it's gone

both of them

ethel and aethel

i can't reach either one anymore

none of us can

the ammonites are calling it "the blackout" - like it's some kind of technical failure that will be fixed soon

but i think it's worse than that

i think the machine activation did something catastrophic

sealed off both realms completely

or maybe destroyed them

or merged them into something we can't access anymore

i don't know

i spent a year believing aethel was the truth. the real one. the living one.

the ammonites spent years believing ethel was precious and needed protection.

and now both are gone.

were we fighting over something real? or were we all just... infected dreamers visiting different versions of the same broken realm?

was the goddess in the temple really anastasia? or was she the thing that consumed anastasia, spreading through us like a virus?

i don't have answers anymore.

just loss.