And that’s it, I note as I rub my brow. They’ve turned down the last option for society. Annnd they’re eating each other. Only a matter of time now.

I look over the scarred world. The fungi of fire that burst across the surface of this bad apple are gone, and the red gave way to a vile choking grey. I pace on the smooth stone floor, wringing my hands.

“I warned them. All I could. Step in at key moments and bring a beat’s worth of insight. I’d have thought Oppen-whatsis would have been enough. Told them. ‘Destroy the world.’ Confounded man had to paraphrase it.”

I crack my knuckles, but the sound is lost in the thunder of ashen-black clouds. It’s been weeks since sunlight. Weeks of survivors struggling against the collapse of their thin-wire world.

I look one last time. Such plans. I shake my head, stunned. Finally, I turn my back on it and walk to the door of my room.

“Frigg? Fjörgyn? Show’s already over. Gather the Einherjar. We’ll finish this somewhere else. The snake’s dead and we missed it.”