Mary’s ‘safe place’, was a small clearing in the forest with assorted odds and ends piled at random to make a circle. She dropped off the spider webs and what looked like some sort of organ near the middle, before plopping down, out of breath. “I… I think we got away from those things.”

Ib had to agree. They were safe, at least from spiders. Even at rest, Mary still held that knife. It was a simple palette knife, certainly not meant to hurt people, and yet... Ib inched backwards, remembering the things Mary had done with that knife. If it weren’t for Garry, Mary would have… she shook her head. She couldn’t dwell on the past. She had to get out of here, before Mary lost it again. Hoping to distract Mary, she asked, “So what's all this?”

“Oh this?” Mary seemed to perk up at the interest, and got back to her feet. “Just some stuff I found… I have a feeling it’ll come in handy! We could use it for something. I just don’t know what yet.”

Ib nods, having the same vague notion. She just knew that by putting this and that together, something new could be made. Mary in particular seemed to be focusing on the webs she acquired.

“I need something else… but once I get everything, I can make another doll!” She looked to Ib, smiling cheerfully. “We’ll have another friend!”

Ib smiled back nervously, scanning the piles. The dolls… they had seemed cute at first, but like everything from the gallery, there was nothing good on the inside. This place wasn't safe. Mary wasn't safe, no matter how she acted. Mary turned back to her webs, while Ib noticed some twigs, and suddenly it just clicked. 

She could see exactly what to do with this, and hope blossomed in her. She quickly gathered two of the twigs and two tufts of cut grass, and… on bringing them together, there was an audible woosh of flame, and Mary spun around to see it, backing away with a loud yelp.

“I-Ib! Put that out!” Mary fell over backwards in her rush to get away from Ib’s new torch, dropping her knife and shaking with fear, unable to look away, as though she thought the flames would pounce on her like some dangerous beast.

Ib, for her part, was partly tempted to use it against Mary, but seeing her quivering like this… even after all that Mary had done, she couldn’t bring herself to burn her. Instead, she turned away and walked off, without a word.

Mary regained her senses as Ib started to leave, the fire’s murderous whispers fading. “Ib! Where are you going!? I-I thought...” She looks down, realizing there’s nothing she can do. “I thought we were friends...”

Madotsuki had traveled around quite a bit in the last few hours, but it was clear there was nothing but wilderness for miles, and no sign of civilization, much less her safe apartment. But there was no way anyone could just poof her away from her home, right? That was impossible. So once more, she reminded herself that this must be another dream.

A dream she was slowly getting a grasp on. Everything that died produced some sort of useful resource, and for some reason she just seemed to know how to utilize them. It just clicked- another dream sign, of course. Soon she built herself a nice fire pit around the area where she had woken up, and after discovering how bad raw food is, took to cooking it. The tastes were interesting, and she felt a quiet satisfaction in conquering her surroundings. Every creature killed was one less threat, one more victory. She felt... oddly happy.

Still, there were a fair share of monsters around here. On the east, Madotsuki had noticed series of run-down shacks, which seemed to be home to giant fish-men. She gave them a wide berth, but perhaps later she could investigate them, once she was feeling capable enough. 

Looking out that way, she thought she saw other things hidden in the marsh, and decided to stay in her safe bubble for now. There seemed to be plenty of berries, wood, plants right here. There also wasn’t too much to worry about except bees and frogs, though she could have sworn she saw a giant spider off near the woods north of her.

Looking up, she noted that time really had flown- it was afternoon, and the sun is starting to set. The sky has taken on a reddish glow, and night would soon fall. She felt a cold tendril of dread at the idea. Night tends to be when the worst monsters come out, right? Gripping her knife firmly, she steeled her resolve. “Nothing will defeat me. This is my dream, after all.”

 As the last of the sun’s light faded, night fell, all too suddenly. The birds, rabbits, and other gentle creatures all hid or slept, as creatures of the night woke up to prowl. But, there was something worse stirring. The Batter could feel its presence. Standing over the remains of a fish creature’s home, his eyes scanned for any sign of this entity, but there was, it seemed, nothing around.

Soon however, night surrounded him, rendering him entirely blind as every bit of light went out at once. The presence was much closer now, and he tried to attack where he thought it was, but he hit nothing. Instead, a savage claw ripped into him, making him stagger in pain. Quickly realizing he was in no position to fight this entity, he started running blindly. It followed him, and he heard a woman’s laughter in his ears.

