I go outside to hunt, as well as keep an eye out for the humans. I spend some time outside, not finding much. But... something is wrong. I look up. The blank space above me, the sky... it has changed colours. It's getting... darker?
Anxiously, I start retracing my steps back home. I'm pretty far, and as I keep walking, I realise that it's progressively getting darker. What's happening? Are we going to die? I run, and by the time I make it home, it's gotten so dark I can barely make out shapes anymore, only the sky is visible, a dim, faded version of it's usual colours.
"What is happening?" Arbella says. "It is black everywhere."
"I not know." I say. "Be close." I pick up Dinna, who is starting to cry.
"We is going to die?" Bansel asks.
"No." I say, although I can't know for sure. I can only hope.
The darkness lays over us for a long time. We talk to try to prevent anyone from panicking. We talk about the almers and where they might have come from, and those almer humans, if they really are humans, and the changes that have been happening. And then about family.
"Can I make humans?" Bansel asks.
"I not know." I answer. "Maybe."
"Can I try?" he asks.
"You not have woman to try with."
"I try with Arbella!" he says.
Arbella laughs. "No. I make humans with Armun."
"I try with almer humans!" he says then.
I laugh, but I think about it too. Will Bansel be able to procreate? Then the family will grow even bigger. But I don't know who he would do it with...
The darkness begins to lift. I look outside cautiously. The sky is slowly beginning to regain it's light. It seems nothing bad happened...
Arbella sighs with relief. "It is finished."
It's light enough to see again, and I step outside, looking around. Near our home, we keep a pile of all the bones and skins that we haven't used for anything. I see some kind of motion behind the pile. I take a few steps closer, carefully looking what is there, until I see it; the two almer humans we saw earlier are hiding behind the pile, laying on top of some skins. And they are lying still with closed eyes. Are they... dead? I carefully poke them. There's no response. I poke them a little harder. I can see now that they are a man and a woman.
The woman opens her eyes slowly, looks up, then jumps away from me, looking shocked. I stay still, trying not to appear threatening. I hold my hands up and step back. The other one also opens his eyes. I stay still, until it seems clear to them that I'm not dangerous. I hold my hand up as I step towards the home, trying to signal them to stay there.
"They is here." I say, as I go inside to pick up some meat.
"Can I see?" Bansel says.
"Not now." I say.
Arbella comes with me outside, and I come back, and give them the meat. I eat some of it to show them what to do with it. They seem apprehensive, but do the same. They seem to notice that it improves their condition.
We bring them to our home and show them what we have built. Our home is quite big now. They seem confused, maybe they don't realise that we actually built it, and it wasn't just there.
"What do we tell them?" Arbella says.
"They not understand words." I say. "We show them hunting."
We pick up some bones to give to them.
"Should we give sharp bones?" Arbella says. "What if they attack us?"
"I not think they attack us." I say. Why would they..? They look just as confused as we used to be.
We bring them with us outside and find some anims, fighting them and killing them. We teach them all we know, sharpening bones, skinning anims, building. We try to teach them a few words too, but it's difficult.
They become less afraid and seem to trust us. It seems we ended up getting some new friends after all.
The time goes quickly, but before we know it, the sky is starting to become dark again. I frown and look up. "Now dark is coming again."
The humans notice it too, and go into the home. I sigh. We'll have to wait out another darkness... I don't understand where it's coming from or why it's happening... everything is changing so much... I'm about to go inside, but then I see... something. It's not completely dark yet, but it's become less visible, and somewhere down the way, there's something... light? I carefully walk closer. Something had come up from the ground. It looks kind of like a mapong, but different, and instead of lua, there is something else growing on it. Little edged objects that give off light. I hold my hand closer, and see my hand become illuminated. I carefully pick one of the growths off the branches. It feels hard and smooth, and it's slightly transparent. I pick a couple more of them, and bring them back home. "Look." I say.
"Wow!" Bansel comes over and looks at them. "Can I have?" I give him one of them and he looks at it.
"What is it?" Arbella asks.
"I not know. I found it outside." I say. The strange plants glow, and illuminate our room, despite it being dark outside. "Now darkness is not in our home."
"Good." Arbella says. "I not like darkness."
I give one of them to Dinna. She stares at it in wonder.
Then I turn and look, seeing the almer humans, lying on a small pile of skins. They're doing the strange thing they were doing when I found them before, where they looked like they are dead, but aren't.
"I not know what they is doing." Arbella says. "They laid down and now they lie there."
"They did before, also. I not know either." I say. "I think they stand up again when darkness goes away."
We decide to leave them be, and instead place a few of the light stones around the home to spread out the light.
We wait out the darkness, and the light starts to come back. And the almer humans stop lying down, like I expected. It's strange...
We eat and drink something, then we spend some more time showing them the area, and we show them how to climb the wall. They come up, looking around the endless maze. They look like they have a similar feeling as I did the first time. I admit that I still don't like being up here. It's just endless... there's nothing more than this.
But it makes me think about the new things. The almers, the almer humans, the darkness, the light plant. Things are actually changing now... I don't know why, but they are. So... after all, the world we have grown used to is not all there is. There is more for us to discover, more for us to do. I feel slightly more hopeful as we descend the wall again.
The following time, the new humans live with us, learning to get used to this world. We keep trying to teach them words, and they start to pick up some. More darknesses pass by... it seems this will be a regular occurrence now.
We taught them our names. After a bit, it looks like they've picked some names too. The woman is called Filiny and the man is called Gatyk.
They managed to hunt for themselves now. I've went with them a few times. I noticed that their dark, muted colour makes them less noticable in the surroundings, compared to my light colour. During the next darkness, I look at some uam skins lying in a pile. I try to drape them around my body, poking a sharp bone through them to keep them together.
"Why do you put skins on?" Arbella says.
"So it is harder for anims to see me." I say.
"Good idea." she says.
We decide to put skins on all of us, even Dinna, just in case she manages to slip outside of the home. Speaking of... she is starting to get bigger now. She even started saying some words... mostly just our names. She's taking longer to learn than Bansel did, though. And she's getting better at walking. It won't be long until I'll have to take her outside too.
The next day, Arbella is struggling to get up. She is very far along. Will she have the new human now? I sit next to her, and tell Bansel to take Dinna outside and keep an eye on her.
I see it coming. It takes a while but eventually, Arbella holds our new human. It is another woman. I look at the small face, which looks upset and crying. We give her something to eat and she calms down a little.
"She is beautiful. What is her name?" Arbella says, smiling.
We take some time to decide, then we name her Ellei.
Bansel and Dinna come inside again. They look at their new family member.
"Hi!" Bansel says. "Say something!"
"She can not talk." Arbella says.
"Is something wrong with her, like with Dinna?" he says.
"Bansel!" I say. "There is not something wrong with them. They is too small to talk. When you were small you did not talk either."
"Oh." he says.
Filiny and Gatyk come home after a hunt. They are surprised to see what's happened. They don't seem to understand... we try to explain to them how we procreate, but they still aren't very good at the language, so it's difficult. We try our best, and we think they get the idea.
I look around the room. Arbella, Bansel, Dinna, Ellei, Filiny, and Gatyk... it has become quite crowded. We've moved the walls and expanded the home several times, but even then... I start thinking about when I first arrived and I was all alone. It feels so distant now. And I'm glad.
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