A warm yellow glow shines in my eyes. It reminds me of a lovely, warm spring morning. A pleasant fragrance blows away the smell of burned cloth and iron. I raise my hand to block the light,
"I miss sunglasses."
Erica's voice startles me,
"If that's the only thing you miss, I think you're doing pretty well."
"I'd like a shower right about now. The fog made me feel sticky."
"I would love to get clean of this fog residue. At least it's not poisonous."
My mind thinks of all the possibilities of its long-term effects, and I suddenly start to feel sick. I look down at the dry, cracked dirt we are walking on. Amongst the scorched stumps and sticks on the ground, glimpses of scorched armor can be spotted scattered around.
I looked at ourselves and thought that our clothes would stand out, soaked in red and made from the fine weave of a machine.
"We probably should wear some armor so we don't stand out."
Erica looks at me with concern.
"But, they used to belong to people, and, well…"
"They just got teleported away. They are all probably running around naked somewhere."
With a slight chuckle, Erica smiles. "Ok, I'll grab something."
I came across this set of light, gray armor. The armor is lying on the ground as if the wearer had laid down on their back and given up. It's made up of a whole chest piece with a muddied brown cape, the legs had small bits of armor attached to cloth, and it was the same for the arms.
The helmet was a full-face helmet that looked as if it was wearing a crown with a liftable face guard. I figured I should probably have something to cover my face after putting everything on and finding that it fits surprisingly well. Erica has found some armor and is jogging back to me.
"Hey, look at you. You found something that fits. I didn't have much luck."
She says as we meet and start off walking again. She is wearing a long, muddied gray robe with a hood, and she's holding a mask that looks like a full-face masquerade mask, but it's white and splattered with splotches of red.
It seems a lot cooler than my helmet. I turn it around in my hands, thinking that the person who wore this must have been arrogant to make their helmet look like a crown. Then I thought out loud,
"I saw a lot of armor. Why didn't any of them work?"
I see her face shift into an embarrassed expression as she looks down to the ground. I followed her eyes to the ground but didn't see where she was looking. I return to her gaze and realize she wasn't looking at the ground but the thing in the way. I get flustered and hurriedly apologize.
"OH! I'm sorry."
I looked away in shame. I never thought about that. I thought I saw some female armor, but they all looked much smaller… in that region.