☀ S E A S O N 1: Chapter 2

It's an extraordinarily clear night.

You can see the stars, the Dippers, every constellation. Bright red Mars. The half moon. Wisps of little clouds drift here and there, like it's a beautiful painting. The night seems quiet and still. You're reminded again of how dark it is out here, so far from civilization -- there's no streetlights here, only the orange glow from inside the House's windows -- and those faded away twenty minutes of hiking ago.

You're picking your way through the underbrush when BUNNY freezes up like a rabbit.

She looks left. She looks right.

"Did you hear that?" she asks.

DREW, REESE, AUGUST, MOUSE, and ROWEN freeze up. KAMAL slowly picks up a branch. "I didn't hear anything," he says.

REESE shifts. "Like... a voice or something?"

BUNNY nods. "Yeah... Not close. I couldn't figure out what it was saying."

REESE shivers. The forest seems to grow colder. "...The hell did that come from? Sounds human?"

There's silence.

"How haunted is this Temple?" asks AUGUST.

You continue through the forest as fog begins to roll in. The ground is sloping up, and REX points at the hill.

"There," he whispers. "A splendid vantage point."

Crouching low, you creep up to the crest of the hill. The treeline has completely stopped; there is just rocky ground on the slope downward, where, rising out of the fog, you see...

A black obelisk.

The tower is huge, made of pure, glossy onyx. It juts up from the fog almost threateningly, rising high above you, blocking out the moon.

Otherwise you see nothing of interest below -- it is completely obscured by swirling, endless fog. It is extremely cold here.

"...It's quiet," murmurs REX. The wind whistles, low and mournful and empty.

"This is ominous as hell, dudes," AUGUST says.

"Voices," REESE whispers. "The voices are just, like, gone... I mean, I hear voices, but this isn't like that..."

"Indeed not," says REX, his eyes glued to the tower rising before you. "...I'd like to get a closer look."

MOUSE's eyes are wide and round. "But -- you just said... perimeter..."

He shakes his head. "This is useless. We can't even see the front door, thanks to this blasted fog. This matches the scrolls exactly, but they have no drawings of the entrance... Let's move slowly."

"I— I thought we — we— we— geez, were just scouting..."

"Shhh," he snaps. "I've waited this long. I'm not returning empty-handed."

The fog grows thicker as you make your way nearer to the Temple of the Black Sun.

You move down into the valley toward the obelisk. As you descend into the fog, it enshrouds you entirely.

It looks like you're in a snowfall. You can see all of the parolees as well as REX, but the further you look, the white wraps around everything. You can perceive dim shadows here and there. You continue heading in the direction of the Temple.

It's cold. As you walk, it gets colder. You feel your heartbeat picking up in your chest. This places feels wrong. Frightening. Your pulse continues to rise as anxiety thrums at your soul...

And with every step, it quickens more and more.

Unnaturally so. This situation is stressful, but with every step it feels like someone is cranking a winch tighter, and tighter, and tighter --

And suddenly, you're reminded of the feeling of driving toward the front gates for the first time. That unnatural force playing at your emotions. Like this.

Then, suddenly, a shadow appears in the mist. REX bumps into it and yelps, stumbling, to see --

A person.

A pitch black person.

Eyes, hair, skin, clothing. All of it is as black as the onyx obelisk ahead. The whiteless eyes stare unseeing at you. The figure does nothing but look at you. Shift slowly to the left. Gaze into the fog.

All around you, you spy similar dark shapes.

The pitch-black figures barely move. They stand or kneel in the fog, staring in all different directions, swaying gently with the breeze. The fog is so thick that you can't see the details in the ones that are far away, but now that you've recognized one, you realize they're all the same.

People. People with melanism -- but it's more than that.

Husks.

The fear hits you like a physical blow, making your knees buckle. You drop your belongings as you collapse to the ground. The terror is an irrational, overpowering force that instantly strips away all defenses. Those of you who can still move your legs struggle to rise, making it to your knees when a second wave of fear washes over you, more powerful than the first. REX is on his hands and knees, quivering.

