Ayla was on her feet. There was that, at least. The rain had stopped, her clothes had dried. But her hair was beyond help, filthy and matted with dried dirt. Her mother had never allowed her to bathe as much as her sisters; water had been a more precious commodity than deviant little Ayla. But she felt dirty all over and would have given nearly anything for a wash basin. Or even a cool stream.

A loud whistling sound—strange, and unlike anything she’d heard before—came to Ayla’s ears. She turned in circles, trying to place its source, all while the noise grew louder and louder. It wasn’t until the source of the sound became apparent—roaring out of the sky, directly towards her—that Ayla reacted, diving headfirst back into the dirt to avoid getting struck.

The falling object was large and tore through the trees on its way down. When it hit the ground with a loud thump, it left a deep gash in the earth that stretched nearly ten feet before coming to a stop.

Was she under attack somehow? Had the scary lady found her, and was now trying to destroy her by bombarding her from above?

Ayla searched the sky and strained her ears, but saw and heard nothing more. Whatever had crashed appeared to be the only one of its kind.

But a new sound arose: the deep moaning of someone in great pain. Ayla stood back up and stared after the spot where the object had come to a stop. It was then that she realized what it was: a person. And, judging by the sounds it was making, it was still alive.

Ayla’s instincts were to run. Again. But where to this time? She had already covered the entirety of the world she actually knew, and was in uncharted territory.

She was not at all brave, nor especially capable. But what she was, was a deeply empathetic, caring person. One who had already betrayed herself once on this day. Ignoring this person in obvious peril, one she perhaps could actually help, might somehow be the end of her.

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She took a few tentative steps forward, craning her neck as she walked to try to get a better look. She gasped when she got close enough to see his face. It was black and blue and swollen, blood, both dry and still flowing, everywhere.

Despite his face being nearly unrecognizable, Ayla felt sure she knew who this was. The Godknight. His armor was ripped and torn, but just the sheer size of the man gave away his identity.

What was he doing here? She knew so little about him, but what she thought she did know was that he was supposed to be invincible. The man before her was certainly not invincible.

The deep moaning continued, and Ayla finally summoned the courage to go to him.

She got down on her knees besides him and just being this close to him made her grimace in shared pain.

“Sir?” she said. Or at least she tried to say. She wasn’t sure if the words had been loud enough for him to hear, that maybe she had only whispered them in her head. She cleared her throat. “Mr. Godknight. Are you… Are you okay?”

His breath caught in his throat, startling Ayla. She leaned back and fought that instinct to flee. His eyes shot open and he stared straight into the sky for a moment, before darting his eyes around. They finally landed on her face, and he blinked and squinted, as if he was having trouble seeing. When he spoke, it was in a rough, hoarse whisper.

“Do I… Do I know you?”

“No, sir.”

“No,” the Godknight said, still unmoving. “I do know you. But how? How can that be? It’s been so long. So very, very long…”

His eyes fluttered, then closed. He made no more sounds, and for a moment Ayla thought he had stopped breathing. But she leaned her ear close to his face, and though every breath seemed labored, she judged there was still some life left in him.

She stared at him, feeling as helpless as ever. She was no healer. And with everyone she knew dead, there was no one she could bring him to for help. All of which was likely moot; moving him would be impossible.

So she took his hand, ignoring the blood on his knuckles as best she could, and held it tight. She closed her eyes as she had so many times before, and tried to find peace. And, maybe, share that peace with the Godknight.