Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

It's cold. Abstract shapes feel like they're choking me, digging their sharp edges into my bleeding neck.

I can't get them off.

Get it off.

GET IT OFF

* * *

My eyes flutter open, the soft sunrise filtering through my window, just barely shining over the fields. I push my bedding off of me, rolling out of bed. It's early today… That's nice. I always like waking up early, it makes it feel like I'm not wasting any time at the start of a day. Whenever I wake up late, I end up beating myself up about it, hurting myself either by saying mean things or hitting myself.

It's usually the second one.

The sun is a bit higher in the sky now. I open my bedroom door, tiptoeing down the stairs. Nobody is home but me, but I can't shake my habit of moving as quietly as I can, just in case my parents are nearby.

But they aren't! I'm still not sure when they'll get back, though… But as long as they're still paying for this house, hopefully never.

Creeping past the living room, I walk silently into the kitchen. Maybe that's another reason that one ghost called me "silent princess". I'm still not sure about the princess part, I don't think my family is royal or anything, but she probably meant something important, I dunno. Am I the princess of crows now? Can I make them stop cawing in my face? I hope I can… Well, if I ever see another one.

Opening the fridge, I take out some peanut butter and raspberry jelly. If I'm a princess, there must be a queen, right? I think that's how it works with royalty, there has to be a queen or else there's no princess. Does it work the same with princes and kings?

I spread peanut butter over a slice of bread, pouring a good-sized dot of jelly on top, and squishing on the top piece of bread to finish my sandwich. I don't bother taking it to the table, but I take my dress off to not get it dirty. A small clatter rattles up to my ears. My knife fell out. I crouch down and snatch it up in my hand, running a finger across the blade.

It's still so pretty. I would like to use it to cut my sandwich, but the edge of my knife still has bloodstains from my time on the tower, so I decide to drop it back in my dress pocket and eat my sandwich uncut.

I wish I could go back to the tower. I want to go back to the valley. I still have my power from there, maybe I can use it to find my way back… No, that's stupid. But maybe? I'll try later. My sandwich is half gone now, some crumbs landing off of the plate. I'm thirsty now. With a wave of my hand, the sink faucet turns on with a wispy blue glow. I giggle. I always like doing that. It's only specific things I can move, spinny things and sliding things and a few other things, but it's still useful, especially when whatever I'm moving is dirty.

Aw, my sandwich is almost gone! I raise the last bite to my mouth, and-

*SCREEEEEeeech*

W-what was that noise? Was that a… a car?

Wait…

I grab my plate, dashing over to the sink and dropping it in, before running full speed back up to my room. That can't be them. It can't be. It can't… Please, don't be…

The front door opens.

"Ida, we're home!"

I lock my door and throw myself onto my bed. I'm crying. I can't face them, not now, not ever. I'm breathing fast.

I have to leave.

But they're right downstairs, I can't!

How can I get out of here?

Do I just have to… No, I'm not staying. But all my things… I have an idea.

I open my closet, rummaging through clothes and boxes, until I find a big sack tucked away behind old toys and broken memories. Pulling it out, I start shoving all my belongings into it. Clothes, shinies, pictures, paper, everything I can't bear to leave behind. All of it falls into the bag in my hands, items clinking into each other as they reach the bottom.

I hope everything in here survives the fall out my window.

I put the last few things in my bag. Do I have snacks in there? Good, I do. I'm glad I kept so many in my room, even when my parents told me not to. I open my window, squinting my eyes against the blinding sun, its light burning itself into my vision. I feel nervous, my arms shaking. But I have to do this. I push my bag over the side, holding onto it with all my strength, as I start to climb out of the window myself. I can just barely keep my feet in the cracks between the bricks.

Wait, my dress!! I have to go back and get it!!

No, I'm too far. But I can't just leave it behind!

I climb down a bit more, lowering my bag down and dropping it a foot or two from the surface. I don't think anything shattered? I'll find out once I have my dress and shoes.

And hat…

It's good I didn't drop out of my window on impulse, that could have gone really badly.

I start climbing back up the stonelike brick, nails scraping against the stuff in between them. I can climb well enough. I always like climbing trees, sitting on the branches and watching the view, and this wall isn't so different. My foot nearly slips, but my hands are already on the windowsill. I pull myself up to my room's level, flailing until I get a leg into the opening, and I wiggle inside.

I'm back.

Damn it, Ida, you were just wasting time!! I punch myself. Stupid girl.

I walk over to the door and push it open, creeping out and staring down the stairs. Why does it look so dark? I squeeze my eyes shut and open them again. The darkness is gone, downstairs light bouncing up to me. Now or never, I suppose, all my stuff is already outside. I grab my hat from my bedside before shakily descending the steps. I slide my hands across the railings, keeping my trembling self stable. The stairs feel like they stretch endlessly, leading to a place where I can't bear to be, but eventually, I reach the bottom.

I can hear my parents watching TV right ahead. That stupid static… A hypnotic glow of noise and crumbling dreams.

I tiptoe behind the couch, quietly moving into the kitchen, canned laughter hiding my footsteps. I jump up as softly as I can, grabbing my dress off of the chair. It flutters down onto my shoulders. I giggle.

WAIT I JUST MADE NOISE

I cover my mouth with my hands, eyes wide and staring towards the couch. They didn't notice. Thank god. My hand reaches to my knife while I creep over to my shoes. Sitting down, I slowly put on my left shoe, still staring at my parents. I wonder if I can just run if they notice me. Well, I'm going to throw open the door and run anyway, so I guess it won't really matter if they do. I put on my right shoe, pushing my foot against the heel to get it unstuck. I stand up, stretching, and step towards the door. I carefully turn the door handle, and open the door with one finger.

The TV pauses.

They know.

I have to move.

I see my dad stand up and turn to the door, then to me, sticking out like a daisy in a field of dead grass. I'm too scared to move. He steps off the carpet, coming towards me.

He speaks.

"Ida-"

I spin around the door, barely making it out of the doorframe-

A hand closes around my shirt collar, dragging me back and throwing me against the floor. It doesn't hurt. It can't hurt. I slowly push myself up, crawling away backwards to the door.

I can't see. My frightened tears burn against my skin. I have to get out.

He's reaching towards me. I push myself through the doorframe, his hand landing on my arm.

He's touching me.

HE'S TOUCHING ME

I bite down on his hand, ripping through his skin until it's a bloody, shredded mess. He jerks his hand back and I run. I push myself up and dash out the door, disappearing around the side of the house, coming to a halt outside my bedroom window, falling on top of my bag of stuff.

I shouldn't feel tired. I can't, I have to keep going. They'll find me if I stay around the house like this. I grab the top of the bag, tie it together in a small knot, and start to drag it behind me as I start walking. I'm not sure where I'm going, but I have to go somewhere.

Maybe I can find the valley again.

* * *

I collapse on the ground, panting for breath and struggling to stay awake. I wish I could fly again, it was such a nice experience, and it was much faster than dragging myself through the hills with a bag over my shoulder. The road seems endless from here. Looking over my shoulder, my town is still a little in sight.

Maybe this was a mistake. I don't have a home now, my only possessions are in a bag filled with metal, and I'll probably run out of food in a few days. But despite that… It's better than being in that house. At least for my mind.

I hope nobody sees me on the side of the road and picks me up, undoubtedly bringing me back to my parents. I'd rather starve. At least that's something I have control over.

The sun is nearing the top of the sky, blazing its heat down on my back, heating up everything I'm wearing or holding. It won't get hot enough for the metal in my bag to melt, right? No, it couldn't, if it could then every big building would be melted. Are the big buildings in cities made of metal? Or are they… Uh… Whatever sidewalks are made of? They're always hot to the touch, so it could be either. Or maybe some other thing that gets really hot in the sun. Plastic, maybe. Can buildings be made of plastic? The slides and stuff at the park can be made of them, so there must be buildings made of them too.

I almost trip over a rock, snapping me out of my daydreams. There's a dried up river in front of me. A riverbed? That's weird. I don't remember any rivers near my town, maybe I've just never been this far in this direction? Hmm...

Oh! A shack! It looks like it's ruined, but I guess I could stay there for a while. I walk over, my bag feeling heavier than ever, and sit down in the shade. Ahh, that's nice. I take out my diary from the bag. My pen soon comes with it, and now I'm writing things down. Apparently I have a bigger vocabulary than other people my age. At least that's what my teachers tell me.

Words flow through my hand onto the paper, soon turning to drawings of what I think my path has looked like so far. I like car-to-graphy. I'm an amateur, but I like to think I'm getting better.

My eyes start to droop, pen slipping from my fingers, as I fall asleep against the wooden shack.

* * *

I slowly blink my eyes open, awoken by cold drops landing on my face through the many cracks in the roof. It's raining. Not just that, but storming. The riverbed has a little stream in it now. I hear some thunder from close by, and jump a little. I should find a place where I can be dry.

Hey, why isn't the thunder going away? I thought it only lasted for a second or less...

The river is filling up now. More and more water is coming in, flowing on the hardened dirt floor. The thunder is getting louder. I should find cover somewhere.

I see something in the distance. I strain my eyes, what is that...

Huh, that looks like a lot of water, I bet the river is going to be really full after this. Wait, how high does that water go!?

...

THAT WASN'T THUNDER!!

I dive towards my bag, trying to pull it away from the oncoming flood. I heave with all my strength, trying to march towards the edge of the riverbed, my arms and legs tiring fast. I can't get out. I can't...

I ditch my bag and run, dashing to the cliffside and look for a spot I can hide. Uh... Uh... Please have somewhere... I see something! I dive towards it and-

Water crashes into my body, knocking me flat, carrying me downstream. I can barely breathe. Water fills my lungs. I can't see. My vision flashes grayscale. I try to swim somewhere, get balance, anything, but my frail self can't fight the flood.

My hat fell off! I can see it floating next to me. I reach over to grab it...

My head smashes into a rock, and everything goes black.

* * *

Gray buildings on a blank lifeless shore.

A splash of red dots the canvas, bloodied pale skin and a stark white dress.

Curious, those crows, walking up to the body of a face once so hated.

Foolish princess, why did you return?

Chapter Text

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

I didn't do it. To them, I did. Someone had to.

Why do they hate me?

Why do I hurt so much?

* * *

I stir. I squeeze my eyelids, opening them after a few teardrops start forming. My eyes are met by cool blue shadows, lit up softly by orange light coming from somewhere.

Aw, it must be sunset already…

Wait, that can't be right. Why does the ceiling have spikes on it?

I push myself up, arms straining. I look around. Oh, this must be a cave.

Then is that glow coming from… Lava? Hmm, I'll find out when I get to it.

I slowly stand up, legs shaking ever so slightly. My head is killing me. I reach my hand up to my hair. It feels rough, like a scab. Wait, does this mean my head was bleeding!? Isn't that really really bad!? Oh no oh no oh no oh no… Well I'm not dead, so maybe I'll be fine?? I hope so… I should walk around a bit, I need to clear my head, do something that'll distract me from my head bump.

