Sola found himself on a barren land covered in grey dirt and draped over by a black sky. He looked around to grasp better where he was, only to find himself surrounded by old pieces of machinery. A sense of nostalgia rushed over the grey-haired man as he brushed his hands against the rusted plating of an old stellar travel vehicle. Sola could feel himself recalling but never in completion. Just bits and pieces that faded in and out, leaving as quickly as they had arrived.
He looked up at the black sky. It was not truly black, but without colour, as there was no atmosphere for light to reflect off to give it colour. Due to this Sola could only make out two things in the sky. The first was the star at the centre of the Yubila Galaxy. The second was the planet Pedtro.
The sight of Pedtro came as a shock to him. He had not seen the big blue planet from this perspective since his youth. It was then Sola began to truly understand where he was. He found it hard to believe though. He was there when this place had been destroyed. The screams of the people and the fire began to flood into his mind. Sola rushed to cover his ears and face as the smell of smoke began to fill his nose.
Amidst the screams, a singular voice cut through like a shard of glass.
"Sola! How long do you plan on staying there? Let's go!"
The screaming ceased as Sola turned his head to see where the voice had come from. He was only able to catch a glimpse of a brightly coloured skirt as it turned the corner. He chased after the skirt, hoping to catch the girl it was attached to. There was something wrong though. No matter how close he drew or how fast he moved, Sola was always a step behind. Whenever he thought he had caught up to her, he saw that skirt peek through the next corner as her voice egged him on.
His descent down the metallic labyrinth went on until he could hear the voice no longer. At that point, he had arrived at what seemed to be the centre of the junkyard. Sola looked around only to find no sign of the girl he had been chasing. He was completely alone here. There was something there that stood out. It looked like some amalgam of machinery grafted together to form a rudimentary spacecraft.
When Sola's silver eyes fell on this spacecraft, he felt an uncanny fear wash over him. He backed away from the craft as he began to struggle breathing. A severe pain came over his entire body. It felt as though his veins were being injected with boiling metal through every pore in his body. Steam began to emit from Sola's reddening skin. His vision faded to black as his eyes melted out of their sockets. The pain grew too much as Sola let loose a scream.
As he screamed, the grey-haired man jolted awake. All the birds sat on the surrounding trees and took flight from the sudden outburst. Sola sat up in his sleeping bag. It had just been a dream. The night returned to its status quo, with only crickets breaking the silence. Regardless, had felt all too real, and all too familiar. No longer able to sleep, Sola got out of his sleeping bag and started a fire so he could cook something to eat.
He was several kilometres away from Raudis, in a forest whose name he could vaguely recall. The Placeholder hung overhead, far into the night sky reflecting the light of the sun off its surface as the moon would have done. The sight of the Placeholder served as a reminder of Sola's destination; the Moonfall Mine. After the fall of the moon and the calamities that followed, the crash site had been turned into a mining facility for iron ore.
The mine was far off to the eastern part of Pedtro. It would have been easier for him to take an aircraft, but the faint pain all over his body was a reminder of why he chose not to. The form of the amalgam spacecraft lingered in his mind, sending a shiver down his spine every so often. The only option he was left with travelling on foot. It was going to be a long journey but it was one he had to make.
The smell of beans wafted through the air, indicating it was ready. As Sola reached out to take the pan off the fire, black spots suddenly appeared in his vision and his body went limp. He fell to the ground. It was as if his blood had hardened, unmoving in his veins. He remained unable to move for several minutes until he managed to muster enough will. His blood began to flow again and his vision cleared. The amount of time he had to get to the Moonfall Mine grew shorter. He needed to get there as fast as he could.
Sola groaned as he got himself back to his feet. He could not help but think about Folorunsho. Their unceremonious departure had left a bitter taste in his mouth. He could only wonder how it made him feel. Deep down, he knew it would have been better if he had Folorunsho with him to help him get to the mine. Despite this, he chose to go by himself. Even if it was a choice he was going to regret, there were things Sola knew might be at that mine he would rather no one found out.
Sola began to eat his beans in the warmth of the fire. There was no point in thinking about it. He set the empty pot aside and crawled back into his sleeping bag. Slowly, he drifted back into sleep, lulled into a reluctant slumber by the voice of a girl he could barely remember, and a pain he could never forget.