Darkness gives way to new light and day dawns over Dust, a city of endless hues of brown and painted in thousands of shadows born from tall walls and towering structures. The mirage of beauty that stunned me a moment in the night is stripped away by the clear vision of morning, and though I’ve had little time to rest there is work to be about.

I let Fate sleep in through the morning, as I know that she’s quite awful when it comes to forcing herself to rise with the sun. She can struggle through with desperate willpower, as she manages every other morning, but she deserves a good chance to sleep today.

Lucette is happy enough for my help and orders me around, showing me what to do when I make a fool of myself, which is more often than I’d like. I may be remembered as the waitress who tripped and tossed breakfast all over the ceiling, but for no longer than a year. Nothing to be embarrassed about when all the witnesses are dead, and I don’t even need to do anything but wait.

It seems that through some conspiracy on part of Lucette and the shop owner we’re keeping the lights low this morning, and half the windows remain shuttered. While some customers come here for breakfast, they’re not so eager and energetic as our flirtatious waitress.

Nursing hangovers, they barely converse as they shovel their oily breakfast down their gullets, but still, I hear the occasional chuckle as they glance at me, or the ceiling still dripping with gooey, yellow egg yolk.

“Not born for this work, then?” Lucette asks, leaning on the counter as she looks over our customers, all of them are stuck in their meals, hiding from the light.

“No.” I reply, not knowing what else I can say about it.

“So, you and Fate, huh?” Lucette asks, glancing at me, her lips quirked up at the edges. I just know that she has some sort of strange misconception about us, but I’m not sure what to do to correct her, or if it’s even worth the effort.

“We’re travelling companions,” I explain. “We’re just keeping each other company until the lover’s embrace.”

“Sounds to me like you’re working yourself towards perfection,” she says.

“It’s just keeping good company, until the end,” I say, staring up towards my room.

“A perfect end will be a perfect eternity lived over and again.” Lucette smiles at me, waving her arms around us. “When the time comes, at the very end, and the lover’s embrace in the sky above us, you don’t need to be sad. This world, this endless world, will start again from the beginning, we’ll turn the pages and live through this life once more from the first page.”

Another delusion to find hope in despair, but what is wrong with it? What is wrong with living in a beautiful delusion if the alternative is to see the flames rising around us, the death coming for us. Belief in gods, in religion, or in simple mad delusion, can keep the suffering at bay.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to believe,” she says, pulling me along to gather the dishes of those who have finished and left. A few coins are traded cheap and easy, considering how little value they have anymore. People are living off of momentum, pulled ahead by the patterns we learned to survive through the years prior, but we are changing in some ways too.

“So, are you taking this seriously?” Lucette asks. “Fate can’t hold up a relationship alone, you know.”

“She’s… I just…”

“There are a few things about this feast that you might not know about yet, if you want to give Fate a nice surprise…” She smiles playfully, a gleam in her eyes showing just how much fun she’s having with this.

~~ Fate

Days have passed as we train ourselves into barely competent waitresses, and Hope has grown more reticent with the passing days. Something has been on her mind, and she’s loath to speak with me about it, just like with the bones she carries with her.

I want to be patient, to let this relationship develop how it will, but at the same time, it’s so frustrating. I know she doesn’t want me prying about in her private life, but we’re companions, even if we’re not true lovers. Can’t she open up a little?

“What do you think Shadow?” I ask him, brushing him down. “Am I just being clingy and bothersome? Should I just give up and let this be what it is?”

He stares back at me, obviously uninterested in all my prattling. I was hoping that Lucette could be my ally, that I could talk with her about all these things, but now every time I complain she just tightens her lips and gets this strange shine in her eyes.

Finishing up with the brushing, I feed him an apple, after which he turns from me and ignores me. I’ll have to take him out for a walk later, keeping him stabled here has to be rough on him.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

When I return to the inn, there’s already a meeting coming together. It’s a strange time for it, considering it’s still midday, but it’s not my place to question their business practices.

“So, today we have a few things we have to do to prepare for the feast, and the springs end festival.” Stanley, the proprietor of the Madhouse, says as we gather about with a few customers that have taken interest. “We’re going to be having a proper feast here, and I’ve got the hunters out looking for a proper giant boar for the occasion.

“We’ll need an oven to cook the bastard, and a few tables set up in the stables and the streets.” He goes through the plans, walking us around his establishment and waving out at the areas that need change.

Much of the work is being done by customers who couldn’t pay any other way. Plenty of adventurous locals are out the front preparing themselves for the hunt, chatting and laughing about this or that. Lame jokes all seem so much funnier in a group that are happy to hear them.

The festival is approaching, and after it’s done we’ll be on our way.