Looking around, I see a staircase made of smooth stone. I spin around and see a closed door. I must be back in the valley.

I'm in the valley!

Eeeeeee!

I skip over to the stairs and down them, pebbles crumbling to the-WOAHWOAHWOAH! I almost trip, catching myself on the wall, and look back. Part of the stairs fell out. I can just now hear the sound of it shattering against the floor, echoing up from the glowing maw. The path only fell after I was done walking on it, so hopefully it's safe. I'm going to keep walking now.

The ground shakes as I walk quickly across, stairs and flat walkways crumbling into the deep. I can see a door up ahead. I walk towards it, the ground shaking. Just as I get to it, the ground where I stand falls, stopping after a short drop. Part of the stairs now lead to a long, thin bridge. This is a weird monument so far. None of the other ones have broken while I walk through, it's like the ground itself is trying to kill me. Or maybe it's just one of the oldest ones here? That could be right too. I start walking across the bridge, tiles falling out as I break into a run, skidding to a stop as I reach the other side. The stairs here spiral down prettily. I can see embers float past me, up to the top where they fizzle out. I begin to walk down, the ground shifting down right to the ledge I needed to be at, the part of the stairs previously far back now beside the path. Um… Thanks, stairs? Looking to my right, I see a platform on a chain. It has buttons on the side! I reach out my hand and bring it back, like I'm dragging the platform towards me, until it settles right at my feet, and I hop on. I ride over, hand glowing with wispy blue vapor. It twists and shimmers in the air, slow glittering matter flaking off like ashes of a just-put-out fire.

Magic… I've never really thought of it that way, but it really is magic, isn't it? What else would it be? There's no scientific answer for making specific things move, at least I don’t think so. So that means I'm magical! I like that. If anyone else were here with me they would probably say something about how it's not actually magic it's a byproduct of blah blah blah. Can we at least pretend science stuff is magical? Give them prettier names, at least? I don't think pretty names are too much to ask for.

I step off my little platform and down the stairs, ending up at a bottom level of the platform itself. Looking up, the little buttons glow, and I move back to under the ledge where I just was. The stairs snake down and I follow the path, getting to the bottom right next to a long bridge. Only one piece fell out, a part of stair right behind me, the upper part now looking like it's far above my height. I begin to walk along the bridge, looking over the side at the fire. Is lava fire? It's close enough. Big chunks of the path crumble and fall into the mouth of magma. The center part doesn't fall when I reach the other side. That's a nice change of pace. Now there's a lot of stairs to walk down, not quite spiraly like the other one but winding down in a zigzagging pathway closer and closer to the furnace bottom. I'm sweating. I make it to the first corner, the ground shaking.

It begins to fall. I'm going to die.

It lands on the side of a platform, but… I haven't fallen off?

Oh, right, it's the valley! How could I forget? It was still scary, but I don't have to be worried anymore, now that I remember.

I walk along the side of reality, up a ramp that shakes with every step. It falls. I end up upside down, before the piece falls sideways and settles into normal gravity again. That was fun! I walk off onto another set of stairs, rounding a corner and wiping my forehead. I can see some kind of smoke or steam or something coming off of the lava. What's that thing water has? Vapor? I think that's it. If water has vapor, and lava is the opposite of water, does that mean lava has vapor too? Yeah, that makes sense. I walk down past the lava vapor to a structure leading to a bridge. I think that's a door past there? It is! I walk down and-woah.

The lava is… Uh… really close now, isn't it… I don't like it.

Sparks fly up and land on my dress. The bridge is close. I step onto the last tile before the final path.

The bridge falls out, crumbling into fuel for the fire. What do I do now? Wait, the ground is shaking. What does that mean? Wait… I look down. This entire structure is sinking into the lava, twisting as it goes.

I have to move.

I speedwalk up the steps, careful not to lose my balance, and stand on all fours on the highest tile for a tiny amount of comfort. It keeps falling. I'm going to die, aren't I… No, no, I won't die here! I can't…

It stopped.

Right above the lava, I stay safe atop my tile. I'm not dead. Steady breathing, Ida. Calm down.

Wait, what's that shaking?

I look over behind me, seeing something rise out of the lava…

Totem!! They're here!! Oh, I'm so happy to see you! Segmented platforms rise from the fire as well. Their eye turns to me. "Hello!" I call. I can't tell how they feel, but their top cube bounces a bit. Their buttons light up white as I move them to an edge of their path, stepping on as they arrive, the platform I was on seeming far below me now as it sinks into the lava. To my left, pillars drop down revealing a button. I slide us over. Ooh, it's so nice to be with Totem again! I flop down on his head as the button sinks into the ground from our weight. A tall pillar begins to rise, taking us high in the cave up a newly found opening, to a hollow sky of pure gray and stone.

There's a new structure in front of us. I pat Totem's head as I step off onto another platform. I pass right across a button, a bridge lowering from a chain in front of me. I spin my finger, the wheel thing above the bridge spinning alongside, clanging into place at my feet. I can hear the spokes (spokes? I think?) of the wheel sink inwards as I walk to the other side. I wonder why they do that? Hm, maybe it's to stop me breaking the puzzles of the monuments. Why are they puzzles in the first place? And why do they so casually break the rules of reality? I suppose I'll never know, unless I can get that ghost talking for a while, and I don't wanna do that.

I climb down a ladder set in stone, turning the bridge back to it's original position, and set across the bridge again, standing on a button to my right. A me-sized rectangle falls from the sky near the end of the short path, slowing to a stop. I bet it has a door on it's face! I step off, but it flies back up into gray. Looking up the stairs at the end, I can see a button on a slightly raised platform, and I walk over and up the small incline. I hop on the button, feeling it slowly go down with my small weight. A gray platform descends to Totem's level. I move them onto it and step back off, the platform reaching the top.

Oh… They won't fit through the middle of the bridge. Wait, but I can still turn things if Totem is on them, right?

I move them onto the bridge, see the edges of the turny thing turn blue-white, and turn Totem over to my side. I slide them onto the button, the doorway away from this place descending down in front of me. But first, I walk over to them, and put my hands on their base.

It's comfy. Stone can be comfy. I don't know why other people don't like stone, always comparing it to cold mean things, I think it's nice. It can feel kinda soft, especially here.

I eventually peel my hands off of them. I walk over to the door, staring into pure blackness, and head through. I can't see a thing, but my magic flares up. I can feel something that I can spin around and something I can move, and I play around with both of them. Before I know it, I'm on solid ground on another samey-looking structure.

All this gray is getting boring. At least Totem is full of color.

I climb up a latter next to me, standing on a button at the top that lowers a small spire down to where Totem can slide on. I walk onto his head as we rise up to a second path. We slide onto one more button, as we rise into the soft light above.

* * *

It's bright up here, surrounded by glowing sunlight and fields of endless ice and snow. Totem seems wedged between a gap in the structure I'm standing on. That's probably where we rose up from. There's a ladder in front of me, which I climb up. I've always liked how the built-in ladders look in the valley.

Pulling myself to the top, I see a black and white lotus-shaped platform at the end of a ledge. It's a familiar sight, these lotuses, that I always find myself falling asleep on. Walking over, I reach up to take off my hat. I probably stole something else again, didn't I? Reaching in, I pull out…

Play-Doh?

It's the same color as every other geometry, but what shape is this meant to be?

I try pulling it around a bit, and it stretches! Am I meant to make something? But I'm terrible with clay! I… Uh… Well, it couldn't hurt…

I start stretching it around, my magic coming through without me telling it to, glowing white like all the things I can move. My hands feel like they're moving on their own. After my magic turns off, and my hands are tired, I hold up something.

It looks like a many-pointed star jutting out from an octohedron-shaped core. I set it on the lotus, seeing it spin, floating into the air. I yawn. Is it from normal tired or because of making that geometry? I'll think about it later.

I kneel down, roll onto my side, and rest my head on the lotus base. This monument felt like it took forever. I hope the next few don't drag as much.

I close my eyes, and drift off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock

Instability. My mind is falling apart at the seams, splitting into shapes that dissolve into nothing and everything.

It hurts so much, and yet...

It's peaceful.

* * *

Soft light falls and lands on my face, as I awake in what is no doubt a new monument. Shimmering water stands still next to me while I stand up. I forgot how pretty the valley could look… The sun up above is hidden behind some veil of color that tints everything in a beautiful lime green hue.

Stretching my legs, I start to walk down the path in front of me, really the wall of a big structure. The red button I step on looks really nice against the green material it's surrounded by, as buttons flip around and introduce themselves to existence near the bottom of the tower.

Hello!

The buttons glow white and turn. So does the monument! I walk down the twisty stone, twisting it back to where I woke up at the last second before bumping into a little rock or two. Hmm, I saw a button over there. I turn the structure even more the other way, so the twisted path now leads me to the red and pink spot that I hop onto. The whole thing starts to sink into the water without a splash. It looks kind of like a drill.

The small block I'm on suddenly shifts, turning upright and throwing me off balance, before I catch myself on a thin stick next to me. Why does it do that sometimes?

The pole leaves my hand as I walk up some stairs, stepping on a third pinkish-red button. The roof begins to fall down, hollow, pitch black, but I'm not scared this time. I'm en-vel-op-ed by darkness. It smells like flowers, sweet like a rose. The bulb blooms, opening up into four pieces, a small plate of land I'm on falling up past the green curtain into the soft pink and orange light far above.

My little piece softly clicks into place on a snaky looking monument colored some kind of blue-green. The valve in front of me turns at my lightest swish, twisting the lighter colored paths just like down below. I start walking down the paths, stopping at the corners to twist them one way or the other, looking out into the field of stars.

This pattern of colors is so pretty. It reminds me of a flag I've seen a few times. A lot of girls at my school have that flag on their backpack or on a pin or something. I think it means that a girl likes other girls instead of boys? Hm… I wonder if I could use that flag. I'm not sure yet, though, but I definitely like girls. Just not so sure about boys yet.

I absentmindedly step onto a button. The monument shifts around me, breaking into little pieces yet staying the same shape as its always had. The little block I'm on flips around again, almost knocking me off if not for the pole that catches me.

I start walking again, spinning bridges absentmindedly and-

Oh! A door! I didn't notice that.

There's a little point on it, like there are two circles framing the top of the door. Did the other ones have that? I have to pay more attention to the next few. I walk through the doorway, closing my eyes.

* * *

The light is yellow, showering the water in gold as it gently laps against the purple structure. The musical ringing of whatever this place is fills my ears. I've never really questioned why there's some kind of music coming from everywhere, but it makes my journeys feel much less lonely, even if I am alone.

I walk up a ramp towards the glowing sky, turning the top of the monument around. The red pattern on the top lines up with its bottom half. I walk down the wall back to the surface, stepping on a yellow button at the opposite corner from where I arrived. The pillars begin to twist around into a spinny thing, just like a pathway up on the square-like top.

