“I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you never end up with them again.”

The boy shook lightly, his arms wrapped fiercely around his knees which were strapped to his chest. He was getting better. He was still terrified, but the shaking had quietened down.

All Reyna had to do was gain his trust. It sounded easy enough, but she knew, in her experience, gaining the trust of a scared and isolated child was a feat of its own.

The boy, aged around eight to nine, reached out to his side and claimed what seemed to be a tattered green dinosaur plush. He placed it on top of his knees, and pressed his forehead to the dinosaur’s.

“What’s his name?” Reyna asked gently. She felt a strange connection— an attachment to this boy.

The boy’s eyes lowered, and he remained quiet. After a while, surprisingly, Reyna noticed that his mouth opened to speak.

—

“Rocky.”

Ryan raised a hand to his face as the mist protruded his view. “Okay. Small boy, little green dinosaur.”

The City of Death was in ruin, its buildings collapsed, its scent lingering. It almost looked like it was inhabitable at once. Maybe the City of Death wasn’t known on their map because it was under a different name?

Ryan trekked forward. Dark sand entered his low boots, he glanced to his left and noticed something lurking within the sand.

He lowered to a crouch, where he pulled out whatever lurked in the sand, dead wood, or what remained of it, with an inscription:

“Here lies the City of Ascension.”

Ryan noticed there was more writing, a second inscription, he swept more of the sand away:

“With hopes of heaven on our side

The city is kept with utmost pride.

Whenever it comes to finally rise

The City of Ascension never dies.”

He sighed. The City of Ascension had become The City of Death.

As he stood back straight, something else caught his eye.

A jade green object, stuck deep in the sand.

Ryan laughed, knowing that it if was a snake or such, he would be shunned for sticking his hand into the depths of sand, but he did it anyway.

He retrieved the object— it was soft and squishy. He he dusted off more, and smiled at the dinosaur’s face.

“You must be Rocky.”

“There he is!”

Ryan jumped. It was a voice. A familiar one. He looked from left to right, checked the corner, until he saw a small, fair haired boy sat on the roof.

“Hey buddy,” Ryan waved and pointed to the dinosaur. “This yours?”

The boy nodded. Ryan squinted and realised that his condition was worse than Reyna’s. He looked like a ghost, as if he was fading away…

“Buddy, I’m gonna get you down from there, alright? All I need you to do is slowly shift yourself closer to me. Can you do that for me?“

He didn’t speak. It was a slow nod. He shuffled his feet forward, and then extended his hands. He wasn’t close enough for Ryan to reach.

“I can’t reach you, could you come clo—“

He saw that the boy’s eyes and arms were stretched out towards the dinosaur plush. Ryan smiled, handed him the plush, and attempted to also grab the boy.

But the boy stopped dead in his tracks.

His ghostly eyes became glassy, as he rubbed them in his sleeve. He sniffed. He was crying.

“Hey, bud, what’s wrong?”

The boy shook again, the same motion Reyna talked about in the past. Arms clutching his knees to his chest.

“Wh—where’s Rey Rey?”

“You’ll see her soon— c’mon, if you follow me, I can get you to her. Just come a little closer, okay?”

“Okay.”

The boy shuffled closer. Closer. Ryan gently picked him up from the roof and placed him back down on the sand.

“How did you even get up there?” Ryan chuckled.

“Rey Rey—“ the boy quietened again, he slid down against the wall. His eyelids closed slowly as he began to collapse.

Ryan glanced down at his forearms. He was paler than a ghost. He had to get out of there, now. For the boy and for Reyna.

He picked up the boy again and clutched him in his arms. They were both fading away. They had to be quick…