Goodbye, Poi Village.

Khil'nub... daughter of Crux'nub and Kerr'nub, taken in by Mae'poi-- Poi Village's chieftain.

My adoptive sister.

My big sister.

Her body lies underneath the collapsed entrance to the cave, with only a twitching, bloodstained arm pinned to the ground as proof that she even existed in the first place.

That same blood... coating me. Soaking me. Staining me.

Painting my black and white scales with red. It's everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere.

My sister's blood... everywhere.

Judging by the taste of metal, I think some of it even got in my mouth.

I'd rub my eyes to clean her blood off of my body, but what's even the point? If I did... then I would be able to see her arm again. Her twitching, bloodstained arm. The only part of her body to have not been crushed underneath the rocks.

"K... KHIL'NUUUUUUUUUB!!!!!"

I collapse, sobbing on the floor profusely, barely able to hear my wailing voice amidst the screaming kobolds and screaming cicadas. The spiders and slimes have made their way into the village, destroying countless homes in their panic. Countless deaths. Innumerable deaths. Immeasurable deaths.

A massacre.

Mae'poi rushes over to me, the red kobold coated in blue and crimson fluids. She places a hand on my forehead, trying to get my attention.

"G-goddess... you need to leave. There's another way out you can use, beyond the tunnels."

I remain silent.

"Goddess."

I don't respond.

She cleans my face as best she can. "Pento-- please. You need to live for us-- for all of us. ...For me."

...

...

"I... I can't." I weakly mutter. I've lost everything before. It's why I killed myself, after all. Now, I'm losing everything again. "I can't do this."

It was foolish of me to think things would be different. Maybe if I stay here, I'll be given an express trip to the next world. Maybe then things will be better. ...Or maybe they'll continue to be the same.

"Look at me." She shakes me back into the moment, a genuine concern in her trembling voice. "I didn't give up when I lost Dek'poi. The pressure of following in his claws nearly made me, but I didn't."

She smiles reassuringly. "And you know what happened? Life got better. I brought this village up. Taught every last one of them to care for one another." She gestures to the kobolds fighting to protect each other. Any other place, you'd expect it to be everyone for themselves. But here, despite the hopelessness of the situation, they're all trying to save each other.

"I took you and Khil'nub in-- the best daughters I could ever ask for." She pulls me in for the tightest hug of her life. "You know this, but your sister didn't give up when she lost her parents. She didn't know them, but it still hurt her all the same. You know what happened. Life got better for her, too. She had the best little sister in her damn life."

"So please... live. Things will get better for you too. Life will get better. You have to believe in me."

The thing is, though...

"I want to believe in you, mom. ...But this isn't my first life. Life never got better for me then. It just kept getting worse and worse until I gave up."

She looks at me, unsure of what I mean, before piecing things together. "Your past life and this one are connected, are they not? You remember it, after all. Don't think of it as two lives spent. Think of it as one life, with a second chance."

One life... with a second chance.

I had given up... but yet I'm still here. Still able to pick myself up and try again. Still able to keep fighting, despite hitting my lowest point and calling it quits.

...

A faint smile forms across my lips, as I realize she might be onto something.

"Y-you're right... you're right, I think."

Even if Exgrave pulled me into this world by sheer chance, that doesn't mean I wasn't given an opportunity to try again. I'll have to thank them for that later.

"I know I'm right." We laugh, as she moves to point towards the caverns. "...Now what you'll need to do is-"

"-get to the castle already, before they come running back here!" Khil'nub chastises me for not trusting her, upset I'm insisting we stay hidden.

Wait... Khil'nub?

...

Then that means...

I charge forward, digging my teeth into her arm.

"Oww! Sis, what in the world are you-"

No time to explain. I strain my body to overpower her, curling myself around to throw her behind me as hard as I can. Not a moment sooner...

CRASH

The rocks that would have smashed her to pieces instead fall directly in front of the two of us, narrowly missing.

...

I hit the ground, both of us sitting in stunned silence.

"How... did you...?"

"I don't know. I... don't know. I think I can manipulate time? I can't control it-- or at least, I haven't been able to."

Did I do that on purpose? I must have, consciously or otherwise. I knew I wanted to bring Khil'nub back, but was that enough to activate these abilities willingly? Gods, I wish I knew how to control it. Maybe Elioxus knows someone else who can manipulate time?

Still, I've been given a second chance. Best not to waste it.

"C'mon, get up-- we need to see mom."