You hear footsteps.

This surpasses the fear of death. Death would be a mercy if it would make the feeling stop, the uncontrollable panic mingling with the mind-scrambling certainty of something sinister approaching, something with no need to hurry, something that would not be so kind as to let you die.

As you slowly fight to grow accustomed to the fear -- the paralysis refuses to abate -- you see a figure approaching through the fog.

An emaciated, raggedly dressed man with a large thorn protruding from the side of his neck slowly moves nearer, dragging his feet. His skin looks sickly, leprous, with open sores and blotchy discolorations.

"Ah," says REX in a strangely smooth and calm voice. Almost curious. "A lich. Marvelous. Well this makes a lot more sense, now doesn't it..."

And then, like a puppet with strings cut --

REX collapses.

He groans on the ground. He stirs, still trembling and unable to stand.

"What..." he rasps. "W-where are we?"

Screaming echoes through the House.

"YES, I'M IN HERE!" CARRIE shrieks. Half-dressed, she stumbles over a chest of drawers while lunging for a bedsheet to cover herself, as KEN stands in the doorway of her bedroom. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

KEN jumps. "Hey hey -- I was just coming to check on you! The door was unlocked so I assumed...” his voice trails off, and he shakes his head. “I don’t know, shit's been crazy around here lately.”

"SHUT! THE! DOOR!"

"...Ah." KEN shuts the door with his foot.

He hears some thudding and stumbling. After a few moments, CARRIE opens the door. Her hair is down, tangled like a rat's nest, and she wears a white tank top, sweat pants, and dirty socks.

"What?" she asks, frazzled. "What is it?"

He smiles back. "Like I said, I was in the neighborhood, just checking in. You seemed uh...” He rubs his neck. “Edgy? After the whole Templar-Temple-talk-thing.”

"Yeah," she says shortly.

They look at each other for a long moment.

CARRIE opens the door to let him in.

The harpy's brow furrows slightly, but he keeps his relatively upbeat demeanor. He keeps talking to fill the silence. “It’s not so bad though, is it? I mean, you’ve been the Keeper here forever. You’ve dealt with worse!"

CARRIE closes the door behind them. She shrugs, clearly uncomfortable. "I don't know. I'm only... me."

KEN thinks for a minute before walking over. “Look. C'mon. You’re hardly ‘only’ you. I mean, hell, if it hadn’t been for you I’d probably be dead in a ditch somewhere.” He chuckles a little, a bit uncomfortable, but it’s apparent he’s being genuine. ”You uh... you changed a lot for me. You really did.” He swallows. “I haven’t forgotten what you said to me that night.”

CARRIE is very, very still.

"Oh...?" she asks. Her voice is very neutral. "You... do?"

“Of course I do.” He smiles softly back at her “How could I forget something like that?”

There's the smallest hesitation. Then CARRIE shrugs a big shoulder. "I'm just glad it... helped," she replies, the barest hint of a question at the end of her voice.

His brow furrows slightly. “Yeah..”

There's an odd moment between them. Then, KEN shakes his head and livens up. “But that’s what I’m saying. You’re uh.. you’re pretty great, CARRIE. You’re the Keeper for a reason.”

And as he says it, for some reason, a lump appears in CARRIE'S throat. "Mhm," she says. "Thank you." She takes a breath. "...I hope you're right."

"Don't sweat it!" KEN says, puffing his chest. "I know I am." Earnestly, KEN flings his arms around her broad frame. He rocks a little in the hug.

There's a long, long moment before CARRIE's arms lift to encircle him in return.

The sound of REESE's screaming echoes through the trees.

"FUCK YOU, you stupid fucking hobo looking piece of crap! Fucking wise-ass tricking us all the way into the goddamn woods when I'm four fucking hours behind my own stupid sleeping schedule...!"

The lich has finished draining the green grass created by MOUSE's desperately-flung Grass Potion into a patch of withered blackness. Satisfied, it begins its slow stagger toward the paralyzed parolees once more.

