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month record rogue 3 1 3
When the explorer takes the first step, she feels the earth breathe beneath her feet. Was the voice of the earth always so heavy? It is only when she takes this second to wonder that she realizes everything here is heavier than she remembers.
The explorer sheds unnecessary gear one by one, until all that is left is life support and a video recording module. She has just arrived, and she wants to learn more about her new environment.
Soon, she realizes that the ground beneath her is smooth and slippery, and that she must be careful not to fall. It would be a big problem if she did. The ground is ice as far as the eye can see, and she could not tell where it ended, if ever. If she slipped, she would slide forever, until she slips into eternal slumber.
The explorer knows that this is not the first time she has set foot on cold, barren land.
In Sami's benevolent vision, she has trekked through the folds of snow and forests, and penetrated the endless icefield. She has encountered it countless times in the bedtime stories of her childhood, the books of her youth, and the tales of her journeys.
Then and there, that very endless icefield, the great behemoth that has always watched over her subconsciousness, lies beneath her feet.
She sees the shadow cast by the mountain, the shadow cast by the stars and the aurora, and she sees a great ring, forming infinity out of the cold and nothingness with its reflection. In the shadow foretold to her by Sami, she keeps advancing, answering the gaze in the abyss with her footsteps, responding to the irresistible pull.
Come to think of it, the end she saw was just the beginning.
The explorer had once escaped the gaze, but she never thought she would encounter it again. It all happened so naturally. At the end of the heavy and slippery ice, she sees the shadow again. When their gazes meet, she seems to see the procession of ants, the growth of the leaf veins, the flow of blood in the body, the invisible thread of fate drawing her inexorably towards an old friend in another realm.
'This was your choice. This is your end.'
There is no sound, but the explorer hears Sami's erstwhile answer clearly.
Did you know all this from the shadows, Sami?
