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Against an ink-black sky, small flickers of ember briefly danced, before vanishing. They came from the only

point of warmth and light in the barren landscape - a small fire that hummed gently, providing a fragile

counterpoint to the seemingly limitless darkness of a night-time world without artificial light.

The fire was at the centre of a small group of RVs, all of which were well worn and clearly had been used

for a long time with only a dedicated but unprofessional maintenance. They had a lived-in quality, and had clearly

been loved for the shelter they provided; for every dent and scratch there were signs of diligent handiwork

to keep the vehicles operational. Despite the comforting, albeit tentative, light of the fire, in itself it

contained one of the darker contradictions of this world; its warm and comforting light could only be produced

by burning volatile monster ichor - a substance only exceeded in volatility by the means and dangers of its

procurement. However, such danger was far from the minds of at least two of the individuals sharing in the

fires warmth.

"Dad, can we have a bedtime story? Please?" Said one of them, politely.

"Yes!" Another butted in excitedly, "A story about the old times, before everything went dark!"

The two speakers, Roxanne and Luna, were both sat on a overturned log near the fire, but in this, their

similarities ended. Roxanne, her brown, tufted, ears standing to attention to both the conversation, and the

night air around her, sat in a reserved poise of caution, despite the clear excitement sparkling in her azure

eyes. Clearly her caution was not an overreaction to the world she lived in, as one could see in the fire's

flickering light her left forearm was bandaged and severed at the elbow, from a vicious monster attack years

prior. Luna, despite being her firm friend, was her opposite; she was a constant source of excited energy,

almost as playful and unpredictable as the fire itself, and where Roxanne sat still and poised, Luna was

almost every moment playing with her thick white fur, twisting her long ears in her paw, or looking at Roxanne

with her deep red eyes to see if she shared her excitement.

Their focus was on Roxanne's father, Mason, who was older in both stature and in the complexity of his

reaction to the world around him. His soft, twinkling eyes crinkled and shone only with warmth when looking

at the two young ones in his care, but his large ears - a more worn version of his daughter's - were

constantly swivelling to alert at any sound in the night around him, and his tail swished with apprehension.

He both understood the darkness encroaching upon them, and like the fire they surrounded, provided warmth and

security in the face of it.

He smiled, his sharp teeth showing. "Well, are you sure such a story wouldn't scare you off your sleep little

ones? I could always tell you a more soothing story abo-"

"No!" Protested Luna, almost jumping out of her seat, "I want to hear about before the dark times!" Roxanne looked

less sure but nodded in assent to her friends request.

Mason smiled again, despite Luna not being his child, she was as dear to him, and to the other members of their

company, as their blood offspring. As Luna's mother had.. not survived to raise Luna herself. Roxanne noticed

the wistful look in her father's eyes and said "Dad! Don't just remember! Tell us!" And then, seeming shocked at

her own outburst, added a polite "Please!"

Mason smiled and ruffled her thick fur, so like his own. "Ok little ones," he said, "well, long ago now, the Dark

Time began -"

"But what was before the Dark!" Luna butted in, her ears pricking up.

Mason smiled and said "whoa! So that's the story you're after huh? What the world used to be like?"

"Yes! With telebones and the tinternet and all those other things!" Luna excitedly encouraged, and Roxanne's eyes

sparkled.

"And I want to hear about my grandparents," Roxanne shyly added, playing with the clasp on her faded denim

dungarees.

Mason smiled again, warmly, but you could see a flicker of pain in his tender eyes at the memories Roxanne's

request brought up.

"Well, before the Dark, the world was..." Mason leaned in, eliciting both Roxanne and Luna to do the same,

"NOISY!" he intoned, causing them to jump in their seats. "It was full of light; sound, hustle and bustle.

It was the kind of world, Luna, I think you would have really enjoyed."

Before Luna could jump on this comment, Roxanne asked shyly "would I have liked it Dad?"

"Why, yes, I think you would Roxy. I particularly think you would have been fond of libraries, which were like

big buildings fill-"

"What's a building?" Luna interrupted,

"Like those old wrecks we scavenge in!" Roxanne told her, proud of her answer.

"Yes, indeed," Mason smiled at them both - but back before the dark they weren't wrecks at all, they were clean

and served many different purposes - and libraries were filled with books, shelves upon shelves of books, that

you could sit in and read, as long as you were quiet."

"Sounds BORING!" Laughed Luna, but Roxanne's eyes sparkled with wonder. Her father always returned with damaged

books for her when he found them on scavenging raids, and they were amongst her most treasured possessions.

"But what about telebones! And cars! And aeroplanes!" Luna excitedly asked.

"Well, they were called tele-PHones Luna," Mason corrected kindly, "and they were ways of communicating with

each other - if you had one, and someone else had one, you could talk as if you were just like this - as close

as you and I, as if by magic!"

Luna burst out in her usual torrent of questions - "How did they work? Did you have one? Was it really magic?

Why don't we have them now?" And Mason laughed with love, but it was Roxanne's question that cut through the

noise and drew a response from him.

"Did you talk to your parents on the telephone Dad?"

It was an innocent question; Roxanne was not old enough to understand the pain it might cause Mason, and he

hid it well, smiling his big smile, whilst his eyes reflected the firelight.

"I did... I did indeed Roxanne! I used to talk to them every weekend, and if I didn't, my Mother would get

really angry, just like yours does when Luna comes over and jumps on our bed!"

Luna grumpily folded her arms and Roxanne stared at her father in wonder.

"Does that mean if we found a telebo-, um, telephone, we would be able to contact them again?" She asked.

This time Mason was not able to hide his response quickly, and his eyes appeared wistful and his mouth turned

to a slight frown, before he snapped back to the present and smiled at the children.

"Well, we'll have to see won't we? Perhaps if we find one on our scavenging runs, we can see if we can get it

working! But, I think that is enough stories for tonight; I think its time for you two to get some shut-eye."

Luna pouted and kicked her feet, and Roxanne looked slightly put out. The fire crackled, and Mason looked

up to the dark, unlit night sky, wondering himself if he would ever talk to his parents again - what he did

not tell the children, was that after the cataclysms, he did not even know if they were alive or dead.

Just as his feelings were beginning to rise inside of him, both Roxanne and Luna rushed over and gave him a

hug so enthusiastic it almost knocked him off his seat. They had both noticed the look in his eye, and although

they didn't know what caused it, they knew that it normally meant he was sad, and they wanted to cheer him up.

He pulled them into a strong embrace, and they both excitedly said, "Can we have another story tomorrow night?"

He laughed and told them they could, and every night after that, and every night after that also. And then he

held them a little tighter, and pressed his face into their fur, as the truth was, he didn't know how many nights

there would be, and he was afraid at times. But for now, he had the fire, and his loved ones, and he held them

close to his chest.