Episode 131 - Chasms

## Chasms

A black background with a sparce white border made of random dots and lines. Within the border a scene of a clawed hand depicted in red breaking through a sheet of ice, depicted in white. Below this image but still within the border the words "131.CHASMS" are depicted in white

### Author

William A. Wellman

Percy flies with the storm, Winona waits on a friend, and Hector wakes up. The theme of tonight’s episode is Chasms.

> ***Content warning**: Animal death (Dogsmell as usual), Death + Injury, Yet More People Made Out of Human Skin, Bugs, Alice is Full of Fireflies, Strangulation/suffocation, Body horror, Waking from a Coma, Car Crashes*
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## Intro - Hard Fall

Nikignik speaks to the Dreamers of someone who every day walked across a frozen body of water, but today it had cracked beath their feet and they had fallen in despite it having given no signs that it may give way. They felt the plunge, the light drowning out and the ice entombed them. They felt the crushing weight as the ground around them crushed the air from their lungs, they can only wait for the oxygen to run out as the black ocean began to seep through the ice around them.

Nikignik soars though the now dying storm that Olivier Song summoned in Epsiode 124 - Educations. Along with them flies Clara Martin, Percy Reed (see Episode 128 - Haunts), and Dogsmell as they look for the patch of ice that Diggory Graves fell into in Episode 122 - Creeps.

## Story 1 - A Girl and a Ghost

Percy Reed flies through the Blizzard summoned in Epsiode 124 - Educations on the back of Clara Martin's broom stick, along with Clara and Dogsmell. He asks her is she was there for Riot Maidstone or if she'd been sent by Downing Hill Public Library, telling her that he knew Olivier Song was originally meant to be sent as well. Clara realises that this meant both Riot and Olivier were also in the tundra, stating as much, but Percy tells her he didn't know where they were as they'd all gotten split up (see Epsiode 124 - Educations), and space "*forgets itself*". Clara tells her that this phenomenon was a result of something called Indie Radiation, explaining to Percy what it was and that the library had shown her how to navigate it (see Episode 115 - Fishes).

Percy goes quiet and contemplates a future where he was left to wonder the blizzard forever with Clara, only to find relief when he looks down and spots the suit Oswald Biggs Botulus had given him in Episode 93 - Mirrors buried beneath the ice. He points it out to Clara, and she flies down the ground above it. Percy calls out for Diggory Graves, telling them that he'd brought help, but finds a hole where Diggory had used to be (see Episode 129 - Cats). Clara points out that they must have carved their way out, and Percy tells her that he knew where they're gone, that he and her were going to have to follow them North.

### Interlude 1 - Hiking Alone

Nikignik tells the Dreamers to never go hiking alone, as there were a great host of dangers that awaited the nature lovers of the Hallowoods. They explain to them the mundane dangers, dangerous environment, lack of food or water, wild animals. He tells them that there were worse things still in the woods. They might get tripped and hooked by Froglins (see Episode 6 - Frogs), find themselves standing in the den of a faceless fox (see Episode 49 - Rescues) or the burrow of a ravenous mole (see Episode 122 - Creeps), get kidnaped by the Blackwood Coven and by used for parts in rituals, or they may be pulled into the roots of a Watching tree. A friend may save their life in these situations, of the forest would feed twice.

## Story 2 - Waiting on Alice

Winona Carline sits in her van outside of Alice's house waiting for her to come out. Elena Alder sat in the driver's seat, and in the back sat Amelia Abbott and Tattery Stabbs. Winona questions what was taking her so long, telling Elena to honk again, but Elena tells her that she would have heard the first time, and they could see her inside. Amelia tells them that they were going to give her another minute, Tattery stating that they could go in, but Winona tells them that they would scare her and make them take longer to get her back together, telling them that Alice was sensitive. Elena asks why they were inviting Alice on a dangerous mission if she was sensitive, but Winona tells her that she needed people who wouldn't faint at the sight of Downing Hill Public Library.

