. Then his sleeping spot. Two taps on the ground followed, a quick gesture of his leg as if it was floating down a river. Illusion.
Had he – no, surely not. Not in his sleep. Kleis gathered the energy to raise an eyebrow. Mirage simply gave him a blank stare in return.
I know what I saw, Kleis, that placid look said.
It softened a second later, worry and anxiety seeping in again. You alright?
Kleis felt his paws scrunch up, felt the earth crumble as he grabbed at it. The wing on his back shifted as Mirage moved closer, stretching all the way over for a side-hug.
Another minute.
…Another poke at his side. Kleis looked over to see Mirage gesturing to where he'd slept. Nestled right next to his bag, the dirt underneath compacted by his weight. The Vibrava mimed snoozing, legs held underneath his head as a pillow while he pretended to snore.
No, Kleis shook his head tiredly when Mirage opened his eyes again. He wasn't going to – he couldn't go back to sleep. Not after... whatever that had been. The specifics of the nightmare had long since fled his mind, but the emotions which came with it, the feelings that stuck to him like tar-
No, he shook his head again insistently. Mirage blinked, but before he could sign anything else Kleis interrupted with his own response.
Three short squeezes of Mirage's leg. Switch over.
The Vibrava blinked. Glanced at him questioningly. Kleis repeated the three squeezes more forcefully, shaking his head. He suspected he would be up for the rest of the night regardless, and Mirage needed the sleep. Fairly reasonable conditions for him to take over the night watch earlier than expected.
It seemed Mirage got the message, hesitating just a moment before getting up and hopping away. Although – as he brushed against Kleis's bag he stopped, turning to face the Zorua.
Delicately he traced the strap of the bag, tugging at the Rescue Team badges lightly. An encouraging smile crossed his face as he met Kleis's eyes.
With a final nod, he turned away and plopped himself down onto the ground. And all was silent once again.
There Kleis sat alone with his thoughts. The smell of forest undergrowth suffusing the air, leaves and dirt and death gracing his snout.
Oh yes, death. He didn't shake it off though, nor did he want to. Because the fact remained that they had almost died.
That they hadn't, not at any point on their trip through the Dungeon – that was luck. If he and Mirage had entered just a little later, if they had missed Maia's faint cries, if they had taken just a few more wrong turns in their frantic escape...
The more he thought, the more it seemed like death had been staring him in the eye the whole night. Waiting for him to notice. And now that it stood before him, no distractions in the way-
He found himself balking in the face of it again. But he wouldn't – couldn't falter. Not here.
Shakily he reached into his bag, careful not to jostle the Chinchou sleeping behind it. When he withdrew, it was with a weight upon his paws.
Kleis... wasn't his teammate, whose optimism shone like the sun. Who flinched not a whit in the face of certain doom.
But he was an adventurer, hatched and raised. A breed of Pokemon to whom the wilderness was a second home. He'd travelled the width of the Air Continent, been taught by experience and more stories than he could recall.
So he unwrapped his travel log, the old, familiar script gracing his eyes. Elevations, distances, settlement locations and details – each a glinting shard of hope, a small piece of a grand puzzle.
Death came for adventurers. It always did. But when it lunged too early, when it gave away its tricks...
Perhaps it left just enough space for him to carve out a fighting chance.
A trembling paw met aged paper.
And a Zorua began to plan.