Barely able to process her near-death experience, Khil simply responds "...Okay."

We rush over to mom, meeting her in the middle of the village as she was already in the process of trying to find us.

"How do we get to the second exit in the tunnels?" I ask, figuring it best to get to the point. She looks confused-- Khil does too.

Oh right, I learned about the other exit in the time after Khil had died. Oops.

She comes back to her senses, clearing her throat. "Take a straight at every junction. You'll have to pass through the quakebug nest-- cover your ears when you get there." Her face pales with realization. "Brysen and his partners may still be there in the tunnels-- watch out for them. If they find you, run. Run as fast as you can."

"A-aren't you coming with us, mom?" Khil asks.

Mom pulls her into a tight hug. "I need to protect the village.They need me here." She pulls me in, too. "You've got your sister by your side. You two need to stick together."

"Okay... I-" Khil chokes up, struggling to continue. "I love you... mom."

"I love you too."

"Thank you for everything, mom." I add. "I love you."

"I love you too." We take a moment to sit in a tight embrace-- knowing full well it might be our last as a family. "Now get going, both of you. Before the collapse gets worse."

Khil hops onto my back. We take a quick detour to get her hunting spear before making a break for the tunnels. It should just be a straight shot, but with the active cave-in that's happening, I doubt it will stay that way for long. I've grown scared of every rock that falls in front of us, having become worried for Khil's safety. I still don't know how to activate my time reversal powers, so I shouldn't rely on them.

Especially since it keeps involuntarily activating as we make our way through the cavern-- causing an already long journey to feel downright purgatorial.

All of the monsters in the cave are in a frenzy, the spiders and slimes fighting amongst themselves when not scurrying and slithering away to safer, quieter parts of the cave. A part of me worries that the exit to the cave will be collapsed too, turning our home into a makeshift tomb. But, I know that's not productive of me to think about. Right now, we need to focus on our escape.

Thankfully, the source of the problem is also our biggest asset-- even if the road to the exit were not so straight, I'd still be able to tell how close we were by the increasingly loud cries of the cicadas. Gods, how long must this droning go on for? It's starting to give me a splitting headache the closer we are-- it's like a concert from hell. I leap into the air and start to fly, just so I can free up my forelegs to cover my ears.

Mercifully, after running for so long, I'm finally able to see the bugs-- meaning soon enough every step will be getting quieter and quieter as we reach our destination. Relief washes over me.

...At least, for a fleeting moment. I realize we aren't alone.

Elioxus is here, fighting off the bugs with their bare fists. I know they helped take on Exgrave in their prime, but will they be able to take on the cicadas like this? I consider fighting alongside them before realizing he's not alone. A woman is fighting alongside him-- short, brown hair that gives way to cat ears. Is this what catfolk are like in this world?

...No wait, more importantly; she must be that Toko individual Exgrave mentioned all those years back. Right, Brysen and his party were here-- that's why we were hiding in the first place.

Wait, they're not covering their ears, nor do they seem to be in any pain. It's like they can't hear the cicadas at all. Did someone cast a deafness spell on them? ...That would make sense, but that must mean the rest of the party is there, just beyond my view-- given Elioxus isn't a spellcaster.

This is bad. We can't be spotted by Brysen now-- we're as good as dead if that happens. Yet, they're blocking our way out. Mom said as much.

...

I take a left turn, figuring we'll have to improvise a new path out of the cave. I'll take responsibility if this ends up being a mistake. Thankfully, we can use the cicadas as a compass-- if they're getting louder, then we're approaching the other side of their nest. I do recall there being two sides that enter, though if there are any more we might be in trouble.

For now, I can't worry about that possibility.

...Khil is shaking. I can feel her trembling on my back. I don't blame her. She never knew either of her birth parents, now she's losing her adoptive mother and home? She's trying to put on a strong face, but I can tell she's taking this harder than me. Understandable, given how young she is.

"We'll make it out!" I shout out as we flutter past falling rocks. "We have to make it out!"

"S-shouldn't I be the one saying that?" She nervously laughs out, holding back tears. "Makes you s-sound like you're the big sis, here!"

"I mean- we've gotta stick together, you know? Especially in times like these!"

"Y-you're right...!"

Our attempts at reassuring each other are interrupted by a familiar chirping noise, loud enough to break through the noise of the distant cicadas.

I try to stop, quickly moving to turn around, but it cuts us off at the pass.

A giant spider stands before us...

...far bigger than any one we've seen before...

...and we've just become its next prey.