Darkness came fast the way it always did on the plain. No gentle fading, no long twilight. The sun simply made its decision and dropped below the horizon, taking the last of the light with it like a door slamming shut.
In seconds, the world shifted from burning gold to deep indigo, then to full black. Stars punched through the sky overhead, cold and countless, while the temperature dropped sharply enough that I felt it on my skin.
Mercury sat beside me in the sand, knees bent, arms resting on them, staring toward the Fallen City. The ruined skyline was just visible now, jagged black shapes against the last faint glow on the horizon, like broken teeth biting at the night.
Whatever we needed was in there. Whatever remained of the mission was in there. We had no car, no supplies, no team, and roughly the same equipment we had arrived with: a system, a charge, and two people who had been tied up in the sand and had gotten themselves untied.
"Time," I said quietly.