He felt another claw tear into him, nearly making him fall, but he kept running. She kept pace, apparently having no trouble staying on his heels. Batter didn’t seem to be losing any blood or have any physical damage, but whatever this thing was doing, he could tell he wouldn’t survive another blow. Determined that he would at least see his killer before he dies, Batter quickly fashioned a torch.

The light was blinding after being in the night’s embrace, but he was soon able to see well enough. Even with the light, his assailant was still hidden from him. Outside of his little circle he could see nothing. A woman's harsh whisper reached his ear- “I’ll be back for you. Your ‘justice’ will be paid back in full.”

Batter turned around, but again there was nothing. The presence seemed to have vanished as well, but he could tell her words were no lie. And even if the torch protected him from her, there were likely other dangers… and he could not fight while holding the torch either. A thorny issue, but he spotted a solution- another fire lit off north of him. He started making his way over.

Mary was used to darkness in the gallery, so as the afternoon slowly turned to night, she wasn’t concerned. After her initial shock had worn off, Mary was unsure what to do. The person she had thought was her friend had run off. She had considered following her, but the memory of that fire in her hands scared her still, and by the time she had gotten over that fear, Ib was too far gone for her to even consider tracking her.

For now, she was focusing on that last item she needed to make a doll. Reeds. She had never read about such a thing in the sparse books she had read, never seen them, but somehow she simply knew it was what she needed. And she also knew there were none to be found around here. 

The only thing to do was to go searching- but now she found herself looking up at the sun as it sank, marveling at this unknown phenomenon. She had heard of the sun, and how it set to create the night and stars, but now she could actually see it! So of course, she simply had to watch.

However, the stars she had read about never came. Wherever the sun had gone, there were no lights in the sky to replace it, and suddenly Mary’s vision was entirely shrouded. She looked around frantically, but she couldn’t even see her hands in front of her. “T-This isn’t right...” She had heard about night, and there was supposed to be stars and the moon, wasn’t there? But there was… nothing.

But she could hear things around her. The sounds of the night, and one very strange noise, a sort of woosh like the wind, but somehow she knew it was something worse. She pulled her out knife desperately, holding it in front of her with both hands, trembling like a leaf. “S-Stay away from me...” She started to back away, and the noise paused. Mary exhaled in relief- only to back into a tree root, making her fall and shout.

A woman’s laugh rang through the black air as an invisible claw slashes at Mary, turning her shout of surprise into a scream of pain. She quickly scrambled to her feet, swinging wildly, but hitting nothing. Hearing the wind noise again, Mary started running.

Despite the dreamer’s words before, Madotsuki was feeling less sure of herself under cover of night. This unnatural darkness turned the landscape into a void full of mysterious and threatening sounds, the sound of unknowable terrors surrounding the girl on all sides. Her campfire keep the darkness away, but the shadows seemed to be strangely fluid, almost as though it were moving. She thought she could see white glowing eyes on occasion, staring at her.

Even worse, hands seemed to stretch out of the darkness, reaching for her fire, but retreated at her own approach, forcing her to stay at the ready constantly, despite her growing fatigue. The longer she stayed awake, the worse and worse the shadows seemed to become; she started to see large black beasts wandering on the light’s edge, crawling on many legs, but they vanished when she tried to focus on them.

Just when she thought she would snap completely, her mind was taken off the encroaching darkness by a human shout, and even that noise of distress was a relief to her. Then there was the sound of approaching footsteps, and a blonde girl about her size ran into the firelight, clearly frightened, but on seeing that she was approaching a fire, she screamed and stumbled back, shaking.

Madotsuki stowed away her knife for the moment and walked over carefully. “It’s alright. I won’t hurt you.” She tried to sound calm, but at the same time her already stressed mind was racing. This girl looked almost exactly like Poniko from her dreams, but younger. Her clothes were different, but still green, and her hair was longer, unbraided, but still blonde. Those same eyes... What was she doing here?

The girl seemed to calm down somewhat on seeing Madotsuki, and quickly stood up, legs fidgeting left and right, as if she was trying to stay out of the shadows and keep away from the fire at the same time. “I-Ib? Is that you?”

Madotsuki felt a bit relieved on hearing that. “No. My name is Madotsuki.” She didn’t know any Ib. If this girl was looking for one, she couldn’t be Poniko. But the resemblance was startling… “Anyway, just stay close. We should be safe here.”

“Right… there’s something horrible out there. S-She nearly got me...” She? Madotsuki hadn’t seen anyone else, but she made a mental note of this. “Well, she stopped following me when I got close to you. I guess she doesn’t like light.” The girl sighed in relief, seeming to calm down almost instantly. “Anyway… I’m Mary.”