“I don’t know why you're making this so difficult.” Wyatt droned on, complaining yet again about my lack of will to go outside.

I ignored him as I cleaned up all the stray cobwebs around the place. I raided the supply closet and started dusting everything. The only thing I hesitated to do was opening the blinds to let the moonlight in.

“Sapphyra.” He loved to use that tone.

“Not now. I’ll go out in a second.” He didn’t deserve any answers from me…so why am I giving them?

A pause. Wyatt’s too used to me bending to his whims easily.

“This place has been in ruins for years now. I know you’ve been in Sanctuary, but trust me, this place doesn’t need a deep cleaning. It's not like we’ll have guests over.”

Squeezing the mop's dirty water out, I shook my head at his callousness.

“This used to be our home. How can you be so heartless about it?”

“A roof and walls don’t make a home Sapph, I thought you’d have learned that by now.”

My back was turned to him; he didn’t deserve a response. That’s not enough for him though. He gets in front of me, placing his half-holographic hands over mine.

“Sapphyra…my home is with you–it always has been.” I shivered; his low, vulnerable tone caught me off guard.

I hated how natural it felt, his fingers over mine. It was too easy to get caught up in him again. Ripping myself through him, I finished cleaning the base–at least the outer areas–all too soon.

“Fine. You want us to go outside–at night, mind you–we’ll go, but you’re going to tell me why now and not in the morning.”

Hands on my hips, I narrowed my gaze at him.

Without missing a beat, he turned on his heel and started walking. 

“The morning is too crowded. You’ll be able to get a better view at night. How are your wings, by the way? You’ll need to fly.”

Oh, he had my blood boiling.

“How are my–you should know, you’re the one who cut them off!” I scoffed. As if he’d forgotten how he mutilated my body while I was asleep.

“I–what? No, I would never do that.” He appeared behind me, examining my back with scrutiny. The soft hum of disappointment never gets old from him.

“Told you.”

“This isn’t my handiwork. I would never rearrange your body like that…” His pause left room for concern.

“Finish the sentence.” I whispered, stomach dropping in anticipation.

“I wouldn’t…but I can’t help but wonder if the class system did. At its basic level, it is meant to parallel progress in power with progress in career skills–”

“I know it’s been 100 years, but you know I still can’t stand it when you over-explain, right?”

He cleared his throat. “It locked your dragon side behind your class evolutions.”

I blinked twice. He held up his hands in innocence.

“In my defense, I didn’t know it would do that.”

“Wyatt, what did you think would happen when you locked me in Sanctuary, hm? Did you think I'd just pop back out with whatever instant-win button you programmed?”

Shaking his head, Wyatt took off his glasses and wiped the lenses.

“No. There is no instant-win button, at least not from what I remember. I programmed it to give you the tools needed to rebuild civilization.”

“Uh huh, interesting. So that’s why I’m a janitor?”

“A what?”

“Master Custodian?”

“Is that what it’s called?” He places his glasses back on, rubbing his chin as my blood pressure skyrockets.

“You mean to tell me you built a program but you don’t know how it operates? What the fuck, Wyatt?!”

I threw up my hands .

“About that…I wonder if, in my rush to dump my mind out, I didn’t skip over a few vital steps to ensuring an intact memory.”

“Oh, so you’re not even the whole Wyatt, you’re the diet version.”

He scrunched up his nose. 

“Blegh, you know I hate anything diet. How can you be so cruel?”

“Don’t get me started on cruel.” I started walking towards the door on a mission.

“You’re finally going out now? Good. The moon should still be up. Now, even without your wings, you should still be able to jump fairly high.”

I stopped, feet right on the mat leading outside. My hand pressed the wall as the double glass doors mocked me. So close, yet so far.

“Why were you in Sanctuary too? Another program? Or did you just want to keep an eye on me?”

I’d probably be pissed off no matter the answer, but I hoped that with an honest one I’d be able to glean something from him.

“I’ve never been in Sanctuary, Sapphyra. I’m not sure where you gained that idea from, but…perhaps it was a reactionary algorithm. Something to help soothe you while in such a foreign environment.”

“Mm.” I smirked, giving him the bombastic side-eye. “That tracks.”

“What?”

“Well, it figures that a computer program would give me a Wyatt that was more EQ than IQ. That should have been my biggest clue that I was dreaming right there. That, and well, he had less…inhibitions.”

Even in this state, it was still adorable watching him blush. Wyatt grew up in a conservative household. Despite moving away from his upbringing, some things were still deeply ingrained in him. In fact, had he not married me, he’d probably still be a virgin now.

“Did you have to bring that up now?”

“Yes…yes, I did.” It felt good throwing him off balance like that. Now then, no more holding this off.

My fingernails seeped in between the doors. Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself and with great effort they pulled apart.

I suppose the first thing I should have expected wouldn’t have been getting hit with a ball of sand in the face, yet here I am.

“Blegh! What the hell? Sand?!” 

I shake my face back and forth, desperately trying to clear it up. By the time I could reasonably see again, the landscape made me wish I hadn’t woken up out of Sanctuary.

First off, the thing that hit me? It wasn't sand; it was an enormous ball of bugs. I know that because I’m now covered in splatters of tiny goo dots. Not sure what kind of bugs they were, but they must have been waiting here a while for a meal.

Second, my feet sank a little in the murky water. It hadn’t rained recently, not unless it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. All of Cyran City had turned into a swampland. Giant bioluminescent mushrooms grow where buildings once sat, yet the rubble beneath them tells the true story.

“Wyatt…there's no way in hell a Monolith did all this.”