[The group heads up the ladder, and before long, they're in open air, scaling their way to the top of the radio tower. Far above, they'll be able to make out what looks to be a small control room at the tower's peak, but they have a lot of climbing to do before they can make it.
It gets darker as they go, despite the fact that they're rising above the treeline, and this onset of night isn't accompanied by a sunset. Rather, the sky dims as if an eclipse is setting in, and there's no sun to be found. The silence of the forest is palpable from up here too, as not even a breeze disturbs their climb. Even the counting voice goes quiet.
By the time they reach the control room, the sky is a deep blue, the only sunlight remaining in the world crowding along the horizon. It's cold, too, and harder to breathe, like the atmosphere is thinner.
But they'll see now: They're in Beacon, though a version of the world still clinging to normalcy. It's late autumn now, the trees still clinging to the last of their leaves, and Lake Red Jacket is choppy as ever. The radio tower juts out of the base of the southern mountains along the coast, giving the group a spectacular view of the lake, the bay, and the lighthouse, standing dormant out on its peninsula. It's still under construction, it seems, the tower still missing its beacon.
They'll also spot a horrible thing silhouetted against the sky as it wades through the lake, so large its difficult to fathom as a mobile creature. But it is, and it's lumbering toward the town, leaving a trail of shadow in its wake.
Inside the control tower is a small office with a single desk and a two-way radio. As Sarissa enters the office, the radio clicks on.]
Comm check. This is Sheriff Owen Hobaugh with the Beacon County Sheriff's Department. We've got 34 survivors here, along with ample medical supplies and access to fresh water and food. We're located at 45.717643, -86.667802.
[There's a pause, the man on the other end taking a breath.]
Dr. Solis is with us, and she has a plan to keep us alive. She's found a way to... temporarily rehouse a person's life force, she says. If anyone's still alive out there, send us a signal. We might just be able to save this world yet.
[But when Daylight tries to commune with the radio, he'll realize that this is a recording, and that recording is being broadcast on a long-range frequency. The radio will also tell him that it's never heard a response.
Looking out over the lake, the World Eater fast approaching, it's impossible not to feel a bit hopeless—in fact, Sarissa, Daylight, and Kol will all be overcome with a deep sense of dread as they watch the light fading from the world. But each of them will react a little differently.
New in town though she is, Sarissa will feel in this moment that Beacon is her home. A thing is not dead until it ceases to be, and what is a thing if not dead? Sarissa is alive, if only because she is here, and she will feel a powerful anger at the thought of giving up whatever life she has left in this new home of hers. She will not bend to the World Eaters.
Daylight, on the other hand, will not fear the end. The natural cycle dictates that all things die so that life may grow anew, and this world's death is inevitable. The portal is still uncontrollable, he knows, and it is irresponsible to cling to a stolen existence while other worlds suffer further consequence. It is selfish. He will feel the great honor of glimpsing the natural cycle at work, to be part of something bigger than himself. He will accept his death.
Kol is the space between them, torn between wanting to live and wanting to spare others from this hell. He will waffle between these two points of view, unable to decide.
Of course, all three of them are aware that these thoughts are not their own. That doesn't stop their influence, but at least it allows them some control over their next move.
cw suicide
It gets darker as they go, despite the fact that they're rising above the treeline, and this onset of night isn't accompanied by a sunset. Rather, the sky dims as if an eclipse is setting in, and there's no sun to be found. The silence of the forest is palpable from up here too, as not even a breeze disturbs their climb. Even the counting voice goes quiet.
By the time they reach the control room, the sky is a deep blue, the only sunlight remaining in the world crowding along the horizon. It's cold, too, and harder to breathe, like the atmosphere is thinner.
But they'll see now: They're in Beacon, though a version of the world still clinging to normalcy. It's late autumn now, the trees still clinging to the last of their leaves, and Lake Red Jacket is choppy as ever. The radio tower juts out of the base of the southern mountains along the coast, giving the group a spectacular view of the lake, the bay, and the lighthouse, standing dormant out on its peninsula. It's still under construction, it seems, the tower still missing its beacon.
They'll also spot a horrible thing silhouetted against the sky as it wades through the lake, so large its difficult to fathom as a mobile creature. But it is, and it's lumbering toward the town, leaving a trail of shadow in its wake.
Inside the control tower is a small office with a single desk and a two-way radio. As Sarissa enters the office, the radio clicks on.]
Comm check. This is Sheriff Owen Hobaugh with the Beacon County Sheriff's Department. We've got 34 survivors here, along with ample medical supplies and access to fresh water and food. We're located at 45.717643, -86.667802.
[There's a pause, the man on the other end taking a breath.]
Dr. Solis is with us, and she has a plan to keep us alive. She's found a way to... temporarily rehouse a person's life force, she says. If anyone's still alive out there, send us a signal. We might just be able to save this world yet.
[But when Daylight tries to commune with the radio, he'll realize that this is a recording, and that recording is being broadcast on a long-range frequency. The radio will also tell him that it's never heard a response.
Looking out over the lake, the World Eater fast approaching, it's impossible not to feel a bit hopeless—in fact, Sarissa, Daylight, and Kol will all be overcome with a deep sense of dread as they watch the light fading from the world. But each of them will react a little differently.
New in town though she is, Sarissa will feel in this moment that Beacon is her home. A thing is not dead until it ceases to be, and what is a thing if not dead? Sarissa is alive, if only because she is here, and she will feel a powerful anger at the thought of giving up whatever life she has left in this new home of hers. She will not bend to the World Eaters.
Daylight, on the other hand, will not fear the end. The natural cycle dictates that all things die so that life may grow anew, and this world's death is inevitable. The portal is still uncontrollable, he knows, and it is irresponsible to cling to a stolen existence while other worlds suffer further consequence. It is selfish. He will feel the great honor of glimpsing the natural cycle at work, to be part of something bigger than himself. He will accept his death.
Kol is the space between them, torn between wanting to live and wanting to spare others from this hell. He will waffle between these two points of view, unable to decide.
Of course, all three of them are aware that these thoughts are not their own. That doesn't stop their influence, but at least it allows them some control over their next move.
Three nooses appear on the railing.]