Wait, I don't even have to move anything to get up there!

I skip up the curled pillar and along the twisted path, landing right on another yellow button. To my right and down below, a door rises, with the same spiky top as the other one.

How do I get down…

I walk across the twisty bridge, moving the top to line up with the unchanged half. I walk across the normal ground to spiral up onto the red-painted side of the twisty pillar. I'm so smart!

From here, I spin myself over to the second side, and walk down and into the doorway. I wonder if this is the last real part of this monument?

* * *

Woooooah.

This is… Wow… I barely know how to describe it.

It's like I'm made of water, dispersing peacefully throughout the golden lake.

I walk forwards, looking up, seeing the purple structure reflected against the shining sky. Or is it me that's reflected against the shimmering water?

I wonder if this is just how reflections work, and I'm only now seeing on the other side. Has my reflection always felt this way? Are they up there on the real path too? I can't see to there. Can I meet my reflection? Can I hug her? Can I cuddle with her? I hope I can, however long it takes to do that.

I walk across the short path to the star-shaped plate that marks the end of this monument. My legs feel so weird while I walk!

I take off my hat and pull out the formless play-doh that came out before. I start pulling it apart into little chunks, shaping each one into little cubes. I start to shove them together, but they stop midway, floating out of my hands above the star.

Is… Is that really a sacred geometry? I don't even know why I made that, I was gonna… There must be something in my mind or my soul telling me to make them like this, right? It's like I'm doing it sub-con-sus-ly.

Hm… I'll think about it later. I'm tired. I lay down on my back.

I shut my eyes, and dissolve into the endless water rippling beneath a golden sun.

Chapter Text

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Something is wrong. Something is so very wrong.

Things swirl through my mind.

None of them are right.

None of them are right...

* * *

The air is cool as I wake up, crickets chirping from invisible trees as glowing yellow windows shine bright through the fog. The sky has a little light coming through. I like when things look like this. Dark, but still light enough for everything to be colorful. Like sunset with a dark sky.

Pushing myself up, I look around. A pink button stands unpressed at the top of the stairs. I walk up, letting my hair and dress blow in the gentle breeze, and hop onto the button. The structure in front of me turns ninety degrees, revealing the door in the pillar and the crow on the wall. It's sleeping.

Right, they probably don't sleep like I do… I still don't know why I'm the only one that does. Can other people just not? It's so simple, I just sleep for an hour or two, then wake up for a little, then repeat! My parents call it napping, so I wonder if I'm the only one that does it. But that can't be right, some of my classmates do the same thing but on a different schedule! Maybe adults are just silly that way, and that's why my parents are always mean to me about how I sleep. Yeah, that makes sense! I'll go with that.

I start to walk down the path, looking arou-AAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!!

* * *

It's too bright… What happened? Oh, my head is killing me, did I hit something…? I must have. I stand-ooooooohhhhhhhh it's so dizzy-I shut my eyes. I must have been knocked out by something, but what could have done that? The valley hasn't tried to directly hurt me yet, I don't think. I stretch, brushing my arms against the ribbon of my…

Where's my hat? Where's my hat!? Oh no, I can't have lost it! No no no no no no… I start spinning my hands in panic. It has to be somewhere, right? It has to-

Oh, I was spinning something.

I look around. I see platforms, those bulb roof things, and…

That crow is wearing my hat! Get over here, thief! Ugh, I probably need to help it in order to get my hat back. I don't like helping people that take my things without asking. I don't like when people take my things without asking anyway, but helping them just feels like a punishment.

I start messing with the heights of the platforms, watching the crow walk on and off different colored ones, seeing it stupidly walk back and forth. It walks on a button by chance, turning the big red platform in front of me. I spin it upwards and walk across. The power slipping away from my body as the wheel retracts inward, it's strange, but calming in a way that makes me feel relaxed. It makes a satisfying noise while I cross, ending up at another button. The green platforms lower when I step onto the red patterned surface. I step off, the button reversing what it just did. Why? It shouldn't be undoing itself after I step off! Stupid monument and it's stupid crow. Wait… Ohhh, that's why the platforms come back. Stupid Ida. I punch myself.

I set the crow on a path I've drawn in my head, watching it walk along until it touches a button of it's own. I step off my button. The small green platform rises in the air, revealing a short corridor I saw earlier. Stairs spin down in front of me. I walk up them, scowling at the crow blinded by my hat, and walk through the open door at the end of this part of the monument.

* * *

The musical tones are getting weird. I shoot up my arm, sensing something I can move, and hear stone scraping behind me. A green block. It's colorful around here. Oh, that moved something else too! Determined to not cycle the block again, I dash around a corner and trip on a red pillar, moving the green block back down. I shoot across a small-WOAH!

I think I almost crushed my head… Be more careful, Ida. I hit my arm against a pole to my side. The button depresses, revealing another button I can barely see. I run across, shifting the green block up and down, jumping on the button. High up above, a block turns around to reveal a doorway at the top of some stairs. Past the crow. I sigh.

Walking back across the monument's base path, I trap the crow by baiting it on top of the green block. I need to get better names for these things, but I can't think of creative ways to describe walking across a bunch of useless blocks right now, I feel angry at something and I can't tell what. Walking to the red block that carried me to and from the first button, I rise up into the air and step off. Wait a minute, where'd the door go?

Oh, for fuck's sake!

I batter my jaw with a flurry of sharp blows.

I drop the platform I'm on and move myself over to the second button, making it rise back up for the crow to step onto. It falls again, walking towards the button in it's path. I quickly move the red pillar back to me and jump on, moving up into the air. Green smashes into pinkish white and the crow is trapped again.

Stomping up the stairs, I throw myself against their sharp steps.

My throat snaps shut.

My arms scratch open.

My knees buckle.

My mind falls deep into a pit of cruel tar, not able to think beyond anger and self-hatred.

My head hurts.

Why is this monument making me so angry all of a sudden? I was just fine until I woke up again… Maybe something happened when I got knocked out. My head is a little wet, I think…

Wait, that's still bad!

Did I hit it against something!? Besides the stairs!?

Calm down, Ida. You aren't dead. You aren't hurt. You just have to keep going.

I finish walking up the stairs, stepping through the doorway, trying hard to slow my breath.

* * *

Didn't I pass by this part? Looking up high above me, yet not any higher at all, there's a whole bunch of crows walking along colorful platforms. That thief is right next to a doorway.

Why isn't it going through? It's just standing there, eyes covered by my hat.

I stare across the sea of mist and rooftops as I walk up a green staircase, stepping onto a bulkier looking red platform, moving it down moments after moving it up. This seems easy so far, what's gonna happen now? Hmm, will this green pillar with a button rise into the air? Let's find out! I step on, and-oops! Other way around! Silly me. I hit myself sharply.

Oh, now I have to get the crow somewhere. I step off onto the red platform, seeing the crow descend as the button depresses, now on the green platform. I stand on the stairs of the red thing, I've noticed the crows can't walk up or down them. Stupid. It walks past me, and opens its beak.

My ears burst.

I fall to the ground sobbing, trying to cover them from the bouncing caw still vibrating in my head. I can barely raise my platform. I jump on the green ledge as it rises up to the door, breathing heavily.

Ears are still ringing.

I push through the darkness.

* * *

Oh dear god.

There's so many.

So many crows.

Please don't scream.

The ladder next to me is climbed in an instant, as I jump onto a purple platform right after, spinning on my foot and running onto a red one with a crow in the middle.

It screams.

Tears fall and snake through the shallow patterns on the tiles.

My hair is wet.

I just barely stop on a green thing moving back and forth, as it throws me onto a ledge. I bring up a button to my face and lie on the squared yellow pillar.

Too much noise.

A massive blue structure, one I didn't even see, descends down in front of the thief crow's path. It mindlessly steps on, and I send it back up into the high clouds. The path is clear.

Huh, that was actually kinda fun… It would've been more fun if I wasn't crying the whole time, of course you had to ruin it Ida, like you ruin everything else fun that you try to like.

I hold back from hitting myself.

Calm down, maybe I can just… Try to enjoy it now. I sit down on the ledge next to me.

Look at all of them go.

Walking back and forth, in a rhythm of their own making. One is going around and around up and down and sideways in a little square, while another walks in a loop around a constantly switching red lane. Why are they walking back and forth, anyway? A few are just sitting down. Like me right now. The quiet caws are calming now, I'm too far away for them to scream at me anymore. The bright colors are nice under the sun. It's not even too hot right now, usually I'm really bad with sunburns. Buttons click quietly down under the crows' feet. Talons? I haven't paid much attention to them. I would like talons. They'd go well with my…

Oh, right.

No wings anymore.

I'm not sure how It happened, I just woke up the next day after flying home, and they were gone! All the feathers must have fallen off, I saw a few scattered about my room, close to being blown out of the window by a stray gust of wind. Feathers fall off, right? Birds lose theirs and regrow them? I hope my wings come back… They made me feel so good about myself! I want to feel that way again.

I stand up and stretch. Well, that was nice, but I need to get my hat back now. I suppose I could have just snatched it off of that crow's head, but it screams at me and I don't wanna deal with that.

I step through the door in front of me, as the world turns black.

* * *

This must be the top! Wow, the star-shaped platform is just overhead, waiting for its geometry to be given.

I walk up the stairs, turning right, then right again as the pedestal lies before my feet. I reach up.

Riiiight, I always take geometry out of my hat…

If someone else were to come here without a hat, how would they navigate this place? Would the geometry just appear? Does the valley only take people with hats? What happens if they had a hat, but lost it? Hmm…

Well, I don't have to worry about that, I just need my hat back from the crow far below me, before the cool blue mist turns to sunspotted gold, and the light is filtered through thick clouds that paint everything up high awash with soft and glittery yellow. Ooh, that line sounded nice!

I start to descend the steps, turning left twice, leaning against the green doors where I came from.

Hey, why are these doors separate anyway? Who could fit through just one of them? I guess it's not that important, it does look nice after all.

I set my eyes on the crow, and move an angled green block down to finish a broken bridge. It walks across with its same le-zure-ly stroll as always. The piece of land in front of me, previously a ramp that I couldn't walk on, flips around into a staircase. I walk down, moving my eyes to lead the crow up to a different platform, leading to an interesting looking red platform, attached to a yellow chain running through holes that work in some strange way.

Maybe they're portals? That could make sense. Yeah, I'll go with that! Portals it is!

I hop down the steps and run down the path, stepping on a lone button at the very end, next to a ladder at my side. A wheel pops out, and by spinning it, it moves the little chained platform.

I knew it!

I move it back to the start, waiting for the crow to step on it. There it goes! I quickly spin the wheel, seeing the crow go flying across the chain, only stopping when I stop turning it. What's that yellow thing? It looks like it has a grate on top, keeping anything big from falling inside and messing anything up. I move the crow on top of it. The yellow pillar next to me has a button on top, it probably controls whatever the weird thing is. I climb the indented ladder up to it, and hop on.

