MEMELAND

The farther they walked—

The worse it became.

At first they only saw damaged buildings.

Collapsed towers.

Broken roads.

Burning homes.

Things that could be rebuilt.

Things that could heal.

Then they reached the outer districts.

And realized the problem was much bigger than that.

Much bigger.

Alice stopped walking.

Raj nearly bumped into her.

"What happened?"

Alice pointed.

Neither Raj nor Taai spoke.

Because ahead of them—

The fields were dead.

Not burning.

Not damaged.

Dead.

Every stalk of grain had turned gray.

Every vegetable patch had withered.

Every fruit tree stood lifeless.

As if decades had passed in a single night.

Taai crouched down.

Picked up a leaf.

The moment he touched it—

The leaf crumbled into dust.

Nobody said anything.

The silence felt heavy.

Uncomfortable.

Wrong.

A farmer sat nearby.

Staring at his field.

His expression empty.

Completely empty.

The man wasn't crying.

Wasn't shouting.

Wasn't angry.

He simply stared.

Like his mind couldn't process what happened.

Alice looked away first.

Then continued walking.

The others followed.

The road gradually became crowded.

People.

Hundreds of them.

Then thousands.

Entire families.

Merchants.

Farmers.

Soldiers.

Adventurers.

Everyone moving in the same direction.

Away.

Away from Oheyo.

Away from the disaster.

Away from the dying land.

The crowd barely spoke.

The occasional crying child.

A worried parent.

Someone asking for water.

But overall—

Silence.

The kind of silence only disasters create.

Nobody knew what came next.

Nobody knew where they were going.

Only that they couldn't stay.

A wagon rolled past.

Its wheel broke.

The driver cursed.

Nobody laughed.

Nobody even looked.

Everyone was too exhausted.

Too numb.

Raj hugged her tail.

Something she only did when nervous.

Alice noticed.

But didn't say anything.

There wasn't much to say.

Several hours later—

The sun began setting.

And the three finally stopped near a small hill.

Below them stretched a sea of refugees.

Campfires slowly appearing.

People preparing for the night.

Alice sat down.

Then finally looked back.

Toward Oheyo.

The city still stood.

Mostly.

The silhouette remained visible in the distance.

But smoke continued rising.

Entire sections looked ruined.

Gone.

The proud city they had admired only days ago.

Destroyed.

Raj sat beside her.

Neither spoke.

Taai remained standing.

Watching the horizon.

Eventually Raj broke the silence.

"Do you think Akari survived?"

Alice froze.

The question came out of nowhere.

Or maybe not.

Maybe everyone had been thinking about it.

Nobody had the courage to say it.

Until now.

Alice looked toward the fading sunlight.

"I don't know."

Her voice sounded tired.

Older somehow.

"We never found them."

Raj lowered her head.

"Maybe they escaped."

"Maybe."

"Maybe Choco found another route."

"Maybe."

The answers felt hollow.

But neither challenged them.

Because hope was better than nothing.

Even false hope.

A long silence followed.

Then Taai finally sat down.

Crossing his arms.

"You know."

His voice sounded unusually serious.

"When we first arrived here..."

Alice already knew where this was going.

"We were idiots."

Raj laughed weakly.

"We still are."

"True."

That earned the smallest smile from Alice.

Only a small one.

But it existed.

Taai looked toward the stars.

"I honestly thought Brennan was annoying."

Alice immediately glared at him.

Taai raised both hands.

"I'm serious."

"He kept trying to help everybody."

"He acted like everyone's older brother."

"He always took responsibility."

He laughed.

"Guy never learned how to relax."

Raj quietly smiled.

"That sounds like Brennan."

Taai nodded.

"Exactly."

The smile slowly disappeared.

Then he looked toward Oheyo.

"And because of that."

His voice softened.

"We're alive."

Nobody replied.

Because everyone knew it was true.

The three sat together beneath the stars.

Watching the distant city.

Watching smoke rise into the night sky.

Watching the end of an era.

Hours passed.

The camp slowly grew quieter.

People fell asleep.

The fires dimmed.

The night deepened.

Then Alice stood.

Neither Raj nor Taai stopped her.

She walked away from the camp.

Away from the refugees.

Away from everyone.

Until she reached a lone tree.

Or what used to be a tree.

The trunk remained standing.

But every leaf had already fallen.

Every branch was dead.

The disaster had reached this far.

Alice sat beneath it anyway.

Then looked upward.

The stars felt distant tonight.

Very distant.

For the first time since leaving the laboratory—

Nobody was watching.

Nobody needed her.

Nobody expected anything.

It was just her.

And her thoughts.

And that made it worse.

Because the moment she was alone—

Everything came crashing down.

The village.

The journey.

The meetings.

The training.

The stupid arguments.

The jokes.

The laughter.

The promises.

Brennan.

Akari.

Chocomint.

Everything.

She buried her face in her knees.

And finally cried.

Not loudly.

Not dramatically.

Just quietly.

The way people cry when nobody is supposed to see.

When they're too tired to scream.

Too tired to be angry.

Too tired to pretend they're okay.

Minutes passed.

Or maybe hours.

Alice didn't know.

Didn't care.

Eventually footsteps approached.

Raj.

Of course it was Raj.

The cat girl sat beside her.

Neither spoke.

Not immediately.

Eventually Raj sighed.

"You know."

Alice didn't respond.

Raj continued anyway.

"You're really bad at crying."

Alice finally looked up.

"What does that even mean?"

Raj shrugged.

"You look stupid."

Alice stared.

Then threw a rock at her.

Raj dodged.

The smallest hint of normality returned.

For a brief moment.

Then disappeared again.

The two sat beneath the dead tree.

Watching the stars.

Watching the distant glow of Oheyo.

Watching the smoke.

Neither spoke for a long time.

Eventually Alice whispered.

"So many people died."

Raj nodded.

"Yeah."

"Brennan too."

Raj didn't answer.

Because neither wanted to say it.

Not yet.

Not tonight.

The silence returned.

And beneath a dead tree—

Far from the burning city—

The first night after Oheyo's fall slowly passed.