The world outside the building was deserted. Wherever the evacuation was happening, it was well out of sight. The sky looked far worse than before. It was covered with a web of cracks. They did not seem to be growing larger, but neither did they seem to be disappearing.

  "How much longer are we safe?" Eluvie asked, her gaze still fixed on the sky while she leaned on the building for support.

  "We don't know," Amu said. "But the last of the evacuees should be leaving. You might be the only one left. As long as you leave within the hour, all will be well."

  There was a long silence while Eluvie tried to choose her response. Nothing was well. Mirab had won. The Illrum were leaving, even though they could not survive on the other worlds. Arra was going to be left to die alone, and she, herself, would be sent back to Mirab's territory.

  "Do you know someone called Ettelvwi?" Eluvie asked.

  Amu thought for a while and then shook his head. "I might have heard it, but I can't say for certain. Is he important?"

  "Maybe." Eluvie stared into the distance.

  Amu waited for her to say more, but she merely kept her gaze on the horizon.

  "Let's go inside," Amu said. "Someone might come for you soon. You need as much rest as you can get."

  "I'll wait a bit longer," Eluvie said. She felt like a clock was counting down to her eventual imprisonment, and going inside would make it tick faster.

  "Fine," Amu said. "Let's bring a chair for you."

  At the suggestion, one of the guards went back into the house and returned with a cushioned armchair. Eluvie hid how grateful she was to have it.

  They had been outside for several minutes when Yira spoke.

  "Is it getting darker?"

  Eluvie looked around. It did look significantly darker than when she had first come out.

  "The sun must be setting," she said. Sanctuary had no sun, only a steady pattern of light and darkness, but Eluvie could find no better term.

  Yira responded with deep confusion. "It's too early for that."

  For a while, everyone stood in confused silence. Eluvie was about to suggest the time had come to speed up her departure, but something else claimed her attention.

  She didn't know what it was at first. It seemed like a speck of something slowly descending from the sky. Her initial reaction was to disregard the phenomenon, but she glanced around the group and saw that everyone else was fixated on the falling object. When it hit the ground and kicked up a large cloud of dust, its spell was broken.

  "This will sound crazy…" Eluvie said.

  "I think a piece of the sky just fell," Maso said.

  "Yes," Eluvie said. "That is what I was about to say."

  Amu jerked into motion. "Inside. Everyone. Now."

  "So, we can be crushed inside?" Yira asked.

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  "We'll put Eluvie under the bed and put the mattress above her," Amu said. "It will work. Quickly."

  Two more pieces broke away from the sky. One of them was terrifyingly closer than the other.

  With Amu's assistance, Eluvie rose to her feet and hurried toward the door. Just as she made it into the house, the world went dark. There was a shocked gasp from someone. Amu clutched her hand harder.

  "It's fine," he said. "I know the way. Just stay close to me."

  The silence was tense as they made their way to the bedroom. Eluvie had a dozen questions swirling around her mind, and none of them had satisfactory answers.

  Amu made her sit in a corner of the bedroom while he moved around in the darkness. Finally, he finished putting together a tent out of the mattress and some other items and encouraged her to lie under it. She worried about its use and stability, but she didn't have a better idea.

  The tent fit most of the group, but Amu was adamant that the others had made their backup seeds and were therefore safe. He was only worried about her. They lay in silence for a while, Eluvie's heart pounding so hard that she thought she would die. Occasionally, they would hear a distant or not-so-distant thump, and she was left to imagine what it could be.

  After several long minutes, she spoke.

  "Amu."

  He grunted for her to go on.

  "Illrum need light, correct?"

  "Yes," he said, his voice strangely loud in the darkness.

  "How long can you survive without it?"

  He was silent for a long time. Finally, before she could repeat the question, he spoke.

  "An Illrum is typically never in complete darkness, even at night. In normal circumstances, I could survive for an hour. But this is different."

  He fell silent again, so Eluvie was forced to prod him.

  "So, how long can you last like this?" She asked.

  He hesitated some more. "I started feeling weak the moment the darkness fell. But, like I said, I have four backup seeds, one in each of the caches here, and one that was sent with the evacuees." He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You're the only one in danger here."

  Eluvie wanted to believe that. Unfortunately, she had enough memories of Amu to know when he was playing at bravery.

  "If something falls on the caches," she said, "will they survive?"

  There was more hesitation. "Let's imagine that that will not happen," Amu said.

  That only increased Eluvie's worry.

  "In that case, I have another question," she said. "I don't know if I've forgotten this or if I never knew it. This place has no sun. So, where does the light come from?"

  Amu gave a little laugh. "Everyone asks that question eventually. The answer is usually that you'll know when you reach a high-enough rank. Given today's events, I think it's safe to conclude that it's somehow generated by the world which, I guess, means that it's generated by the Illrum you mentioned - Arra?"

  Eluvie nodded even though he couldn't see her. Then, she continued.

  "The other worlds don't have suns either," she said, "only a simulation of one. So, is it correct to assume that their light comes from here as well?"

  Amu sighed. "You're really digging into this issue."

  "Have I ever been content to hide in ignorance?" she asked.

  "Fine," Amu said. "Yes, the light on the other worlds comes from here. So, if we're in darkness, they are in darkness too. Which means that the seeds we sent with them are now dead, since seeds do not survive in darkness. The ones in the caches should still be fine, since the caches have a light store."

  "And how long till that runs out?"

  "Centuries," Amu said confidently.

  "So, the only risk is that one of those things falling outside will crush the caches. There are three caches, so the risk should be low."

  Yira spoke for the first time since they had returned to the house. "I don't think it matters how many seeds we have. They won't wake without light."

  Fresh silence fell on the group.

  "I can't believe that no one predicted this," Eluvie said. "Zaniba was evacuating. Did he really think the light source would survive if this planet was destroyed?"

  No one replied.

  "I suppose he didn't think that the planet and the light source were the same thing, but the question should have come up."

  There was more silence.

  Eluvie's heart skipped a beat. "Are you still there?"

  When no one replied, she felt around the tent for another person. She searched every corner and found nothing before she accepted that, yes, they were gone and she was alone.