With every bit of strength in him, REX lifts his head.

"You've got to get back to the House," he gasps. "Tell them what... What happened. I don't know how I got here. It had to be Templars. It *had* to be. This is it. This is where the Key is."

"IF we get out of here I'm going to dig up your cold dead ass and turn your bones into plant food! You fucking stupid shit eating FUCK..."

REX reaches into his shirt and pulls out something that is familiar to some of you. It's his once in a lifetime get out of jail free card: his Yggdrasil seed.

He tosses it to BUNNY.

"Crack it open," he gasps. "Now. Go."

"N-no," says BUNNY. "N-no! Wait, no, REX, M-MOUSE, you have to--"

"TOBY," MOUSE groans into the cell phone she clutches in trembling hands. "I'm -- oh, God -- help! We need help!"

"MOUSE, keep talking to me, you need to stall for time --"

And REX brings his hand down onto the rocky ground so hard that you hear a crack. He howls in pain, and, in the moment of lucidity, flings himself at the lich, wrapping his arms around it like a twisted hug.

The moment he does, his entire body begins blackening.

BUNNY is wailing, clutching the Yggdrasil seed in hands wet with her own blood; MOUSE babbles into the phone. All KAMAL can do is clutch BUNNY's free hand as hard as he can...

...and BUNNY cracks open the seed.

Immediately, a sphere of shimmering gold light spreads from it and surrounds the parolees. The sphere is not large; you can barely cram in, and even some ears or elbows are poking out. But the moment you're inside, you're filled with warmth. The paralysis and fear dissipates. So does any fog inside the sphere. It's almost sunny.

From behind the shimmery gold barrier, you see the last of REX's body turn black -- even his clothes. His arms, which were locked around the lich, drop limply to his sides. He looks in your direction, but not at you, his eyes emotionless and pitch black.

It's almost peaceful inside the golden light.

The moon is still shining above. The wind whispers around you, stirring your hair.

Slowly, BUNNY straightens up, holding the cracked seed shell in her hands, and wipes her face. She doesn't look back at REX's husk.

"Come on," she whispers. "We should go."

Everyone in the House is awake when AUGUST, REESE, ROWEN, DREW, BUNNY, KAMAL, and MOUSE make it back to the Yard. TOBY woke them all and told them what he knew. There's a fire in the fireplace, and every surface in the living room -- couches, tables, counters, armchairs, even shelves -- are covered in people, as the explanations begin.

He's gone, the parolees explain. REX is gone.

He was drained dry, they say. He was killed by a lich.

He said this must be the place. He said he thinks the Key must be inside. We don't know what that means.

We think he was possessed. He wasn't himself.

He gave himself to save us. He used his get-out-of-jail-free card.

It was the Templars. He said they did this.

He's gone.

He's gone.

There's a long silence, except for the logs burning cherry red and falling apart inside the hearth.

And as you watch, CARRIE covers her face with her two broad hands, and begins to cry.

There's not talk of curfew tonight. There's not even any talk of punishment. Hot chocolate appears in your hands, and blankets around your shoulders; it's CHAMP's doing, you think; it's a blur. Even MARTHA and SNEAKY are strangely well-behaved, migrating gently from lap to lap.

Eventually, CARRIE appears briefly at the top of the stairs. She's got a mustard stain on her sweatpants. It's absurd, the details you notice at times like this. Her face is very red, making her hair look more ginger than ever.

"Go get some sleep," she says quietly. "Don't worry about chores tomorrow. Just rest."

Then she turns around, and she's gone. Slowly, SUKIE and AMELIA stand and follow her lead.

After a moment, TOBY stands.

"This is a... hard night," he says, pushing through the obvious lump in his throat. "If you can sleep, go get some, but... if you can't... I'll be staying up. The Mousehole is open. You can bring blankets if you want."

He hesitates, as if wanting to add something but unsure what. He ducks his head and disappears into the kitchen pantry. You all look around at each other.

Only one thing is really sure. At long last...

The Templars are on the move.