Fwoosh! A giant gust of air puffs out of the machine below the crow, blowing the hat off of it high up in the air. It looks so surprised!

I walk over to the end of the path, the yellow pillar rising back up. Aaaaand… Poof. Back on my head. Thank you, valley physics! Eeeew, it smells like crow now. I still don’t like that crow.

Hm… It's still on the platform, maybe I can have some fun with this before I go.

I hop back on the wheel button, and start spinning it wildly, watching the crow go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

I can go faster, can't I? Never hurts to try!

Woah, that feels really weird. I guess I'm putting more power into it now? It spins around and around, clicking.

My powers falter.

Oh no, the crow flew off! It's spinning off into nowhere. It'll probably land soon, right?

…Right?

I didn't kill it, did I?

Oh no…

I heard a smack! It landed!

Wait, that means it might have died…

I'm gonna just… Go now…

I climb the stairs, taking off my hat.

I start spinning the formless geometric substance around in my hands. It glows white, then fades to blue. A rhombicuboctahedron.

I lie my head down below the spinning shape.

As I close my eyes, I hear a distant caw.

Chapter Text

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

This isn't right.

It's not supposed to be like this.

What happened?

What did I do?

* * *

It's peaceful here.

I slowly get up to the sound of a crow high above, soft flowing water meeting my ears. The ground is textureless and devoid of shape, not a shadow to be seen on the not-white nothingness, a pure and perfect void. Huh, when did my language get so flowery? I didn't learn any new words recently… At least it makes my thoughts more interesting.

Some parts of the smooth tan wall have bricks visible, just a little off color. That's interesting. Why just those? Maybe it's just to make the monument look nicer. It does make the wall pop a little more. Way up high, I can see a valve, which soon glows white as I turn it around. So that's where the waterfall noise is coming from. The square-looking water flows through shallow-walled pathways, down into a pool that lowers its grey-colored structure. Turning the big waterfall makes other parts of the monument sink down to walking level. It's so pretty. Why's it square, though? I guess it's to match with the whole cube look that the rest of the valley has.

A river flows to clear my path, sinking stone falling to place. I walk across, staring at the waterfall, at its perfect flow and square foam when it hits each new layer. The waterfall swivels with a musical tone, the water flowing through the pool above and out the spout below. I step on.

The water fades away as the grey blocks rise, pouring into a column that lowers an orange door, opening into the comforting blackness between these shapeless abandonments. Little square drops fall onto my face, wetting tiny spots of my hair, dripping down my hat, turning to mist in the nonexistent wind. I walk through into nothing, and close my eyes.

* * *

I can't breathe.

It's so…

So empty.

It felt so much like there was a floor before, something I could rest on or drop a rock and it would tumble, but not here.

It's the same exact color, the same texture, everything is the same, but why does it feel like I'm floating in an expanse of absolute terror?

No, Ida, just ignore it. Don't think. Don't think. Don't think for now, just focus on walking through the monument.

The water lifts up little wood squares, making a bridge that I can hop across to a button, sprayed by the splash and foam of a waterfall pouring out, like a blue ribbon falling forever that only barely disrupts the serene watery surface. These waterfalls do look like ribbons, don't they?

I step onto the blue and orange button. Small buttons flip around on each grey spout high above me, each one waiting to pour a flood of paper-thin fluttery water. Where to, though, up or down? Oh, there's a little button drowning in the deep. A swish of my hand and the water stops flowing.

It's blissfully quiet now, save for the constant ambience in every monument. I walk over small gaps and step on the button, feeling a valve pop out of the wall. I turn it twice. That seems right, I think. It'll probably work. I return to the first button, pulling down two spouts, rising up to the path that the valve must have affected. Mhm, I can faintly feel some possibility shift even farther away as I step across the grey-tinted stone. I climb up a small ladder and lie down on the button. The endless void isn't so scary anymore.

A platform to my side climbs up the wall, its one big gear turning on an invisible track. I like gears. The soft, constant clicking, the way they turn locked together with other gears and chains, it all just feels nice to me.

I walk back across the former obstacle, hopping across each bobbing wooden platform saving me from a soaked dress. The button sinks down, and with a flick of my hand, water pours down from all three openings, lifting me up to the very top of the monument. I step around past the corner to my right, climbing up another inset ladder that leads to an open doorway.

This place has been so nice. Just the sounds of softly flowing water, the smell of fresh garden air, and the musical tones floating through the air. Before leaving, I turn around and climb back down the tiny ladder. I drag my hands through the water. I can't swim, but I've always liked the feeling of being submerged in the clear blueish liquid. Water isn't usually this blue, though. I think that's just a pool thing? Or an ocean thing? I've never been to the ocean. I think I'd like to go someday.

I cup some water and splash a bit on my face, squinting. I start rubbing. Wow, did I really get that dirty already? I never noticed it before, when I came here last. Dried tears, old bits of scabs, skid marks, ash, it all starts unsticking and washes away. I wish I could take a bath at home. I always end up taking one in the river, then washing myself off with a towel I sneak out in my backpack. I don’t know why my parents don't let me. I'm glad I don’t live with them anymore.

…Wow, I really don't live with them anymore. I think that just set in. I never have to see them again!

Never…

Never again…

I stand up, climbing up the inset ladder, and walk through the shadowy entrance.

* * *

A gray path stretches through the black void lying before me, specks of dust looking like stars in the soft spot of light shining down from nowhere. I can feel buttons to the side of this structure, ones I can use to turn it, probably. I've seen places like this before. Little tiny monuments in a dark space.

I walk across the bridge, turning the monument as I climb up a tall ladder. Sharp square indents, cold and shadowed, pass my face while I heave myself up the scores. The stale air blows my hair still. It's cold, but not too cold.

My hands reach the top of the pillar. I step up onto the top, a small square leading to a short, squared bridge. At the end of the bridge, there's…

Huh?

Oh no, not you again.

I sigh, spinning the structure to where our two pathways meet, and walk up to her. The floating blue ghost, dress split in the middle and a fancy hat atop her head, looks down on me, and speaks.

"How many Monuments have you restored? How many still lie ahead?" She says, whispers caught and shimmered away by the soft, tired breeze, musical tones getting louder and twirling around us, lacing the monument with an air of mystery.

"Forgetful princess confuses past, present and future." Her incorrect grammar makes perfect sense to me. I think I've heard something like it before.

"When all Sacred Geometry is returned, so too shall be your crown." Returned? I don’t think I stole these ones, did I? Did they break before?

Wait, I'm remembering something!

I'm-

* * *

(CW: Domestic Abuse)

"IDA!!" A man's voice bellows up the cramped stairs, the girl's head pounding from under her bed.

She lies flat. Her breathing is strained, crushing herself beneath the mattress frame.

Stomping follows the initial shout, louder and louder, through the hallways and to her room. She tries to stay quiet.

He looks around. She's not in her bed, she's not at her desk. She's hiding, he knows it, and she knows it too. He kneels down to her bed, the one spot she can hide.

She bolts.

Scratching herself on wood, she pushes herself out and darts through the door. Running down halls, swinging into a nearby closet, she shuts the door and screws her eyes shut, hand over her mouth.

He walks through the house.

Closer.

Closer.

Closer…

The closet flies open, a giant, meaty hand grabbing around Ida's throat.

The man's face, twisted in anger and mouth covered in spit, yells into her terror-filled face.

She's thrown.

Her head bursts with pain, sliding down the wall.

His hand grabs her face, and pushes it aggressively into the floor, harder and harder as his anger only grows.

Her sight goes black for a fraction of a second. Her lungs are collapsing. Vomit builds in the back of her throat.

Her head hits the ground again, and it all fades away.

* * *

Wh… Wha…

I don't…

O-oh, I'm crying…

How am I still s-standing? I…

The g-ghost? She's holding my hand…

"t-thank you." I whisper, the noises calming down.

I don't remember that memory… I felt so small. How old was I? How did I forget?

Agh, my head hurts so bad…

I should go.

I wave to the blue lady and start walking back across the little bridge, staring into the soft golden light faintly shining around us.

My hands scratch and scrape against the ladder, clumsy and shaking from that… that thing that I repressed. Repressed! That's the word for intentionally forgetting a bad thing, I think. At least I don't fall.

I land with a pat, kicking up some dust, and turn to the pillar that must have risen up while I was stuck in my head. It's too dark for me to handle right now, even if it's just the same shade as every other door here… But I go in anyway.

Maybe the next part of this place will help me recover.

* * *

The old-paper-colored sky shines down what isn't quite sunlight, orange leaves softly blowing from who-knows-where. The door I stepped through soon becomes another tree. Calming ringing that isn't quite a song fills my ears once again. I take a few steps just looking at it all.

Oops, tripped on a button!

Up above me (not above me at all) a spout clicks down into place, and water spills out from the shadows inside it, turning a massive wooden wheel attached to a spinning platform leading to my destination. Where does the water come from? Its probably from that tower it's on, but who knows if that's really the truth? It's not too important anyway.

I turn to the side of my little spot and climb down another ladder, much shorter than the one back in the gray room.

Why did I suddenly remember something like… That, in that room? Was it something she said? Something I thought? How weird. Hm, think Ida, what did you do… She was talking about me, how I had to return the geometry, but I hadn't stolen these ones, so maybe I had broke them, and then the memory happened. Wait no, I just thought that they were broken, not that I had done it. Could that be related? I'm sure the answers will come to me.

Oh, I've been on this ladder for a while. I hop off, walking across to a button I can see, and one that I can't. I step onto the button and a valve pops up, extending from the corner of a gray L shaped block below me. My hand moves, lighting up the ends as it spins around to a place I decide is good. I can get to that other button now.

I step off mine, watching the glowing piece of magical technology sink back into the stone, and walk across with quiet steps to arrive at the button below my previous. Off to the side, another valve pops out of a shape, which I spin around before letting it settle.

I think I'm making a path. Now all that's left is to complete it, right?

I run back to the button right above me, turning the L to my side so it completes a perfect loop. The steps of the ladder pass my face, feet bouncing me up to the top. I walk across. The button lies in front of me. I hope this works like I think it will… I hop on.

A ribbon of water spreads through all along the path, looping back and turning the giant wheel over and over, its own self-sustaining river. It looks just like a painting that one of my long-distant grandpas made. Did he come here too? It wouldn't be surprising. A lot of his art reminds me of stuff like this. I feel like I've said something like that before. Eh, it doesn't matter.

I step on the constantly moving platform, my end quickly becoming opposite. I swing left, walking through the door.

Still here, overlooking the river, the one that I helped. The star-shaped podium stands in front of me, the same shade of blue as all the weird roofs around here.

I step forth. My hat comes off, blue stuff floating out that I can catch without hands. I can see every little frame, every part, everything inside it that screams out to be created.

It changes.

