THE VINES AND ROOTS THAT ONCE swallowed the building whole were gone. It appeared as if without the presence of Sentiana, nature itself vanished from sight and never overran the building in the first place.

Kou trod carefully through the building as every step they took echoed in all directions around them. The small child looked around and the two paths they took before were nothing more than dead ends. Inspecting the dull central room, they felt a tile beneath them sink into the ground with a click shortly after.

A large segment of the wall before them receded into the floor and ceiling, revealing a dark passageway barely illuminated by strange twinkling on the walls. Peeking into it, Kou’s luminous eyes shattered the shroud of darkness within the tunnel wherever they looked before the shadows refilled the space.

As the small child entered the dark tunnel, they pulled up their sleeves and touched the walls next to them. Murals on both sides were quickly illuminated and revealed.

They walked down the tunnel, glancing back and forth between the two murals. They both appeared familiar with the journey Kou has gone on so far. Both showed a tall, lopsided building with luminescent butterflies and fireflies scattered around and what could be made out to be a vague but small child in a white coat. The further Kou went, the stranger it became. Their meeting with Abraham, the farewell with Sentiana, and even the siblings, Ehno and Fia. Everything so far was painted on this long canvas and Kou stopped in their tracks.

Afraid to continue, Kou couldn’t fathom what remained at the end of the murals. There was something different about their journey so far that both missed. A single detail that occurred which wasn’t depicted at all in either mural. Kou knew they had to move forward no matter what was waiting ahead.

Further down, the murals showed a new encounter, but the figure was too messy for any detail besides long, black hair and feathery wings. Kou thought back to their drawings and noticed the murals were similar but not childlike at all.

A howling wind came down the tunnel’s entrance and sent a strange chill down Kou’s spine as they came near the end of the two murals. From the beginning, they were the same, but the ending was different on each. The left mural showed two figures similar in height and the first one had the colors of black and red, while the other had white and blue. The small child through back to their last dream and recognized the depicted figures were the Black Rabbit and themselves. Kou couldn’t avert their gaze from it as the mural showed them passing a small blue star to the Black Rabbit. The painted figure of the White Rabbit dropped to the knees as their night counterpart vanished from the mural’s world completely, bringing back the day for Oasia.

The opposite mural showed completely different and had only the painted depiction of Kou holding the same blue star in their hands as a pillar of light surrounded them. Afterwards, it showed the child was gone and the world itself was left in eternal night.

Kou looked back and forth between the two endings. Unknowing what to think about either of them, the small child moved forward and saw a small pedestal in the center of the path.

Wisps of sky-blue light emerged from the end of both paintings and swirled around the small child. Kou’s eyes brightened as they were mesmerized by the dance of the strange light. The wisps floated away from them and above the pedestal as the light itself formed an even stranger message for them.

Will you bring back the day and forever remain in this world? Or will you head back from whence you came and leave Oasia forever shrouded in the moonlight?

Kou glanced back at the endings of the two murals. They knew neither option would benefit everyone. The light in the small child’s eyes dimmed with hesitation to answer in any way. Kou thought back to their first meeting with Abraham and the words of wisdom they were given. The child shook their heads and stared up at the floating words. Their eyes brightened with hope and determination as Sentiana’s final words echoed throughout their mind.

They refused to accept the two possible outcomes. The blue wisps swirled downward onto the top of the pedestal, forming a transparent, sapphire star that glowed its beautiful blue hue. Kou held out their sleeved hands, cupped together, and the star floated to them. Awestruck at first, they shook their head and snapped out of it. They spread their hands apart, making the star vanish from sight,

Feeling something was off about the murals, Kou ran back and checked each encounter. Unlike what they’ve experienced, neither one showed the pulses of light when they hugged them. Hopeful for what the future could hold, Kou returned to the pedestal and took a deep breath. As they walked past it, the light from the two murals faded as a howling, spine-chilling wind came blustering from behind. It was strong enough to force the small child to stumble forward. They tumbled and crashed through double doors and tripped.

Kou helped themselves up and patted the dust off their clothes as the doors slammed shut loudly behind them, causing Kou to jump. They looked around and found themselves in a place far different from the swampland of the Elkhi.

What was once a vast forest teeming with life was now a desolate wasteland of charred trees that went as far as the child’s daylight eyes could see. Some remained standing with black crisps falling off at the touch of even the weakest breeze, while others were nothing more than piles of ash or collapsed onto their sides. Not a single leaf or flower could be seen on a ground stained of black and orange. Even the quiet, starry night sky was stained by what tragedy occurred here.

Kou pulled up their blue neckerchief to cover the bottom half of their face. They carefully stepped around every pile of ash they came across. Flame-like luminescent butterflies emerged from several piles and fluttered past the small child.

Hundreds of glowing bugs formed a long trail as if they prompted Kou to follow. Each step they took caused the ground beneath them to pulse with the light of a new day. The light from the bugs themselves twinkled like the stars above.

Eventually, the long trail of bugs ended, and Kou came across a massive tree whose leaves and branches extended so far out that it blocked the shine of moonlight and twinkling stars from reaching the ground. Hundreds of scarlet and sapphire lanterns hung from the branches while their golden paper lanterns were floating around it. The massive tree with iridescent leaves were teeming with life. Many buildings and bridges were supported by the branches as a staircase curved around the huge trunk.

Mesmerized by a bright village shrouded in the shadows of a dark world, Kou ran up the stairs with joy as the warmth from the small flames of the lanterns embraced them.

As Kou explored the vast village, they saw many children younger and older than them. Fathers and mothers, parents happily guiding their children in the ways of life. Every person who has lived here had feathery, bird-like wings. A child of the village caught a glimpse of Kou and tugged on the clothes of their parents, pointing at the sudden arrival of the White Rabbit.

Kou stopped in their tracks and looked around frantically as many of the villagers were quietly murmuring among themselves with gazes of worry toward the new arrival. Confused and somewhat scared, Kou lowered their blue neckerchief and couldn’t figure out what to do next as several of the adults ran up the main stairway while others took flight to the higher levels of their village.

The murmurs grew louder and were immediately silenced as a woman in a sky-blue and black dress emerged from the crowd. She had silky, long black hair and white feathery wings on her back. Her eyes seemed reminiscent of the stars as she walked up to Kou with a warm, motherly smile.

“My name is Mania and I am the chief of this humble village,” she held out her hand to the small child. “Welcome, Kou the White Rabbit. I’m sure you have many questions flowing in your mind.”