Sunday - October 28th, 2121:

The Caretaker and the children worked into the night to clear out the attack's aftermath and restore the camp to how it was. They brought what remained of Thorn to the back of the camp and buried him with modest embellishments around his tomb.

It caused the air to be tense with grief, but after an hour of awkward silence, Flora returned to my side, holding onto my hand. Soon, the Caretaker followed and asked me to speak with him.

"You should go, Skyfall," The Caretaker uttered while stroking his beard.

"What?" I asked at the suddenness of it.

Finally, you don't belong here.

The Caretaker looked at me momentarily before pulling off a piece of bark from his ribcage. The man groaned and turned the piece toward me. "There's a map here that'll take you where everything started. You don't belong here, Skyfall."

I grabbed the piece of bark, seeing the grooved surface etched with basic shapes and dashes, an old-fashioned map, by all means. I could see the meaning behind it, however. It led beyond the fenced perimeter, around the desolate city, and beyond it. "It seems rather—far," I muttered while feeling the grooves against my glove. "Will I find answers there?"

"You will." The Caretaker replied. "You should go. The days are long, and time is fleeting."

"Okay," I replied as I held onto the bark and turned away from the camp. It seemed like a hassle, but the Caretaker was right. If answers were lying there, I should find them. I forgot that Flora still held my hand. As I turned, she tugged back. "Oh, Flora. What's wrong?"

"Don't go." The girl spoke in a hush, with her face almost hidden against my suit.

"Flora, stop this. Skyfall has to leave." The Caretaker chided as he came close to the girl and me. He grabbed her by the shoulder, "Let's go back now, child."

"No!" Flora shook her head and held on to me tighter. The trees that surrounded the camp rustled with every shake of her head.

'Flora, what's going on?' Sapphire's voice cut through as the boy hobbled over with a bandage over one of his eyes.

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The girl kept shaking and holding on to me. She silenced and closed her eyes, ignoring everything around her. The Caretaker had an unreadable expression on his face as he sighed. "Do you wish to go with Skyfall, Flora?"

"No, I want Skyfall to stay," Flora whispered, but the girl shook her head. "I'll go."

"You should bring her along with you, Skyfall. Flora will be a big help in you arriving there sooner." The Caretaker said.

You're not the Caretaker here! Why do you need to bring her along?

"Okay," I said flatly, not minding to have some support on the journey. With what I saw the children do against the Colossi, it could prove quite useful to have the girl around.

Flora held my hand, and we went off. Sapphire had a saddened expression as he waved us off while the Caretaker stood rather rooted in place and silent.

Flora kept pace with me surprisingly well, but after an hour, she had enough walking and called forth a nest of flowery vines intertwined into a flat-backed lifeform that stood before us. It lowered a large petal, raised Flora onto its back, and came down again for me. I was reluctant, but Flora gazed at me with innocent eyes, and I gave up struggling.

Once we were on the floral lifeforms back, it sped across the ground much faster than anything my legs could've managed. We raced through the forest that cleared the way for us and went around a colossal mountain with hundreds of porous openings on its exterior.

"Should we go around the city?" I asked Flora, whose head was resting against my arm. "It was swarming with Colossi last time I was there."

"Don't worry," She replied softly, her gaze focused down and away from me.

I wasn't confident in the response, but considering that the camp did use her as a tracker, I suppose I had to trust her. The area seemed eerily quiet compared to when I went through it earlier. It was almost unsettling how silent it was. "Do you know why it's so quiet now, Flora?"

The girl raised her head off my arm and looked at me with a strange expression. For several moments, she stared blankly before replying, "Colossi aren't always active. Sometimes, they're dormant."

"I see. Do you know where the Colossi go?"

"Everywhere," She said flatly before resting her head on my arm again.

You see? You can't trust them. They won't even answer a simple question.

We continued onward in awkward silence. It was also uncomfortable with the girl so close, the small pieces of plant-life and flowers writhed along her face and arms almost with a mind of their own. Despite their mostly human appearance, I still couldn't feel a fondness towards the survivors from the camp. They were not the humans that I knew. They were not human like me.

That's right! Maybe you should ditch her somewhere.

Flora's words ended up true as we went past the city without any of the monstrosities appearing, a good sign if nothing else. Beyond the ruinous cityscape was an area I hadn't seen before. It stretched vast across the horizon with a flattened, murky brown devoid of life. As the plant creature Flora summoned touched the surface of that brown land, it hesitated and pulled back. But with a tap of Flora's hand against its surface, it moved forward reluctantly.