It spins around, growing parts out of itself and shrinking back down, before settling on a final piece. An octahedron, split horizon-ally through the middle. Both ends spin in opposite directions. It's a little weird how they all move, but I guess that's an important part of any important object.

This is a nice place to fall asleep. I'm a little tired anyway. I sit down, laying my back against the star, and close my eyes.

The soft sound of water is quick at lulling me into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

Tick. Tock.

That's not right.

What does it all mean?

Why is the time running out?

* * *

Are those wind chimes? The semi-metallic clinking, like crystals in the breeze. They fit perfectly with the sight in front of me.

A massive waterfall, going so high up I can't see the top, squared mist filling the air around every little blip it hits. Green grass lies of the tops of gray stone.

There are a lot of ladders here…

I walk across the polygonal grass, and begin to climb the first of many. The old stone is cracked, like it's going to crumble and fall beneath my footsteps, down into the rushing water. First ladder done! Why are the…

Uh… The um…

What are the ladder things called? Hm…

Rungs! I think! Why are the rungs square? I know almost everything else in the valley is square too, but couldn’t they round them out a bit? It hurts my hands going up so many.

Second ladder done!

My hands push down a button as I pull myself up, something rising from-

Totem! You're back!! Oh, I'm so happy to see you! Was the snow too cold? Did you fall back into the lava? I hope nothing was too uncomfortable…

Why am I acting like I'm checking in on a guest? Is this how people greet friends?

We are friends, aren't we?

I've never asked them, really. I don't think I can. Or at least I can't get myself to.

The ladders are below me now, as I stare across the side of the waterfall to a valve sticking out of the cliff face. Totem is standing on a little patch of grass next to a gray thing that I move them onto. That'll probably turn when I turn the valve! It spins the moment the magical valve is turned, Totem becoming a bridge for me to cross onto the spot right next to the great flowing ribbon of this monument. Half my face is splashed with invisible droplets, hair blocking some mist, soon dripping wet.

I turn to it and shut my eyes, opening my mouth to catch some river water. Tastes like water! Dunno what I expected. I haven't had water in… How long has it been? A day, maybe? I guess my way of sleeping isn't the best for time keeping.

Totem turns over into another bridge, slightly shifting between their base and the cliff on their head. I walk across. Smooth stone turns to grass, then back to stone, each step of this ladder I'm holding onto covered in a thin layer of moss. A button lies at the end of a small path, right up against the water. I step on.

The ladder sinks, while a cliff completes an L-shaped path to another button. I turn Totem back upright and move them on top of the button. They rise way up into the air, a good bit above my little platform.

Hey, when did that ladder get there? I guess I was focusing on Totem too much.

I jump up the ladder, almost slipping, landing on grass and climbing the second just as quickly. There's a little button to my side, yellow instead of gray. As soon as I step on I hear the sound of clicking. Turning around and looking up, I see two light gray blocks hanging by separate chains. They probably switched when I pushed the button.

Oh, there are some more buttons up there too!

I move Totem through where one structure was before, pushing down a button and opening a door for me to walk through. I stop before stepping off the button. Ok, so this door probably leads up there, which means I'll probably need to walk on that gray thing, so I need to keep it up somehow.

Hmm… Let's see, what's something I can use to hold up that block…

Uh, Totem?

You don't mind, right?

I move them under the chained-up block, step off the button, and… Ooh, that was a nice sound! And Totem is ok! I push through the dark of the doorway back into the light, just a few moments before heading back in to the in between. I feel something move, my powers flaring up for a brief moment, before the tiny amount of light in my everything is extinguished.

* * *

It's weird, this sunless sunlight, always shining from skies blank of such things. Even the occasional clouds are just masses of blur.

Oh, hi Totem! I wave. Their eyes are places in spots they can't see me from, but I bet they know I'm here anyway.

I bring them towards me on the path leading to a light gray bridge, where its cracked stone descends under their weight, the crunchy rock sound signifying my correct guess when it runs out of chain to hang by. I step on, walking through the unshadowed poles.

My hands land softly on Totem's base. They're so comforting. Hard and smooth stone yet soft to my touch, the clear blue lines on each block ever-so-slightly indented. Their cubes jump a little. I giggle.

I move them off of our hanging platform so I can rise up higher, then step onto their head as if it was the path. Now we can ride along together!

…Oh, is that all? Okay then…

I move us around a corner, so I can step off on the gray bridge's twin, the waterfall leaving tiny flakes to disperse through the air. I move Totem back to the bridge I was just on.

Zoom! I fly up to the top of this part of the monument, a door right in front of me. I sit down and swing my legs over the side of my little cliff. There they are, completely unmoving save for occasional blinks. I wonder if they can understand me, they must be able to, right? That one time in the orange monument proves it! Or did I just imagine that? Oh, that doesn't matter, they can probably understand me. Well, into the door I go.

I feel myself subconsciously controlling something again, and the faintest feeling of a button being pushed, before I fall face-first into the dark.

* * *

Still on the cliffside, huh? I guess this monument doesn't have any other parts, kind of like the crow place where my hat got stolen. Just stone and grass, chains and bridges, the big waterfall that's always to my side, and Totem, of course. At least there are gears here! That helps make things more interesting.

I climb up a short, uneven ladder, landing on a button. A big… Uh… Something-bridge lowers. I know there's a name for those, but I guess I can't remember right now.

I walk over to another little ladder, but the bridge flips back up! Mean. I shuffle back over, the bridge coming down, Totem sliding onto it from my magical, um, I dunno. I don't think there's an organ or anything that makes magic? That would be gross.

Let's see, if I slide Totem down here, then climb up to there, walk onto them, and then… That was simple! I didn't even have to make detailed descriptions of everything I'm doing!

…Oh, I'm already running out of descriptions…

How did this happen already? It took me way more monuments to get bored of my internal talking last time! Am I talking more? I'm probably talking more. I think I just need to get my brain working better-pfft, hehe, what does that even mean?

Oh, right, button. Press. Yeah. Gotta do that.

I walk off Totem, and boop! The bridge falls once more. Down the ladder, hop off the grass, and now I'm on top of Totem again. I put my hat under my arm and lie down, peering into their eye upside down. "hello!" I whisper. They don't do anything in response, but then again, they can't speak or gesture either.

I lean back up and slide us over to the slightly too ominous door in the mountainside. It does look quite pretty, though. I stretch (wow, first time this wakeup!) and walk through, closing my eyes, a bell ringing out as the door closes behind me. Just as usual with the Totem monuments, my power turns on, before leaving me in peaceful silence until I reach the next doorway.

* * *

That ringing… Is that a foghorn, distantly calling from the green sea far below us? It's a little uncomfy here. I guess the door being ominous was right. There's just flat wall to my left side, the other leading to a button down a short ladder drop. Oh, the indents are perfectly square again! Interesting. Does that mean this part of the monument was better kept before…

Before what? Before what, Ida!? Why did you think that? How do I know something happened here? I hope I'll find out soon enough.

The button makes the whole wall shift, slowly lifting up crumbling and cracking stone. I step off-

BOOM! A deafening blast echoes through the cliffside hollow.

Ok, maybe it wasn't better kept, maybe it just wasn't affected by water as much. That makes more sense.

I think I need Totem to hold it up again, like the gray blocks. This thing looks super heavy, though… "can you do this?" I call across the stones. No response, like usual. I hope they're fine.

I move them under the big slab of stone. I'm nervous. I can hardly breathe. Why am I so nervous? It's just the same as every other time I've done this! But that big ceiling block made such a huge impact... No, no, it's gonna be fine.

Alright, Totem. Okay, Ida.

It's time to go.

I swing around the corner, darting up the ladder and running across the chipped rocks. Totem is…

They're not fine!

With each fall that this part of the monument takes, I can see them get lower and lower, driven into the stone.

How are they gonna get out of there, there's no bridge or any-

*SNAP*

…

…

…

no…

no no no no no no no…

NOOOO!

W-WHY!?

NO, COME BACK!!

DON'T DIE!!

DON'T SINK IN THE WATER!!

DON'T LEAVE ME!!

Don't leave me…

please, don't leave me…

…

I can't see.

I can't breathe.

The ringing has stopped, the caverns filled with empty sobs wracking up blood from my throat.

I desperately run over to the spot where it happened, grasping at golden dust that floats away just out of reach.

I feel light headed.

No, N-NO! I can't give up now, I'm…

oh, what's the p-point…

I run at the ladder at the end of the room, banging my head and falling on my back. Staring at the stone above.

Why can't it c-come down and c-crush me too? Fling me over to d-drown in the sea with them. Mix my snot and t-tears with the annoyingly still water. How dare it be c-calm!? The whole monument, gone silent, j-just to leave me as the only source of noise?

Could I have s-saved them?

N-no, they were in the g-ground the moment I stepped off…

The m-moment I…

M-my choice…

My choice killed them.

…

I push myself up, head aching. I climb the ladder. I walk through the door. I sniffle.

* * *

Top of the waterfall. Is it deep enough to drown? I can't even get over there if it is, there's no path except to the gray star in front of me.

My hat comes off and falls against the floor. I shove my shaking hand inside, pulling out the blue and white stuff I have to make geometry with. It changes out of my hands.

Am I not g-good enough for you? Do you j-just have to do it yourself, since I'm t-too unstable to?

I kneel down. Smash. My head is bleeding.

The humming of geometry is broken by my cries, red snot flowing and mixing with salty water.

My stomach heaves.

My head goes light.

I fall onto the lotus, and everything goes black.

Chapter Text

Tick. Tock. Tock. Tick. Tick.

The clock face shatters.

I hear thunder.

I hear flame.

Time's up.

* * *

Darkness. Glowing darkness, with star-like dots floating through.

Oh god, my head hurts so badly…

I d-don't wanna think about what happened. I have a monument to restore, r-right? That c-can help take my mind off t-things.

Just look around, Ida. Everything is gray. Dark gray, light gray, occasional spots of black and white, the crow far above and me far below. And the soft light…

Is that dust in the air? It looks…

No, no, I'm just imagining things.

Down the path. A three-square-long bridge arrives at my feet with a musical tone, an instrument that I can't place. Piano, maybe? That can't be right. It could be a really deep guitar? Why do blocks sound like instruments, anyway? Just because? It's probably just because, like everything else in this valley. Just doing things because.

Twisting gravity just because. Knocking my hat off just because. Killing Totem just because.

…No, take your mind off it, Ida! You can't just think about them all the time, you need progress!

I move the dark bridge across to a shadowed door, seeing a button to my right. How would I get there? That's the weirdest placement so far! I walk through the door, and-ohhhh, that's how. This makes even less sense than everything else! Am I walking on the bottom or the side? Was the path I was on previously the top or another side? Am I facing this pillar or is it below me?

My head… Agh… Okay, I just need to clear my head, that'll fix everything.

I think I stepped on a button? I don't remember. Well, the bridge changed, so I must have!

