[Dungeon path]

I emerge from the darkness before it.

Gron nails itself in the sand, digging its paws in, and raising dust.

“Leave me alone!”

“On that side, on every side… the desert has nothing. It's just a desert.” I would like to speak in a clear voice, but instead, I can only sputter. I'm still caught up in the pain and I don't understand the emotions I feel.

“It does not matter! The desert is still better than oblivion!” Gron raises its fur and arches its back. Its flaming tail stood straight as a spear, its teeth and claws exposed.

I don't want to fight.

I don't want to condemn it to an eternity of nightmares.

Gron…

I step aside. I bow my head.

My tail hisses.

“Go ahead. If that's what you want... beyond a certain distance I won't be able to pick you up anymore. You will recognize it, the light of the sky ceases. There remain flashes in the distance and darkness and ash. I just ask you to think again.”

The tears flow again. This time I don't sob. They descend in silence and I watch them fall into the black ash that slips between my toes.

What am I doing?

Can I do this? Let it go free?

Doesn't the System care what the dead do? Is the Underwasteland all here?

But what thoughts… this is the case. The Underwasteland is the landfill of life, that's all a [Bakenekro] needs to know.

“Come on, Gron, go ahead…”

Gron doesn't respond and takes two steps past me.

I'm sorry it ended like this. I just tried to be kind and…

“N.”

I don't look up.

“Tell me…”

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“A fish rained down ahead.”

“Uhm?”

I look up and see Gron pointing further into the desert. A fish is gasping in the sand, wriggling.

Ci-cin.

“Uh, thanks…”

“Wait, it's raining another one there!”

Gron jumps and then steps back. I follow it with my gaze and another fish ahead, of the same species as the first. Long and with six dorsal fins.

I don't have time to look away before a third, different one falls. Then a fourth.

A fifth.

A sixth…

A seventh…

…black drops on my nose, I wrinkle it due to the stench of decaying masses…

…RAINS!

A roar pierces the skies and thunder rumbles. A black mass pours over us.

I grab Gron with my barbed tail and scare it, but it doesn't matter.

[Dungeon path]

Pok! Pok! Bam! Pok! Pok! Ba-bam!

From the porch, I hear fish crashing against the roof. Further on I also see huge fish and squid and other species I don't know falling. A sea of tarry membranes rains down with them and creates a seething sea.

Gron is scared and retreats towards the door.

An extinction event!

Two extinction events close to each other.

However, these are not insects. Anxiety attacks me: do I have to judge them all!? Everyone!?

[Judgment]

[Judgment]

[Judgment]

[Judgment]

[Judgment]

[Judgment]

…

[Judgment]

From the veranda, I judge the fish raining in front of the house.

There are too many of them and their level rises, they crowd together releasing masses of sewage and entrails and feces and sludge and they slide over each other. They pour onto the charred boards and the panic…

Panic!

I do not know what to do!

There are too many! Too many!

“N! N!”

I turn to Gron, it's scratching at the closed door. “N, let's run away! Let's run away!”

Where!?

Where can we escape!?

«If you had let yourself be judged!» This is what I would like to throw at it, but I'm too scared and I'm in a panic.

I have to do something!

[Judgment]

[Judgment]

[Judgment]

[Judgment]

[Judgment]

…

[Judgment]

As far as I judge, it's useless! There are too many, too many, and I know it will rain for hours. What could have done this!? The Devil!? The God of Wisdom!?

I turn, run to the door and throw it open. I enter the house with Gron and slam the door behind me.

Ci-cin, Ci-cin.

Drops of sewage infiltrate between the boards, creating sticky and smelly trails.

“We'll get swamped, we'll get swamped, we'll get swamped, we'll get swamped, we'll get swamped, we'll get swamped, we'll get swamped… OUCH!”

I reach down to see what scraped my ankle.

Gron's eyes are wide with terror, its ears drooping.

“What is happening?”

Its gesture somehow manages to make me clear again. “I don't know! I don't know! It's an extinction event, but it's the first in my life that I've had to deal with! Millions and billions of bodies raining down and they are all to be judged, all with their stench and...”

“N, calm down, calm down. Are you not the goddess who deals with the dead?”

“I am the Empress of the Underwasteland, I guard the dungeon and give rest to the dead… but I am not a goddess, and, above all, my father was before me and I am afraid!”

“So, you haven't been here forever!?”

“No, I'm not, but it doesn't seem like the time—I, I…”

I look over the threshold of the other room.

The Atmosphere-eater is placidly leaning against the wardrobe.

The Atmosphere-eater…

Idea!

Ci-cin.

I run into the other room.

“Scan!”