As we walk through the strange white-gray rock we find absolutely nothing of value. At first we assumed the craters might have something inside of them, but so far no success.

The hills are another story entirely. All kinds of different objects had rained down from the sky, falling down and rolling into the low dales.

We've not looked into those objects further, even though the shepherd wanted to. I decided that it was more important to scout this new area. Which is a good thing or we wouldn't have been there when another knight fell from the sky.

Their armor is strange, but despite the oddness of their dress they understand me perfectly. The helmet they wear has a large orb made of blackened glass as a visor, the rest of the armor is mostly white and seems to be made of some kind of sturdy fabric. Their voice is oddly transformed through their helmet making me unsure who I am speaking to, I do not mind.

I've spent the past few minutes sharing everything we know of this place. Now I'm giving them some space as they let it sink in, which in this case means the two of us walking away towards the cube.

"What do you think of them?" I ask of the shepherd as we walk through the cratered dusty surface.

"They seem just as cursed as we are."

I don't look at the shepherd as he answers my question. Instead, I'm scanning the sky around us, checking for any glowing red eyes making their way toward us.

"Listen, I know how you feel about this place, I feel similar." Probably not with the same intensity as he does though. "So can we skip over that kind of stuff while we're talking?"

For a moment I think I've pissed him off a bit too much, but after a bit he answers.

"They seem learned, asking lots of questions, taking their time to puzzle things together. It didn't seem like they- …like this white knight was very surprised to be here though. Or at least, they didn't seem very worried."

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Guess the shepherd's a bit sharper than I thought. That's good.

"I felt similarly."

We slide down a particularly large crater, silent as we exert ourselves and run up the other side of the crater wall.

"Too soon to say what's going on here, but it's certainly interesting."

"I mean, we could ask them if they know"

Ah, right.

"Ah, right"

We walk the remaining bit in silence until we reach the cube.

I take my eyes off of the surroundings to look at the shepherd.

"If you want, go and gather up the stuff that dropped in the hills. I'll stay and wait for the white knight. If you're not sure what something is, just leave it."

He nods without hesitation and walks off to the hills.

"And check downstairs to see if anything has changed."

I call out after him for a moment. He gives me a thumbs up without turning back to me.

—

It takes a while before the white knight decides to get moving. Annoying, because we did mention the creatures, but both they and the shepherd are within the range of a short jog. Besides, between the both of them they can make a single armed and armored person, whereas I will have to make do with my fists.

It is strange to see the white knight approaching. They seem oddly floaty in their movements. It becomes rather impressive when they jump over the large crater (the one we had to step into) with graceful ease.

I wait until they're close enough that I can speak without elevating my voice to ask them

"Were you expecting to end up here?"

They answer once they're next to me

"No. Yes- well it's complicated. I was expecting to end up somewhere. But with my crew and my ship, not like… like this."

Ah, a missing crew, some kinship there.

"I was with the members of my order when I ended up here. I understand losing them is hard for you."

"Yeah… So this is all there is?"

"As far as we know, yes."

"And it's growing?"

"Twice now."

"Then we need to be ready for more people to arrive."

A person of action. I think I like them.