I walk back onto it, lifting myself up high. Down below, I guess? Does the direction of gravity have a definitive way, or is it just a variable of my own reality? Sub-jeck-tive reality? That's the thing people say, right? I think so.

Now to the side of where I was, another door lies in front of me beyond a short walk. I see a crow on a tower belowside me.

Hello, crow. Are you lost too? In your head, I mean, not physically, you look like you know where you are. Although, I guess that I'm physically lost as well as mentally lost. Have you ever lost someone, crow? Do you know what it's like, how to get over it? Can you deal with knowing you'll never see someone again without making yourself forget? Why is my vocabulary suddenly so big? Why am I asking all of this? You're not even looking at me! Just cawing away. Hm…

Right, fresh air. Need that. I turn away from the crow, and walk through the door.

* * *

This place looks so nice. The sky is light gray reaching down into gold, the paths looking starry with glowing dots. Is that blue speckling the brightness? No, it's nothing. Agh, why does everything remind me of them?

J-just keep going. Eyes on the path.

I feel a valve somewhere, and turn it a few times. The bridge to my left spins around. I walk across and down a short ladder, spinning the valve again. Down the zigzaggy path, haunting ringing playing through the pillars, somehow so much more noticeable than every other monument.

So much louder than-

NO!

Ugh, stupid brain! Stop thinking about it! How does even the ringing remind me of it!? Just forget already!

…Wait, no, I shouldn't… Why did I think that? I don't want to forget, but if I don't, how will I move past it? Hm…

PATH! IDA! WALK ON THE PATH!

Nothing else matters, just go through the doors!

I run up a curvy ramp, switching gravity to the side and then back to normal. Woah! Almost fell. My hand grips the side of the door. Through the dark, back to the glow. I walk up two small blocks of stairs and up a tall ladder. I suppose it's convenient, this blocky architecture, making it easy to count my steps. Gets a little boring, but never stops being pretty.

Except for that-

STOP IT!!!

Just…

The button in front of me sinks down, another valve popping out of a wall by the door I came through. Spinning it spins the ladder I climbed up into a bridge to cross. I walk down the path I've created and owwwwww my head… This isn't how anything works! Even the valley shouldn't work this way, it's just hurting my brain now. Was I walking along the wrong side earlier or is this the wrong side? Everything here is wrong!

Everything…

SHUT THE FUCK UP, IDA!!

I jump through the door into endless fall.

* * *

Oh no no no no no no no…

My head is killing me already! And there are crows! Everywhere. Ladders and stairs lead from door to door, up and down and all kinds of sideways on the same flat walls as each other. I climb a ladder up to a small path, leading to a stairway up a second, smaller ladder. The rungs disappear from view.

Spots of brightness speckle the dark void, shimmering in the light. I can't think right now. I have to not. Just lose myself.

…Why can't I get them out of my head? It's like every little thing reminds me of them. When does it stop?

How can I go through however many more monuments when my mind is stuck behind a waterfall?

Oh… Oh, I'm so sorry, Totem… Wherever you are, I hope you don't hate me… I'll never see you again, I have to… No! I will-no, I won't-NO, I WILL-NO, THEY'RE GONE, GET OVER IT-HOW WILL I EVER GET OVER IT-AAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

* * *

My vision blurs.

What did I… Do?

Did I-

oh my god there's so much blood.

it's everywhere.

everything is red. my fingertips are stained. thick scarlet vomit leaks out of my mouth.

i feel so tired.

everything is spinning, hehe…

ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh i can't walk…

why is it so dark? wha…

where am I now?

oh, I must have fallen through a door.

hi, crow. please don't yell at me.

okay, just flip over, there, now I'm staring at the sky. move my legs, push my arms back. Sitting now, move one leg, extend the other, get balanced, there! All fine now.

…Wait, this was the wrong path. Aww!

I head back through, down the ladders I climbed up and the paths I walked, and look around. There! I climb up some more ladders (oh, there are some on the floor too!) at a slow and easy pace.

I'm not sure what exactly happened, but everything is hurting. I probably hurt myself so badly I passed out. Cuts all over me, bruises and blood, oh Ida, what did you do? What did I do? It'll all heal, right? No, no, just ignore it for now.

Through the door and out the other end, floors sinking and popping up with my change in perspective. I hop down a tiny ladder block and climb down another, heading for the door in my path.

I pop out and-oh, shut up crow! I walk past with a huff of annoyance. Another door lies to my left, and I head inside.

* * *

That part was so short! I think I'm happy with that. It would get annoying if it went on too long, my head would hurt even more. The sky glows bright with pale essence ripped straight out of a dream, golden radiance shining through a spot of glow, like a monochrome sunset. So pretty, blank and perfect. Little dots pop in and out.

The walls are multiple angles of paths all at once, like I could walk along them any way I want. In front of me lies a block, circles popping out and glowing white under my control, as I send it down on it's rigid chain. A patterned square rushes to a pillar on top of the block, before gently coming back as the chain clicks softly.

I step on. Onto the pillar hanging down from something above me, I'm standing like normal. Now to the next place, on… This one!

Wait no, I can walk along the path but the door is wrong, aww…

I bring myself back to the middle and through to the second side. Up the stairs, turn the corner, oops I almost tripped! The dark gray platforms float motionless. I spin to the right, down a path up a ramp. First door! I run through, tripping over a button.

Owwww… Oh hey, there's the end!

I push myself up and walk between light, the doors closing behind me. Back on the same path now. These shadows are messing with my head. I walk upside down across the tiles, up the stairs in the wrong way, and back to the chain and pillar. It feels like I'm standing on it the right way now, even if the chain is weird.

The platform moves. Chain clicking fills the air, bouncing through the looping walls. I step off and walk through the door, right in the path of a button, which I hop on top of. My little square of land rises, leading up (maybe down) to the end of this monument. I walk up the small flight of stairs.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and the eighth step marks the end. I step forward, and take off my hat. The knowledge comes to me on instinct. Shapes refract and curl together, wires and faces, blue and white. I step back. A triangle, contained within another made of lines and dots, spins around above the star.

Woah… Is that…

I haven't seen the valley like this in what feels like forever. Rows of mountains cradling a soft sunset, its glow fading out into the pink sky below.

I'm not tired right now. I want to see this for a while.

I unfocus my eyes.

* * *

I feel so much older in just a few full days. My voice is breaking whenever I try to talk, I know so many more words and string them together in more complicated ways, I can't look at myself in the mirror without wanting to throw up.

The days fly by in a blurred haze, where does all that time go? Burned up in the fire and up the chimney, up up up, like everything else. It all goes so fast.

I feel like I always have to be doing something, no matter the day or the time, there's always that feeling in my head forcing me away from anything else. I have to draw, cook, exercise, I can't make myself take a break or rest because that would just be wasting time.

I get outside as much as I can, but it's far too hot now that it's summer. I only go outside when it's dark. But the dark scares me too much to be outside too late. I like sunset, though. I always see the sunset. People are out, but they don't pay attention to me. I like that.

People are just mean. "Where are your parents?" They always ask, but I'm fine on my own! I've been going out late on my own since I was way younger! Do other kids not? I wonder why. Maybe their parents don't let them, or they don't want to be on their own. That's weird.

Are my parents not normal? Probably. Parents aren't supposed to drink weird stuff a bunch and yell at their kids, right? What's with that stuff anyway? It just tastes gross. Some people at school snuck some in and pressured me to drink some, that's how I know it tastes bad. Why do they do that? Hurting people doesn't help anyone! Especially when they haven't done anything to you. I didn't do anything to them, and they made me drink so much I almost fainted!

I hate them. I wonder what they have against me. Being quiet isn't bad, is it? Is how I sleep annoying to them? Do I just feel different? Do they not look at a bird and long for wings and talons as well, or look at other girls and want to look like them?

No, no, that would be dumb. They must feel that way too. Doesn't everyone? They call me mean things whenever I act like how I feel, though. What am I doing wrong, I'm just a girl like everyone! They probably just don't notice. Poor them.

* * *

My eyes blink.

I'm tired. I should sleep now, deal with another monument afterwards. I think that thinking helped me feel a bit better.

I can think about… About Totem without crying as much, at least.

I sink to the floor and rest my head against the star, letting my still-bleeding body run through the patterns on the ground.

Chapter Text

Flashes of blue and white.

Massive booms ringing from monument to monument.

A dark gray sky lighting up with destruction.

The valley is burning.

* * *

A deep green glow shines through the darkness surrounding me, the monument I stand on bright and clear against the contrasting lights and hollow wind blowing through my dress and into my tiring bones. Oh, that's another fun sentence! I'll add it to the pile.

A lone button sits in the center. I push myself up, holding my head. I feel better. No blood aside from the dried blood on my dress, no v-vomit spilling from my mouth, just me and another structure. It's pretty plain, though. What'll happen when I hop on the button? The bottom could fold out, pillars could rise up, ooh, what if some parts flew in from beyond the dark? Only one way to find out!

I walk over to the super dark green button and let my weight sink it into the ground. The structure splits in two, a giant plate with a hole in the top rising far above, stairs and ladders and so many buttons revealing themselves. The blue patterned floor below is speckled with orange and white dots. I walk across the not-white square tiles that make up the path I can travel, climb a tall ladder on a blank orange wall, and step on a button at the foot of some stairs. Small pips flip out of the half-shadowed base of the monument. They glow.

With a twist of carved stone everything spins. It's so strange how I couldn't just walk over here without moving it, like the path up the stairs simply wasn't there before. I guess it's not any more weird than anything else. Dunno why I'm still pointing out that things are weird, everything has been some flavor of weird, maybe my mind just focuses on this because I have nothing else to look at beyond even more cube architecture. I like the cube architecture, but I wanna look at something else now please. Maybe some swirls? Ooh, those could be pretty.

A path rises to my feet, the monument spinning as I run across, down a tall ladder at the end of the other side. I turn to the left, spinning through a doorway. Orange. The wall sinks at a flick of my hand, revealing a short path to the other side.

Button! Spin goes the monument, and I hop on. The little rectangle I'm on shifts into the wall, and I'm caught by the darkness before I can be crushed between.

* * *

Everything spins in a haze of purple and black-green. Wispy, light blue steps lead to a pillar that spins down to a door far below. I step through into the sunlight-like light of bright yellowish orange. So that's how I get that button…

I walk down a path, taking a left and down a small cube of staircase onto the last button here. I descend, the orange sliding into blackness before I fall forwards into red and blue. A golden ring pulls toward me at the lightest movement, the ramp connecting with another one up on the wall.

Is that all that's here? That's lame. This room looks so cool and there's nothing to do in it! Sigh. I walk through the sloping gray paths, gravity changing every second step. Two polygonal balls stand atop small towers, one of them acting as my pathway right now.

I want to run across the spinning face of a polyball. It would be fun! Gravity always keeping me from falling off, like a mini planet. Around and around for as long as I like, then poof! Through a door and leave, like right now. Oh, the purple room again. Spin! The pillar in the middle falls to my height, and back up high once I step on, seeing a door that I run through right away.

