[SWE] Where Angels Fear to Tread

remi

I had a dream about a burning house. You were stuck inside, I couldn't get you out
I lay beside you and pulled you close. And the two of us went up in smoke

Did the air here feel any different? Inhaling, the alchemist (or former alchemist, perhaps) tried to focus on any salient differences that he could. To focus on everything that was around him would be to invite madness. There were simply too many inputs for his mortal mind to comprehend. No, he needed to take this slowly, lest he collapse beneath the weight of what had happened. Kneeling, Remi raised his head and gaze ever so slowly. The ground was barren and dead looking; crumbled and without life at all. Ahead he could see the base of a monumental black spire that rose forbiddingly above, but Remi didn't dare to actually lift his gaze high enough to look upon the dizzying heights. No, instead he focused on his breathing. The air was dusty here. Stale? Or was that merely a trick of his senses? Spreading a hand out over the soil as if to reassure himself that this was in fact real, Remi turned his head over his shoulder slightly to see a handful of those he recognized spread haphazardly out around him. Blinking slowly, he looked back towards the ground. He hadn't seen them. He'd only looked for a moment, but he hadn't seen Martha, Delphine, Vai or Ianto. More importantly, he hadn't seen Loren. You didn't really look, he tried to reassure himself, but he couldn't bring his muscles to bring his gaze around again. Wherever they were, whatever had happened, he could survive this if only they were here. If he was here. And if not? Swallowing Remi closed his eyes and clawed his hand into the acrid ground beneath, picking up a handful of soil and letting it sift slowly through his fingers.