It won’t be long before our wagon is repaired, and this city too is left behind us. Even if the world goes on, this moment, this festival, this day will be gone. I want to enjoy it properly.

“We’ll be working the tables, it’ll just be way busier than normal,” Lucette says pulling me aside so that we can get back to the work of the day. Hope has finished already and is walking around with Sable as they listen to the plans for the hunt and the giant oven being built to cook the giant boar.

“Then we’ll be off. Is there anything that you can think of that I can do for Hope?” I ask. “She’s still so focused on the coming apocalypse, and I just want to find something that will take her attention off of it all.”

“Is that really all you’re after? Or do you want a romantic evening at a lover’s lookout or something the like? Do you want to show her the world?” Lucette giggles, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and leaning in close to my ear. “Don’t worry about all that, just focus on your work, and those strange old translations of yours.”

“My translations?”

“I’ve noticed you looking through them now and again.” Lucette shrugs, looking over towards Sable and Hope. “It’s your eternal quest, an ancient mystery to uncover. Just stay focused on that, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“That’s not what I was asking about,” I reply. “I was-”

“I said, don’t worry about it,” Lucette says, pressing her finger on my lips. “It’s all going to be okay, just focus on your own thing and let the festival come.”

“You have something planned?” I ask, suspiciously. She doesn’t reply laughing cutely as she waves over towards Hope.

~~Hope

Fate is awfully close with Lucette, the flirtatious little minx doesn’t seem to have any limits on who she goes after, does she? I mean, it’s not like I can say anything, I haven’t made any claim on Fate officially, I’m just… just what?

She did offer me an idea of something that I could do, but should I? Wouldn’t that be too much? Fate definitely wouldn’t want me taking things between us so seriously, I know it, but… maybe I should.

Maybe it’s not so bad an idea to do something stupid while I can. The witnesses won’t be alive for long enough to judge me for it.

“Hope?” Sable asks, waving a hand before me. “Hope?”

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” I say, “What is it?”

“Do you want to join the hunt?” She asks, “I’m a rather good shot with a bow I’ll have you know, I’ll take down that great boar handily.”

“The boar… I suppose I can go.” I say, hesitantly glancing over at Fate and Lucette. I don’t want to leave them alone together, but there is something I can do to change things, to make these last few meaningless months a little more interesting, so long as it doesn’t go disastrously wrong.

“Great!” Sable pulls me out by the hand joining with the hunting group. Many of them are parading themselves around dressed in clothes adorned with the same purple eye that I’ve been seeing everywhere around here.

“Sable, you’re joining us after all?” A large man shouts, the broad smile on his lips telling of his affection for Sable. “You’re joining us too, young lady?”

“I’ll be coming along,” I reply, trying to appear as if I belong. I’m sure it’s not working but for Sable’s sake they pretend as if I don’t look silly here with them. I check my sword, it’s in good condition still and I know it would be fine out in the deserts, but it’s not generally considered a hunting weapon.

“Have you experience with a bow?” The man asks.

“I do not,” I reply hesitantly.

“I’ll protect her,” Sable says, smiling broadly as the man brings her a bow. It’s unstrung, but even so, the size of it is impressive. It’s a good two metres long, only becoming a little more manageable once strung, the arrows that come with it are more like little spears.

“Let’s go hunt!” Sable shouts, waving the bow in the air and pulling me along into the small parade of hunters marching out toward the city gates and the forest beyond. There’s nothing here so terrifying as in the desert, and I don’t feel I have to worry for my life, but there is always a danger to something like this.

Fate waves me off with a wide smile, Lucette hanging off of her side as they stand at the entrance of the Madhouse.

“Don’t do anything too dangerous.” She calls to me.

“I’ll be back shortly,” I say, waving her goodbye. I see a few people among the hunters kissing their paramours in goodbye, but I’m sure that it would be unwelcome if I were to press myself on Fate in the same way. Our affections are a substitute for something that should have been but never was, there is no true love between us, no wonderous unreal thing like from the storybooks.

There is some lust, physical satisfaction, there is some warmth of having another person near, but there is nothing that would make for a good story. We’re settling for each other because that’s all we have. This feeling is just another fitful delusion to comfort those of us who do not have the real thing.

I settle my expectations and embrace the silly lie as I stride out the city gates on a hunt for a great beast. The bones rattle gently in the bag at my side, a soft sound that I can only hear because I’m so focused on it.

Magic hangs in the air around us, surrounding us as more and more hunters join the parade. This city has more than one feast to prepare for, and there are thousands of hunters looking to make this spring’s end a good final farewell to a season we’ll never again know.

The wind stirs with impossible energies, pulling my feet along under me and pulling at the heavier thoughts that would weigh me down. We march together in a hunter’s band, bigger and louder than we ought to be, but somehow I know that we’ll find our prey regardless.