Ocean blue walls with lime green patterns, a crow walking on a path below some blocks I can move. They break apart. Spinning around the middle, I can walk across them with merely a spin on perspective. I walk down a small block of stairs onto the second cube of this thingy. The other side of the monument is only slightly longer than the side I came through, and I easily hop down some stairs onto a button.

Everything moves.

The pillars and stairs descend into nothing, glowing blackness eating it all up as it falls, grinding stone fading into the usual ambience all around. Still, blocky water rises up to the pillar that I'm sitting on. A little bridge, two actually, let me walk across above the water.

I spin the monument. The whole world goes 'round and round in a blur of color after color, room after room. The dark sky stays the same, almost black, still perfectly lighting up everything even as it spins. The structures change with each new color. I stop when it's green.

Patterns line the corners of the room, reaching up and down, lining the edge of each wall. Hi, crow! Are you the same as before? Probably not. I walk off of the gray platform thingy and up two ladder cubes. My hands land on a button, pushing it down as I push myself up. The wall flips over into a spinny valve. Spin! Oh, there goes the water. There was one color that had something blocked by too much water, right?

I hop down off of each block (owwww, I should have just climbed) and back onto the gray pillar. My eyes glow in the watery reflection until the walls turn blank yellow. Down a flight of stairs, turn right, down another, and right across the shallow bridge. Flight of stairs? That's a weird name for stairs. What about it is flying anyway? I guess running down them can feel like flying.

The button sinks, in the shadow of a pillar to my right. It's a very pretty looking pillar. There's a little blue pattern in the middle, a few squares surrounding a bigger square. Back on the gray bridge pillar thing, a cube rises out of the water to engulf the base. The little circles on the side glow. Little buttons? I dunno what these things are called. Pips? Pips sounds cute, I like that. Pips it is!

I walk back across the bridge, seeing the water softly move in geometrical waves against the walls, and walk back up the first staircase. I look out over the void, sitting down on the corner of the path of stairs.

What's out there? Off in the darkness, is there fish? Do plants grow from crushed green light? What's down there, so far below, where all the musical ringing throughout the valley falls silent? Is that the in-between void that goes from door to door? Is it a deep dark hole into the starry night sky? Is there just… Nothing? So many questions about a dark green sky, that isn't even dark anymore. I kinda want to jump. Just see what's down there…

No, I can't do that! I might die!

…I should get up now.

I stand, stretching as I walk up the stairs, onto the gray platform. It spins now! Fun! Hmm, where to… The monument spins around. Note after note, until it all goes blue. That's the one!

Oh, I can't spin the platform around in this room.

I turn back to yellow, spinning 180 degrees (how do I know that?) and returning to the now-accessible doorway. I walk on a little path, through the darkness beyond the door, into a pink path softly echoing with footsteps from something I can't see. Windows to my side open up onto the steadily lightening green glow outside.

I take a turn to the right and down to another door, down to a lower deck that's shadowed and dark before I spin the monument. The glow is brighter now, white with a tint of pink from above, the green only barely shining up from some nonexistent below. I walk across the bright-lit path, one side of the monument to the other, eyes set on the door at the end of the path.

Oh, there was a crow up there! Hi, crow! So that's what was walking. Hm, it looks like the other parts of the monument are gone now too. I didn't expect them to stop in this room. Dunno why. I cross the shallow waters, looking beautiful splashing against the shallow walkway I cross, not even barely distorting the patterns below, and up the short stairway into the door.

* * *

I see a purple leaf, hung over on it's little stem in the middle of a raised stone platform. It looks sad. The world turns.

The leaf is taller now, not much matured but still noticeably bigger. It isn't drooped over this time. The world turns.

There are two leaves now, growing off the top of a noticeably thicker stem, light pink to compliment the magenta. A little offshoot is sticking out. The world turns.

Another leaf joins the two, growing off of the start of a tiny branch, another branch below, arced up to the sky. The stem, slowly, is turning into a trunk. The world turns.

The base of the trunk is wide and strong, splitting into two branches each with many leaves and offshoots, five shimmering purple leaves in total. Roots start to form at the plants base. The world turns.

It's so much taller than before, at least two children in height, the leaves fading colors from purple to pink. The two big branches form an arc on top, the wind blowing through. The world turns.

Even bigger now, so big I can't count the leaves anymore. They rustle in the humming tones. The world turns.

It looks like a curve with one offshoot branch, just as big with a harsher angle, splitting into branch after branch. One of them doesn't have its leaf yet. The world turns.

Each upturned branch splits into two or three leaves, facing up towards the endless light. The trunk looks like it can be climbed easily now. The world turns.

I stand on a raised tiled path, looking at the tree in front of me. How far it's grown in so few turns. I feel my heart flutter at the thought, but why? Why does this tree make me feel so? I guess it's not too important. Nothing important can be crushed into words.

I hop between each tile, taking a left, heading for a button. This one's the last, I know it. I step on. The pips on the monument flip back in. High up above me, the dot in the ceiling starts to grow. Bigger and bigger, the spinning square that lets in light. Four pips on both pillars holding up the monument reveal themselves.

I reach up high, my hand glowing, and throw it to the ground.

* *

Chirping.

Not the heavy caws of a wandering crow, but the gentle chirps of a bird.

It's in my voice.

White butterflies flutter around the tree, between branches, around spreads of leaves shimmering every color there is in the pink sunlight.

The green tile path is longer now. There's the star.

This is a nice place to end.

I walk across the path, watching the tree shift its branches and fade between colors. I sit down on the star tile with a puff of dust off my dress. Pure white and glittery.

Hey… There's no blood anymore.

I feel good.

I take off my hat and reach through the wireframes. Faces of a cube, diamonds cut out. It doesn't even feel like I'm making this one. I take it out and place it above the star.

My hat rustles. What's that?

My hand reaches inside, when…

Wow…

A flock of blue butterflies, the same color as geometry, fly out of my hat and into the sky. They flutter and flap alongside the bright white ones.

I lie down on the star, watching the butterflies until my eyes fall.

Chapter Text

I fall back.

Through stone and darkness, I twist the ground and run.

Monuments fall around me, everything glowing as it moves best it can, forming a path between the rubble.

It all feels empty.

It hurts.

* * *

I jolt awake.

My head races with burn marks and broken blue shards.

These dreams… Fake memories, hurting my head every time I fall asleep. It always happens! I'm sick of them! I just wanna dream normally again. Well, my dreams are never normal, that's just how dreams work, I guess, but I wanna go back to my normally weird dreams please. Weird gardens and clocks and plush sharks and dolls, witches with big hats, my wings and talons…

Brr, it's so cold…

…It's time to get up.

I push myself to sitting, looking up and around. So that's why it's so cold… Everything is made of blue-gray ice, tiled patterns cut into the paths scattered around a frozen sea, melting into the starry blue sky above.

Where do I go first? Uh… Um… That way!

I head over to a giant chain reaching far down into the blue. A gray bridge spins around, turning over to the next part of the monument as I step on a pattern on the floor. There's the first button! I carefully walk across the path, stepping on the rounded square switch, suddenly rising high to another path. I step off, and the previous bridge thing disappears back down.

Huh, there's two buttons now. I turn left to one of them. Down below, a bridge rises up. That doesn't seem important right now. I step off and over to the other button on the right. A valve pops out above me, out of some abandoned overpass. Overpass is a word, right? I spin the valve. The chain ri-

no, no that isn't…

bright golden yellow, with pips on the side…

oh…

oh no, i can't…

everything is b-blurry now…

N-no, no, everything is ok. Part of them survived, so that means they're completely ok. Nothing is wrong. Nothing is wrong. Nothing is wrong.

T-this is when I use the other button, I think. I move the b-block off of the chain, and stand on the button I first pressed down. I slide the golden c-cube across the ice. At it reaches the lower bridge, it rises. I can step on it. My breath hitches. Here I go.

The golden material, hard yet soft, cold yet…

It isn't warm.

It's just a chunk of icy metal.

…

I move the block off the button. We descend, and head back towards the bridge. I kneel and sit off the side of this cube. It feels so dead. I guess it is, in a sense. I expected to be wailing, banging my head on the floor, but I just feel…

I don't feel.

What's wrong with me?

This is terrible. I have to go.

We move to the pattern. The bridge spi-oughhhhhh…

my head feels like splitting…

My vision flashes in so many colors, my mind is racing, I can remember something, I can't-

* * *

It's white.

My head is ringing. I try to sit up.

My vision swims with aching fire, like it's layered over what's really there. Blurry scenes of something bad happening try and force their way into my sight.

I shake my head. They aren't real, they aren't real, they aren't real. I just have to distract myself from it! Yeah, that sounds right.

I slide my cube over to a jutted-out ledge and step off onto the path now next to me. If I'm guessing right, that button probably raises that light gray bridge I can just barely see way down in the water. I round two corners, walk down some stairs, and… Caw! The bridge came up!

…Did I just caw?

I raise a fist to hit myself.

Wait… There's nobody to judge me here. Nobody to make me feel bad about this. I can be whoever I want! And if I wanna caw, I'm gonna do it! Caw! That feels so nice to do, I wonder why? Well, I won't complain!

I slide the cube over to the patterned turny bridge. I need to come up with names for these… It squeaks against the floor as it reaches another button. There it goes! I move it forward again, it'll reach something, right? Oh, yup! As it hits a button, a sunken two-layered bridge lowers down. There's something down there, I can feel it. Glowing with invisible energy like everything else I can move. Onto the bridge it goes, as I shift the other block off of its button. Oh, it's another piece. I repeat the process. Up it comes, and-

i-is it…

that eye, did it m-

…are you alive?

I stare at it.

it blinks.

Totem… I’m so sorry this happened to you, how do I help you? What can I do…

Do I just stack them up again? Y-yeah, I'll try that.

I slide the unmarked cube onto their head, and move them over to a button on the far side. Their eye is half closed. Are they annoyed with me? I can't see very well through the tears in my eyes.

W-when did I start crying?

I don't wanna…

No, this is good, crying is good, I d-don't like holding everything in. I let the t-tears fall. Into the ice, they melt into frost.

As a cube hits the button, the whole monument rises, one path overlapping with the way back to me. That one isn't retrievable anymore, but I can bring the e-eye to me. It slides onto the pattern. In a second, it's here. I walk around the pathway, running at it, hugging the chilled stone like it's the only thing left in the world.

I feel so happy. I don't care if they hate me now, I just want them to be okay.

I blink hard.

I gasp.

Impossible worlds coming to an end, crumbling into the bounds of reality. A vast series of bridges and homes, all connected by the same strange geometry I've been walking through all this time, fizzle out into some unknowable aether. Blue tinted marvels wash away in the monochrome sea, while others sink deep below the ground.

I fall against the block in front of me. It all goes white.