She tells them this was why Amelia was there, as she knew the library as well as she did (see Old Bindings). Amelia tells Winona to please tell her they were not going into Dowing Hill with her chosen crew, Winona tells her that she hoped it wouldn't come to that, but Zelda Duckworth was headed to the library (see Episode 128 - Haunts) and she was more likely to get there the longer that sat there. Winona goes for her khopesh (see Episode 29 - Strangers) to check inside the house, Nikignik breaking character for a moment to curse her for using it for something so trivial. Alice exits the house before Winona can finish her incantation, climbing into the van. Winona asks what had kept her, and Alice explains that she'd had a vision of the future, describing it as "*hundreds of paths forward, spiralling. Twist like embers. Paper crackles. A scream.*". Winona tells her that she could not allow visions of the future to direct her in the present, giving the instruction to leave.

### Marketing - Day In

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts Nikigniks broadcast with her 'marketing' segment. She tells the Dreamers that she was still in the nursery room form Episode 130 - Cradles, having found that she was unable to bring herself to leave, finding that the greyness of the room felt like what she deserved (see Lady Ethel Mallory). She laments on what she was going to do when she felt like doing something again. She clang to Solomon Reed for the sake of having a friend (see Episode 105 - Dependencies), but she could hardly remember him. She wonders if he would like her now that she was more thoroughly corrupted by the black water.

### Story 2, Continued - Waiting on Alice

Winona uses her Khopesh to search for Zelda s they drive, Nikignik continuing to curse her as she does. She tells Elena that she'd spotted a car crash ahead and she thought it was Zelda's truck. Elena drives slowly until they come across the crash from Episode 128 - Haunts, pulling up beside it Elena states that it looked bad. Winona spots the remains of the camp Atticus Raven and George Writingdesk had set up, and steps out of the van. She tells the others that Zelda wasn't there anymore and thinks to herself that it seemed Zelda had made some new friend.

She turns to Elena who had also exited the van and had looked around the sight, asks her what she'd found. Elena tells her nothing, trying the back door of Raven and Writingdesk's van and finding it locked she wonders aloud what was in it. Winona tells her they shouldn't loot to much until they knew what they were dealing with, asking Alice if she'd be good to walk. Amelia asks if Winona was going up against the library, reminding her that they had her brother, so she couldn't go up against them. Winona restates that if they hurried, they might still be able to catch Zelda, Amelia tells her that she knew as well as her that some people didn't get a second chance to escape Downin Hill, but Winona tells her that they had to try.

### Interlude 2 - Eternal Lie

Nikignik tells the Dreamers that he I hoped he was making a difference, thought he was not sure if the actions he had taken had been too much or too little (see Episode 38 - A Little Static and Episode 103 - Crossroads). But the hour grew late, and the spring fast approached (see Episode 123 - Evolutions). He tells the Dreamers that he was ready to collapse, escape from what was to come, not have to oversee the destruction of the Heart of Marolmar. Though he could not now, he had tampered, and should he allow himself even a moments rest he may sleep for a thousand years. Maybe someday, when things were over, he would.

## Story 3 - Out Of Eternity

Hector Mendoza (see Episode 123 - Evolutions) lays in Zelda Duckworth's old house, now belonging to Nolan Thair and Ricou Chapman (see Episode 128 - Haunts) as his body began to heal itself via his wooden arm and leg (see Episode 85 - Roots), residing in a state of hypnagogia. He feels someone washing him with a damp cloth, and in a moment of lucidness grabs them. He asks who they were and why they were at Zelda's old house (See Episode 2 - Dogs). Nolan speaks up, although Hector is unable to see him (see Nolan Thair), he politely tells Hector that he'd grabbed his hand and asks for hm to let go, which he does. Nolan tells him who he was, how they'd found him, why they were in Zelda's old house, and explains why he couldn't see him, asking that he please not be frightened of Ricou as well.

Hector regains a little more lucidity, becoming more aware of how much pain he was in, and tells Nolan that he didn't think he was supposed to be there. Nolan tells him that he wasn't well enough to go anywhere else, instructing him to rest. Hector asks if Nolan thought he was going to make it, and Nolan tells him that he was, though Hector believes him to be lying. Hector leans his head back, though is unnoble to fall asleep.

## Outro - Chasms

Nikignik waxes poetics about chasms. He tells the Dreamers that they would pull themselves out of "here", it may take time, and some abysses required more care to escape than others, but they would get out. That was not to say that was the end of their climb, even as they took their first steps, they would find that there were other cliffs to scale, that the abyss was deeper and full of hidden passages, and it was easy to fall again. The hope was not in one day escaping their personal pits of Tartarus, but in the climb. Gradually they overcame, daily they fought for air and upwards, they strived for the sunlight.