* * *

Urgh! Why is this happening? My head hurts! Oh, now that I'm off the button I can get that other cube. Great. That sentence was so boring, I need to be interesting for my own sake! I don't wanna be bored here!

I slide the eyeless cube onto the bridge and jump on the button, bringing it up to my height. Just a little moving around, and boom! Totem is now a little stack. Way shorter than before, but it's an improvement. Hm, where to now… Over there? Yeah, that sounds good. I walk down the path and up a big staircase, bringing Totem with me on a side path. I wonder why they can't climb stairs?

As expected, the pattern turns this bridge around to the next path. It looks kinda like a ribcage. Old bones waiting in darkness.

…Hey, that's what the ghost lady said! I guess we thought of the same thought.

As I step on a button in front of me, a small bridge rises to let Totem across. I slide them over to another button. There are a lot more, I'll have to make some kinda sequence. There's another golden piece of Totem at the end.

Hmm… Ah!

I slide off Totem's eye block, moving that to the next button, and I walk over to the last one in the pattern. Now I can bring the other cube over! That was fast. Too fast… I should have taken more time, enjoyed the feeling of solving another puzzle instead of rushing past. But how can I do that when it was so simple? This monument better have another part to it. The block slides past me as I step off my button. The one with pips all 'round slides on top, and I follow it to the next part of the bridge. I swing down the ladder as the eye lands on top of the stack, and boom! All done for now.

The first button I stepped on rises the first and last bridge, Totem sliding across it. I step on the pattern. Tic tic tic tic, down the stairs I go. Don't have talons (I want them so bad) but I like making the noise with my mouth.

Wait, am I gonna pass out again? No, I don't wanna! I shut my eyes. One… Two… Three… Four… Am I safe? I'm safe!  Woo! I walk over to the very last pattern bridge.

My head is a little hurty right now…

Oh no.

No no no no no NO NO NO NO

Flashes of disaster break into view. My eyes bleed and ache, trapped in a past that I've never been in. I fall against the pattern and shiver.

Everything goes blurry, and is swallowed in the dark.

* * *

Agh… Eww, there's snot everywhere… What's going wrong? I've never had those dreams force their way into my mind before, just when I sleep. What does the valley want me to see? What's so bad that its forcing its way back into the present? What…

What happened here?

I don't think I can just ignore it anymore, I have to find out. But how…

Well, I've gotten a vision like that every time I've gotten a block, right? There must be another pattern around here too. Yeah, I'll just get the last part of totem back!

I slide off Totem's head, down the path and onto an interesting-looking gray thing. I step forward. Oh, there's a button! A valve pops out of the structure. I can't see it, but I can tell it's there. I spin Totem around to the wall. They look annoyed.

"sorry…" I call. It doesn't respond in any way I can tell.

I slide them down into the water, onto a small spinny thing I can barely see. Spin goes the valve! The water, though clear, makes it a bit hard to see the path. I force it across the twisting stone, onto a pillar that I know goes down with a turn of the valve. There they go. I slide them over to something else, something I can't see, but something I can feel is there. The valve turns. They slip further away from my softly glowing eyes. I can't tell what I’m doing, but I hope it works.

Slide that, slide that, turn the valve, slide, turn it again, there! Hi down there! I hope you don't mind me putting another block on you. You must feel so mismatched, I'm sorry, I should have asked first.

I slide them close, turning them to the side, before they're turned upright just like how they like it. Or at least how I think they like it? Do they like it? Do they even like me moving them at all? I'm sorry, Totem, but I don't really have a choice. I mean I could jump in the ice, but I don't wanna die right now. They follow along as I move their base two cubes over.

Plop! Hehe, you look so funny like that! It kinda reminds me of something, two blocks, the eye, then another block on top. They look so familiar like this. They look like-

* * *

"Eeeeeeeeeeey!" A woman shouts, waving, voice bouncing across white-patterned architecture.

The blue and orange totem stands tall atop the gap between them. It glides across the impossibly smooth paths beneath it, barely a noise coming from the dust kicked up. It's pips shine with no brightness, the Totem has no need.

A fading orange dress, like a flower hanging and blowing in the wind, catches some dust as the woman wearing it walks along the tiles to sit next to the Totem's big eye near the center of its body. Her legs swing. She begins to talk, flowered words spilling from her mouth and into the softly flowing air. Stories of her life in the past few days, of the ideas swirling throughout her head, of the worlds she's been able to show her beloved red-hooded daughter.

The stones of the Totem hop up and down. The woman laughs. It's a laugh filled with much joy, not one born off of a joke, but of pure happiness in the moment. The air is filled with her vocal song.

Orange skylight falls on the two, the ground sucking up all the color until the night sky is dark purple spattered with bright white stars. The voice of a young child calls out from the black sea above. Far across the waves, the woman's daughter, red dress wrapped tightly around her, wet with saltwater, calls out for her mother atop her tiny sailboat. The mother, Ro, hears her. She closes her eyes. It may be lonely, but her daughter must travel her path alone.

Ro lies down, staring up thoughtfully, a tear dripping off the side of her face.

* * *

Ro… That's a pretty name.

I sit up. Hi, Totem…

Did you used to be blue? Was that you in the dream I had, talking with that lady? Do you remember her?

Will you remember me?

...

Well, you're all fixed now, so I think it's time to finish this monument. That X shaped thing has been in the corner of my vision this whole time, and I think it's finally time to figure it out. I step on the last remaining button here, watch the bridge come up, and slide Totem over one piece at a time.

First, the block with pips all around, onto a pattern as it lights up the block it's on with a musical humming. I haven't noticed anything like that so far, is there…? Ah, just those wind chime-y noises and howling wind. Next block, the one with just two pips. Onto the pattern, and a second hum is added to the sounds, making it just a bit louder. Third, the completely smooth block, now roughed up by crashing deep into the sea. Boop! And now, Totem's head. I slide them close for one last time.

"I don't know if I'm gonna see you again… so if I don't, please remember me, ok?" I ask. Just as usual, there's no response. It's kind of comforting that way.

Well, time's up. Here we go.

I slide Totem onto the last pattern. The bridge falls without a splash. The X that Totem is on sinks, water overtaking each part at once, as a massive staircase rises from the depths. It's made of something, ice, marble, I dunno what.

The ringing is still going. The wind has stopped.

I walk towards the stairs, and begin to climb. Each step falls out of sight as I go higher and higher, taking a left, then a right, then a left again. Decorative lines adorn the sides of the plus-shaped bridge in front of me.

I step forward into the center.

The ground lights up gold and blue. The pillars, now spiraling around me, fall away, revealing the golden tower I'm standing on.

I can't stop smiling. I start to cry.

The ground booms into place. I run off of the cube I'm standing on, down the pathway, and throw myself at Totem's base, crying uncontrollably.

I can't speak. I don't want to. I just lean against them for as long as I can.

…

…

…

I'm glad you're ok.

"goodbye…" I whisper. It's the only thing I can say.

I run back on top of Totem's head, and slide us to the star. Clouds waft around us. The shimmery stars above shine through. I take off my hat, and hold it in front of me. The geometry reforms without a second thought, growing back, returning to its former glory. It floats above the star.

Wait, what's that?

Ah… The observatory? This must be the final monument here too, then! I pat Totem on the head. I guess this is goodbye. I expected to be sadder, but I'm more happy they're ok.

I rest my head against the star, and close my eyes.

* * *

A blue glow.

I get up without thought, dragging myself to it.

I fall against the ground. It hurts.

What is this? It can't be a dream, but I thought these monuments were over.

I look up. That ghost. Here to berate me again, or give me useless information, or something. Let's just get it over with.

I stand.

"Princess," she says, though I don't deserve that name. My head aches with memories of times I never had. "Why have you returned? These monuments, this shore, the disasters that we have suffered, it was not meant for you." Her voice is devoid of malice, at least that I can tell.

"...what happened here?" I say back. Now's as good a time as ever to ask.

The ghost is silent for an uncomfortable while.

"The faults of man corrupted us, blinded us. We were too ignorant of our flaws, too prideful in our creations, and in the end, our valley ended the same way as any other civilization." Her voice is laced with sorrow.

"Through bloodshed."

Oh... that sounds terrible...

"Our sacred geometry, that which we once thought untarnishable, fell, stripped of their glory, like the monuments that yet still stand."

That's sad... Why did they fight? Were they jealous? Afraid?

"You arrived, once ago. I know not how our geometry ended up in your hat, and even less how one as young as you arrived here alone. You restored the monuments, and saved those who once brought this valley to its knees. I must apologize for being angry at you at first. You did not deserve it."

Wow... Thank you...

"And then, you came back. Washed up on the shores of a monochrome beach, these long-forgotten monuments left to rot after their destruction. This place, all these places you have visited this time, they were once forced into a battleground. And now they exist as a graveyard."

...

"…But regardless, these monuments are, too, restored. Your job is done, even if it was not yours to do. Now, princess, regain your title." She says in a flowery tone. Regain my… She said something a while ago, right? Something about my crown being restored? Hm… I take off my hat, and reach around inside.

"Look up, princess. The sky awaits your flight." The ghost points upwards. Sacred geometry flows throughout the nighttime sky. "Well? What are you waiting for?" She tilts her head. I look around. I guess there's nothing waiting for me here…

I jump up and flap my arms powerfully.

Whoosh!

Into the stars, I melt through the light. The valley sparkles below me.

I see two crows, standing at the edge of a massive tower.

I see a tree, twisting and reaching up from the depths of nowhere.

I see Totem, their top cube bouncing and glowing with gold.

I see a ghost, waving up, a flute by her side, fizzling away into the darkness.

I see the valley, alight with endless sunset, the glow of past disaster finally beginning to fade away.

I see…

* * *

I jolt awake.

A bag lies next to me, full of waterlogged trinkets, in the middle of a dried up riverbed.

Oh, right, that…

I had almost forgotten.

How long has it been since I first washed up on the shores, anyway? If my bag is still soaked, not long, at least. A day or two? At least eight of my wake-ups. But does time work differently in the valley? No, it seemed accurate the last time I came back...

Oh, it doesn't matter that much.

I pick up the bag, swinging it over my shoulder.

Where was I going? Where do I go? What do I do now? Hm…

I see the mountains in the distance, edges illuminated by moonlight. I think that's a good goal. I like goals, but not goals set too far in the future.

Wait, am I hurt or anything? I check all over my body. No blood, no scabs, just skin and…

Feathers…

I look at my arms.

White feathers, just starting to grow.

I drop the bag and hug myself. It feels so nice. I let out a caw.

So they do grow back! Now I don’t have to worry if I lose them.

I pick up the bag again and set off for the road. I'll have to keep to the sides, but I don't mind. I just need to get to the mountains. What will I do when I'm there? I dunno. I'll figure that out when I get to it.

I look up into the sky, my other feathered arm clutching my hat, running my fingers through the imprint of a crown on the base.

I walk towards the road, to the world beyond.